Hey guys, you may or may not have heard of "Perler beads" before, but in case you haven't then you really ought to check out these little pixel creations that my wife and I put together today. I spent about three hours or so seperating the various beads and the majority of these creations were put together by her...along with some pixel planning from yours truly :) We're going to start selling them on Etsy and through my online store, so if there are any 8-bit characters or items or pixel things you'd like to see there let me know :) We did one 16-bit character but due to the color limitations of Perler (at least for what's available to us now) it was the only one. Here they are so far:Bomberman (From Bomberman 2 for the NES). This one fell apart the first part we made it so we had to re-make him. You can see him still on the peg board and he's currently being ironed right now :) Of course I had to do a Goomba...c'mon, like you didn't see that coming ^_^Cecil the main character from Final Fantasy IV ... The only 16 bit one we did so far and definitely the most difficult (all of those shades of blue took me over an hour to sort out from the bucket of pearls). This one is also in the process of being ironed right now =)And last but not least, the White mage from Final Fantasy 1 Doing battle with Link. I think they're representing different sides of bookshelves honestly. The white mage is representing the Wii side and seems to be winning at the moment. Who do you think'll win?
*Drools* My sister has some of these beads. Might have to see what I can make with them. But overall they are great. I could make some and take them up to MGC this year and try selling them there. Also what did you use to deside for the pixals? Please share it with the rest of us.
This is pretty cool, and you are proving that you are a man of many, many talents. Please continue to post your entire army of perler pixel art beings.
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I'm going through and trying to think of what to do next. I plan to make some into magnets and keychains and the like, but most will just be individual characters for now. Through my online store I'll take custom orders if people like =) They're very time-consuming but a lot of fun. I'm going to have to order more beads though...I went through a LOT already haha.
Actually, that part's not hard really at all. Just find random screenshots of games (that are true to size in a pixel-to-pixel ratio) or ripped sprite graphics online. Then I take that image into Photoshop and cut it down to the proper proportions and apply a grid-overlay to the image. For most NES games the sprites are 16x16 which sounds small but when you think about it ... that's 256 perler beads! Then when you go to SNES or Final Fantasies you have things like 24x16 or 32x24 and such and it gets crazy. Before you know it you're using thousands of beads for one pixel art creation :)Good luck though with making your own if you want to try. It's not hard really but it takes a lot more time and effort than it looks ^_^ I plan to sell them for like $3 or $4 as that seems to be the going prices for them. Let me know if there's any character in particular you'd be interested in! I'm going to order like 30,000 beads or something ridiculous :)
These are very cool. You are quite the gaming goru.
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Is that like a Goomba Guru ^_^ In that case, thank you!
Totally misread the topic, thought you did pixel art on the computer (amateur at this). But these are way cooler. ^__^
I love the white mage vs link, how are they staying together?
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Found instructions
Working on a flat surface, create your design by placing beads one by one on a Perler pegboard. Follow our patterns or be creative. Adult: Preheat a dry household iron to the medium setting. When carrying the bead design to the iron, be careful not to tip or bump the beads from the pegboard! Cover the beads with the ironing paper. Keeping the iron level, gently iron the beads in a circular motion for about 10 seconds to fuse the beads evenly. Once the design is cool, peel off the ironing paper. Lift your design from the reusable pegboard and flip the design over onto your ironing surface. Cover it with the ironing paper and iron the other side to fuse it evenly.
Check out thread for graphic requests: Thread
The ironing is actually quite difficult at first. We messed up the first three or four actually because at first we were applying too much pressure (or too little) and later we were using too much heat or not enough. Finally I think we figured it out, and we were able to re-create the ones we messed up thankfully. Also, if you let the wax paper sit too long it permanently can stick to the back of the beads which sucks. It really is a type of art form that needs practice. I intend to be doing a lot of these though :) Gotta pay for the new SUV I'm buying my wife tomorrow somehow haha.Thanks for posting the instructions :) If it sounds like a lot of work (cuz it is) be sure to remember me and my humbly little store ^_^
Hey guys, just in case you were interested in seeing my full gallery (I'll add them as I finish them) I will be adding them to my etsy account located here:http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5024227
I am new to the site there (despite having been a member about a year) so it may take me a few days to get things up but so far I've listed the Bomberman for sale and will be adding 10-20 other designs this week. If you have any characters you'd like, let me know :) Thanks again!
I'm not sure about anyone else, but have you considered Mario, Sonic, Samus, or Koopa? Those were my favorite characters back in the days. And they are kind of mainstream so maybe others may like them too. ^__^
Do you mean the Koopa turtles or The King Koopa....Bowser? :) Oh and which Mario? Mario from the Super Mario Bros, 2, 3? Just curious! I really would like to design things that people are interested in. I am going to try to go as mainstream as possible but stay original as well :) I'm definitely doing the whole Mario cast and I've considered Sonic too of course. Any other suggestions let me know, thanks again pcktlnt. By the way what does pcklnt mean anyway? I always see it and think of "picking lint" which isn't the most attractive thing ^_^ Fill me in please!
LOL, your idea for my name is close, but actually it is "pocket lint" with all the vowels and space gone "p-ck-t-l-nt" = pcktlnt.
Yea, I was referring to Bowser ^__^, Princess Peach? would be interesting. Maybe others can give you opinions on the mushrooms and super star, but I've seen those made before.
If you ever create a dragon, let me know. I love them. That's kind of one reason I'm reluctant to change my Goozex avatar because to me, it looks like a dorky dragon that gets picked on by other dragons. *shrugs* ^__^
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Ooh other ideas, from Final Fantasy - the Cactaur (cactus thingy), Moogles, Black Mage, Cloud (=P)
Dang, this project sounds fun now. Lol, but uh, I won't since I'm not talented with art stuff.