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!

Animation is very simple since it is a moss bouncing up and down on a white screen. I assume this is more like a test animation than an animation per se. I wonder which program did you use, just curious nothing more. The reason why I gave 2.5 is mainly due to the fact the moss is coloured and stands out nicely the white background. Maybe a shading would have made it even more appealing to the eye. If it wasn't coloured my vote would have been 2.00 and judging by the date you published it you reached a blammability level since at that time movies and games got blammed with a score inferior to 1.75. Now the the blam threshold has been raised from < 1.75 to < 2.00, meaning that now animations like this are more likely to be blammed.

If you want some tips about how to avoid future blams this old but good article points out some key points: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/65873#bbspost957090_post_text

Sadly besides the bouncing effect and the sound of moss which add a bit of detail, there is no much to say since there is no plot or story that allows me to give more contribution to this review. But fear not I know you are exploring this fascinating yet intimidating world that is animation, so I give you this playlist about animation tutorials made by NG users, it's very useful for people like you who want to explore animation: https://www.newgrounds.com/wiki/creator-resources/tutorials/animation-tutorials

As tips I may give you here some:

-remember to upload the highest quality version you can within the website upload limits specified on the upload form, and if you need to compress your work, NG suggests HandBrake: https://handbrake.fr/

You can select the 1080p Fast preset, then set quality to 18 (the lower the better but 18 is considered pretty lossless) and VerySlow for encoding speed, if you have the time.

Here the screenshot made by Tom Fulp that illustrates what I said: https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/6b249fb16b5d5019e7b77b9c566b93c6

-if you are setting a bitrate for your work, NG suggests 40-50 Mbps for 3840 x 2160, 10-20 Mbps for 1920 x 1080 and 5-10 Mbps for 1280 x 720. Adjust and review your results.

-as for audio it's best recommended lossless audio like FLAC or ALAC, but if you encode your audio, always NG suggests the AAC codec which is default in HandBrake, and a 192 kbps bit rate for the best quality.

If you need 2D animation software there are some free options available such as:

-Krita
-OpenToonz
-Wick Editor
-Synfig

These are the ones I know sadly. Of course there are forum threads about animation so in case you want to learn more feel free to explore them as well. There is the potential to make interesting animations so don't feel discouraged by my review or initial difficulties in the learning curve of animation. Keep it up.

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UPDATE review:

ooooh, that's interesting, I didn't know you used Flip a clip as software, nice job since most Flip a Clip animations look a bit rigid and wonky, this one is very fluid and natural compared to those I've seen across the site. Nice job.

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

A nice, little, short, fun clicker game that despite the simple graphic and artstyle is enjoyable even by listening to the music alone. The music pieces are truly awesome especially "Speeding Rampage", as someone who loves heavy metal this was a nice gem to add to the game. The game is pretty simple and straightforward both in terms of gameplay and achievements except for the last one that initially gave me some time to reflect. I was even using math to try to guess what I missed when clicking but then I had this intuition. So I share here how to get it since, as the time I am writing this only 38 people got it (if we exclude me who just achieved it now):

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To get the last achievement that is not about clicking the button, just start the game and DO NOT skip the intro. After you start the game an intro sequence starts but at the same time the game funnily tricks you with the ability to already skip it to immediately start the game. Well, don't click anything and just wait for the intro to finish. It's not even that long, just wait and after a while the 25 worth points achievement unlocks. I hope this helps those who are struggling.

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Lovely game, keep it up!

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!

Un altro pezzo straordinario che combina sonorità eteree con note molto acquatiche che mi rimandano alla mente immagini di grotte, quali la Grotta Azzurra, dove rifugiarsi per rinfrescare l'accaldato spirito dopo i tormenti del vivere quotidiano. Bella la foto messa nella descrizione, quella mi sembra proprio la Galassia di Andromeda a giudicare dalle caratteristiche generali.

Il suono è solenne e maestoso al tempo stesso, e le corde musicali utilizzate danno il senso di un ambiente acquatico, rilassante e che ti trascina in un'altra dimensione facendo addormentare serenamente lo spirito. Dai tag ho notato la parola "malinconico" compare nella descrizione del testo. Non è un senso triste e negativo di melanconia quello che trasmette il brano, anzi quello che da è uno stato meditativo e contemplativo a tratti quasi accidioso ma nel senso originario a cui gli antichi greci davano, ossia uno stato inerte senza dolore o preoccupazione.

