Balance to the Force

When balance was announced as the theme of the GB Pixel Art Jam 2025, immediately the first thing that came to mind was the Force and Anakin Skywalker.  Of course, Anakin didn't exactly bring balance to the force, at least not initially.  However, since balance has at times (particularly on Mortis) been described as light and dark, it made perfect sense for me to create a split image that balances the two sides of the force.  I debated as to whether I should perhaps feature the silhouetted image of Luke and Vader dueling in Cloud City, or even feature the father, son, and daughter from Mortis, but ultimately felt that a split image of image of Anakin and Vader would be most appropriate and would translate well into 2-bit art.  Each side is 80 pixels wide, so that the image is perfectly balanced.  And since my drawing came in at well under the 192 tile limit, I figured I might as well add a Star Wars logo as well.  The final image is 190 unique tiles.

I based the image of Anakin on his look from the Clone Wars animated series.  Not only are cartoons easier to translate into 2-bit art, but the Clone Wars did a much better job of showcasing Anakin's internal struggles, or lack of balance, than the Prequel Trilogy ever did.  This was a fairly simple task, because his simple clothes contrast greatly with his head, and there isn't too much need to differentiate color in the features of his face.  His hairstyle in the Clone Wars also translated incredibly well to the 2-bit aesthetic, it didn't even require me to create a "gray" by alternating pixels.

The Darth Vader helmet is more of a generic look as his helmet doesn't vary greatly in design across the various different media.  This of course was the main challenge, how do you represent something that is pretty much entirely black in not only two colors, but two colors that are at opposite ends of the color spectrum?  I started with the outlines as you obviously need to define the edges.  Then I worked on the grills in front of his nose and mouth and eyes as they actually add a splash of color to the helmet.  Then I looked at several images to see how light reflects and bounces around the helmet and gave it sort of an "imperfect" look.

I debated a bit over whether the Anakin side should feature a white background, but ultimately kept it black.  Not only do I feel it creates a more cohesive image, but I didn't like how Anakin's face looked with a black outline, it became too comic-like.  As an unintended bonus, this decision allowed me to use the version of the Star Wars logo with the outlined text.  That said, I did decide to split the image with a black and white line to differentiate the two sides, and opted to go with the inverse color for each side as they contrasted better with the art.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I don't have any immediate plans of making a Star Wars game, but as a huge Star Wars fan it is certainly within the realms of possibility.  So don't be surprised if this image one day shows up in one of my games.