Retro Vs. Modern Pixel Art
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: The Lounge
Forum Name: Resources and Support
Forum Discription: Help your fellow pixel artists out with links to good tutorials, other forums, software, fonts, etc. Bugs and support issues should go here as well.
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=22229
Printed Date: 10 September 2025 at 10:29am
Topic: Retro Vs. Modern Pixel Art
Posted By: Archendrus
Subject: Retro Vs. Modern Pixel Art
Date Posted: 04 April 2015 at 7:58am
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Hi Everyone! New to the forums. I'm a beginner with art, both pixel
and otherwise. I have done a little bit, and even completed a couple
games! You can check out my best yet here:
http://archendrus.itch.io/protostriker-m - http://archendrus.itch.io/protostriker-m I've recently realized that I spend way more time studying and practicing programming and other technical aspects of game development, than I do with art or game design. Looking to change that! My first step is looking at lots and lots of pixel art. 8-16 bit style pixel art has always appealed to me, but as I dig around I'm finding this "other" style that I really like as well. I'm not sure if it even has a name so I've just been calling it "Modern" pixel art. I was hoping some of you could help me to understand the differences between these two styles and what really makes one over the other. Modern Style:  Retro Style:  I'm still learning, so some of my terminology may be off. Major differences from what I can see: - Modern style (top) one is less detailed, but uses more colors per sprite - Black outlines in retro style not present in modern style - Modern colors are way less saturated - Retro one sticks to a predefined palette, where to modern one's palette seems to be chosen as needed. Some more examples: Modern:  Retro:  All the differences as described above as well as: - Use of dithering in the retro one vs no dithering in the modern one. - More total colors in the modern one - Pixels seem "chunkier" in the modern one? - Overall less shading, or simpler shading in the modern one. I've read a lot about 8-bit style "restrictions" when creating the game I linked above, such as sprite size, colors per sprite, colors per palette, and I think I pulled it off with some success. But how would one go about creating something in this modern style? Thanks for any replies! //www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/ - |
Replies:
Posted By: yrizoud
Date Posted: 04 April 2015 at 3:59pm
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What you call modern style seems to be low-resolution with basically unlimited colors, relies mostly on strong flat colors (antialiasing and subpixelling seem to be kept at a minimum). For a game in this style, you have a challenge of keeping the characters readable, because they will naturally blend a lot on backgrounds. |
Posted By: Archendrus
Date Posted: 06 April 2015 at 7:29pm
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Gotcha. I love traditional pixel art, but that style is really striking and seems to be pretty popular lately: Hyper Light Drifter:  Titan Souls:  Wanderer: (There's something else going on with this style that I can't put my finger on)  //www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/ - |
Posted By: Lone Scout
Date Posted: 07 April 2015 at 5:58pm
| I find that the modern style requires a lot of skill to actually pull off. I feel as if that retro style should be used more for games because of the necessity of making all game elements readable - the modern style being better for art pieces because of their unique elements. |
Posted By: Hapiel
Date Posted: 10 April 2015 at 4:30am
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Nice observations! This modern style indeed seems to be the result of low resolutions and high colors!
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Posted By: Orzie
Date Posted: 24 April 2015 at 8:49am
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For me, the preferable pixel style contains no dithering and rich details on the every inch of the picture, with bright contrasts and specific gamma.
But I guess many people here won't call it pixel art lol. 
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