Every time I see the mother with the child I burst out laughing because: 1) the mother reminds me of a Karen, 2) they remind me of an American tourist I saw, when I visited Pompei, who was using a leash to keep her son at bay and under control. I was sto WTF??? the first time I saw it and apparently it's a thing there, lol.

I love how in the first seven seconds of the animation the mother looks unbothered by the chase, she didn't even notice that someone is running from another person trying to kill him XD. This speaks volume on her attention level in case her son gets lost. I like the slightly blurred background behind Nene at 00:10, it gives a depth feeling. I still remember the first part of Pico Vs Nene and I can see the improvement in both fluidity of animation, use of shading and more dynamic movements. The level of enjoyment is always the same: quite high and enjoyable.

It's interesting that here Pico doesn't use his Mac-10 UZI, unlike the official FNF cutscene, but prefers to defend himself but it's understandable since Nene had taken them away with that knife attack in the first video. In the first video I liked the use of your sona as a bystander in the final shot as way to represent a continuation of the first part. And now we can see it in its fully-fledged version.

Even though the combat animation seems a bit stiff at times (00:41) overall it does a great job of conveying the physicality of combat. It makes you feel every single blow, slash and parry with your eyes. I liked how at 00:51 the animation gives you the impression that Nene is about to win but then the change of angle shows that luckily Pico dodged the blow, saving himself. Lol, the silhouette of Pico at 00:59 was funny.

I like how the video combines seriousness with silliness typical of these characters XD

Nice reference to the original cutscene where Pico runs away from Nene and bumped into something or someone like in this case. I admit I thought it was Darnell when I saw him colliding with the black boy. Nene's face at 01:15 is absolutely priceless and creepy in her cartoony look, nice use of lights and shadows. The change in attitude when she saw the bottle of soda is beautiful, it shows well how FNF Nene is highly dangerous, funny but it's also better to stay away from her if you rub her the wrong way.

The music choice is spot on and I loved the most the music battle and the song when Nene enjoyed the sprite with Pico. The black guy is more than right to be pissed off, I would have reacted the same way but then I couldn't help but to laugh at seeing Nene's reaction again. Rest in peace, guy. I felt bad for him.

I loved this continuation of the first part and how it ended, minus the poor guy's death XD, I hope next time Pico doesn't drink last sprite and shares it with Nene. Great job, cool animation, nice musical pieces and congrats for the Daily Feature! Keep it up!

This is probably one of the animations I love the most for the February month. I keep watching and re-watching it over and over to the point I almost memorized the lyrics. The animation is very rhythmic (pun intended), fluid and dynamic. I compared it to the original gameplay and I really like the rendition of this animation. It really does justice to the game itself. The fact that it is a remake of an old animation made 10 years ago, makes this video even more beautiful and enjoyable. The old animation is also very nice and if you look at it with the perspective of 10 years in the future, you can see it as a storyboard for this animation. Lately I'm discovering the character of PaRappa and the more I look at him (between fanart and gameplay) the more I love him, and this animation does nothing but make me love the character even more!

Every time I see PaRappa move like that at 00:16 I laugh like crazy XD the absent-minded expression on his face is too funny XD like he was lost in his own world and was barely listening to the basic requests. In fact, even Instructor Mooselini's face says it all and confirms what I think. I also love how a few seconds into the song, the hood of the car flies off, revealing the steering wheels and the blue and red gas and brake pedals. I found it funny as heck. My favourite line of the song is of course this:

"When I say boom boom boom, you say bam bam bam! No pause in between, come on, let's jam!"

It's interesting how in the game stage, bad mode the instrumental shifts from G major to E minor, giving it a more depressing tone, and an additional descending piano tune plays. The camera switches to a first-person view, showing how PaRappa is swerving the car left and right. Road signs are replaced with a "SLIPPERY ROAD" sign and a "DETOUR" sign on top, reflecting the driving difficulties.

The part I loved the most was at 00:26 when PaRappa breaks the steering wheel, detaching it XD so silly.

Fun fact: Mooselini appears as cameo in a comic from The Amazing World of Gumball.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/parappatherapper/images/5/52/Mooselinicameo.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20210605132536

This whole video is a mix of fun, silliness and talent. The animation movements seem to follow the types of movements when a person drives, such as changing gears. The colors are vibrant and the whole animation is really well done. Congratulations to both Frontpage and Daily 5th Place, well deserved!

This is a really lovely animation and I want to inaugurate my 100th review by sharing my two cents on this. I like how fluid animation is, the overall ambience and simple but funny plot. When I first read the title I thought about a simple fish animation with no plot but then I was glad to be wrong. I enjoyed it despite its short duration. I like how the small, little, yellow fish manages to outsmart the bigger fish. A thing I loved the most, along with the story, was the background. It gives me strong watercolours vibes and ooohhh, I notice the animation was made with Krita! Amazing, I have Krita but I never animated with it. Maybe a day I might, how knows but back to the movie.

The way the fish moves and swims around gave me, in a way, those Chinese animated movies from the 70-80s feel which are truly work of art, theater set in motion and I sense something similar in this work too. I am rewatching the animation over and over. I don't know if Krita allows the addition of sounds though. The only reason why I gave 4 stars instead of 4.5/5 was simply the lack of sound BUT I think that in an experimental piece like this, even this lack is an addition because it allows the mind of the viewer to create his/her/their own mental sound that fills the musical "void". I personally didn't create any mental sound, I wanted to enjoy the creation the way it is. The fish design is adorable and fits him perfectly even from a chromatic aspect since yellow has interesting meanings.

