implement the use of hexadecimals into LED matrix code

I've recently created an LED matrix but now want to create animations for it. I've seen some example sketches but they all use hexadecimal code such as this 0x8f. I was wondering if anyone could give me insight on how to implement hexadecimal code into my matrrix code

thanks in advance:Chris

all letters in the characters array aren't completed i havent created the fonts yet.

//REV 1.0
//By: Christopher Beharry Yambo with help from the arduino community @www.forum.arduino.cc

/*
 * Controls a 5X5 LED matrix consisting of two 8bit shift registers
 * It's column scanned meaning that one column comes on at a time from left to right 
 * Hopefuly I can create scrolling in this first revision 
*/

//declaring constant ints for data, clock, and latch pins of the row and column registers
// both registers share the same latch pin
const int CPR = 8;
const int LP = 9;
const int DPR = 10;
const int CPC = 11;
const int DPC = 12;

byte columnActivator[5] = {B10000000, B01000000, B00100000, B00010000, B00001000}; 
//byte scrollActivator[5] = {B00001000, B00011000, B00111000, B01111000, B11111000};
//array that stores letters
byte characters[26][5] = {
  {B11111000, B00101000, B00101000, B00101000, B11111000},//0A
  {B11111000, B10101000, B10101000, B10101000, B01010000},//1B
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//2C
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//3D
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//4E
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//5F
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//6G
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//7H
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//8I
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//9J
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//10K
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//11L
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//12M
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//13N
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//14O
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//15P
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//16Q
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//17R
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//18S
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//19T
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//20U
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//21V
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//22W
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//23X
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//24Y
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//25Z
};

//limited to 160 characters for scroll funtion message unless you change array size
byte scrollArray [160];
int shiftDelayTest;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);

  //initializes pins as outputs
  for(int A=8; A<=12; A++)
  {
    pinMode(A, OUTPUT);
  }
}

void loop() {

  scroll("ABAB");
  
}

//function to show a singular character from the letter array
void showCharacter(int outputCharacter) {
  int letter = (outputCharacter - 65);
  for(int B=0; B<5; B++)
  {
    digitalWrite(LP, LOW);
    shiftOut(DPC, CPC, LSBFIRST, columnActivator[B]);
    shiftOut(DPR, CPR, LSBFIRST, characters[letter][B]);
    digitalWrite(LP, HIGH);
  }
}

//function to show a message with a delay between each character
void show(String message) {
  int characterDelay = 650;
  for(int C=0; C<message.length(); C++)
  {
    int character = message.charAt(C);
    unsigned long timer = millis();
    while((characterDelay + timer) > millis())
    {
      
      //if theres a space in the message all 0's are shifted out
      if(character == 32)
      {        
        digitalWrite(LP, LOW);
        shiftOut(DPC, CPC, LSBFIRST, B00000000);
        shiftOut(DPR, CPR, LSBFIRST, B00000000);
        digitalWrite(LP, HIGH);        
      }

      //otherwise the correct letter is shifted out
      else
      {
        showCharacter(character);
      }
    }
  } 
}


//function to scroll a message
void scroll(String message) {
  //places the message into one long array
  //and adds a space after each letter
  int Y=0;
  int messageLength = message.length();
  for(int D=0; D<messageLength; D++)
  {
    for(int E=0; E<5; E++)
    {
      scrollArray[(D*5) + Y + E] = characters[(message.charAt(D)) - 'A'][E];
      scrollArray[(5*Y) + 5 + Y] = B00000000;
    }
    Y++;
  }

  //scrolls out the mesage from the long array
  int X=0;
  for(int F=0; F<=((messageLength*5) + messageLength); F++)
  {
    int shiftDelay = 250;
    unsigned long timer = millis();
    while((timer + shiftDelay) > millis())
    {
      for(int G=0; G<5; G++)
      {
        digitalWrite(LP, LOW);
        shiftOut(DPC, CPC, LSBFIRST, columnActivator[G]);
        shiftOut(DPR, CPR, LSBFIRST, scrollArray[G+X]);
        digitalWrite(LP, HIGH);
      }
    }
    X++;
  }
}
byte characters[26][5] = {
  {B11111000, B00101000, B00101000, B00101000, B11111000},//0A
  {B11111000, B10101000, B10101000, B10101000, B01010000},//1B
  {B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000, B10000000},//2C

rendered with elements in HEX notation

byte characters[26][5] = {
  {oxf8, 0x28, 0x28, 0x28, 0xf8},//0A
  {0xf8, 0xa8, 0xa8, 0xa8, 0x50},//1B
  {0x80, 0x80, 0x80, 0x80, 0x80},//2C

B10100110
1010 0110 = a6

Thanks so much! I didn't realize it was so simple.