Before you watch this insane music video by Jérémie Perin, note that is totally not safe for work. Its video-game inspired animation contains pixellated 8-bit depictions of both sex and pooping. The YouTube description reads “Think Spielberg’s Duel + Russ Meyer’s Faster Pussycat Kill Kill! and Marc Dorcel’s wildest fantasies.”
But what it lacks in decorum, it totally makes up for in animated awesomeness. The look is a pixel-perfect replication of the era of video games I grew up playing. And though it’s sad that there are no more games being made that look like this, I am thrilled to be living in an age when the kids who grew up with this aesthetic are now the grown-ups making new things of their own.
Argentinean animator Leo Campasso is 21 years old, and has been animating in Flash since he was 12. His latest short, Wild Wind cleverly combines pixel art with traditional animaton. It’s a perfect fusion of 80-bit video games and saturday morning cartoons.
How great are these mini pixel portraits? Very Important Pixels are created by Beligan designer Kristof Saelen who offers up a new set every week. What I find remarkable is that the recognizability of these portraits is due not just to choosing iconic characters; Kristof manages to capture each person’s true likeness in that tiny grid of pixels.
Artist Jay Epperson has been posting lots of concept art that he created and art directed for the Nintendo DS game Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure. Check out his blog for background paintings, character designs, sketches, pixel art, and more.
Who says crayons are just for kids? Artist Christian Faur uses wax crayons themselves as pixels to create imagery. The results are stunning, and I doubt I’d be able to resist the urge to touch these pieces in real life.
In a sublime match of subject, style, and music, pixel artist Superbrothers presents an animated timeline of the computer. Be sure to watch it full screen; whereas some online videos suffer from a bad case of the pixels, Dot Matrix Revolution is obviously immune.
Pixel and sprite-based comics may get a bad rap, but this is truly wonderful. Super Oors World from French creator Jonathan Silvestre is a wordless pixel comic that feels like the perfect marriage of 8-bit video games and funny-animal comics. The first episode, at least, is a pitch perfect adventure game complete with giant boss villain.
What’s more, all the comics are distributed under a Creative Commons licence and you can download the sprite assets to make and remix your own Super Oors world stories. Fun!
Toronto artist Craig D. Adams goes by the name Superbrothers. His portfolio has plenty of impressive 3D game art, but it’s his unique take on pixel art that I find interesting.