In the West, yellow is not a well-loved color. In a year 2000 survey, only 6% of respondents in Europe and America named it as their favorite color, compared with 45% for blue, 15% for green, 12% for red, and 10% for black. For 7% of respondents, it was their least favorite color. Yellow is considered a color of ambivalence and contradiction. It is associated with optimism and amusement, but also with betrayal, duplicity, and jealousy. However, in China and other parts of Asia, yellow is a color of virtue and nobility.

In the context of this animation yellow has a clear positive semantics which contrasts with the purple colour of the menacing, predatory fish. I love how the little fish turns around at 00:02, it melts my heart the level of cuteness of the movements. Plus I've noticed the shape manipulation of the fish's movements, great choice to enhance the dynamism and natural movements. It gives a more realistic vibe despite the minimalist style of both design and swimming way. I also noticed how the shape bending and twisting, during the movement sequences (i.e. always at 00:02 when the fish encounters the predator or a 00:05 when the predator opens the mouth and the fish looks in horror), give an added value in the emotional characterization of the protagonists of the story. I laughed and loved at 00:07 when the 'lil fish looks at the bigger one with a smile/smug on his face; it's adorable and funny at the same time.

Usually smaller fish live in big schools where they swim in the same direction in a coordinated manner and take advantage of the egoistical geometry group (you hope that you neighbour gets eaten first instead of you and the more you are, the higher chances are that you don't get caught), but in this short animation we see the resourcefulness of the little guy, who takes advantage of his smaller size (faster) and intelligence (he outsmart him and mocks him), winning over his danger. At the end the fish even manages to kick him off, saving his own life.

Really cool job, I hope more people will appreciate this^^ keep it up!

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EDIT 13/03/2025:

I raised the score to 4.5 after reading that the lack of sound was intentional since the project didn't need it.

I'm glad I made your day, keep it up. I would like to see other animations of yours!

This is not a game I had no fun not to play it. I write no review to express the no fun I had. There is no cool music that made me enjoy every bit of the game and the progression of the game itself. The pixels are not nice to look at, each of them was not worthy of my time to admire their no-existent artistic beauty. The presence of the unreliable narrator made everything no fun to experience, and the voice was not funny to listen to especially with his hints which didn't help me to go through the game. I don't have this game on Steam and even there I left no review for others to enjoy. The outro music was not powerful to appreciate especially the drums, and the high-hats in the middle part of the musical composition. I also did not like the small challenges I had to complete in order not to free the goat, especially the squirrel one. That was not my favourite for sure.

Because I didn't laugh I think I won't play it over and over since there is no game, so no real reason to spend some free time. No congratulations for this game. Since I leave no review, there is no point I keep writing now, in fact I stop and go not to play this game again!

Ok, this was one of those game that made me feel genuinely entertained while playing it, even the times I kept losing XD
I liked both the graphic, the design, gameplay, music and voice acting. I also loved the possibility to customize your cause even though I mostly opted for the ones already present in the game. I like how difficulty increases the more you gain speed. Considering that still 63 people got the final achievement I feel to share some tips on how to increase this chance that, despite it's still very difficult it's not impossible.

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The first five achievements are pretty easy to get, just increase your level and they will unlock, but to speed up the process go mainly for gold and silver medals which give you three and two points respectively. This way you will get past each level in no time, in fact I unlocked them the same day I played the game the first time. During this phase you can also start learning the patterns to avoid obstacles. When you start playing, the voice tells you that you can use every button to jump, my tip is to use the SPACEBAR because it gave me much more control on the character and the intensity of the jump especially between narrow spaces and on difficult platforms. I've noticed the game has different patterns and obstacles, some appear more frequently like these ones:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/88e05bedecb6fe55cc71afc64bf321ea

You can see the red arrows as tips to jump on them better. These are the most common types of platforms and I suggest to jump on the wider platform and avoid at all costs the smaller ones because you won't have time and space to jump. It's also interesting the path transition when you upgrade your level. It's a delicate moment since you might risk to lose and fall down in case you jump between platforms and the transition happens like in this case:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/39abb1be035b7657a0267c7eb7039ec2

Jump as soon as possible if you happen to find yourself in this type of transition which can occur sometimes, but you can try to avoid it as much as possible by collecting medals on more linear path like in this case:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/c85e810f89b59a269f8662ffe379a7b4

This is the best type of transition because you don't have to worry about the "reset" of the strength of your jump that occurs during the transition. The time delay that happens during the transition affects the power of the jump so in critical situation this can be a curse, in one case though it happened to be a blessing because I could lower the intensity of the jump in an area that might have caused me a certain loss.

Now that you have reached all main, easy achievements to get the last one you have to endure several trials and errors, it took me three days of training to finally get it but it was worth the effort. A tip I feel to share is to avoid collecting too much medals and do the opposite of what you do for getting the level-bounded achievements: go for bronze medals, silver at best. This way you can remain on lower levels and 1) learn patterns better 2) have a higher chance to reach your final goal.

Keep in mind though that the more you progress, the faster you run so this implies two things: 1) less time to jump and take decision, 2) higher jumps which become very useful for this type of platform that tends to occur at higher speeds:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/f56ef5b7a4da07e8ec71442cc40b313e

You can't see Sean simply because I made him jump very high and went off screen, but I managed to make him land on the platform circled in yellow and that it's barely visible because I took the screenshot while jumping. Don't be afraid, at that speed similar jumps can happen, while at lower speed your jumps tend to be less high.

This is another type of platform rarely seen at lower speeds but more common when you become faster and you are about to reach 20 miles:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/16ae3c8ddb46dd18ef0c0dfa9c950cb8

Again, avoid landing on small platforms and land on bigger ones that will allow you to jump fast. I had to fall down many times before memorizing the pattern.

