Pixel art is a thoroughly modern form of artistic expression and one of my favorite emerging styles. Born from both a nostalgia for the early digital age of the 80’s and 90’s, as well as the indie game scene, it is a love letter to a beloved era and the culture that grew from it.
Conveying the essence of a scene with minimal detail is nothing new. Impressionism and mosaic have done this for centuries. There is something truly unique, however, about the characters and scenes brought to life with these bright little bits.
There is a delightful sense of imagination and whimsy in pixel art, that stirs fond memories of technologically simpler days.
But even within the seemingly limited scope of tidy pixelated columns, various artists find ways to bring their style to this most geeky of art forms. More or less pixels, increased or decreased detail, varying amounts of colors…the results are surprising.
Over the past year I’ve been coming across the work of Octavi Navarro’s. A self styled pixel artist and gamer, his designs are iconic for several reasons. He embraces the cultural vibe of the medium with richly detailed, delightfully eccentric depictions that evoke a spirit of adventure and wonder.
He doesn’t simply lean on pixelazation as a stand alone gimmick. Instead he builds upon it with stylistic choices that compliment the rudimentary beauty of the medium, imbuing it with additional layers.
He employs stylish 45 degree angles within blocky compositions. There is an overarching geometry at work. Complex scenery and detailed minutia are overtly framed in boxy architectural cross-sections, a hallmark of his style.
This wonderful structural dissection allows the viewer to glimpse the colorful inhabitants of a besieged castle, a creaky mansion, or lonely lighthouse. His works are often visual compilations, whimsical tableaus informed by fantastic fiction and popular mythology.
Embracing the inherent nerdiness of pixel art, he creates scenes culled from the collective consciousness of geek culture. Though occasionally drawing from actual characters and settings his works are just as often merely familiar amalgams of established lore. They exist in the periphery of classic tales and science fictions, inhabiting the shared universe of our imagination.
They can be a slice of American mythos, or a surreal expedition on an alien world, a ride in steampunk dirigible or a plunge into the icy depths in an iceberg submersible. Wonderfully eccentric mise en scenes, they conjure images of Jules Verne or pulp adventure comics.
Part of the challenge of the medium is properly conveying lighting, texture and detail within the unforgiving constraints of a few simple pixels. Navarro’s work is impressive in it’s understanding and representation of these key nuances.
Whether it’s the soft glow of a dim bulb or the fading brilliance of a sunset, his lighting creates incredible depth and ambiance. Likewise his use of details, whether it’s colorfully pixelated hieroglyphics, or footprints in the snow attribute life and texture to the rudimentary bits.
Like any style, pixel art has extraordinary range and potential that continues to surprise and inspire me. As a child of the 80’s, and a lifelong gamer, I have a great affection for the unique technological subculture that continues to inspire this movement.