Adoro moltissimo il pezzo a 02:28 e a 02:38, le note danno un non so che di vibrante nel sottotono apparentemente tranquillo di un'atmosfera calma e distesa. Amo tutto il pezzo ma i due che ho citato sono le parti che amo di più. C'è un qualcosa di magico e incantato in un pezzo che trovo molto positivo nel suo immaginario visivo trasmetto dalle note semplici ma profonde nel creare una vibrazione forte nell'animo. Mi piace poi come questa sequenza sonora si ripeta a 03:24 e 03:35 nella chiusura del brano musicale anche se poi ascoltando attentamente il brano le parti si ripetono a intervalli regolari di cui la prima a 00:34 e poi a 00:45 e così via durante tutta l'intera composizione.

Ottimo lavoro come sempre, è un incanto ascoltare queste gemme che rendono non solo il Portal musical veramente molto bello ma anche tutto Newgrounds. I tuoi lavori sono un valore aggiunto al sito!

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English translation:

Another extraordinary piece that combines ethereal sounds with very aquatic notes that remind me of images of caves, such as the Blue Grotto, where you can take refuge to refresh your heated spirit after the torments of everyday life. The photo in the description is beautiful, that one seems to me to be the Andromeda Galaxy judging by the general features.

The sound is solemn and majestic at the same time, and the musical strings used give the sense of an aquatic, relaxing environment that drags you into another dimension, making your spirit fall asleep peacefully. From the tags I noticed the word "melancholic" appears in the description of the text. It is not a sad and negative sense of melancholy that the song transmits, rather what it gives is a meditative and contemplative state that is at times almost accedic-like, but in the original sense that the ancient Greeks gave it, that is, an inert state without pain or care.

I really love the piece at 02:28 and 02:38, the notes give a certain vibrancy in the apparently calm undertone of a carefree and relaxed atmosphere. I love the whole piece but the two I mentioned are the parts I love the most. There is something magical and enchanted in a piece that I find very positive in its visual imagery transmitted by the simple but deep notes which creates a strong resonance in the soul. I also like how this sound sequence is repeated at 03:24 and 03:35 in the outro even if then listening carefully to the piece the parts repeat at regular intervals of which the first at 00:34 and then at 00:45, and so on during the whole composition.

Great work as always, it's a delight to listen to these gems that make not only the Audio Portal really beautiful but also all of Newgrounds. Your works are an added value to the site!

Wow! Ho scoperto questo bellissimo pezzo grazie all'intervista che hai fatto con il grande @Aalasteir e che sto leggendo in questo momento. Wow, sono davvero senza parole per la bellezza di questo pezzo, che è entrato nella mia personale, mentale top 10 delle migliori canzoni di NG. Mi chiedo ancora perché non abbia ancora un Frontpage, considerando la bellezza ipnotizzante di un sentimento triste e malinconico che parla ai nostri cuori. Inoltre adoro la musica Ambient, in particolare la Dark Ambient, perché è uno di quei generi che mi fa davvero creare disegni dalla musica. È incantevole come il rumore di fondo si unisca agli accordi in una danza pentita ma emotivamente distaccata.

Ma questa canzone potrebbe anche rappresentare i resti di un Universo morente pronto a essere inghiottito dalla morte termodinamica. Vedo gli ultimi buchi neri, come dei giganti che assistono alla morte inevitabile, evaporare nella radiazione di Hawking (la radiazione del corpo nero rilasciata all'esterno dell'orizzonte degli eventi di un buco nero a causa di effetti quantistici). La radiazione di Hawking ridurrebbe la massa e l'energia rotazionale dei buchi neri e di conseguenza causerebbe l'evaporazione del buco nero. Per questo motivo, i buchi neri che non guadagnano massa attraverso altri mezzi dovrebbero restringersi e alla fine scomparire. Per tutti tranne i buchi neri più piccoli, ciò avviene estremamente lentamente. La temperatura della radiazione, chiamata temperatura di Hawking, è inversamente proporzionale alla massa del buco nero, quindi si prevede che i micro buchi neri siano emettitori di radiazioni più grandi rispetto ai buchi neri più grandi e dovrebbero dissiparsi più velocemente in base alla loro massa. Di conseguenza, se esistono piccoli buchi neri, come consentito dall'ipotesi dei buchi neri primordiali, dovrebbero perdere massa più rapidamente mentre si restringono, portando a un cataclisma finale di sola radiazione ad alta energia.

Fun fact: Erik Satie è riconosciuto come un importante precursore della musica ambient moderna.

Nonostante l'apparente mancanza di composizione, ritmo e/o melodia strutturata, la musica ambient è caratterizzata da strati e toni testuali che costruiscono la composizione, un diverso tipo di composizione; una composizione emotiva che ci parla e mostra il legame tra microcosmo e macrocosmo sotto forma di immagini visive perché in questo pezzo, ad esempio, possiamo vedere sia la nostra dimensione interiore sotto gli echi della perdita di tutto sia la sfera più grande e universale di un universo morente.

