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Pixel art

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see Pixel art Image:The_Gunk.png right|frame|This monster ("The Gunk") is an example of pixel art drawn using [[Microsoft Paint]] '''Pixel art''' is a form of digital art, created on the computer through the use of raster graphics software, where images are edited on the pixel level. Graphics in most old computer and video games, Game Boy games, graphing calculator games, and many mobile phone games are considered pixel art. Cross-stitch patterns resemble some aspects of pixel art.

Constraints
Image:Yus ptoing.png frame|right|This pixel art image shows how different coloring techniques with unusual colors and limited palettes can create interesting effects. The aspiring pixel artist must remember to keep the color count low; the art is often to be used on systems where the number of available colors is limited, such as older video game consoles or mobile phones. The color constraint is also part of the genre. Generally, "pure" pixel art must be created by manual pixel-level editing, without the use of any automatic filters. In the pure form, it is generally said that "each pixel was placed carefully". Purists within the pixel art scene say that pixel artists should only use tools that place individual pixels (usually the pencil tool), and no tools that automatically create shapes for you (like circle, square and line tools). Others say that the line tools and the bucket fill are acceptable, as they do nothing more than speed up the work without impacting how the work looks. The use of automatic filters such as anti-aliasing, on the other hand, is generally considered not valid in "true" pixel art, since the filters will add new pixels automatically, eliminating the careful placement. Also, a common mistake is to think that any drawing or doodle done using the pencil tool is pixel art. This is not true, since pixel art is categorized by the method of drawing (pixel by pixel), not the results (therefore, special renders and automated filters do not apply either). Such drawings are actually called oekakis. But, it is possible to have a photorealistic pixel art piece, as long as it was done by the pixel by pixel method (frequently called "pixel pushing").

Techniques of drawing
Drawings usually start with what is called the line art, which is the basic line that defines the character, building or anything else the artist is intending to draw. Linearts are usually traced over image scanner scanned drawings and are often shared among other pixel artists. Other techniques, some resembling painting, also exist. The limited palette often requires the use of dithering in order to achieve different shades and colors, but due to the nature of this form of art this is done completely by hand. ''Hand-made'' anti-aliasing is also used. Here are a few parts of the above image in detail, depicting a few of the techniques involved: Image:The_Gunk_details.png left|Details from The Gunk :1. The basic form of dithering, using two colors in a 2x2 checkerboard pattern. Changing the density of each color will lead to different subtones. :2. Stylized dithering with 2x2 pixel squares randomly scattered can produce interesting textures. Small circles are also frequent. :3. Anti-aliasing can be done, by hand, to smooth curves and transitions. Some artists use this is only internally in order to keep the crisp outlines that can go over any background. The PNG alpha channel can be used to create external anti-aliasing for any background.

Saving and compression
Image:Gif pixel cube.gif frame|left|GIF file (318 bytes). Image:Png pixel cube.png frame|left|PNG file (275 bytes). Image:Jpg pixel cube.jpg frame|right|JPEG file (706 bytes). Pixel art is preferably stored lossless data compression losslessly, that is, in a file format format that can save each pixel of the image without loss of precision. Because of the often-limited color space, using a color palette can be very efficient. PNG and GIF are two examples of formats that can do this space-efficiently. Run-length encoding is a possible tradeoff when Random access memory memory or Central processing unit computational power is limited. Pixel art should not be saved as JPEG files because the lossy compression of the format cannot handle the details involved in pixel art. Even at maximum quality there will be several losses in detail, especially in the matter of colors of individual pixels. Also, JPEG files tend to become larger in size than the GIF or PNG.

Categories
Image:Pixelart-tv-iso.png frame|left|Isometric Image:Pixelart-tv-niso.png frame|right|Not isometric Pixel art is commonly divided in two subcategories: isometric and non-isometric. The isometric kind is drawn in a near-isometric projection isometric dimetric projection. This is commonly seen in games to provide a dimension three-dimensional view without using any real 3D computer graphics three-dimensional processing. Technically, an isometric angle would be of 30 degree (angle) degrees from the horizontal, but this does not produce a good result in pixel art since the pixels in these lines do not follow a neat pattern. To fix this, lines of a 1:2 pixel ratio is picked, leading to an angle of, approximately, 26.565 degrees (arctan 0.5). Non-isometric pixel art is any pixel art that does not fall in the isometric category, such as views from the top, side, front, bottom or Perspective (graphical) perspective views.

