The PxR Spriting Encyclopedia

[SassySnivy]

[Apologies for making such an official-sounding, self-proclaiming title. In no way am I trying to pass off my word as "the word of law," so to speak.]

.:~*The PxR Spriting Encyclopedia*~:.

The expansion of a pixel art subforum on a message board is a wonderful thing: it allows all sorts of pixel artists and spriters to come together and share their work amongst each other.

However, pixel art and spriting aren't as simple as copy + pasting Venusaur's flower on Blastoise's back. No, pixel art is a fantastic form of artwork: it takes precision, good attention to detail, and most importantly, patience. The misplacement of a single pixel can affect the whole piece.

There's a lot to cover for the world of pixel art, but let's start out with the most basic question:


.:~*What is Pixel Art?*~:.
I will do my best to avoid going on a huge, long-winded tirade and simplify it enough to get to the point.

First, let's define what pixel art isn't.

If you're aware of the digital, graphic world, you're aware that basically any image or just a visual in general, when viewed on a digital device, is converted into pixels. Everything you see on your phone screen, computer monitor, HD TV, etc. are all made up of pixels.

The fact that an image contains pixels definitely does not make it pixel art, however. Pixel art needs to follow some pretty specific criteria.

First, pixel art is not defined by what it's made up of, it's how it's made.


Let's use this wonderful piece of digital art, for instance, courtesy of MusicalCombusken of DeviantART. (Previous members of Pokemonelite2000 forums would probably know her better as Anastasia-R.)

Upon zooming in...

You'll notice that yes, it is handmade, digital artwork and contains pixels; but it's far from being pixel art.

"If the pixel art loses the sense of the importance of the pixels which construct it, then I don't think it can be called pixel art. It is when the pixels hold importance to the nature of the work which defines it as pixel art."
--Alex HW, Pixel Joint

This phrase should be pretty self-explanitory. If the significance of the individual pixel itself has been lost, it really almost can't be considered pixel art. You're aware of the brush tools, blur tools, smudge tools, and the like that you can find on more advanced digital art programs, correct? Those tools use automatic anti-aliasing (more will be explained of this term later on).

"Any tool that places pixels automatically (which means the computer makes decisions about the placement of pixels rather than the artist) is generally frowned upon in pixel art. Remember, pixel art is all about control."
--cure, Pixel Joint

Okay, so now that we have that out of the way: at the same time, just because it's made in Microsoft Paint does not make it pixel art. Remember: pixel art emphasizes on the individual pixels and the artist's deliberate placement of them. This isn't to say that you can't use things such as fill or line tools, however; it's how you make it, not what you make it with. Keep this in mind!


.:*~So, What Does Pixel Art Have to do With Spriting?~*:.
In most spriting communities, it has EVERYTHING to do with spriting. Most sprites that you will see are pixel art; however, this doesn't exactly imply that it HAS to be pixel art to be a sprite. Technically, a sprite is classified as a 2D image / set of images that are meant to serve a certain purpose...namely, some type of placement in a game. However, delving into this really isn't the point of this thread. So if you're a self-proclaimed spriter, don't think this doesn't apply to you! It has everything to do with you.