Editing Pixel art (section)

{{short description|Form of digital art}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2025}}
[[File:Pixel Art Cat with Zoom-in Detail.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|Portrait of a [[cat]] made in a 64x64 Pixel art canvas. Includes a zoomed-in window in the bottom left corner to enhance the details of the cat's face. ''[[c:File:Pixel_art_portrait_of_a_cat.svg|'''See complete image''']]'']]
{{Art and video games}}

'''Pixel art'''{{refn|The term was originally coined in the form 'pixel art' (spaced) in a journal letter by Adele Goldberg and Robert Flegal ''(main section: [[#Origin|§ Origin]])''.

However, as time has passed the following alternative spellings have also been used to refer to the same medium:

* "Pixel-art"
* "Pixelart" ([[Compound (linguistics)|Compound]])
* "Art of pixels" in some languages, like French.<ref>{{cite web |title=Grand dictionnaire terminologique - art du pixel |url=https://gdt.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=26543994 |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=gdt.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca |language=fr-ca}}</ref>|group="note"}} is a form of [[digital art]] drawn with [[graphics software|graphical software]] where images are built using [[pixel]]s as the only building block.<ref name=":10">{{cite web |date=2022-05-26 |title=What is Pixel Art? - Definition from Techopedia |url=https://www.techopedia.com/definition/8884/pixel-art |access-date=2022-09-10 |website=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526072849/https://www.techopedia.com/definition/8884/pixel-art |archive-date=26 May 2022 |url-status=dead}}</ref> It is widely associated with the low-resolution graphics from 8-bit and 16-bit era [[computers and writing|computers]], [[Arcade cabinet|arcade machines]] and [[video game console]]s, in addition to other limited systems such as [[LED display]]s and [[graphing calculator]]s, which have a limited number of pixels and colors available.<ref name=":8">{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Cindy |title=The Digital Gaming Handbook |publisher=CRC Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-367-22384-7 |editor-last=Dillon |editor-first=Roberto |edition=1st |location=Boca Raton |pages=275–286 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 14: Best Practices for Pixel Art}}</ref> The art form is still employed to this day by pixel artists and game studios, even though the technological limitations have since been surpassed.<ref name=":8"/>{{sfnp|Silber|2016|loc=preface|p=11|}}

Most works of pixel art are also restrictive both in [[file size]] and the number of colors used in their [[palette (computing)|color palette]] because of [[software]] limitations—to achieve a certain aesthetic or simply to reduce the perceived noise. Older forms of pixel art tend to employ smaller palettes, with some video games being made using just two colors (1-bit [[color depth]]). Because of these self-imposed limitations, pixel art presents strong similarities with many traditional restrictive art forms such as [[mosaic]]s, [[cross-stitch]] and [[fuse beads]].<ref name=":10"/> Pixel art is one of the most commonly-used mediums in video games, and it was especially popular during the 1980s and 1990s.
 
The precise definition of pixel art is a subject of debate, but an artwork is usually considered as such if deliberate thought was put into each individual pixel of the image. Standard [[digital art]]works or low-resolution photographs are also composed of pixels, but they would only be considered pixel art if the individual pixels were placed with artistic intent, even if the pixels are clearly visible or prominent (''see [[#Definition|Definition]]'').

The phrases "''dot art''" and "''pixel pushing''" are sometimes used as [[synonym (taxonomy)|synonyms]] for pixel art, particularly by Japanese artists. A much more popular variation is the term '''spriting''', which sometimes refers to the activity of making pixel art elements for video games specifically. The concept most likely originated from the word ''[[sprite (computer graphics)|sprite]]'', which is used in [[computer graphics]] to describe a two-dimensional [[bitmap]] that can be used as a building block in the construction of larger scenes.