This is a very common type of platform to jump:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/d67bcc903d2b2944a758a5661d03a401

Follow the path of the red arrow and you are able to get pat through this type of platform. The music also helped me to guide to the speed, what do I mean? When I reached 8 miles the sound of drum beats told me that I was reaching a slightly faster pace and this allowed me to adapt the area.

If you keep practicing you will eventually manage to reach and even surpass 31 miles.

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I was finally happy to have reached 31.23 miles two days ago, it was a small satisfaction for the effort put in the game. The only suggestion for the game would be a leaderboard to compare scores, but besides this I loved the game so much that I still play it over and over despite getting all the achievements because it's engaging and relaxing at the same time. I also loved the 8-bit music. Great job, keep it up!

It was a nice dive into the early 2010s games^^

This is a fun NG-based quiz game that engages you to think in some questions in order to get the right password and access next level. Despite the graphics looks a bit unpolished I still enjoyed it due to the strong early 2000s vibe it gives me. I liked the music especially Endless Handbag Loop because 1) helps to focus better on the questions (at least to me), 2) it's the official NG anthem to me where it shows the original wacky, crazy, edgy and creative nature of the site. I have to thank BlueMonday1984 if I could finish the quiz as some questions sadly rely on existing walkthroughs or a time machine to retrieve the necessary info. The only thing that made almost ragequit was the minigame at level 8. I will give you a tip to better finish it without always repeat it over and over

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You have to move the arrow in this labyrinth without touching the walls or else you will start over. Some walls are very narrow so the risk to accidentally touch it are high and I initially thought it was almost impossible to cross the narrowest parts at the end of the labyrinth, but then after some trials and errors I've noticed that only the tip of the arrow is affected. You can cross and even touch the rest of the walls with the lower part of the arrow, making it easier to pass through. Here a quick scheme no how to do it:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/2e8a209a31462b87bdb0165ab1314ce3

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Have fun, and thanks for making this little game, I enjoyed it despite almost rage quitting it XD

Oh man, where do I start with this green gem? I nicknamed it "green" because it strongly evokes me this colour while listening to it. Another track that I discovered thanks to the Creature Collab and entered in my personal list of the top 10 favourite NG tracks here. But what I love the most is the musical arrangement and type of instruments used, not to mention that the title confirmed what I immediately thought: a gamelan. For those who don't know, gamelan the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments.

The musical signature of gamelan is the heavy use of hand-drums (i.e. kendang) and metallophones such as gendér barung, not to mention the use of gambang gangsa and gambang kayu. I love listening to it as form of appreciation for Indonesian cultural tradition. It is used for rituals, ceremonies, dance theatre, dance-drama, traditional Indonesian theater, wayang puppets theatre, singing, concerts and so on. As I said the title confirmed my thoughts because, although I don't know Indonesian languages as whole, I know a few words and "tarian" is one of them which means "dance" and "lumut" which means "moss". So "moss dance" and again the green colour returns semantic-wise, but frankly the name "lumut" brought my mind on another field: folktales.

And I would like to share here an Indonesia folktale I learned some years ago when a person sold me a small book featuring folktales around the world, and the one I am about to tell was in this book. While I write it down, try to image a dancer and the gamelan as background music, ruled by the céngkok pattern which dictates the pathet of the piece.

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Long time ago in East Java, there stood twin kingdoms, Jenggala and Kediri. The kingdoms were once united under Kahuripan Kingdom. To avoid war, the kingdoms decided to reunite through a marriage of the kings’ children. They were Raden Panji Asmarabangun and Dewi Sekartaji. One day, Jenggala kingdom was attacked by a large number of people. When the war broke out, Dewi Sekartaji ran away and hid out in a desolate village. There she met a wealthy widow called Nyai Intan. Nyai Intan had three beautiful daughters, Klenting Abang, Klenting Ijo, and Klenting Biru. Then, Nyai Intan took Dewi Sekartaji as her child and gave her a name, Klenting Kuning.

Klenting Kuning was more like a servant than a child. Nyai Intan and her daughters often scolded her and treated her badly. In the meantime in Jenggala, Panji Asmarabangun with his soldiers were looking for his wife, Dewi Sekartaji. Then, in one afternoon, a soldier came up to him and told him that he saw a girl that looked like the princess in a small village. In the next few days, Panji Asmarabangun and his soldiers decided to go to Dadapan, a village that not far from where Klenting Kuning lived. Under the name of Ande-Ande Lumut, Panji Asmarabangun stayed in a modest house of an old widow called Mbok Randa. He soon announced to the people that he was holding a contest to find a wife.

Klenting Kuning's three stepsisters heard the new and dressed up as beautiful as possible to win the prince’s heart. On the due day, the girls seemed ready. They put on their best dresses and jewelry. When they were wearing their make up, Klenting Kuning came up to them and complimented their look. Klenting Abang cruelly asked Klenting Kuning if she wanted to come but it was clear it wasn't a question out of genuine care since the other two sisters mocked Klenting Kuning.

Klenting Biru while pointing at a pile of their dirty clothes said Klenting Kuning to do the laundry. Klenting Kuning took the dirty clothes and went to a nearby river. She actually did not want to go to the contest because she loved her husband so much, Raden Panji Asmarabangun. Suddenly a crane approached her. It talked like a human and grabbed a whip in its feet. He told her to go to the contest in Dadapan where she would have met her husband.

