shark - i think i'm a pretty good cg-er, but there are lots and lots and loooots of things i think i could detail better with pixelart. i occasionally used pixelart to tough up things like eyes etc.

pixelart, however is great for really really small things. that's its origin aswell.

pixelart is not about making perfect images to me either, its about control, and you taking the responsibility for every pixel. 

and yes. challenges rule. the tighter the better i think (no i'm not talking bikini's here J.)

Given enough time and motivation, you could make ANYTHING with pixel art. ANY level of detail. You're not really restricted so much, and the outcome would be of a different look than you could acheive had you used brushes and auto-aa and all that fun.

Plus to be good at art on a computer in general, it seems logical to me to start at the very beginning.

a question for you. actually for all of you..

i want to paint myself and my sister (and later perhaps my parents too) for their wedding aniversery and stuffs... i'm first gonna pixel it on the pc, and later remake that on canvas with paint. is it still pixelart? i think so, but what do yáll think?

not quite sure what you mean. you mean if i'm just gonna copy the photo? i won't

i'm gonna make the pixels on a canvas (i'l try to avoid making a grid though) with a wide brush, and making strokes of approx. 2x2 mm

hmm. I'd call it a style of pointilism.

I think I also just reply to this, even if I'm not such a pixel artist myself:

I believe that when you're a pixeler, then it's mainly for yourself. The progress of creation the result is important, maybe more important than the actual result. So if you're doing it actually for yourself, then you might not care about other programs that can do similar work in less time - because you wouldn't have the same fun doing so. On the other hand, other people enjoy using photoshop etc. as much - I still don't have a problem with it.

Doing something just because it's "cool" is never the only reason anything is done. This is also because of the individual definitions of "cool", i.e. there is no defintion, but different meanings of the term "cool" for every person.

So people who like to pixel do it (mostly, I would say) because the process of putting each pixel next to each other makes them happy. If I compare it with music (I'm more experienced with that, so excuse this slight topic variation) - I always do my tracks in the MIDI format, just because I feel comfortable with it. There are some people who just put preset sounds together, maybe even preset tunes or riffs and it might sound better than such a MIDI, but I couldn't imagine doing so because then I would not be "true" to myself. I still don't mind what other people do, though. I mean, for most people I write music tracks for still the only thing that matters is the result (this is why I also make mp3 versions of the tracks after having them as MIDI). Now, back to graphics.

I guess it can be quite similar: If you think you could do a sprite by pixeling it, why would you grab a high-tech program and make it for you? I mean, it would (maybe) feel to you like you're somehow "cheating". This does not mean that you can say that other people who aren't skilled enough for pixelation "cheat" somehow. It only applies when you see a challenge in creating that piece of art you intend to do. (like said before)

So, all in all it appears to be a personal "feeling" that is the spirit behind pixel art. At least this is my understanding of that term.

Now, unfortunately, I don't know what of this stuff has already been said. But as this topic can be transfered to many similar topics, this reflects my opinion quite well.