Pixel : A pixel art documentary by Simon Cottee

An unassuming film with an unassuming title, Pixel may be modest in scope, but it is also a deeply enjoyable and thoughtful account of the rise, fall, and triumphant return of pixel art in videogames and other media.

I enjoyed GameReader’s thoughts on Pixel.

For me, back in the day, when I was making 8 bit games, graph paper was my friend. I have no traditional drawing skills at all. I can imagine fantastic things in my head, but give me pencil and plain paper and garbage comes out.

Conversely, constrain my drawing process with a rigid grid and I have always been able to produce quite respectable computer game imagery. Unfortunately in today’s high fidelity 3D graphics video gaming environment my subset of drawing skills are mostly useless.

Lucky for me, I can “create” in code.

Some of the platforms that I believe are spurring a reinvention of this genre as a modern expression of our roots are todays handheld gaming devices. The resurgence in Indie Games has allowed, and in some cases necessitated, game producers to look at novel, low budget ways to present their visions. Pixel Art, and a return to 2D, are two of the possibilities.

Pixel art is a growing form of expression in video games today. You only have to look at main stream titles like 3D Dot Game Heroes to see how big publishing houses are starting to take notice of this hitherto underground Indie scene. (Although it is worth noting the Japanese origin of this software. That part of the world is generally ahead of the curve in terms of true artistic innovation when it comes to new media.)

It is also not suprising how popular this medium is set to be when you consider the average age of serious video game players these days. There are a lot of 30 – 40 year olds out there with a nostalgic view of the handful of decades that video games have been around.

Right now I am working on my own take on a retro pixel-art project for the iPhone and iPod Touch. And I am very excited about it.

So I enjoyed Simon Cotee’s documentary immensely.

Posted: May 27th, 2010
Categories: Media, iPod, iphone
Tags: , , , , ,
Comments: View Comments.
  • JRGBruno

    Hey thanks for the shout! I think you're right to point to nostalgia as a major factor behind the return of pixel art. It often seems like those of us who grew up with pixels have a better appreciation of pixelated graphics than the very creators who made us fall in love with pixels in the first place!

    We've seen it before in other media. Take punk rock for example. That movement was led by the first kids to have grown up during the golden age of rock and roll, and it was an attempt to return to that same spirit. Like pixel art, punk could be seen as a bunch of kids who wanted to rebel against the the adults of rock. But they can also be understood in more positive terms, as an attempt by “kids” to put the adults on a healthier diet. Adults tend to become heavier (i.e., overproduced, over-indulgent) as they age, and these pixel-punk kids were/are merely trying to strip all the unnecessary baggage so as to bring them back to their college weight. (Hopefully that analogy makes sense…not sure).

    By the way, what pixel project are you working on? Have you written something about it?

  • stephennorthcott

    Hey, no problem. Thanks again for your original post.

    Interesting analogy. And yes, I do get where you are coming from.

    The project I am working on at the moment is a personal obsession with an iconic 80's Arcade Game. I will be putting up some concept art here on tequilabomb in the coming weeks. So will ping you then.

    Would love your feedback. :)

  • JRGBruno

    Awesome–looking forward to it! I've been known to get absent minded from time to time so make sure to ping me!

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