Why is pixel art like CryptoPunks so popular?

A year after the baptism, the NFT industry has gone through many ups and downs and continues to grow. If you're a good collector, it's not hard to see more and more professionals and creative teams starting to get involved, wearing "Hollywood-good" NFT pieces. Examples include Prime Ape Planet, NFT Bored Bunny by artist BMPC, and more promising HAPE, C-01 and more. This is incompatible with pixel art, which was previously considered cryptographically based.

Some people think pixel art comes from the community, and agents like CryptoPunks, Worldwide Webb, and CyberKongz represent not only the creation of pixel images, but the spirit of encryption and creativity as well. Some believe that 3D technology has reached a level indistinguishable from the naked eye, and that pixel-like NFTs are higher due to the impact on performance in the early stages of metaverse development. . 3D NFT is our achievement in terms of technology.

So, is pixel art closed due to advancements in technology, or is it a continuation of human “nostalgia” thinking? In “The Pixel Art Revolution Will Be Broadcast On TV,” Aidan Moher makes it clear where pixel art stands today in an interview with Game of Thrones pixel artist.

Rhythm BlockBeats translates the old text as follows:

The country atmosphere created by PLAYING CHUCKLEFISH makes me want to come back to my country like never before. After its first appearance in 2018, I immediately fell in love with the Zelda-style adventure rides, colorful explanations, and social and multi-faceted connections. But more importantly, it amazes me with its colorful scenes and high-precision environment made in pixel art.

After the game was released in 2019, my brother described "The Air Force" as follows: "The design of the global game is like the world we are grown in." 'Tools' was also introduced on the Extreme OK Games platform game platform. Previously, Stardew Valley (also CHUCKLEFISH), the great farm simulator of Azure and Eric Barones, was involved in the platform. They cleverly use the beautiful retro colors of pixel games to satisfy the nostalgia. The best game, therefore, is a fast-paced game with a focus on pixel art. Most of these games work on Nintendo and Sega game systems, but Best Gaming still has a lot of great graphics and gameplay.

But in an age when people crave realism and overpowered 3D engines, how can a different pixel game like "Russian Air" come out like this for a long time? The developers of this game do not see pixel art based on the impact and restrictions of previous products or industry. Instead, it's a beautiful image that can't be separated from the video game. Pixel art is back after Sony and Nintendo tried to shoot it 25 years ago. This is thanks to the popularity of indie games such as Cerulean and Land of the Winds. The fame of pixel art is not only a nostalgic charm, but it also serves as a bridge to modern gaming.

four pixel input

“Pixel art has a lot in common with Impressionist painting,” said Pedro Medeiros, pixel artist at Extremely OK Games in Canada. Pedro is also an art illustrator for the game Cerulean. Knowing his blocks of pixels and his impressionist style, works on his design. is high-end technology and holistic technology, integration and thought more than Triple-A masterpieces featuring

Like Monet's impressionist paintings, pixel art requires players to fill in the blanks with their own experiences and build a personal relationship with their creators. Pixel art is inherently limited by the canvas. Unlike other types of graphics created with brushes, pencils, or 3D polygons, pixel art creates colors all at once. Pixel drawing canvases are usually extremely low resolution. Cerulean protagonist Madeline doesn't even have a real face in the game. "It's only four pixels," Medeiros said. "But players see faces, don't they? They see faces differently from me."

I grew up in the 90s when Nintendo made the best 3D adaptation of the Mario and Zelda series. And Sony actively controls 2D pixel art games on the new PlayStation. Despite exceptions such as Castlevania X: Symphony of the Night and Water Margin 2, the combination of pixel art and gamers has been influenced by companies using new technology.

Pixel artist Christina-Antoinette Neofotistou, with many years of experience, says the expansion of indie games in recent years has given rise to pixel art. “With a little investment, many small teams can develop what is a 90s AAA masterpiece.”

Neofotistou is an artist, animator and game developer. He is famous for his involvement in the production of the animated film Pixel Wars. Previously, he was involved in a game of the same name in 'Slam Dunk: New Legend' produced by Warner Bros. The screen game is made up of colorful pixels and the game style is reminiscent of the classic GBA game 'Street Fighting'. .