Uses
Image:Metal Slug 3.png frame|right|[[Metal Slug 3 is considered by many pixel artists as a game with excellent examples of pixel art]] Pixel art was very often used in old computer and video game console video console games. With the increasing use of 3D computer graphics 3D graphics in games, pixel art lost some of its use. Despite that, this is still a very active professional area, since mobile phones and other portable devices still have low resolution and then require a skillful use of space and memory. Some times pixel art is used for advertising. One company that uses pixel art to advertise is Bell. Icon (computing) Icons for operating systems with limited graphics abilities are also pixel art. The limited number of colors and resolution presents a challenge when attempting to convey complicated concepts and ideas in an efficient way. On the Microsoft Windows desktop icons are raster images of various sizes, the smaller of which are not necessarily direct scalings of the larger ones and could be considered pixel art. On the GNOME and KDE desktops, icons are represented primarily by Scalable Vector Graphics SVG images, but with hand-optimised, pixel art PNGs for smaller sizes such as 16x16 and 24x24. Another use of pixel art on modern desktop computers is favicons.

Communities
Several pixel art virtual community communities exist on the internet where artists share their art and techniques, as well as giving out hints, tips, tricks etc. There is usually a request to keep the comments and critics as constructive criticism constructive as possible in order to help the community and their members to improve. ''Pixel fights'' or ''pixel battles'' occur when a number of artists take turns on editing the same picture, usually divided in "slots" (frequently Square (geometry) square or hexagonal). The ''fight'' consists on making things as tricky as possible to continue for the next artist. These pixel battles are, of course, made just for the fun and challenge. Community collaborations also exist. These usually involve a basic "make your own" idea over a theme (a city, a building, a totem, etc.), where a template is given for the users to participate creating their own entries. These will then be put together in a single and usually large pixel art piece.

See also
* Dollz, also known as cartoon dolls

External links

Communities & Galleries

- Pixel-Arts.Org - Pixel Art community, with pixel art specific wiki, forums, and chat.
- PixelJoint - Pixel art community, with personal galleries and forums
- deviantART Pixel Art galleries.
- Pix.art.pl - Polish Pixel Art community.
- supertotto - "Make pixels not war!"
- eBoy - Forerunners of commercially based Pixel Art design for non-video game purposes.
- GFXZone 8-bit Gallery - Gallery of Demoscene style "pixel" works.
- photoperiodism.com - bOnUs|malUs (bjoern balcke)
- Pixel Based Advertising in a virtual world.

Collaborative & Interactive

- MrWong's Soup'Partments - The World's Tallest Virtual Building
- PixelDam - Very large isometric city
- PixelMoon - Space-themed collaboration set on the Moon
- PixelPlaza - Virtual pixelart city, game and community
- IsoCity - Isometric city
- KirupaVille - Another Isometric city
- Wee! - Pixel people
- The Joint - Isometric apartments

Tutorials & Resources

- Pixelbot - French blog about pixelart
- Matriax Tutorials and Video-tutorials, English/spanish etc...
- Pixipedia - A Pixel Art Wiki for terminology, tutorials, hardware specifications, and artist biographies.
- SpriteArt.com - Tutorials and gallery of the author's works.
- Collection of pixelart tutorials.
- Pixelfreak - Isometric Pixel Art Tutorial.
- El.Pix : Le Pixel Art
- drububu - pixel art tutorial
- The Complete Guide to Isometric Pixel Art
- Sonic Spriters Network by The Sonic Stadium Tutorials on making pixel clothes, Sonic Team CG Style on MS Paint
- Derek Yu's pixel art/spriting tutorial.

Forums

- PixelSpain - Forum dedicated to pixel art in Spanish(by Matriax)
- PixelJoint Forum
- Pixelopolis - A temporary board from the makers of the '''Pixelation Forum'''. * ''[http://s14.invisionfree.com/Pixel/index.php?act=idx Pixel]''
- Pixeltendo
- Prime Central Station - A great community (small), with focus on fighting game related art and pixel work.
- Pixelocity - Small & Growing Forum for pixel art as well as some Photoshopping Category:Digital art de:Pixel-Art fr:Pixel art it:Pixel art he:×?×ž× ×•×ª ×¤×™×§×¡×œ×™×? nl:Pixel art pl:Pixel art

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