Klenting Kuning rushed back home and dressed up for the contest. By that time, Nyai Intan and her three daughters reached the bank of Bengawan Solo River. But they could not get across a river that deep and wide, when suddenly a giant crab floated upon the stream. They did not know that the crab was Yuyu (1) Kangkang, Ande Ande Lumut’s henchman assigned to test the participants. Yuyu Kangkang would help them to across the river if they kissed him. The three sisters agreed and one by one they kissed the crab. After that, Yuyu Kangkang told them to get on his back and took them across.

Not long afterwards, Klenting Kuning showed up at the river bank. Yuyu Kangkang asked the girl if she needed help to cross the river, Klenting Kuning nodded and the crab spirit told her the condition to cross the river: the kiss. She refused saying that she already had a husband, then she lashed the stream with her whip, making the river water dwindle. The crab got scared and agreed to take her across the river even to Dadapan Village. Klenting Kuning thanked Yuyu Kangkang, while in Mbok Randa’s house, the ladies showed off their beauties in front of Ande Ande Lumut. But he did not seem impressed by any of them. Nyai Intan went forward and got on her knees before the prince and begged him to marry one of her daughters, but the prince refused and commanded the guards to lead the lady in yellow dresses. She was Klenting Kuning. Everyone was surprised especially Nyai Intan and her daughters. The mother scowled why he did chose the girl in yellow instead of one of her daughters. Ande Ande Lumut replied that they have been disgraced by kissing the giant crab, whereas the girl in yellow was clean.

Afterwards, Ande-Ande Lumut revealed to Klenting Kuning who he really was. So, they went back to the palace and lived happily ever after.

Footnotes:

(1) yuyu is the Indonesian word for the Gecarcinucoidea, a superfamily of freshwater crabs which can be found throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia and New Guinea, with a single genus found in Australia.

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I love how you can hear small fragment of chiptunes at 01:38 and 03:25 which add a nice reminder it's a videogame track with modern elements. I love hearing the Kendang (maybe Kendang Ketipung) and Gambang Kayu melodies which add a strong, driving rhythm to the musical composition, not mention the Bonang Barung, one of my favourite céngkok repertoire. The traditional musical base of this piece slightly reminds me of the Janger Banyuwangi, the folk art from Banyuwangi, East Java that combines Balinese dance, costumes and gamelan with Javanese folk tales. And it's not a coincidence that the story of Anda Anda Lumut is performed in this type of art. Other stories include Cindelaras, Minakjinggo Mati, Damar Wulan Ngenger, Damarwulan Ngarit, and Sri Tanjung.

I was gladly happy to see a musical piece that features traditional elements of one of the type of music and arts I love the most in a website that mainly favours modern compositions. I know this piece is modern but it incorporates very well the traditional elements that bring the listener to an orientalist journey into the South-East Asia. Thank you for making such green gem! Keep it up.

Seriously why doesn't this little gem have more votes and interactions after all this time? It's truly beautiful and enchanting. I discovered it thanks to the Creature Collab 2024 but every time I hear it in the game I feel mesmerized by the watery notes it has especially in the first part of the song. For example the part from 01:37 to 01:42 and how it gets repeated through the song, is one of my favourite musical feature. It gives me goosebumps. I also love at 01:52 the use of mixing to recreate the croaking sounds of the frogs chatting with each others.

I know have the visual imagery of frogs made of crystals, others with the shape of a frog but with crystals coming out the back, crystal-eyed frogs hopping from time to time and other amphibian-like creatures crawling in this cave.

03:41 is another part that gives me goosebumps with those dripping-like notes that truly give a watery, crystalline vibe to the musical imagery this composition has. In particular this song gives me a strong vibe of mystery and adventure but not something dangerous, but mystical. I can hear purplish to blue -violet sounds in this track. It's strongly evocative and soothing in its tunes.

The first 44 seconds are a really nice way to introduce the overall environment and mentally prepare the listener for what's about to come: a magical word of mystery and personal growth. Because this track evokes bluish tints in my mind, I find it highly calming. Blue is a colour linked to meditation, calm and thought. I like the presence of drums and high-hats that give dynamism, counterbalancing the more relaxed pace of the musical signature.

The frogs almost seem to talk to the listener/explore (whether it's the protagonist of the fictional story or the physical listener who is enjoying this track) as if they were saying "don't be afraid, keep going on and soon you will find the truth". These frogs sound so friendly. I like how the song has a bell shape in my mind when it comes to how it evolves during its track: we first have the introduction, then the development, the discovery, the adventure, the revelation, the reward and finally the ending part that concludes this cycle of adventure.

The track itself is a living book that opens before our eyes and ears. It's a beautiful, mystical, magical and fairy track that hypnotizes the mind and the heart of those who truly take time to listen to its words. Congrats, it's a masterpiece that deserves more recognition. Keep it up!

p.s. frogs rock! I love them^^

Ehh niente, oggi sono in vena di recensire le tue opere, sono troppo belle! E ancora una volta sento la pelle d'oca mentre ascolto i tuoi brani e non posso fare a meno di esprimere in parole quello che questi brani mi ispirano. Ma ora basta con le chiacchiere, concentriamoci sul brano in se. Stavo esplorando la tua playlist FD Singles e ho trovato questo brano, catturata dal titolo. Dato che amo molto il personaggio di Pico ho voluto subito controllare e vedere in quale modo superbo questo personaggio viene rappresentato e devo dire che sono rimasta colpita nell'intimo!

A parte la bellezza compositiva del brano che è caratterizzato da una melodica semplice ma molto efficace, poiché sento che si basa sul principio "mostra, non raccontare" ma applicato all'ambito musicale, quello che mi ha colpita nel profondo è il magnifico contrasto tra l'immaginario visivo della canzone e il soggetto della canzone stessa: Pico. Stiamo comunque parlando di un personaggio che, nella lore, ha vissuto un'esperienza traumatica che lo ha segnato nel profondo, gli ha lasciato una ferita che non si rimarginerà più a meno che non faccia un percorso terapeutico.

