What is Pixel Art?

Pixel art is an unique art style, an appreciation of big visible pixels that makes up the founding elements of the complete image. Enjoying pixel art is as much about appreciating the distinctive pixel graphics pictures, as the technique it was made with, using a limited size and palette. The beauty often lies within the simplicity, with fantastic arrangements of big coloured pixel blocks.

All graphics displayed on a screen is finally shown in pixels, where the amount of pixels limited by a resolution. But in the past not very long ago, the resolution on our screens were much lower and the pixels much bigger. This made each pixel more delicate, as changing it would have much more impact on the overall picture. The method by which each pixel was placed and coloured was important for the final image. As a result, putting pixels became a hand craft, where techniques as well as an artistic touch was crucial for the end result. ‘Pixeling’ and pixel art was born.

Pixel Art can be described as a digital medium, limited by a set palette where the artist is forced to manually place pixel by pixel using a paint software. When looking at pixel graphics as an art form it’s not easily categorized. Some images have a certain similarity to naïvism, others strive towards realism and some pieces are even close to surrealism.

Pixel art gave birth to new artistic techniques where the limitation of size and colours forced creative solutions. Anti-alias and dithering techniques were created to make images more appealing. The dithering patterns in particular added bold and expressive style to the pictures.

Pixel art has provided aspiring artists and designers with a brand new medium to freely experiment with. The fact that this kind of art had never been done before was a strong motivator to keep working. A new artistic expression emerged — the art of ‘pixeling’. The binding factor was a desire to produce the best possible images with the limited graphic performance of the computer of choice.

Today pixel art exists as a graphics style, where graphic artists set up limitations and rules so the images will be in line with the expected, retro result. Pixel art is also practised using the original retro home computers, or creating the pictures to fit the original formats and limitations of those computers. Finally, several Indie developers in the game industry have made a point of partly or totally adapt the visual limitations of old game platforms, aiming for a nostalgic look.