/vr/ - Retro Games

Good pixel art is indeed more difficult to produce. I'm not great by any means, kind of an aspiring pixel artist.

Pixel art is to art as a haiku is to a novel. You can create a really beautiful haiku, and it's limits are what drive you to be creative. With a novel, you can be wordy, with haiku, you have to get to the point and be clever for it to be good.

It's an entirely different medium than other digital art. There are tons of specific tricks and techniques that don't translate well to other digital art. You use self imposed limits (or hardware limits in certain instances). Pixel art is art first, and secondly a kind of logic puzzle, think picross, only more complex.

Now, that said, shitty pixel art is just that shitty. Most people start shitty and take years of practice and dedication to "get gud". Kids might make a "mario" but I'd like to see them make a metal slug boss sprite.

It's damn fun, really relaxing. You can google tutorials, check pixeljoint and other forums for tutorials also. Said forum is really helpful for advice and critique.

You don't need much to start, honestly you probably already have the tools on your computer. Dedicated pixel art programs I use are Pyxeledit, Graphicsgale, and an old ass version of JASC Paint Shop Pro 7. Honestly though, you can use paint or pretty much anything. The difference between things like Graphicsgale and Pyxeledit is they are tailored to pixel art, and have most of the common features you'd ever need. They also allow different frames for animation, which is really helpful. Look up the book Animation from Pencils to Pixels for a great guide on animation.

100 replies and no mention of Metal Slug?

Color me surprised