Amo molto quando ci sono questi contrasti tra l'opera presentata (in questo caso un brano musicale) e il tema centrale e gli eventuali leitmotif soggiacenti. C'è una decostruzione del personaggio Pico sotto forma di musica, c'è un concetto trasmesso in modo non convenzionale che rende quest'opera a tema Pico una delle mie preferite. Cosa assocerebbe una persona avvezza al mondo di Newgrounds, se sentisse il nome "Pico"? Di certo non temi pacati, tranquilli e tutto sommato rilassanti.

Penso che se dovessi associare questa musica ad un pezzo di arte visiva che più si avvicina a tutta la dimensione psichica di questo brano sarebbe indubbiamente questo:

https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/ramujin/pico-so-cool

Pico non è generalmente un personaggio associato a ritmi pacati e meditativi, almeno in apparenza e sulla superfice, perché è di solito associato alla velocità, all'azione, agli spari, il rosso è il suo colore (i capelli ma anche concettualmente nonostante abbia la maglia verde ma il verde si accompagna col rosso poiché ne è il suo complementare in accordo alla teoria dei colori). Sempre secondo la teoria dei colori, i colori complementari possono essere utilizzati per attirare l’attenzione su determinati elementi o messaggi; nel nostro caso la maglia attira l'attenzione sui capelli e ancora una volta quindi sul rosso, colore associato alla passione, all'umore sanguigno, alla vita ma anche al pericolo, all'impulsività (anche se Pico non mi sembra del tutto impulsivo anzi), all'attività (pensa anche all'oni rosso e all'oni blu) ecc. La combinazione del rosso e del verde in Pico, oltre a rimandare ad uno dei suoi leitmotiv (la mela), crea anche uno spazio vivace ed energico qual è appunto il personaggio di Pico.

Nell’ambito del design, ad esempio, il colore complementare rosso può essere utilizzato per creare un punto focale forte all’interno di un ambiente. Se si desidera attirare l’attenzione su un particolare oggetto o elemento di design, basta aggiungere una nota di colore verde a contrasto con il rosso circostante. Questo creerà un effetto visivo dinamico ed emozionante. Questo è quello che è Pico a livello concettuale: un mix di dinamismo ed eccitazione.

Si crea un forte contrasto visivo e questo si riflette nel personaggio di Pico: lui è un contrasto perché prima degli eventi di Pico's School era tranquillo, molto amato, popolare, amichevole, allegro e sempre pronto a partecipare in classe, dopo quegli eventi si è trasformato in una persona con PTSD, schizofrenia, insonnia, agitazione, turbamento e tendenze omicide. In Pico 2, Pico è caratterizzato da una personalità molto instabile. Durante il gioco, il giocatore può scegliere tra diverse opzioni di dialogo, con Pico che di solito lancia un insulto, un commento sarcastico o un complimento indiretto nelle sue risposte.

C'è un'altra parola che assocerei a questo brano: Sehnsucht. Questa canzone mi dà pensieri e sentimenti forti su tutti gli aspetti della vita che sono incompiuti o imperfetti, abbinati a un desiderio di esperienze alternative ideali. Penso che Pico sperimenti qualcosa del genere durante i periodi in cui è più pensieroso e questa canzone mostra questo lato nascosto di lui. Una parte più profonda della sua mente che anela a una realtà alternativa in cui non ha dovuto affrontare ciò che ha dovuto sperimentare. C'è un grado di desiderio violento e spesso doloroso per qualcosa, specialmente quando non si ha speranza di ottenere ciò che si desidera, o quando il raggiungimento è incerto, ancora lontano. Si pensi a tutto ciò che ha sperimentato Pico.

Questa canzone mi da un senso ambivalente di emozioni dolceamare, riflessione, ricchezza emotiva e simbolica, calma, melanconica spensieratezza, senso di incompletezza e imperfezione. Ora vorrei condividere un fatto molto interessante sugli studi effettuati sulla Sehnsucht: in uno studio interculturale condotto per determinare se il concetto tedesco di Sehnsucht potesse essere generalizzato agli Stati Uniti, quattro campioni di partecipanti americani e tedeschi "hanno valutato i loro 2 desideri di vita più importanti e hanno completato le misure di benessere e salute soggettivi". I partecipanti tedeschi e statunitensi non differivano nella loro capacità di identificare i desideri di vita o nell'intensità del loro Sehnsucht. Tuttavia, i partecipanti tedeschi lo associavano di più a stati irraggiungibili e utopici, mentre gli statunitensi hanno riferito che il concetto non era così importante per la vita di tutti i giorni, qui lo studio:

Scheibe, S.; Blanchard-Fields, F.; Wiest, M.; Freund, A. M. (2011). "Is longing only for Germans? A cross-cultural comparison of sehnsucht in Germany and the United States". Developmental Psychology. 47 (3): 603–618. doi:10.1037/a0021807. PMID 21219068

Avrei ancora molto da dire su quest'opera ma lentamente e inesorabilmente sto finendo i caratteri quindi terminerò dicendo che le campane e i rintocchi al centro nonché il pianoforte e le campane verso la fine sono gli elementi che adoro di più in assoluto nel creare quest'aura magica, quasi di un altro mondo. Complimenti!

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English translation:

Oooh well, today I'm in the mood to review your works, they are too beautiful! And once again I feel goosebumps while listening to your songs and I can't help but express in words what these songs inspire me. But now enough chit-chat, let's focus on the song itself. I was exploring your FD Singles playlist and I found this song, captured by the title. Since I love so much the character of Pico I immediately wanted to check and see in what superb way this character has been represented and I must say that I was deeply impressed!

