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Joe Lacey

BLOG
/bläɡ/ noun – a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style. Yep, that's my blog!

Time Off With Santa

10/25/2022

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Coloring pages from the Crayola coloring book
Coloring pages from the Crayola coloring book "Time Off With Santa" illustrated and written by Joe Lacey.
Time Off With Santa
Crayola Coloring Book with:
• 64 Santa Coloring Pages
• Santa Stickers Sheet
• Metallic Foil Enhanced Cover!

Available at the Crayola website!


What does Santa do on his 364 days off each year? This cool coloring book uncovers what the big guy does with his free time. Kids will love decorating the 64 coloring pages with the included glitter stickers, and sharing them with friends. Perfect for any occasion, this kids coloring book makes a great birthday or holiday present.

​
Ideal for girls and boys, age 3 & up!

What does Santa do when he's not getting ready for Christmas? Why, he's finally getting some well deserved time off! And it's not just Santa who needs a break! His elves and reindeer have tagged along for all the fun! Check out all the wacky hijinks as they ride the wild surf, sing karaoke, play basketball, and party in a hot tub! You never know what will happen next!
Coloring pages from the Crayola coloring book
Coloring pages from the Crayola coloring book "Time Off With Santa" illustrated and written by Joe Lacey.
"Time Off With Santa" Crayola Coloring Book written and illustrated by Joe Lacey. Book cover with metallic foil effects.
"Time Off With Santa" Crayola Coloring Book written and illustrated by Joe Lacey. Coloring book back cover.
"Time Off With Santa" Crayola Coloring Book sticker sheet.
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8-bit Kingdom

7/29/2021

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Welcome to 8-bit Kingdom!

​​Medieval tales of computer technology by Joe Lacey
8-bit Kingdom Medieval tales of computer technology coloring book by Joe Lacey available at Amazon. 8bit Kingdom is illustrated in classic 8bit pixel art.
A 90 page story book you can color!  Illustrated in  classic 8bit pixel art.
AMAZON BUY NOW BUTTON for 8-bit Kingdom Medieval tales of computer technology coloring book by Joe Lacey
The modern-day computer world is brought to life in the medieval origin tales of 8-bit Kingdom. In this land of magic and science the modern computer age is born. Because we all know without the use of magic, there would be no science.

Journey to a wondrous land of computers and dragons
Illustrated in classic 8-bit pixel art!


• Wizards use computer programming to cast spells and fight evil!
• 
King Octavious the Eighth ushers in the modern computer age -
over 1,200 years ago in the year 800 P.C. (Post Computers)!

• The Malware Monarch and his army of hideous ogres, storm worms, and hackers maliciously attack all that is good!
• Fantastic creatures fill the skies, seas, and cosmos!
• Ancient artifacts reveal the origins of computer technology!

8-bit Kingdom is not a coloring book, but rather a book you can color. Think of it as bedtime stories for the computer programmer and the video game geek. After all, everyone loves timeless tales of good vs evil.

If you are a self-professed “computer nerd,” a fan of role-playing adventures, a retro fantasy video game enthusiast, or just plain love stories of dragons, dungeons, and wizards, 8-bit Kingdom is the book for you!

Written and illustrated by
Joe Lacey
Forward by
Pinchus Pixelton
Professor Emeritus
​Centralis Processui Universitas / C.P.U.
Picture
Joe Lacey reads from his book "8-bit Kingdom".
8-BIT Kingdom Princess Dos and the silver disks of destiny
Princess Dos and the silver disks of destiny.
Coloring book page sample from 8-bit Kingdom Medieval tales of computer technology coloring book by Joe Lacey. Giant octopus attacking the sea port, Tekncal Sea Port.
The "Tekncal Sea Port" of 8-bit Kingdom.
Coloring book page samples from 8-bit Kingdom Medieval tales of computer technology coloring book by Joe Lacey. Images of Sir Verr - the knight who never sleeps, dragon shield, King Octavious the 8th, goblins, the Malware Monarch, and dungeon with spooky kooky men.
A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR
8 bit pixel art of computer chip
I made this book because of my love of classic arcade games of the 80s. There is something joyful in those little jagged edges and square circles moving around the screen. They have an innocence and are loaded with personality and often humor. When writing and illustrating 8-bit Kingdom, I strove to bring this personality and humor to each page – with pixels!

8-bit pixel men. One man running away. One man brave and holding a spear.
I made the art board 160 x 160 pixels in order to preserve that classic arcade feel. It’s impressive just how much character and emotion can be expressed in even the smallest pixel art image. A great amount of information can be delivered just a few pixels. Thirty pixels can depict a heroic fighter or cowardly person. It all depends upon the exact placement of the pixels. A pixel placed high - the character is happy, a pixel placed low - the character is angry. The idea of simple pixel art is actually an oxymoron. It can can be quite a challenge placing the correct pixel in the correct location to achieve the correct effect.

So, welcome to 8-bit Kingdom! A collection of tales that blend retro gaming, personal computing, and fantasy role-playing all fully illustrated in classic 8-bit pixel art! I hope you enjoy reading it (and maybe even coloring it) as much as I enjoyed writing and illustrating it.

