Pixel Art Character Drawing

I will teach students basic and original character drawing in a "pixel art" style. Pixel art is commonly used in old video games and in modern, retro-style games. They will learn about proportion and color and how they are used in pixel art. I will teach by sharing my screen with my students and allow them to follow along with what I do and also I will give them freedom to draw on their own while I assist them. Pixel art, especially when it is at a low resolution, produces a number of design challenges. For example, how is a face designed at such a small scale? Students will also learn how to make their art look more authentic like it was from an old game.

The style will be limited to 16-bit style games, commonly seen during the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis era. This is to give the students enough freedom in color and scale but limit them somewhat as pixel art becomes more difficult as an image gets larger. An earlier era, such as an 8-bit style is too limiting and the freedom of the later 32-bit era can make things too difficult for early learners. 

This is a one-time class but because it can take a lot of practice to get good at pixel art, I encourage the students to keep coming back. 

We will be using an online pixel art app (accessible through a normal web browser like Chrome or Firefox) though students could also use Microsoft Paint, Adobe Photoshop, or Aseprite. I heavily encourage the purchase of Aseprite if the student ends up really ends up enjoying this kind of art.