pixel art. dying artform? possibly. indie dev aesthetic crutch? debatable. fascinating look into the past’s limitations? yep. fun to make your own? definitely!
How do I make pixel art?
Use whatever program you’re comfortable with. anything with a 1 pixel brush will do. MS Paint, photoshop, GIMP, et cetera. some people still make pixel art on their commodore 64s. Start small! Try making a circle, or some fruit, or a gift wrapped box.
Specialized programs GraphicsGale is freeware as of mid last year. Aseprite is $15 but has a free trial that doesn’t let you save stuff (but you can, like, screenshot it and paste it into photoshop. really if you like it please buy it, it’s what I use, great program) Piskel is a free online editor for pixel art, no downloadin’ needed
You can also post pixel art that isn’t yours, but as pixel art has a chronic problem with people Not sourcing it, I would please request that you provide a source, preferably in the form of a link back to the creator.
this doesn’t matter if you’re just posting something from a video game you like (e.g. showing off some choice fighting game backgrounds), but please indicate it’s from a game and preferably which game it’s from.
But you should definitely be encouraged to make your own pixel art and post it, no matter how bad you think it is!! and feel free to ask for sick tips in this thread!
anyways here’s some of my pixel art to start us off. I have been doing it for like a decade because i guess this is my life now.
Oh hey! Pixel art rules. I need to get back into it, I’ve kinda fallen off the wagon in favor of working on my traditional drawing skills.
Some older stuff I’ve made. Plus a birb I made like yesterday.
It’s kind of old, but I made some random things months ago. It was originally a daily sprite-art challenge a friend came up with, but depression said “no.”
I’ve debated starting over, as I actually had way too much fun making these. Just need some topics to keep myself on point…
I’ve debated getting into rpg making, actually. Unfortunately I can never make it past the thinking stage. I love items the most out of the art process
I made more things! They’re supposed to be emotes, thus the 28x28 canvas. I’m still learning the basics but I’m starting to feel a bit more comfortable with anti-aliasing and actually using it.
Haha, thank ya. Sorry for the late reply. I forget I’m on this forum sometimes. Not an active forum goer, but who knows. 2019; The year of the Amateur Sprite Artist. haha
Based on some BotW concept art for Zora’s Domain. 12 colors, this palette plus some greys as it turned out 8 colors wasn’t enough, oops. It’s the most complicated thing I’ve drawn after a few months of low-tier stuff so I’m pretty happy with the result, even if the water doesn’t feel totally up to par… Glad to be drawing again~
Oh my, this is some quality stuff. Amazing what some limited palette can turn out. And yeah, I get the Zora domain vibes, but it does feel very familiar yet alien. Love it
(me kickin monthly pixels into this thread)
