Art made the old-fashioned way. 😅

Titanium Court

Perfect Tides: Station to Station

Loco Motive

Independent Games Festival happened last night and I looked at all the pixel art finalists for the blog: retronator.com/post/8109083...
There are even a couple of winners in there too!

This is a pixel art landscape depicting a winter sunrise over a vast, snowy wilderness. The scene has a serene, cold atmosphere rendered in a predominantly blue palette. In the foreground, bare deciduous trees and scrubby vegetation poke through patches of snow, their dark branches creating delicate silhouettes. The middle ground rolls away in undulating, snow-covered hills blanketed with dense blue-toned brush or low forest. In the distance, the land meets a large lake whose surface catches and reflects the light of the sun. The sun itself peeks out of the distant mountains, glowing with warm pinks and greens that contrast against the cool blues dominating the rest of the scene. The pixel art style gives it a nostalgic, retro video game feel — reminiscent of 16-bit era landscape backgrounds — while the composition and color work are quite painterly and atmospheric. The contrast between the warm horizon glow and the cold blue tones of the snowy land creates a quiet, contemplative mood.

Inspired by my trip to the north of Sweden, beyond the polar circle. After a week of enjoying auroras in the sky with no sun in sight, on the day of our return, sunshine peeked out of the mountains and it felt like a warm hug of a friend you haven't seen in a long time.

Making Pixel Art Inspired by the ZX Spectrum! YouTube video by Brandon James Greer

For the ZX Spectrum style, you have to know the rules (only 2 colors per 8x8 block, both same brightness). You can check Brandon James Greer's video, how he tackles it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocNj...

Damn right! 💪

Happy to hear that! Wishing you this one be as well!

Looks awesome!

Happy you like it! Thank you!

Magnificent!

🤣 Made me chuckle hard.

Haha, to me it feels like a pillow for my eyes when I look away. 😆

Thank you!

Yup, I switched to it when I didn't want to pirate Photoshop anymore in 2010. Use it to this day.

Same for me, I would have hated the dull C64 colors, but now I appreciate their gentle caress. 😌

Such a cool news clip!

Colors that make your eyeballs bleed. 😆

A pixel art depiction of a vibrant sunset landscape rendered in a retro, limited-color style using the ZX Spectrum computer limitations. The scene shows a peaceful ocean reflecting a colorful sky filled with clouds illuminated at dusk. Silhouetted trees and bushes frame the image, while rocks and vegetation protrude from the water, creating a serene and dreamy atmosphere. The distinct pixelated style contributes to a nostalgic, digital aesthetic.

After a long time a new ZX Spectrum work. 6 colors, no bright mode. Drawn in Pixquare and dithered in GIMP.

Pixel Art Academy: Learn Mode devlog 22 YouTube video by Retronator

A new track of mine has been added to Pixel Art Academy! ⭐ In his new devlog, @retronator.bsky.social shows how he makes sure the music stays dynamic and adapts to the player's experience. Check it out to hear the new track:

The image is a pixel art depiction of a colorful sky over the ocean. The sky is filled with clouds in various shades of purple, pink, and gray, creating a dreamy and atmospheric scene. The colors transition smoothly, giving the impression of a sunset or sunrise. The ocean at the bottom reflects some of the warm hues of the sky, particularly near the horizon, where a subtle red glow suggests the presence of the sun. The pixel art style uses a limited color palette and blocky shapes to form the clouds, giving the image a nostalgic, retro video game aesthetic.

A quick one, clouds practice #4.

Happy to hear that! Can't wait to put landscape drawing and painting in the game as well!

Thank you Lente! 🛥️🏝️

Clouds practice #3, this time from my own reference with colors mostly picked plein air at a different sunset with similar conditions (Atari 2600 palette, as always).

I'm glad you like it! 🥰

Thank you! 💛

Couple more, the collection is growing …

It's becoming increasingly important to me to take my own references instead of doing studies of other people's work (image search). It's OK of course to study, but capturing the composition yourself and holding complete copyright has its value.

Intriguing! 🤨 I wonder where this is going …

Sunsets are happening faster than I can paint them, so here are a couple of IRLs instead.

🙏😊

I'm glad you like it! 💖

Oh, that's nice to hear! I'm sticking to the Atari 2600 palette which is quite limiting sometimes, but the quirky colors in there force that 80s/90s look to keep it rooted in that era.