Art

Navy Open House Ad – Impressive Pixel Art

By Veron Ang

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Recently a poster on a neighborhood noticeboard caught my attention. It’s an advertisement for the Navy Open House (which has since come to pass). I didn’t exactly care for this event, but for the next few minutes I found myself being mesmorised by the ad.

The artwork in the ad was so impressively done that I ran home and did an extensive google search for the artists behind it. It’s entirely done in pixel art, a highly challenging and tedious form of digital illustration where the artist has to literally draw out the image pixel by pixel.

This is the pixel art done for the Navy Open House event. The team of pixel artists behind it are Ari, Thalia and Sokkuan. Can you imagine the amount of work and level of detail that goes into this? Be sure to enlarge the image and scrutinise every little detail!

Navy Open House 2007 Pixel Art Click to enlarge

I contacted Ari for an interview regarding his work. It’s a rare opportunity because I have never come across a pixel artist based in Singapore! What an honor that he kindly obliged to my interview!

Veron: Can you tell us a little more about pixel art?

Ari: Pixel art was originally started during the dot com boom, when the technology of the internet was still in it’s infancy. [Thalia and I] were doing pixel art back then, when we were living in New York, working as web designers in 1998.

The technical constraints of the 256 web colors and bandwidth restrictions (resulting in file size constraints) pushed designers to invent an illustration style that uses the pixel itself as building blocks. Antialiasing (automatic blurring of image edges to make them appear sharper), which is commonly used in print media was deliberately ignored to make the file size smaller and graphics seem to pop-out more on screen.

The result is a very subjective illustration style, and eventually a new sense of aesthetics which rely on color, simplification of objects, pseudo-physics logic, subject matter choice, and a sense of humor.

Click to enlarge

Veron: How do you start with each piece of pixel art? Is there a photograph to follow or do you draw it out of visualisation/imagination?

Ari: From measurements. We measure the actual objects (approximation) and applied a consistent scale throughout the entire illustration. It’s kind of like doing a technical drawing, or blueprints to architects. The most basic unit being the pixel, is multiplied to the size that it’s supposed to be printed at. Think of it as playing with Lego blocks. The trick is, there’s no perspective or vanishing point since it’s an isometric pixel art.

Click to enlarge

Veron: Do you actually draw it pixel by pixel for the entire image? Is there any special pixel art software that you use to speed up the process? What software do you use? Are there “stamp tools” that allow you to quickly create multiple objects (for eg. Human figures)?

Ari: No we draw everything pixel by pixel. Sounds tedious, and it is, but working on the computer also means that duplications can be done easily.

Veron: Whoa! That’s pretty hard core. How much time did you and your team members spend in total for the pixel art poster?

Ari: 3 people, about 3 weeks.

Veron: How do you divide the workload among the 3 of you?

Ari: Person 1 did basic landscaping, while Person 2 did the ships and medium size objects and Person 3 did a directory map. Then everyone did many, many people everywhere.

Click to enlarge

Veron: Is pixel art your favorite form of art?

Ari: No, not really, since I don’t really have a favorite art form per se. Pixel art is just a style of illustration. It’s good for executing certain ideas, but it’s not applicable everywhere all the time.

Veron: What is your occupation? Are you working as a freelance illustrator or do you work/own a design firm?

Ari: I run a small studio called Pericraft together with Thalia. (pericraft.com)

Veron: Any other things you would like to add?

Ari: Thanks for introducing yourself to us as well :)

There you go! I hope this helps to raise the awareness of pixel art in Singapore, because I rarely see this unique and cute form of digital art being used. In fact, the only example of pixel art I’ve seen in Singapore (other than this navy open house poster) was the one used in the Singapore institute of management ad campaigns.

All artwork was done by Ari, Thalia and Sokkuan. All images have been taken from IROIRO and Organisation of Illustrators Council.)

For more on Sparklette:

About the Author

Veron Ang is the founder and chief editor of Sparklette. She lives in Singapore and has dined and traveled across the world. She also runs Sparklette Studio, a web design and WordPress development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her personal updates on Twitter: @VeronSG.

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22 responses

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Jayson
July 6, 2007

Hey Veron,

Nice piece of interview going on around there. Great Job!

I’m truly fascinated by the intricate details of each objects, and also the amount of effort the artists devote their time to make their masterpieces.

