[See I told you] Pixel Art

This is a simple online pixel art editor to help you make pixel art easily. Pixel Art Maker (PAM) is designed for beginners, and pros who just want to whip something up and share it with friends. If you like making pixel art, and need an online drawing app like this, then hopefully it lives up to your expectations.

If you’re a pixel art creator and would like to have a bit more control over your drawings, then you might find tools like Photoshop useful as an alternative to this online pixel art program.

Make Pixel Art Online: No downloads!

You’ve probably stumbled across this online app in your quest to find a freeware pixel editor which lets you easily draw pixel art for free. This pixel art maker lets you do exactly that. You can get straight to work drawing your favourite characters like mario, goku, batman and sonic.

There are a few other pixel art programs on the internet, but they mostly use Flash rather than JavaScript. This tool uses HTML5 and JavaScript so that you get a smooth experience, and don’t need plugins. In any case, it’s worth doing a Google search to check out the other pixel art tools since they might suit your needs better.

There are benefits and disavantages of making pixel art on a website. The primary benefit is that it’s really easy to get started since there’s no need to download software onto your computer. Instead, you visit this website and can instantly start drawing pixels. There are some disadvantages to drawing pixel art online, though. For example, you need to have an internet connection, and also, websites are inherently slower than software which runs on your computer. That said, the convenience of being able to create pixel are in your browser may just make it worthwhile, at least for sketching and having fun.

Pixel Art Editor: Create and use templates!

As well as being able to create pixel art from scratch, you can also edit pixel are that others have created. You can create a pixel art template which others can use to create characters and avatars easily. To do this, you simply need to start drawing your pixel art, and when you’re finished, click the save button, give your art a name and description, and then click the submit button. This will give you a link which other people can use to edit your pixel art.

Pixel Art History

Pixel art, as it is known today, goes back at least as far as 1972 when Richard Shoup wrote SuperPaint and with the Xerox PARC software. However, the concept of pixel art may go back thousands of years with traditional art forms such as cross-stitching (or more generally, counted-thread embroidery) which uses small units which can be filled with thread to create a pattern or “drawing” of sorts. The painting style known as "pointillism" is also very similar to pixel art.

Pixel images were originally the only type of image which could be displayed on computers due to resolution constraints. Their colour values were also restricted to a small subset of the colours used on computers today. After black and white came 8-bit colour, leading to the distinctive 8-bit pixel art that we know today. Due to these constraints, all early computer games had to use pixel art for their visual elements. Of course, as screen resolution increased and computing power became better, the pixellated quality of game art assets became less visible.

Presently, there are still many games which employ a pixel art style. These are usually indie games, or games where a pixel art style makes the game more visually appealing. People who draw and paint pixel art are (predictably) called pixel artists.

Professional pixel artists generally use expensive software like Adobe Photoshop to create their art and sprites, but of course, this is not necessary for a beginner. Online pixel art apps like this one allow you to create pixel art on a simple grid and instantly share it with friends.

Pixel Art Creators

This app is built for beginners who want to learn to create pixel art, but don’t know where to start. I hope the controls are intuitive and simple, and I hope that it helps you create images which you can be proud of. So, what are you waiting for? Start creating pixel art online now, and share your pixel pictures with your friends.