Lets pick two tones with great contrast to help illustrate our demonstration. The seperation of color will be our centerline, and we will work inwards out.

• Let us pick two colors that have a big difference in luminosity values. Simple enough, for this demonstration we will split this 32x32 area in equal halves of color. this is going to serve as the center point for our gradient change. It is easiest to work from this line, inward out, towards the edges of each tone individually.

Using the centerline, create an alternating pattern of colored pixels using only the 2 previously used colors. A perfect midtone will become visible, even when the image has been blown up.

• Now, centered around the divide of our colors, illustrated in the previous step, we are going to make a pattern of alternating colors. However, as a rule of demonstration, we will not introduce any new colors to this image. We are going to change the appearance of this gradient merely by alternating the pattern of dark and light purple pixels.

The most widely used pattern for dithering is the "on, off" pattern, which basically works as so. For every 1 pixel you plot, the immediate adjacent pixels should be of the opposite color. Doing so has created a perfect illusionary "midtone" to blend our two previous tones.

this particular pattern is also used to add texture and "grit" to an image, as well as blending colors together. It is important to understand that alternating shades of colors in restrictive situations is not the only use for this technique.

Continuing into each tone respectively, use a pattern of less frequency of "intruding" color to create two more illusionary tones. avoid putting randomized placed dots in your gradient, as it tends to destroy the continuity of your image.

• Now we are going to use a pattern with a different frequency to make 2 more illusionary midtones still using the two same purple colors. This next pattern is also very frequent in older style drawings for gradual blending of colors such as skies, when not alot of colors were available. It is not as simple to describe as "on, off" is, but you could say that it is a pixel placed every other space on the x and y axis. It might be easier to think of it as a 'screen' where the intruding color would be the 'holes' of the screen.

In any case, we do this on opposite ends of the spectrum to fade the "on, off" patter into the solid colors, creating two more visibly distinct illusionary shades. That is 5 shades we have created with only two colors. The fun part is, if you were to create a pattern with a frequency of "intruding" pixels even less than the previous two patterns, you would get even more shades. In other words, if you were to blend this image enough with pattern changes, it is possible to create an entirely smooth gradient between two colors. Now maybe you can understand its significance in low color imagery. Also note that the shorter horizontal width you were to make the patterns in our example, the more rapid (yet still smooth) the color change would appear.

Using a crosshatch pattern is a sure way to give your imagery some added texture. Grittiness can sometimes be a powerful style choice for your games/illustrations. It also works wonders when youre in a situation where color conservation is crucial.

• lets take a look at how our dithering could be used to create a cross hatched pattern to add texture. First, let us use the two simple colors used in the previous examples. Start with some horizontal lines with varying length. Then, you are going to create a grid of lines by adding a vertical array of lines of purple. They are illustrated in blue to give you a better visual as to how the process is simply done. Next, let us simply make our darker tone as the transparent color, and look how nicely our purple fades into the background of the page. It appears to have a nice grainy texture, which would be ideal for some walls, blending floor tiles, etc.