I’ve seen this similar artform first over at Habbo Hotel – an online game, and it’s cute! It’s like going on an exploration in Legoland!

With that, this inspires me to compose a Haiku,

Pixels by Pixels,
Creating amazing things,
That’s PixelArt, y’all …

Jayson
Haiku Black Belt
Reply
malique
July 6, 2007

hey local! cool!
ive always been fascinated with pixel art back in 2003.
some designers in kl whip some killer pixel art!
just like eboy.
Reply
Miccheng
July 6, 2007

Cool stuff… And they’re based in Singapore? Neat…
Reply
py
July 6, 2007

Thank you for this post. I did not know anything about pixel art, until I’ve read this post.

Have a good weekend.
Reply
Veron
July 7, 2007

Jayson: Wow, Habbo looks hawt! Thanks for your #4 haiku for me! You’re improving fast! Congrats on the black belt by the way (self-declared, but who cares).

malique: Yeah, eBoy rocks my socks off!

Miccheng: Haha foreign talent!

py: That’s my whole point, to introduce pixel art to my readers. I know not many people are aware of this form of art :)
Reply
Naime
July 7, 2007

i remember seeing this ad in the newspaper but never realised how detailed the images are as it was rather small when the ad was published. thanx for the eye-opener veron.
Reply
mee
July 7, 2007

pixel art is actually used for mobile game development too (i got a friend who’s very good at it :). and yes there are a few companies based in Singapore.
Reply
Kev
July 7, 2007

Hey Veron! Congrads on being blog of the year n best design!! good job!
Reply
py
July 7, 2007

Congratulations!! I have heard that you have clinched Ping.sg’s awards for blog of the year and the best design! Three cheers!
Reply
Hai~Ren
July 8, 2007

Cool! I did notice it before but didn’t really pay attention.

When I saw the first pic, the first thing that came to my mind was “So… where’s Wally?” :D
Reply
Jacelyn
July 8, 2007

Yeah, I adore pixel art too. It’s pretty amazing how pple and objects can be created pixel by pixel :) And congrats for getting the blog of the year + best design! U definitely deserved it :)
Reply
Walter
July 8, 2007

Great post about the possibilities of pixel art in marketing and advertising. This reminds me of the “Where’s Wally” series with drawings that possess such levels of detail in their rendering. I wonder how long it takes to do something like this though?
Reply
Veron
July 9, 2007

Naime: No problem! Didn’t know it ever came out in the papers.

mee: I think pixel art is most commonly used in mobile phone games. But there is one desktop game I enjoy very much that also uses pixel art — Lemonade Tycoon!

Kev: Thanks! Wow, all the way from down under. Word sure travels fast!

py: Thank you so much! I know you voted. Thanks!

Hai~Ren: Hehe!

Jacelyn: Thanks! You are right-on about drawing pixel by pixel. It takes a huge amount of patience and a talented eye and mind too.

Walter: From what Ari said, his team of three completed this piece in 3 weeks!
Reply
Roys
July 9, 2007

Nice find, Veron! Always liked your posts about art and design here :)
Reply
Veron
July 9, 2007

Great! I hope to be able to post more stuff like this in future!

Thanks!
Reply
Roys
July 9, 2007

SIM’s Ad (pixel video?) which you may also be interested in :)
Reply
xtemujin
September 2, 2007

Before coming to your website, I’ve no idea what on earth is pixelart as to me the drawing during the Navy open house brochure is just a normal photo to me.

I’ve kept the Navy pixelart in my flickr album.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xtemujin/sets/

There’s a brochure by the Army Open House, is this a pixelart ?

Thanks.
Reply
chainsoar
September 17, 2007

I love pixel art, I’m just starting out myself, trying to learn the basics. This is a very nice piece, very detailed, lots of action going on – the very epitome of isometric pixelart. I’d like to know if there’s anyway I could get hold of one of the original posters? I’d love to have this to put up on my wall.
Reply
kilazz
January 21, 2009

Wow, się trochę ktoś napracował, ja rysuje sobie tylko małe miecze jeśli chodzi o pixelart. Dla mnie mistrzem jest Perski, a oto jego stronka – http://www.perski.pl.tl
Reply
akiagato
March 27, 2009

this is soo cool !
I love pixel
Reply