Iconshock Blog

Pixel Art is one of the many ways there are to create art. It basically consist on creating images through a computer with software which allows to create raster images, that way they can be edited pixel by pixel. These images are often found on 2D videogames and mobile devices. This practice was very popular before 3D games became so popular, but now, with the evolution of mobile devices, where two-dimensional games regained some of their value, the technique became a lot popular again and now we can see artists working on this subject. It’s also important to notice that the creation of application icons is also Pixel Art, since not all of them are made as vectorial graphics; there are still several stock icons created pixel by pixel.
Pixel Artists usually work two different styles of Pixel Art, which are Isometric (using 30° angles) and Non-Isometric views (front, side, top perspectives).

To create a Pixel Image the first thing that needs to be done is to drawn the line art. Line Art is how the black and white image is called, it can not have shades of gray, or any other color different to black and white, they can also be called Belevel images. These lines are usually hand made and then scanned, but some artists prefer to draw them directly on the computer. When these lines are ready, it’s time to add up some color! Pixel Art works with a very limited palette (just open up paint’s color palette and see for yourself), that’s why, in order to add different shades artists use dithering (simulating many colors with just a few) and to smooth up the lines, they have to work pixel by pixel and get the anti-aliasing done manually. Here’s an example of dithering, where the middle tone is created with the colors in the right and in the left (which are the same, with different saturation). The first image is a close up, so you can see how the middle color is composed, the second one is in a real scale:

We’ve already talked about file formats and file compression. This is a really important topic when we talk about Pixel Art. In Pixel Art every single pixel matters and has to be paid enough importance. If we store our Pixel Art files in a JPEG file format we are going to loose a lot of quality, colors might vary a little due to image compression which is totally pointless to do, since you spent so much time working for the colors to look alright. BMP file formats aren’t recommended either, since they don’t use any kind of compression and you’ll get really heavy files. For this reason, Pixel Art images are usually stored in GIF and PNG formats, which doesn’t take out quality from the work and end up giving you a decent size for your file.

There are as many Pixel Art techniques as there are artists. Even if the tools for developing Pixel Art pieces limit the possibilities, the results are stunning. This is a closeup to a part of an icon, for you to appreciate the level of detail that needs to be done pixel by pixel.

Icon creation is a special case when it comes to Pixel Art. Icon designers use this technique when they have to create icons in small sizes, where vector files tend to look a little distorted. The main challenge faced when doing an icon is the fact that canvas are very small, therefore the information that can be put into the image is limited. For this reason the level of detail is not as big as the one in a regular pixel art illustration. Shadows, bright zones and color degrades aren’t possible in icons with very small sizes such as 16×16px.

The image on the right is a zoomed version of a 16×16 icon. As you can see, the level of detail is none, and the artist needs to define how to express in such a small space the image an application icon needs.

The way to make these icons to work is to know when to vary the color and the intensity, that way, when seeing the icon at the real size, it will look as a professional icon and will be able to reflect a meaning.

This practice has been so extended that Pixel Art has been created using Rubik Cubes, generating stunning results.