Overview
Pixel art (ドット絵, dotto-e, lit. dot picture) is a general term for pictures drawn in units of one pixel (dot). This section introduces pixels as a graphic expression used especially in game software.
It is also a tag used for graphic-like illustrations of retro games from the 8-bit era (e.g., NES) and the 16-bit era (e.g., SNES).
This technique was developed to display good-looking images while covering the low resolution and small number of colors that could be displayed on old screens. In particular, game screens, with the exception of adventure games and wire-frame games, were almost entirely made up of pixels.
From the 1970s, when video games began to become common, until around the 2000s, when full-color and 3DCG expression became easier even on handheld devices, it was used in many game software titles.
Today, it is widely used in situations other than computer games as a kind of unique retro and warm expression method, not so much related to hardware limitations.
It has many unique techniques such as tile patterns and anti-aliasing.
Characteristics
Although there is no precise definition of what constitutes pixel art, the following characteristics can be identified.
Pixels are drawn by arranging pixels one by one.
This is the most important point of pixel art. Therefore, an enlarged version of an ordinary photograph or illustration is not called pixel art. It is also the reason why illustrations drawn with a drawing pen are not classified as pixel art (pixel art using a drawing pen themselves exist).
If two or more dots overlap and the lines appear thick, they will look rattled. Therefore, each pixel must be carefully corrected and each dot that makes up the drawing line must be drawn in such a way that it can be properly recognized when the drawing is enlarged (The exception to this is when the outlines are drawn thicker, but even in this case, the dots are properly adjusted so that they do not look messy).
The most important definition of pixel art is that it is "a picture in which dots are drawn in a row". As long as this condition is satisfied at least, it can be said to be pixel art regardless of whether it is in color, monochrome, or the process of drawing.
