Happy Sunday to you all!
Our second contestant in our interviewing game show shall be the mighty

This deviant has impressive skills that gradient every level of pixel art!

Its a pleasure to have this questioneer returned to display proudly to you all. Please read, fav, and enjoy learning about this amazing pixel artist!


Tell us about your user name, Does it have special meaning for you? Is there a story behind the name?

I was young and tipsy one day and saw a pack of skittles, that, coupled with my old alias "Setzer" being attributed to a video-game character led me to change my name. That led to a lot of confusion so I'm back to using "setz" in most places, now, mostly because people ask me what the hell "Skiffles" is supposed to mean.
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What drew you (pun intended) to DA? How did you hear about us?

Well it was so long ago I really don't remember, but after checking my watch list, and seeing the first one was Oddensesantly, I'd have to guess she introduced me to this place.
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Have you always been artistically inclined?

I've always been interested in art, and always felt I've been getting better the more I practice.
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Where are you from? Have you traveled much from your home town?

I'm from Pittsburgh, I've been out of town a few times but not much. The only reason I'd really leave now is to see my girlfriend down in Maryland.
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Are you Male or Female? Many of us may already know this, but some of us are quite unsure! Perhaps were just too
amazed by your skills to pay attention.

Oh I'm a guy 90% of the time.
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Did you go to school/college for the artistic medium of your choice? Where did you choose to go? Are you self taught?

I'd have to say I'm self-taught. I took an art class in my first year of high-school but hated it, and other than that, just a ceramics class. I did go to college, but that wasn't for anything related to the arts.
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Lets learn more about the Pixeled side of you, What got you into pixel art?

MSPaint on windows 3.1, I'm not really sure what got me into it, but its something I've been doing as long as I can remember.
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What is your art program of choice?

Cosmigo Pro Motion, one of the few computer programs I feel are worth throwing money at. I just wish it had a Linux port: running it through wine feels odd at times.
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Do you find new projects challenging, frustrating or relaxing?

I've never really thought of new projects as any of those, when I take on a new project, I enjoy every bit of it, I love making pixel art.
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What helps you focus when your pixeling? Do you listen to music? Snack on sweets? Chat with friends?

I usually have a cigarette, accompanied with some chip-tunes from 8/16-bit games. Other than that I'll just pretty much work on the image until I consider it done.
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Do you use a thumbnail when you pixel, or do you zoom in and out to preview your work? How far in do you zoom? Does it vary from piece to piece or detail to detail?

I always have a 1x view thumbnail visible while drawing. I typically zoom in 10x~16x, but it really depends on what I'm working on at the moment. Every now and then, I'll upload the image and take a look at it in a web browser, for some reason this helps me spot errors I miss in the preview, I guess because I see it in a different context.
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As a pixel artist, where do you plan to apply the experience you have gained. For example, are you considering a possible future career in pixel art?

I've tried working with other people in games before but it just doesn't seem to be working out for me. I'm not really considering a career in pixel art at all. Although I don't think I'd turn down small projects, assuming I find them interesting. I make pixel art because I enjoy doing it, not because I want money for doing it.
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Everyone has a funny story when it comes to doing something they love. Tell us one of your favorite pixel moments, It may be a conversation you had, or an accidental "ctrl + z" moment.

I've had plenty of accidental undos, fortunately, I've also had plenty of purposeful redos. However, there was one image I made, with the intention of it being creepy, about halfway through I cut the image in half and mirrored it to show a friend an idea of what it'll look like finished. Looking back at it now, the half-finished mirrored image invokes more fear in me than the finished one.
Heres some images for reference:
Finished: Link
Mirrored: Link
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What motivates you to finish a project? Contests? Company deadlines? Perhaps how well the image is coming along?

I'd have to say the thing that really motivates me is how much I enjoy pixeling. Contests and deadlines are cool and all, but I wouldn't pixel at all if I didn't enjoy it as much as I do.
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We all have some pieces that we've abandoned due to various reasons, do you mind sharing some of them with us and your reasons as to why you left it? Please provide links if you can

Link - This is one piece I've never finished, and likely never will, although I do use a cropped version as an avatar in some places. I've had a lot of people ask me to finish it, but the thing is, there was no thought at all put behind it, and I had no idea where I was taking it, so I never bothered to continue work after I got that center area done. I've had a few others at this size left unfinished for the same reason.
Link - This is another I've never finished, even though I had it all planned out from the start. I like the idea, I like the direction, but I've just never really felt like taking it to the next step, maybe due to the size.
There are probably much more, but those are the only two that I'm going to bother you with.
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Please choose 3 deviations from your own gallery that you feel are your favorites. We'd love to hear more about why you chose them and why you made them

These are not in any order, and I don't really like picking favorites, but here are three I happen to like more than some of the others.:

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I really like the colors, but mostly, I just really think I had a nice idea here, and executed it well.

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I just like the wackiness of this one, it was originally done in MSN Messenger, using the whatever the doodle features is called. Link I later decided to pixel it, and I just really liked how it turned out.

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Another area where I just felt I had a great idea. Mountains, on top of mountains, I used green hues and a 2xbrush for the sky on top, but the mountains on the bottom. i used purple hues and a 1x brush for the mountains on the top, but the sky on the bottom, thus creating parallel but vastly different images.
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What is your favorite thing to do in pixeling? Is it shadows? Light sources? Skin? Fur?

Details! Those areas you spend hours tweaking knowing that nobody will notice, that is what I can have the most fun doing.
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What do you hate or loathe to pixel?

Anything from a reference: when I pixel, I start from a blank canvas and make things up as I go along. I pretty much avoid any anatomical or character references altogether, and this is a pretty big weakness for me.
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If you were stranded on a pixel island, what 5 pixelated Items would you have to have with you?

Well I'd probably bring my girlfriend, a computer, a power generator, and a lifetime supply of food, water.

I would then start my retirement.
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Say your half way through pixeling a new image, and BAM the power goes out, or your computer blue screens. You don't remember when you last saved, and there's nothing you can do. What is your first reaction?

My first reaction would probably be "Well shit." This happened to me the other day actually, I was about 80% done with pixeling a 64x64 icon for a new program I'm making, Genius Goldfish, when Pro Motion crashed on me from some issue with wine, and I realize I haven't saved the image once since starting it.
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How do you work out a pixel piece? Do you sketch it first? or work in small sections making adjustments as you go?

generally I'll make a very rough sketch, and go over the sketch with a 2x2 or larger brush, mapping out light or color areas, after that I focus on working areas until I've got an image worth showing off.
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Thank you so much for this opportunity Is there anything else you would like to ad before we wrap this up?

Well thanks for giving me this opportunity. I've been spending much more time programming than pixeling lately, so don't expect too much new from me. However, if anyone has any advice on selling computer software over the Internet I'd be more than happy to hear about it!
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