Testing:

Looks like if you copy the image and paste it, it uploads it for you automatically. It seems slightly lacking in the sense that if your phone doesn’t give you the “paste” option it won’t let you add the image even if it’s in your clipboard, so it would be cool if there was a normal “upload” option too.

Who are your favorite pixel artists, and why do you like their work? Is there anything in particular that speaks to you about what they create?

Personally, I have way too many favorites to list, but here are a few!

syosa - Really charming character designs, excellent use of color in that she uses high contrast that grabs your attention but still feels warm and soft, textures that feel elaborate yet very clear shapes.

cocefi - Makes tiny cozy worlds that make me feel like I want to live in them, and animations that are full of pep. It's not often I see pixel artists whose work makes me forget that it was created on a grid despite embracing the grid.

Snake/Simon - When I think of what "perfection" means to me in pixel art, his work is what comes to mind. The level of depth, detail, and polish in his art all while reading fantastically from a distance is amazing.

skittle/Deryk - Everything he makes invites you in and makes you want to explore. It's not easy to make art that looks like there's an entire world beyond the canvas, and harder still to make you wish you were there.

Atnas - Amazing understanding of how to convey depth in animation and color in a way that defies what you'd think should be possible on a tiny grid yet embraces beautiful permutations of pixels.

@adam said in Suggestions, Bug Reports, and Feature Requests:

@kiana Yeah, tags are already implemented actually!

At the bottom there - you can include them whenever you post a topic.

Oh I see what the deal is, I think the layout is slightly broken on mobile - the text gets cut off:

The Jobs sticky you have is great, but I was thinking a sticky with some additional info along the lines of the business guide Pixelation has, maybe with information about some common confusions like resolution, and guild rates in similar industries to the games industry (illustration/animation/tech/etc.) to help give artists and clients a good idea of what fair compensation is.
I find myself having to explain the same business concepts over and over to artists and clients alike in all pixel communities so a centralized place to link people would be really useful.

How did you find out about pixel art and what made you decide to start creating it? Is there anything interesting you learned from your influences?

For me, it goes all the way back to when I was a kid, seeing how crisp and detailed the artwork for Gameboy and arcade games could be even within such strict space limitations. Back when I started pixeling the term “pixel art” hadn’t really been popularized yet and the amount of resources were extremely sparse (imagine a time before Lospec or even Cure’s tutorial) so I learned a lot by looking at game assets. Joust, Bubble Bobble, Sword of Mana, Pokemon GSC+RSE, and The Minish Cap were some early inspirations of mine. Even with a lot of directly studying the assets, I didn’t start to fully understand how the artists knew “where” to place the pixels to make the art look “so detailed” until I developed my traditional drawing skills more.

Is it possible to add tags for threads?
Usage example: In the art boards, you could have threads tagged with “Finished”, “Critique Wanted”, “No Crit”, “WIP”, etc.

Maybe differentiate the “Portfolios” section and the “Job Listings” sections. A way to differentiate OPEN/CLOSED, and AVAILABLE/NOT AVAILABLE for work would be useful.

It’s always useful to have a sticky or two with guidelines on what information to include in your job/portfolio listings and what fair pay is.

I don’t only do pixel art, so Photoshop feels the most natural for my workflow and the ability to sketch in hi res, use clipping masks, or make nondestructive edits (color/contrast adjustments, indexing, etc.) is really powerful. I use CS6 since I got the whole suite at an educator’s discount. I don’t think I would recommend it to anyone who doesn’t also use it for anything besides pixeling though. I’d probably recommend Paint Tool SAI, Clip Studio Paint, or GIMP over Photoshop if you want a program that can both draw in hi res and pixel and isn’t absurdly expensive.

I also sometimes use the Vista version of MSPaint because it simply feels amazing to draw in (and had more undos than the older versions of Paint). It starts up instantly, there’s no lag or unnecessary tools, and what you draw is very 1:1 with what ends up on the canvas. The only usability problem with it for me is the lack of keyboard shortcuts.

For pixel animation I honestly like GraphicsGale the best thanks to its super fast color pick and transform mapped to mouse buttons, but Aseprite has so many features now that it’s hard to justify not using it over anything else if you’re animating for a game. It feels really unnatural to draw in though, so for non-game asset pixel animations I’ve been considering making the switch over to TVPaint which I already use for raster animation.

For tiles I use Pyxel Edit because it has live preview and feels natural to draw in but I might switch to Ase if they make a stable build with animated tile support.

Hi, I'm Kiana! You might know me as @kianamosser.
You can see some of my work on Twitter, Instagram, my website, or itch.io.

I've been pixeling on and off since 2003. I currently work as a developer in fintech, and in my free time I work on indie games and animated films. I also host workshops occasionally on topics in art and animation and moderate Pixelation.

I've always loved drawing, making games, and technology, which led me to pursue many disciplines including math, physics, computer science, and animation. I commonly get asked why I don’t just choose between art or science, but I believe that they’re two sides of the same coin and studying both can lead to a deeper understanding about the mysteries of life.