Applying Pixel Dithering

In pixel art, dithering can be utilized in various situations. It can be used to smooth out color transitions, or to create shadowed areas. For example, say we want to make a pixel art sky scene with clouds, and we're limited to two colors, blue and white. Note the following example I've drawn up:

Looks pretty plain--just a couple white blobs in a blue sky. There aren't any shadows under the cloud to accentuate the curves. Without dithering, as well as being limited to two colors, there wouldn't be much else you could do to fix up this image. However, we can use dithering to make the pixel art better, by dithering the bottom of the clouds like so:

Note how the dithering gives the bottom of the clouds a darker appearance by essentially cutting the white in half with a checkerboard pattern. Let's look at another example that uses more colors as well as a detailed background. In the earlier tutorial I used metallic pipes as an example of how you could apply dithering to make it appear cleaner. Look at this section of pipe:






There is no dithering, and the majority of color runs from top to bottom in thin strips, leaving clearly visible lines. Instead, we can use dithering to smooth these transitions, by applying it the other way, like so:






This technique was often vital to video game artists in the past, who had to make do with a limited color palette. By understanding and practicing techniques such as this, you should start to notice details about objects that you hadn't considered before, such as where any light will hit the objects and where their shadow will be cast. Practice makes perfect!

-kethsong