​Purchase 8-bit Kingdom HERE.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
8bit pixel art of author and illustrator Joe Lacey. Pixel art depicts a man with a long curled mustache and goatee wearing a crown and a monocle. He is dressed in 19th century royal attire with medals and epaulettes.
Joe Lacey, author & illustrator
For ten years, Joe Lacey worked as a pixel artist and animator. His work can be seen in the Fisher-Price game cartridges for Pixter, which include Monster Shop and Dino Draw. He also created the art and animation for a number of casino-styled online video games and interactive educational apps.

In addition to digital games, Joe creates art for toys and books. Some of his publications include Famous Illustrators of the Golden Age Coloring Portfolio (Diner Mighty) and Lyrics by Lennon & McCartney Coloring Songbook (Crayola). He co-authored the award-nominated The Musical Touch of Leonard Nimoy with his wife Darlene.

Joe currently lives in Los Angeles, California and prefers movies without CGI. His favorite video game is Joust.
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Pixter 8-Bit Pixel Art

3/15/2021

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Fisher-Price PIXTER video hand-held game black and white unit and packaging
8-bit grandfather clock with mouse
Time to talk about Pixter, the hand-held Fisher-Price creativity system; a digital art studio, music machine, camera, and video game console all in one. Manufactured from 2000-2007, Pixter is the first and only handheld gaming console produced by Fisher-Price. It's also the first digital touch screen toy for kids, making it an important addition to the world of digital art. Controlled with a tethered stylus, Pixter, is pre-loaded with drawing activities and games, and offers a number of additional cartridges, both licensed and original. As a contract artist, I helped design some of the base unit's activities, cartridge games, and 8-bit animations.

8-bit Kingdom: Medieval tales of computer technology by pixel artist and illustrator Joe Lacey
REVISED EDTION ON SALE JANUARY 2, 2023
Tiny 8-bit dinosaur
The first Pixter was a B&W unit with limited memory storage. All the artwork, or art assets, had to be simple and easily recognizable. That can be tough when you are trying to make a dinosaur using a 19x13 pixel area! That's exactly 247 pixels, which sounds like a lot, but it's really not. When you consider a small 800x600 pixel photograph is 480,000 pixels, 19x13 is pretty small!

For each job I would receive a highly detailed art matrix to follow. The matrix contained specs on sizes, colors, and functionality for each art asset. If the image did not move, it was "static." If it had limited two-frame animation, it was a "toggle image." Larger full screen animations were simply defined as "20 frame animation" and so on. Within these tight guidelines, there was still room for for me to make adjustments to the sizes as long as they did not effect the gameplay.

These art assets were created in an 8-bit format. If you're familiar with early video games like Pac Man and Donkey Kong, their art assets are comprised are individual squares known as pixels which give a jagged edge to perceived lines and curves in 8-bit art. I'm not a computer programmer, so I'll give you the Wiki definition:

"8-bit color graphics are a method of storing image information in a computer's memory or in an image file, so that each pixel is represented by 8-bits (1 byte). The maximum number of colors that can be displayed at any one time is 256 or 2."
Fisher-Price Pixter 8-bit video game art support and animation by illustrator Joe Lacey
8-bit rabbit artwork
All B&W Pixter images are displayed in 2 colors – black and white (the white being the empty space of the view screen) on an 80x80 working area. When early digital games moved into color, the palette would often be very limited, sometimes only 8, 16, or 32 colors, with some of these colors being almost identical. My early 8-bit art was done this way, and I can tell you, it could be tough sometimes to make it all look nice. Luckily, by the time Fisher-Price released the Color Pixter, we were using 128 colors with a 160x160 working area. The artwork was a lot easier to make. But, despite the increased size and color of the working area, I particularly love B&W 8-bit animation. One pixel to the left or right could be the difference between a happy bunny or a sad bunny.

Over the course of eight years Fisher-Price released six variations of Pixter:

Pixter B&W 80x80 screen.
Pixter Plus 10 additional activities and 20x storage.
Pixter 2.0 Wirelessly send images to another Pixter 2.0.
Color Pixter 128 colors 160x160 screen.
Pocket Pixter Keychain-sized B&W 80x80 screen.
Pixter Multi-Media Now with video editing.
​

Over the course of ten years, I worked on a number of Fisher-Price 8-bit animated games, not all Pixter. While working on these games, I developed the standard practice that was adopted by Fisher-Price for fast review of animated assets. This meant a bit more work on my end as I had to construct each animation frame into a single file that was playable with just one click. This came in handy not only for simple animations, but to mock up a non-interactive version of the actual gameplay for the programmers to review. It greatly increased the speed of the review process, allowed me to see how the animations would look, and allowed me to make adjustments.

Famous Illustrators of the Golden Age Coloring Portfolio: American Edition 1898-1927 adult coloring book by illustrator Joe Lacey
8-bit artwork of fat man with hat
I shot this video to show you the consoles and some highlights from three games. I decided to use the COLOR PIXTER game unit as it has a brighter screen with better contrast. It just looks better when shooting a video. But, despite this, I still prefer the original B&W PIXTER.

There are over 24 B&W Pixter game cartridges. Along with other artists, I helped out on several of them, supplying art support for specific game segments. ​Here are a few of them:

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    Joe Lacey

    I produce illustrations and creative idea solutions for toys, packaging, publishing and advertising.


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