What is Pixel Art? [RANT][?]

Just for posterity's sake: I do not consider myself a good pixel artist by any means. If anything, I'm defending those who are making amazing pixel art and not getting the attention they deserve. 

Anyways, for today's half-rant thing, I pose the question: what is pixel art?

My question is one that is answered in different ways by different people. I am willing to bet a majority of people would say that pixel art is defined by how visible the pixels are on the screen. In other words, if you can see pixellation, then it is clearly pixel art.

Now, there is a lot of disagreement on this particular definition. So let's break down the true definition a little.

If you zoom in on a photograph, is that pixel art? No, obviously, because it would become a mess of random automatically anti-aliased blocks. 

Same thing when lowering the resolution of an image. Is it pixel art? No. If you do that, all you're really doing is decreasing the number of pixels that can be used to represent the same image. You might as well do your art in full res, with brushes and stuff. No need for the pencil tool here. 

So what the is pixel art, then? Pixel art is when you make the art with the purpose of fitting in a certain constraint. This means each pixel is hand colored, for the sake of making the image look flush and radiant for all the limitations the medium presents. If you are using the bucket tool, you are likely doing pixel art wrong. If you're using the brush tool, you are probably doing it wrong as well. 

I'm going to call out this one video specifically for the sake of educating anyone who thinks it's a good tutorial: 



True pixel artists don't use templates/references when doing their own art. All this guy really is doing is pulling up original images and recreating them pixel by pixel in his photoshop. When he was making this art he was probably not even thinking about things such as antialiasing, shading, choosing colors, choosing whether to line it or not, all the really really important things that pixel artists have to consider when working with their medium. 

See, the scary thing isn't the fact that he made a little misinterpretation of what pixel art is. It isn't the fact that he keeps calling it out as "easy" or "simple". The scary thing is ALL THE LIKES THIS VIDEO HAS, which means everybody who liked it now believes that all there is to pixel art is pulling up templates and drawing over them.

You won't learn anything from this video, besides maybe how to export the stuff. Real pixel artists need as much talent for their craft as other forms of digital art. You can't just spit out pixels and call it pixel art. Detail goes into every single block on your screen, and if you're not going to put care or time on each one, then you're doing something wrong. It's simply not pixel art, or good pixel art. 



Take a look at this beauty, for example. This is real pixel art. Look at how each pixel is defined to bring the illusion of the image to life. It is amazing how much precision is put into each aspect of this piece. Hours, potentially days of work were poured into this.
Here is a much better pixel art tutorial, which everyone should really read (at least the intro) because it gives a pretty good explanation as to what it really is, and how to do it well: www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum…

The reason I bring this up is because there is SOOOOO much "pixel art" on DeviantArt that is praised as being high quality, but they are not doing much more than outlining a character or setting and bucketing the damn thing with one solid color. People draw with large, visible pixel brushes, but there is clearly little care put into the shading. There's no anti-aliasing. There are unequal sizes of pixels, even, to the point where it's not pixel art but a collection of block sizes that are thrown together to create just a strange macabre form. Using references especially frustrate me. But the fact that there are blocks on the image make people say "hey this is pixel art and its good so let's fave it." You know what I'm talking about. I'll put an example:



This is something I made, but I do not consider it good pixel art. It's actually pretty awful. Essentially all it did was lower the resolution of my old profile. As you can see there was little detail in the shading, lining, or anything else. Fortunately it doesn't have unequal sizes of pixels, but it is still pretty bad. There's no antialiasing, there's strange colors in there that's muddling up the image.



This is a much better example of pixel art, but it still has its drawbacks. _{and also I got a lot of help from a friend and I feel ashamed putting this up as my own art >,<;}

Seriously, what is with that? Why is it common practice for people to like an image because there's blocks on it? I assume it has to do with a combination of how simple an image looks, and the feeling evoked from seeing the pixels on the screen. Simplicity does look kinda nice, I admit. And if you want to go ahead and make images with visible pixels, that's your choice. But I personally won't appreciate it as much as if I observed a clear demonstration of how much time and commitment you put into every single square in your image, and I think most people should start doing the same.

Pixel art is more complex than people give it credit for, and the label should not be abused the way it is on DA.

Simply put, my frustration comes from the fact that, unlike most forms of digital art, the technical ability and talent for pixel art doesn't always generate a more positive response from peers/public, and that many people get away with making subpar "pixel art" lookalikes to gain undeserved attention. 

And honestly I look at my own stuff and feel pretty awful as well, simply because the stuff I make is a pretty damn terrible representation of what pixel art is. Although I have improved a little, in no way could my stuff be considered decent by any real pixel artist. 

But at least I try to make an effort. It's the right direction, and every time I decide to work on a new project, I always find myself improving just a little. It helps that I have good friends who are educated on the subject.

So, what are your opinions? Why do you think pixel art is so popular, and why do you think it is hard for many people to identify true pixel art?