It is not so easy to find artists that are dedicating their valuable time to focus specifically on the pixelated artform but, I have done my best. There are so many reasons that pixel art is important culturally as well as being historically significant.

While screen sizes and resolutions have increased over time, looking back as far as the year 1970, and then all the way until the early 1990s, pixel art was absolutely necessary. There was no real alternative, the screen resolutions and computing power required us to use imagery which would not overburden the available processors and at the same time it needed to fit within the construct of the screen itself. Today this is almost never a concern except where internet connections are slower, then pixel art still rules the day!

So, even today, there are certain advantages to this ages-old craft. If we look back at the history of pixel art, we can see that it is at least 50 years old as an artform which first grew out of necessity but, is now being maintained diligently by the new generation of artists. The closest relative to modern pixel art, from a standpoint of traditional, non-digit artforms, is probably mosaic tiling.

Pixels Are Still Advantageous.

This is owing to the small size of the images which are produced through this amazing and wonderful method. The file sizes are so small, especially if you also use a specific colour index with, for example, 16 colours only. This means that you can actually have more imagery in the online environment, which in turn means that you can pack even more imagery into your online projects. It’s truly an amazing thing, and the techniques and methods have been handed down through two, or maybe even three generations of pixel art masters.

I, myself, do not believe that this art is actually recognized properly as the true artform that it really is. This is it’s own complete artform with all of its own special toolsets and methodologies which have been honed over time, and through the ages.

Using Modern Screens, You Almost Cannot See The Pixels.

This is because the resolution has become so high that the pixels are so very tiny that you almost cannot distinguish them. This was not always the case, and for many years in the days of early computing, and early video gaming, you could actually see the individual pixels which would be presented on the screen. The colour palettes available were also limited at that time.

This is why I thought it was important to highlight the wonderful pixelated artwork of these Mastodon Artists because they are keeping the tradition of this artform alive. Please enjoy the following links to the profiles of Pixel Artists from all around the Fediverse. While I was searching them out, I was able to find ten but, I am sure there are many more. I felt like it was important to highlight, not based on having the most followed accounts but, based on having obvious pixelated artwork. It needed to be sufficiently pixelated… and it was! Wonderful work!

Very well done everyone!

These link to the media pages:

https://mas.to/@Patrick_Winter/media

https://ohai.social/@amazing_Ekka/media

https://mastodon.art/@dinchenix/media

https://mastodon.world/@Thoogah/media

https://mastodon.art/@ota_pixelart/media

https://mastodon.social/@voidgazerBon/media

https://mastodon.art/@haykira/media

https://socel.net/@ainasge/media

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@Kezzo/media

https://mastodon.art/@jmes/media