Nonostante tutto questo, tendo a vedere il sentimento della perdita più sotto la sfera universale che sotto la mia sfera personale. In realtà è un pezzo molto calmante, necessario per anime come la nostra, turbate dal mondo mondano. Una volta ho letto nella sezione commenti di YT di un video di Cryo Chambers un bellissimo commento che diceva più o meno: "l'arte disturberà i calmi e calmerà i turbati"

Penso che la musica ambient sia il genere che meglio si adatta a questo obiettivo e in questo momento questo brano mi calma davvero molto in un profondo senso di perdita malinconica e pensieri solitari che vagano nella mia mente come il vento in una notte nel deserto. La musica può sembrare semplice nella composizione, ma è in realtà profondamente complessa sotto la lente emotiva e le sue varie trame stratificate ci trasmettono una sensazione primordiale di introspezione. Il fatto che tu sia stato esposto a diversi generi che vanno dalla musica classica, jazz, soul, new age, rock alternativo, tra gli altri è ben incapsulato da questo lavoro, posso dirtelo.

La musica ambient si nutre di generi diversi e questo è uno degli aspetti che la rendono davvero bella ai miei occhi e alle mie orecchie. Continuo ad avere la pelle d'oca ascoltando questa perla che potrebbe essere una traccia con un film di fantascienza. Continua così!

Un'ultima cosa che quella canzone mi ricorda molto: memento mori. Questa canzone è un promemoria dell'inarrestabile marcia del tempo che ci sta lentamente guidando tutti verso l'inevitabile morte termodinamica. Nonostante tutto non mi sento turbata.

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English translation:

Wow! I discovered this beautiful piece thanks to the interview you had with the great @Aalasteir and that I am reading right now. Wow, I am truly speechless by the beauty of this piece, that has entered in my personal, mental top 10 list of best NG songs. I still wonder why it hasn't been frontpaged yet considering the mesmerizing beauty of a sad, melancholic feeling that is speaking to our hearts. Plus I adore Ambient music, especially Dark Ambient music, because it it's one of those genres that truly makes me create things out of music. It's enchanting how the background noise comes along in a remorseful yet emotionally detached dance with the chords.

But this song could also be the remnants of a dying Universe ready to be engulfed by the thermodynamic death. I can see last black holes, liked giants who witness the inevitable death, evaporating into the Hawking radiation (the black body radiation released outside a black hole's event horizon due to quantum effects ). Hawking radiation would reduce the mass and rotational energy of black holes and consequently cause black hole evaporation. Because of this, black holes that do not gain mass through other means are expected to shrink and ultimately vanish. For all except the smallest black holes, this happens extremely slowly. The radiation temperature, called Hawking temperature, is inversely proportional to the black hole's mass, so micro black holes are predicted to be larger emitters of radiation than larger black holes and should dissipate faster per their mass. Consequently, if small black holes exist, as permitted by the hypothesis of primordial black holes, they ought to lose mass more rapidly as they shrink, leading to a final cataclysm of high energy radiation alone.

Fun fact: Erik Satie is acknowledged as an important precursor to modern ambient music.

Despite the apparent lack of composition, beat, and/or structured melody, Ambient music is characterized by textural layers and tones that build the composition, a different type of composition; an emotional composition that speaks to us and shows the link between microcosm and macrocosm in the shape of visual imagery because in this piece, for example, we can both see our inner dimension under the echoes of losing everything and the bigger, universal sphere of a dying Universe.

Despite all of this, I tend to see the sentiment of loss more under the universal sphere rather than mine. It's actually a very calming piece, necessary for souls like ours, disturbed by the mundane world. I once read under the YT comment section of a video of Cryo Chambers a beautiful comment that roughly said: "art shall disturb the calm ones, and calm the disturbed ones"

I think Ambient music is the genre that best suits this goal and right now this piece truly calms me a lot in a deep sense of melancholic loss and solitary thoughts that roam in my mind like the wind of a desert night. The music may sound simple in composition, but it's actually deeply complex under the emotional lens and its varied layered textures that bring us a primordial feeling of introspection. The fact that you were exposed to different genres ranging from classical music, jazz, soul, new age, alternative rock, amongst others is well encapsulated by this work, I can tell you.

Ambient music feeds on different genres and this is one of the aspects that make it truly beautiful to my eyes and ears. I keep having goosebumps listening to this gem which could be a track featuring a sci-fi movie. Keep it up!

One last thing that song strongly reminds me of: memento mori. This song is a reminder of the unstoppable marching of time that is slowly guiding us all towards the inevitable thermodynamic death. Despite everything, I don't feel disturbed.

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!