And so Pixelween 2025 begins...
The first spooky theme is An Unexpected Guest.
You will be creating a horizontal landscape on this theme. The following weeks will attach to the previous weeks' entries on the right hand side. So to summarize: a horizontal landscape panorama going from left to right.
Who will your unexpected guest be? What are they a guest for? Where are they a guest for? So many questions. Will we get answers?
Do feel free to interpret the theme (an unexpected guest) and format (landscape panorama) as you wish. Thinking outside of the box is always encouraged! The only real limitations are the palette and canvas size! And remember that it needs to connect to next week's challenge entry.
The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.
Boo! It's that time of the year again. The spooky artsy time for Pixelween!
This year, you will be crafting 4 landscapes that connect horizontally over the course of four consecutive weekly challenges. Each weekly challenge will bring a new type of spooky landscape that connects with the previous one on the right side. All of the scenes added together as a horizontal panorama shall be your Pixelween entry.
Rules:
To be eligible for the Pixelween prizes, you must submit to at least 2 of the 4 weeklies. As long as at least two of your submissions are on time, you are allowed (but not required) to submit more up until October 26th, the final deadline. Technically having a complete set is not required to win, but the fates favor a finished horizontal panorama.
The winning entries will be chosen from all eligible entries by a jury of select PixelJoint members, with the help of some dark outsiders who for now remain in the shadows...
The weeklies also function as normal weekly challenges, with the usual prizes. Your success in the weeklies does not influence your chances in Pixelween judging.
There will be a fifth bonus challenge that can be added onto your entry but isn't part of the judging.
This year the chosen ghoulishly great palette is Azahar Streets by ParadoxWhimsy.
Prizes:
From these, the highest placing winners get to choose first, and if a winner does not need a software license it will be moved on to the 10th place, and so on.
This year RankOne Global is sponsoring PixelJoint with Steam gift cards. RankOne is a community platform for gamers, streamers and enthusiasts. It lets you build a personal gaming profile where you track, rate and review all games you've played, discover new favorites and connect with other gamers. Here is my profile for example.
The winning entries shall be announced as soon as possible after the deadline.
All who participate shall earn the rare Pixelween trophy.
How to enter:
To participate, your works need to be submitted to the Pixel Joint challenges, details are in the challenge posts:
The first challenge is: An Unexpected Guest (September 29th - October 5th)
The second challenge will run from October 6th - 12th
The third challenge will run from October 13th - 19th
The fourth challenge will run from October 20th - 26th
Bonus round will run from October 27th - November 2nd
If you've missed out on one of the challenges you can still submit your entry to Pixel Joint, as long as at least 2 of the scenes are posted as part of a weekly challenge within the deadline. While it probably won't be necessary, poking one of the moderators when you post your entry after its challenge deadline is a good idea.
How will you terrify and haunt the judges? Show us something deviously bewitching!
Should you feel too frightened on your own, the community is there to hold your hand in the challenge forum threads and in the Pixelween channel on the PJ Discord. Show your WIPs to tackle the threats together!
You can find the results of the 2020 Pixelween here.
You can find the results of the 2021 Pixelween here.
You can find the results of the 2022 Pixelween here.
You can find the results of the 2023 Pixelween here.
You can find the results of the 2024 Pixelween here.
For those who are new on Pixel Joint:
Weerdmeester Masterclass Challenge Streak
Final Episode
This week you can finish an entry you've started, or enter a challenge you wanted to participate in, but couldn't. You have 22 challenges to choose from. Here is the list:
Faceblock
Canvasflip
Why do you even bother?
Silloutted
101 Darnthings
POV
Eyes
Clickbaited
You're An Inanimal Object
Malevich Black Square
Backrooms
Crowded Together
Sad Anthropomorphism Cup
And it was called Yellow!
Cuddle the Horror
Onion Skinning
Looking at Distant Thing
What Am I Looking At?
Ponzo Illusion
Imposterd?
Clockwoek Orange
(Tiny, Random) Sideways
You can still change the final results by participating in as many as you wish, but only the ones you did not enter before.
The following pixel artists produced Pixel Joint's top rated pixel art for August 2025.
Many thanks go out to this month's top pixel artists, and all the members who took time to rate!
Weerdmeester Masterclass Challenge Streak
Episode 22
Create a scene where the world is flipped on its side, but living (or dead [or undead {...}]) creatures aren't.
This challenge combines Weerdmesteer's innovative ideas, with our traditional tiny worlds challenges (so prepare your 8 pixel tall sprite chops), and with our traditional weird, random, and totally unusable palette challenges (I guess you are lucky this time, becasue this one actually looks pretty easy).
You have to use this palette:
Ghost White #F8F8FF
Bone #E3DAC9
Pumpkin #FF7518
Zombie Green #698362
Blood Red #660000
Vampire Violet #3F2A68
And if you haven't been around PJ long enough, to know what this challenge means, you can ask your senior PJ friends.
Canvas Size - Max 66x66.
Colors - Max 6 (use the palette).
Transparency - Forbidden.
Animation - Forbidden.
Don't forget to comment on the pieces you like! Not only does a comment have the potential to make the artist's day, if you post a lot you'll win one of the fancy new trophies!
