A Pixel Art Comic is a comic that uses completely original pixel art. Pixel art is artwork that is composed of large and solid blocks of color, recalling the early days of computers. Generally, these comics are webcomics, but some have made the jump to the newspaper.
There are many reasons for an artist to choose to use pixel art in their webcomics. Pixel art is distinctive and low bandwidth, but mostly it is aesthetic choice.
Pixel art comics are distinct from Sprite Comics in that the majority of the visuals are original; a Sprite Comic with heavily modified graphics, use the same frames over and over again, and may straddle the line between that trope and this one.
Examples:
- Liberal Art covers adventures from the 8-bit college of Liberal Art
- Diesel Sweeties is a good example of a pixel art comic. Note the vibrant colours and expressive faces, both of which are common among pixel art comics.
- Com'c is a Gag A Day Comic using pixel art.
- Kid Radd: The adventures of a 2D Platformer character who has been "liberated" from his original ROM to live in a community of other liberated sprites on the internet. In many ways, it's a Pixel Art Comic pretending to be a Sprite Comic. It also takes advantage of the format to institute a groundbreaking "animated panels" style.
- A Modest Destiny: Its creator, Sean Howard, has had a significant role in the awareness of the distinction between pixel art comics and sprite comics.
- Moonscapers
: a sci-fi pixel style comic about lost space scavengers.
- Room is a particularly surreal pixel art comic that revolves around an Ontological Mystery; all the dialogue is represented by symbols.
- Bitmap World not only has smilies for main characters, it takes place inside a computer.
- Television Example: Code Monkeys, an animated show that was made using sprites and formally aired on G4.
- The Illustrated Story of Isotown is a town being built up in an initially deserted area, all using pixel art.
- Pixel Comic, even though it's not pixel art. It's a comic about pixels.
- Some of The KA Mics cartoons are pixel art. Mostly the rockhounding stuff, originally because of the bitmap art programs that the artist had when he started, but kept it later for a consistent art 'style'.
- A Path to Greater Good by a chap who calls himself Neorice uses original sprites for the characters and hand drawn backgrounds (...apart from one badly received exception) in a manner reminiscent of classic RPGs (the early comics even used text boxes and character portraits).
- Hero Oh Hero is a Continuity Reboot, with a more consistent art style and updates.
- Patchwork Champions began its life as one of these. Today it's a Web Serial Novel.
- Min Pix - primarily a 'slice of life' comic, but with a strong element of fantasy and surreal situations.
- Puffycharms: webtoon A pixel webcomic about a clingy couple, and their funny life living together.
- Sidequest Story, while not trying to look like it uses sprites from a video game, still uses pixel art for its pages.
- The Horrifying Experiments of Dr. Pleasant!: uses pixel art exclusively, with relatively small sprites blown up for actual pages.
- Oceanfalls primarily uses this look, due to its roots as a MS Paint Adventures style Interactive Comic. Though, it sometimes shifts to a old-school RPG look, which does use sprites.
- With exceptions, Philler Space uses pixel art.
