Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow 1-Bit Icon Design: Rule the grid first and draw with one square standing for one pixel. Close the outline before deciding the interior, and leave one square of clearance inside the frame.
- Type
- Set in 1-Bit Icon Design's manner (Keep letters out of the picture and put the label on a separate line outside it. Any type alongside sits on the same bitmap grid, with no italics and no ornament.), and let Pixel Art's lettering (Draw letters on the same grid, fixing cap height in pixels) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in 1-Bit Icon Design's material (Two colours only, black and white. When a middle brightness is needed, build it by thinning the dots into a checkerboard rather than introducing gray. Leave diagonals as steps and do not smooth them.); bring in exactly one thing from Pixel Art (Limited palette, dark outlines, neighboring hues to soften the steps).
- Colour
- Build on #000000, #FFFFFF, #808080 and admit one accent from #26243f, #ef6a55, #f3d36b.
Where they fight
- Two techniques rather than two looks. Decide which one runs last in the process, because that is the one that will show.
Caution
- 1-Bit Icon Design Adding gray or midtones to widen the range costs you the hard outline that only two values can produce, and the shape stops being legible at the size it is actually used.
- Pixel Art Downscaling a photograph skips the decision behind every single pixel, and the contours turn muddy the moment the image is enlarged.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from 1-Bit Icon Design (Technique, 1982–1990s) and its accent from Pixel Art (Technique, 1970s–). Structural cues: Two values only, black and white, with gray standing in as a checkerboard of alternating dots; A one pixel outline closing each shape, and an interior that is either solid or dotted, never shaded; Ordinary objects, scissors, a bin, a sheet of paper, standing in as the names of commands; Visible traces of one dot placed per grid square, so diagonals break into steps. Accent cues, used sparingly: Visible pixels; Limited palettes; Tiles; Sprites. Composition: Rule the grid first and draw with one square standing for one pixel. Close the outline before deciding the interior, and leave one square of clearance inside the frame.. Type and lettering: Keep letters out of the picture and put the label on a separate line outside it. Any type alongside sits on the same bitmap grid, with no italics and no ornament.. Let one material quality come from the second style: Limited palette, dark outlines, neighboring hues to soften the steps. Mood: Intimacy, Play, Technology, Nostalgia. Color: build on #000000, #FFFFFF, #808080 with a single accent drawn from #26243f, #ef6a55, #f3d36b. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- 1-Bit Icon Design 1982–1990s / Technique / UI Expression
The way of drawing icons in nothing but black and white that Susan Kare established for the Macintosh. She worked each design out on graph paper with one square standing for one pixel, and restated commands as ordinary objects, a pair of scissors for cutting and a bin for deleting, so the set could be read without a caption in any country. Her sketchbook now sits in a museum collection.
- Pixel Art 1970s– / Technique / Digital Image Techniques
Treats the pixel as an honest unit, building clear form from limited resolution and palette.
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