Neofotistou says "Pixel drawing is the key to geometric resolution." The pixels overlap and overlap like mosaic tiles, drawing the best shape of their own preferences. The author uses the simplest method to determine the difficult questions. And the end result is usually surprising. "How do they do this stuff with a few pixels?" "

Much of the inspiration for Neofotistou came from Susan Kare, the logo designer for Apple's first computer, the Macintosh. He is also a pioneering pixel artist. He has produced many classic games, including "The Secret of Monkey Island", "Sand Tool" and "Prince of Persia". He was himself influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Golden Age illustrator Beatrix Potter. From her perspective, this constant inspiration shows that art can transcend time and space.

Both Medeiros and Neofotistou believe that pixel art is the medium of art, not a style, and it is up to the artist to incorporate his own style into it. It's not easy to compare the gameplay of Azure and Land of the Winds. Both are pixel art, but the tones, textures, and visual effects are specially defined by their creators. “The use of pixel art as a medium for oil paintings gives way to watercolor, repetition and fluidity of patterns,” said Neofotistou. Nostalgia is an industry need for a generation that grew up with disposable income in the 80s and 90s. Usually pixel art is cheap and grows with those users, so artists and fans alike think it is. will return to the main theme.

"Some games seem to use nostalgia almost as a mainstay," says Medeiros, who believes pixel art can mindlessly explode and create new experiences. Artists like Medeiros and Neofotistou have undergone further changes in their long career. These changes destroy gamers' expectations of modern pixel art.

"It's undeniable that pixel art games are nostalgic." "The same goes for everyday sports," admits Medeiros. But everyone who entered the Nostalgic Cerulean was thrilled. There are a lot of gamers who were amazed by the game because it was in that era, but there are still a lot of gamers who were born with the '8Bit' style, and they got warm responses like that. they had seen the inspiration. Therefore, Medeiros deliberately avoided the hope of nostalgia when creating images for the game. "That's not to say that our game is trying to show."

the times have changed

The pixel art was created due to the limitations of special CRT TV equipment. Develop your artwork more beautifully with low resolution, saturated fluorescent colors and low contrast. On the other hand, modern pixel art has been redefined by artists as ultra-bright and high-resolution. Like OLED, they have changed the way artists create and bring new opportunities and challenges.

Neofotistou remembers: We need to be able to create more art with fewer resources and fewer tools. "

Artist Kazuko Shibuya, like Final Fantasy, recognized the limits of play equipment in the 1980s, but regretted it. However, Neofotistou and Medeiros prefer to create their own art through a combination of other tools rather than art defined by skill. This is also what makes modern pixel art different from old pixel images. Neofotistou says: “Under the circumstances of the Nintendo era, with the same technology, the same time and the same investment, I am convinced that I can do better than the Nintendo artists at the time.

Maddy Thorson, a Medeiros colleague who is also the author and designer of Cerulean, said, “Pixel art is not only creative, it opens new doors for game development.

“The pixel-like game is so minimal that we can have all three graphics games on Azure in computer memory,” he explains. The whole game of "Blue" is developed around the concepts of "try" and "error", which is also the most difficult of the game. Players often "die" because of the difficulty. The game has a very "not shy" dead shelf and the game graphics are stored in system memory, so players can restart the game after "dead" to reduce stress and make gamers feel " wounded".

pixel-perfect

The once important and abandoned pixel art has now been overhauled by artists such as Neofotistou and Medeiros. Inspired by the boom of independent game studios, their work has evolved into a medium that will be long to come. Just as simple 80s pixel art was transformed by more advanced technology in the 90s, a similar transformation occurred and pixel art was rediscovered as modern zis. Restrictions on the use of technology have been broken and the future of broadcasting is full of infinity.

Neofotistou says "Pixel art doesn't need to be divided into retro." "The tools we use are the best for the vision we are trying to achieve."

Medeiros sees the future of pixel art full of experiences and new technologies. Although pixel art is now coming to the end of the indie boom, things that use pixels will and won't go away. As Neofotistou said, "I'm only scratching the surface of the most intuitive level that pixel art can provide as a creative medium."

From mosaics of ancient Greece and Rome to stained glass, cross stitch, needlework, bead art, dot-matrix printers and inexpensive LCD screens on the facades of buses or rice cookers, display the images by scattering points on a grid, ”explains Neofotistou.

Art is a medium that evolves in the past to explore human knowledge and thought as new forms and technologies become more popular. With arcades and smartwatches connected with LCD screens through mosaics and stained glass, pixel art in the past has inspired designers to create new experiences for the games of the future.