Aside from the compositional beauty of the song which is characterized by a simple but very effective melody, as I feel it is based on the principle of "show, don't tell" but applied to the musical field, what struck me deeply is the magnificent contrast between the visual imagery of the song and the subject of the song itself: Pico. We are talking about a character who, in the lore, has lived a traumatic experience that has scarred him deeply, and it has left him with a wound that will never heal unless he undergoes therapy.

I really love when there are these contrasts between the work presented (in this case a piece of music) and the central theme and any underlying leitmotifs. There is a deconstruction of the Pico character in the form of music, there is a concept conveyed in an unconventional way that makes this Pico-themed work one of my favorites. What would a person accustomed to the world of Newgrounds associate with the name "Pico"? Certainly not calm, quiet and all things considered relaxing themes.

I think that if I had to associate this music with a piece of visual art that comes closest to the whole psychic dimension of this song it would undoubtedly be this one:

https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/ramujin/pico-so-cool

Pico is not generally a character associated with calm and meditative rhythms, at least on the surface level, because he is usually linked to speed, action, shooting sequences, and red is his color (his hair are red but he's conceptually red despite wearing a green shirt but green goes with red since it is its complementary colour). According to color theory, complementary colors can be used to draw attention to certain elements or messages; in our case the shirt draws attention to the hair and therefore to red, a color associated with passion, a fiery mood, life but also danger, impulsiveness (even if Pico does not seem entirely impulsive to me, on the contrary he can manage delicate situations i.e. Pico vs Bear), activity (think also of the red oni and the blue oni) etc. The combination of red and green in Pico, in addition to referring to one of his leitmotifs (the apple), also creates a lively and energetic space which is precisely the character of Pico.

In design, for example, the complementary color red can be used to create a strong focal point within a space. If you want to draw attention to a particular object or design element, simply add a pop of green to contrast with the surrounding red. This will create a dynamic and exciting visual effect. This is what Pico, from a conceptual point of view is: a mix of dynamism and agitation.

A strong visual contrast is created and this is reflected in the character of Pico: he is a contrast because before the events of Pico's School he was quiet, very loved, popular, friendly, cheerful and always ready to participate in class, after those events he turned into a person with PTSD, schizophrenia, insomnia, agitation, restlessness and homicidal tendencies. In Pico 2, Pico is characterized with a very unstable personality. Throughout the game, the player can choose from different dialogue options, with Pico usually throwing an insult, sarcastic comment, or backhanded compliment into his responses.

Another word I would associate with this song is: Sehnsucht. This song gives me strong thoughts and feelings about all facets of life that are unfinished or imperfect, paired with a yearning for ideal alternative experiences. I think that Pico experiences something like that during those times he is more pensive and this song shows this hidden side of him. A more deep part of his mind that yearns for an alternative reality where he didn't have to face what he had to experience. There is a degree of a violent and often painful longing for something, especially when one has no hope of attaining what is desired, or when attainment is uncertain, still distant. Think about all Pico experienced.

This song gives me an ambivalent sense of bittersweet emotions, reflection, emotional and symbolic richness, calm, melancholic carefreeness, a sense of incompleteness and imperfection. Now I would like to share a very interesting fact about the studies done on Sehnsucht: in a cross-cultural study conducted to determine whether the German concept of Sehnsucht could be generalized to the United States, four samples of American and German participants “rated their 2 most important life longings and completed measures of subjective well-being and health.” German and American participants did not differ in their ability to identify life longings or the intensity of their Sehnsucht. However, German participants associated it more with unattainable, utopian states while Americans reported the concept as not as important to everyday life, here the study:

Scheibe, S.; Blanchard-Fields, F.; Wiest, M.; Freund, A. M. (2011). "Is longing only for Germans? A cross-cultural comparison of sehnsucht in Germany and the United States". Developmental Psychology. 47 (3): 603–618. doi:10.1037/a0021807. PMID 21219068

I have much more to say about this work but I am slowly running out of characters so I will end by saying that the bells/chimes in the middle as well as the piano/bells towards the end are the elements that I love the most in creating this magical, almost otherworldly atmosphere. Kudos!

Wooahh, this turned out epically! You did a great job with the rendering and the adaptation in full Newgrounds style where usually more characters are inserted in a dynamic and action context. I prefer much more this promo than the original you took inspiration from, because the sharpness of the lineart of each character makes everything very beautiful to look at and the characters are more noticeable. I like that the overall color tone of both the characters and the background is not excessively vibrant because it makes everything much more balanced in terms of lights and shadows as well as volumetric shapes of the individual subjects.

Every single character is very well done and characterized not only in style but also in what they do, so you can easily identify them. I realize of course that many NG characters like Charlie the Unicorn or Scrotum could not be included due to the spatial constraint, but it is nice to see Alloy a character, in my opinion, who deserves much more in terms of recognition so I am happy to see him in the promo. In terms of execution I like how each individual character has dynamic poses that match the character themselves. I especially like the fluidity of the poses in Alien Hominid, Dad, Fancy Pants, Salad Fingers, Henry Stickmin etc. The light effect behind Captain came out really well along with the left part of the background where a play of light and shadow makes it all pleasant to look at. I like the overall cell shading, it gives a nice cartoonish feel, but I also really like the soft shading on Bitey's face. It really does a good job of getting the fur effect right.

I also love the use of the font from the original promo for the collab title and of course I love the giant Angry Faic watching everything. I like the personalized touch he has with that look. Still in terms of details, I like the thickness of the swords (Green Knight and Hank) and the highlight on the surface renders the metallic texture well.

