Learning to draw pixel art

Pseudo-off-topic post today.

I wrote a long time ago a post about my interest in 2D graphics, what is known as pixel art, including a few resources about it. What happened back then, and still happens now, is that it feels quite relaxing, zen-like, to be drawing one pixel at a time, and seeing the overall image slowly take shape.

By doing that, and by playing a huge number of 2D videogames, I implicitly learned about dithering, gradients and a few basic techniques, but almost no real "rules". I simply have a "sixth sense" about some pixel art looking good, while others might look too simple or as if something's off.

That was the case until not long ago. I bought an iPad with an Apple Pencil, initially to highlight PDFs and take notes (with the outstanding GoodNotes app 💙). More or less around the same time, I learned about a Windows and macOS game, Pixel Art Academy: Learn Mode, which is really a set of tutorials for learning how to draw pixel art.

I've spent possibly one year with the game, doing many tutorials (new ones get added, as it is in early access, not yet complete) using a mouse, just as I did with Deluxe Paint decades ago. But then one day I thought that "it would be great if I could use the iPad with the pencil as one of those drawing tablets that professional illustrators use". And it turns out you can! It's called Sidecar, and it is so simple to set up. This is one of those Apple-devices-only features that feel worth the vendor lock-in: I just plug the USB-C cable, send the game window to the iPad, and draw there. Everything, including the pencil, just works. Coming from decades of using Windows and Linux, it feels even too easy.

Here's me learning how transform a non-trivial image with plenty of curves into pixel art:

And best of all, drawing pixels on the iPad screen with the pencil feels even more relaxing. Probably because it feels more natural than using a mouse.

As a final note, in case you're interested, to actually draw I settled on the Pixquare app. There is a free version you can try first, and after watching a few tutorials it felt intuitive and good enough for my (simple) needs, especially being able to open and place an image side by side to the painting canvas.