Let’s face it: at some point, every gamer has been caught off guard by the alluring retro beauty of pixel art. Say what you will about its overuse in today’s onslaught of independent games — chances are you still love it. There’s something majestic about the way tens, hundreds, or thousands of tiny dots come together to form a piece of art, and Two Kernel Connection knows it. The studio's new application, Pixel Paint, claims to offer a simple solution to all of your pixel-producing problems using the Wii U GamePad. It largely succeeds in that endeavour thanks to a simple interface, a healthy number of useful tools, and a fantastic budget price point; this little application is a no-brainer for anyone interested in making some pixelated masterpieces.
The user interface in Pixel Paint is easily one of the application's best assets; anyone who's used any sort of image-editing software (and even those that haven't) will be able to navigate the menus and start drawing straight away. There are six canvas sizes offered, ranging from "extra small" to "gigantic." It's a bit of a shame creators don't have the option to pick their own dimensions or view measurements on the side of the canvas, but that's hardly a major complaint — especially when you consider the 8 colour palettes this offers, ranging from the greenish-gray charm of the original Game Boy to the classic 8-bit NES selection to full-on true colour. These can be really helpful for artists wanting to keep their creations authentic, and it's a ton of fun to attempt a design using the limited palettes of yesteryear.
In addition, fill, replace, copy, and cut tools make moving or duplicating your efforts a snap, and every canvas size allows players to zoom in to a super-helpful grid for fine detail. Best of all, there's a zoomed-out view of your finished product both on the television and in the corner of the GamePad screen that will give you the best idea of how things are coming along in the art's true resolution. Just about everything you could want for the artistic process is here and accounted for, and using the stylus really is easier than a lot of tablet-based or mouse-based options out there.
The only major problem with the software is its limited capability to get art off the Wii U and into a usable form elsewhere; while Two Kernel Connection has promised such a feature in the first update, it's currently only capable of exporting art to Miiverse. It would also be great to see some Art Academy-style tutorials offered in the future, as newcomers to pixel art are unlikely to learn much within the current package.
Conclusion
Pixel Paint is an immensely useful tool for creating pixel art on Wii U. A streamlined interface ensures even the most uncoordinated newcomer can find their way around the application, while a set of useful tools — including some nostalgia-inducing colour palettes — will make expert pixel manipulators giddy. The package could be perceived as a bit bare-bones due to its currently limited exporting capability and a lack of tutorials, but what's on offer is more than enough to satisfy your retro cravings.
Comments 23
Can I use my pixel art for commercial purposes? Otherwise I don't see much use for me personally; I'll just keep using Paint.net.
Why just USA? I don't get it, it should be available for all NA. Looks fun though
This really need to come to Europe. Pixel art is my weakness!
I'm really excited about the prospect of Pixel Paint. I was interested in Art Academy Sketchpad, but I don't usually have the patience to finish any sketches. But I have loved pixel art ever since Mario Paint, so I'm definitely going to be picking this up soon.
Waiting for that update to export content other than Miiverse.
@Gridatttack Me too
PLEASE RELEASE IN E.U!!!!!
Seems cool.
@MasterWario
Your art belongs to you.
Microsoft paint gets the job done... but that's cool. The trailer was suitably low tech.
Pretty cool i guess...
The miiverse community for this is steaming.chck it out.
Now, add game editor with sharing into this and start printing billions of dollars.
Does it have layers, tile-wrapping and animation? If not, it's almost useless as a serious tool. I like the idea, though.
Not sure about the software - isn't it kind of pointless until there are decent export options? - but the trailer was AWESOME.
@vonseux No kidding. Miiverse is looking pretty good for this game - lots of great art being posted.
If you could easily export these images it might actually be worth buying a Wii U and using it as a kind of makeshift and relatively cheap graphics tablet for creating sprites for my games/Apps.
I've often thought the whole ability to use the GamePad as basically a graphics tablet and art creation tool should have been pushed much harder by Nintendo from day one; maybe even coming with some art creation software built directly in to the console's firmware.
It's a great USP that I don't think Nintendo has promoted nearly enough.
I think I should point out that the Wii U's internet browser can let you export screenshots that are Miiverse compatible for anyone that wants to export outside out of Miiverse. Easiest way is either exporting it on either an image sharing website or one of your social media accounts like Tumblr.
I'll definitely be getting this once I fix my Gamepad, I had a lot of fun trying to attempt pixel text on Miiverse when I was very active on it.
Without good export features it's not something I'm craving all that badly.
Think I'll pick this up once the export update comes. Drawing on a screen is really fun and I can't believe the Wii U doesn't have more of this yet. A real shame.
Come on, 8/10? Even MS Paint is a better tool for pixel art. A commercial pixel art program without even a way to animate is pitiful. And it costs the same as friggin Art Academy Sketchpad (not for pixel art, but on a whole another level)
Get GraphicsGale on PC. It's free.
BTW you used the same screenshot twice.
anybody looking to export their art, its actually quite simple of you have a computer on hand. all you need to do is sign into miiverse on your computer, go to the pixel paint community, find your artwork, (easy to do if you just look for your username, and find your posts.) then right click your picture, and select "save image as" and save it to your computer wherever . hope this helped anybody wanting to export their artwork to pc or other storage media
@Jahir Seriously. I wish Nintendo Life would get on some of these developers about this. All of a sudden indies just are not bothering releasing in Canada, like our money isn't good enough for them.
This application is horrible. I paid four dollars for something with considerably less functionality than Microsoft Paint.
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