But if there is one thing I loved looking at the work was noticing the trigger discipline in Pico. I noticed that the index finger is not on the trigger. I know it seems like a silly thing to most, but for me who loves guns, seeing this element always makes me very happy because in reality it is important to avoid, even at the level of artistic works, spreading errors or false beliefs. When holding a gun the index finger must always be kept away from the trigger if you do not want to shoot. Considering that Pico is an expert shooter I doubt that he makes shoddy errors by keeping the index finger on the trigger if he does not want to shoot.

The collab seems very nice and interesting and I would have even participated if it weren't for the fact that I don't know how to animate XD. I don't even know if I want to try with Krita, lol. Good luck to everyone who participates though, I bet it'll be awesome. Great job offering to do the promo artwork, it does the collab justice. Congrats!

Time to give a nice review on this piece. I gave it 5 stars because I liked that you wanted to experiment something completely new to you and out of your comfort zone. Pixel art can be challenging and, in my opinion, even more difficult than digital art because principles are different despite being both digital art. Pixel art is a sub-type of digital art that employs only pixels as building blocks, where each pixel serves as an important component of the overall image. The overall aesthetic of pixel art is intentionally reminiscent of the early days of computer games, where the screen was visibly divided in piles due to technology limitations.

Some of the common styles we see in pixel are are isometric pixel art, where the X, Y and Z axis are shown at equal angles, and is often used for video game graphics. I don't know if you use a mouse or not, if so I commend you, if not I commend you nonetheless because this type of art doesn't give you the same amount of control that other digital art styles may give you. The software can be different from the digital program you usually use, but it can be incorporated in some such as Krita, which is completely free and open-source. In terms of websites where you can create pixel art I may suggest this:

https://www.pixilart.com/draw

I liked how it turned out despite its very simple shape, colour tones and overall composition. I've seen pixel art works made by people who barely started it and the results weren't that nice, but this one turned out nicely. And it's good that you began with something simple first because you gain confidence at making something new and unusual but ended up good enough to boost your self-esteem, second always start with simple steps. I am not a pixel artist expert, quite the opposite, but I started with simple pieces, watched some tutorials and experimented by myself. This year I started with it more often compared to the last year and I love how rewarding is the feeling of making something nice-looking in its simplicity.

All you really need to make pixel art are the following tools (so make sure your program of choice has them):

Pencil: your basic drawing tool that, by default, places one pixel
Eraser: erases or removes pixels that you have drawn
Eyedropper: copies the color of the pixel you select for you to reuse
Bucket: fills an empty area with one solid color

Other useful tools include selection, line, recolor, and rotation tools. They aren't absolutely necessary, as you can accomplish the same effects using the tools listed above. As for the size of the canvas, multiples of eight in powers of two are most common (e.g. 8×8, 16×16, 32×32, etc.) because old computers could not display them properly otherwise. I strongly recommend starting small because it can help you quickly learn the basics. After all, pixel art came about because artists wanted to make the most out of every pixel and color used, as their hardware could only handle so many.

You're forced to get creative when you have to work within limitations. Focus on getting good at maximizing the space of a tiny sprite. After that, you can then level up to bigger sizes to squeeze even more detail in there. And I see you started with the right attitude^^

This video talks about size canvas in Pixel art if you want to take a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad-3dn2qUUs

And if you want to put a character in a scene, then you're going to have to think about canvas size too. A good way to go about this is to consider the ratio between your sprite and the rest of the screen. How big or small do you want your character to be in comparison to the world they're in? Game developers, it's worth knowing that a majority of monitors these days have an aspect ratio of 16:9. This means that for every 16 pixels in width, there are nine pixels in height.
Whatever resolution you ultimately decide on, you typically would work in a much smaller canvas size, then scale up to that bigger resolution when you're finished.

At the same time, you want to resize by whole numbers when scaling your pixel art, or else things might look a little wonky. It's important to make sure that your math checks out before you start creating pixel art. Let's say you wanted to achieve the standard resolution of 1080p. You could work on a 384×216 canvas, and then scale up 500 percent larger. Scaling should also be the last thing you do. You don't want to scale upward, and then continue drawing with your one-pixel pencil tool. That will leave you with different pixel ratios, which never looks good.

Some tips I may give you for the spriting process are:

1) start with a rough sketch, take a look at my very first Pixel art piece I made last year:

https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/shangxian/american-crow-pixelday-2024

It doesn't need to be perfect and this stage will give you the idea and its composition on the canvas.

2) clean up the lineart

Single pixels, or a group of pixels that break up the consistency of a line, are called "jaggies." Jaggies are exactly what we're trying to avoid. I am glad to see there are not jaggies here and you probably removed them when making the lineart. Oftentimes, the problem is simply that a segment of the line is too long or too short, creating an awkward jump. You want to use a uniform length of pixels for a smooth-looking transition on a curve. Don't surround a row of pixels with bigger ones.

It's impossible to avoid jaggies altogether (unless your artwork consists only of basic shapes), but you want to try and keep them at a minimum.

3) colour

It's time to grab your bucket tool and fill in your sprite's line art with colors. An alternative I tend to do during this phase is making an underlying layer beneath the lineart layer because it gives me more control when I then want to add shades and highlights, and other details but it's up to you and now that you are in the initial learning curve of Pixel art, just stick to the bucket tool.

