Empire Parkour
Canadian gym Empire Parkour reached me looking for a pixel rendition of their headquarters in Saskatoon (actually they were the first parkour gym in town! rad), for their 1 year anniversary celebration. I was quite excited to work on a pretty different theme than what I have being doing lately (mainly pixel food!), always a great exercise (pun intended) for my brain.
@empireparkour on Instagram • empireparkour.ca website
Technically I was hooked about this project for two reasons. The first one being all the different structures present on the gym, which to me is a fun challenge, and the second one being doing an inside view of an area, which is not something I usually do, mainly illustrating the outside view of buildings.
The first step was picking the most adequate resolution for the project: how big do we want pixels to appear? What is the ideal level of detail we need for representing the real thing yet still maintaining a pixel art feel? So I did a couple rough samples: 400x400px (left-hand side) and 200x200px (right-hand side).
Whilst the 400x400px resolution would allow a much higher level of detail, we agreed that the 200x200px resolution would work best for representing the general structure and looks of the gym and also it would deliver a more video-game like look, which in terms of appearance was more in line with the intended final result.
I also did a couple quick experiments on how we could use a more limited colour palette, like a three colour version or even a monochromatic version (Gameboy, anyone?).
They provided me with a lot of photo references, 3D models and blueprints of the space and I've chatted a lot with Tyler, one of the partners, to make sure I got all the elements as accurate as possible - which to me is something that really makes the pieces pop. The focus on the project was to depict the actual structure, not necessarily it being populated, but I always feel that having some human elements is something that brings life to scenes, so I'd make a version with some people around just in case :)
And here are the final results! Both a non populated version and one with people enjoying the gym were made, as each allow a different approach to the scene. I'm quite proud of how it turned out. The Empire Parkour logo and the "YEET" sign were a small resolution concession we've agreed on as to allow a better readability.
And the artwork is out there! Empire Parkour is selling a t-shirt and a poster with their pixel gym for their 1 year anniversary on their website :) Glad to be part of this celebration!
