Erik Scholz
Pixel by Pixel - Not Pixel per Inch
The stunning image above shows a selection of buildings from the pixel artists eBoy used for example in their beautiful Pixorama Work (Amazon Link)
What is a pixel?
Move towards the screen. Closer. Closer. Got him?
What is pixel art?
All in all the same like manufacturing a classic mosaic. Instead of using small pieces of stone or colored glass, electronic pixels are assembled manually. Select color, chose a position on the electronic canvas, klick. As soon as fancy helpers like Illustrator or the gradient tool within Photoshop are used, the art piece will be degraded to a classic NON-PIXEL-ART. Even if the result would be the same. The basic concept was created by some people from Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (Xeroc PARC) in 1972. By the way the same facility that invented the first graphic user interface for computers.
Pixel art can be found at different places. Illustrations in tech-web-art-magazines like Wired. Icons on your favorite Microsoft Windows 3.1 computer. A complete world in the teeny social network Habbo Hotel - having 118 million users. Blogs like mine. Advertisements by brands like Coca Cola.
It’s everywhere! Some more intel with a lot of examples on Smashing Magazine.
PS: If you’re hooked now you could start a career as a pixel maker.