Normally, you want to limit yourself to a color palette. Back in the day, sprite size often dictated how many colors were on the palette as well. If a sprite was 16×16, that meant the artist had 16 colors to work with. Thankfully, technology has advanced since, and we're no longer limited to this rule. The best palettes have varying hues that complement each other, different saturation values, and a mix of light and dark. Unless you already know how to use color theory properly, putting your own palette together can be tricky. I may suggest you this video about colour palettes in Pixel art:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkrK65FPmDI

And this brings up the only element I feel to critique in this piece: I notice the sky has different hues but the differences are not so visible enough to fully appreciate the sky's depth. It looks a bit homogenous, but it's understandable being your very first pixel piece. Asides from this I love the adventurous spirit in this work, hence my highest vote!

4) add details, shadows and highlights

This is the part I love the most about Pixel art, more than in digital art and traditional art, because here you are truly giving life to your work, you are sculpting it with colours and applying colour theory to make it more lively and cohesive.

Pixel art differs from digital drawing because of the constraints brought about by its grid-like nature. If you keep this way you will become a great pixel artist, keep it up!

Hello I've seen your post in the Review Request Club and I would like to share my thoughts about this piece. Overall I like it because it has a well-defined simple design and I like how the left hand turned out considering they are one of the most difficult parts to draw, I like the face and those big eyes that give her unique traits. The things that I feel to point out though, and they are the reasons why I gave 3 stars and not 3.5 stars or even higher, are the running pose and perspective coming along with it, colours, lack of shading and the photo quality.

-the pose:

The pose isn't completely stiff and doesn't feel totally rigid because the legs and inclination of the head give a subtle sense of movement and overall it's clear that she's is running. But what feels a bit off is the lack of actual building a structure. The very first step to make is looking at references, this is an example of photos of running women:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=running+woman&iax=images&ia=images

Before starting immediately to draw and copy from the reference, take a look and watch them carefully, notice the overall vibe they give, the feel they have and then start with setting up a skeletal structure. In this video principles of structure are touched in a very good manner so I suggest you to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T_-DiAzYBc

When I want to draw something that is more than a mere sketch or a free hand drawing, I first begin with dividing my subject into a combination of geometric shapes, like I wanted to do with your own drawing to show better what I meant:

https://imgbox.com/u8DWP5Hh

You can notice how I de-constructed your character in these more simple shapes, I suggest you to do the same in order to see another important element of the structuring: lines of motions.
The red arrows you see in the link I posted are the the “line of force” or “line of motion”. What are they? They are a fundamental concept in art and animation. It’s a dynamic and imaginary line that helps convey a subject’s overall movement, energy, and direction, typically a character or object within a composition. So as tip I may suggest you to start by drawing a line of action and then try to fit the subject into it. If you start your drawing by the head, creating poses that don’t look stiff will be harder. If you practice this enough times, it will eventually become second nature.

This is then how I built the lineart basing on the initial sketch I previously made and the reference image in order to stay faithful to your design as much as possible:

https://imgbox.com/es9DubUg

Once again you can see the red lines of motions to give me a rough idea of the movements of the hair since from your draw they look static because movements are barely perceptible. Since she is running some of her hair move, I opted for a more dynamic running pose because I image her running from something/someone or running towards something/someone, meaning there is action in the scene.

-perspective:

Perspective here is strongly linked to the pose. Because the character lacks of a skeletal structure (see the first link of the sketch I made for reference) perspective gets affected too and looks wonky. In the example draw the geometric shapes helped me to make the perspective more slanted, giving her a more dynamic vibe and giving a sense of action.

-colours

Another element that doesn't give enough justice to the innate lively nature of this character is the colour. The basic colours can be noticed but as another user noticed the shirt might be of a different colour. I for example wanted to play with the complementary colour of the girl's skin both for the shirt and short pants:

https://imgbox.com/W1OexKM7

You can also see the colour palette, feel free to change it the way you like it. Playing with complementary colours can help to make the character stand out very nicely. I don't mind at all more dull colours but it shall be done with criteria in order to avoid a too much homogenous character from the colour point of view. I may suggest you these two videos about colours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeI6Wqn4I78

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sKGVQK-sOU

Take your time to watch them and experiment with them. Mine are just suggestions and I don't have any truth.

-shading

Shading helps immensely in bringing a subject to life and give a more realistic tone to the draw even in case of simple drawings like this one. Choose always a light source first, it means where you want the light to hit the character: in front, behind, left, right, etc.

https://imgbox.com/dm9mCkoI

This is what I meant by light source. I sometimes draw it in the pre-shading/highlight phase to guide me. You can notice how the character looks more attuned with the surrounding environment even in the case of a white background. In future, once you grasp more concepts of shading and highlights you can play with them to create different effects and vibes such as in this case where I used Color Red blending mode in Krita to give a more different vibe to the character who's running:

https://imgbox.com/GOa1tiuS

With this blending mode (but you can replicate the same with traditional colour) now she has a more unsettling vibe around her because she looks like she's running from something or someone, maybe she even accomplished her mission and she's running away from it, from a potential danger represented by the red shading. You can speak a lot with shading and blending modes (in case you want to use a digital program, Krita is free btw).

-photo quality

Photo quality despite it shows clearly the character and makes sure main details can be appreciated, I notice that lighting is a bit low and doesn't give justice to her, by making her stand out. I strongly advise reading this guide about photographing your art:

https://sourcherryjack.newgrounds.com/news/post/1317182

Besides all these factors, as I said, I like this character, she looks lovely and interesting because of mammalian traits (horns and humanoid figure) and reptilian ones (scaly skin if I have looked correctly at her body, especially the tail) plus she seems a fighting character judging by the knife and scars on her legs and right arm (elements along with scales that I didn't include in my version simply because I wanted to focus on the elements I pointed out). If you keep practicing and having fun you will build your skills in no time and I already see the potential for a good artist. Keep it up!