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“Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.”
Don Miguel Ruiz
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Hello everyone,
For my learning project this week, I decided to embark on an entirely new journey: animation. Now, what I found out… after some extensive research … is that you can create animations, such as video games or television shows, using only pixel art! Through combining various pixel art images – also known as sprites – that represent your game characters, objects, or backgrounds, you can really bring an art piece to life. To show you an example of what I mean by sprites and pixels, I provided an example of one of the video games I used to go crazy for when I was younger which incorporates both elements:
Once I conducted some research, I decided to dive right in. After a quick Google search, I found a website called Piskel. Piskel is a “free online editor for animated sprites and pixel art”, so it sounded perfect to use in theory. However, I quickly found out that there was no tutorial within the website for how to use the program… not even those pop-up tutorials which one typically skips. Sooo… I was back to square one. Instead of restarting, I decided to take to YouTube to find a tutorial on how to use the Piskel program.
Once I became familiar with the Piskel program, I then went to the Mega Voxels website to find a good animation template… and I did! I really enjoyed this tutorial. They go through each frame step by step, and it was extremely easy to follow. 10/10 would recommend. From there, I got to work.
![](http://edusites.uregina.ca/emmametz/wp-content/uploads/sites/1337/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-12-205937.png)
![](http://edusites.uregina.ca/emmametz/wp-content/uploads/sites/1337/2024/03/New-Piskel.gif)
Overall, minus the lack of tutorial, eraser tool, and undo/redo button, I really enjoyed the Piskel website. Although it took some research time, it job the job done… and for FREE 😎!
I hope you enjoyed my animation this week! Next week I might even try a video game… who knows. Speaking of, were there any pixelated video games you enjoyed – or currently enjoy – when you were younger? If so what ones.
Have a wonderful week!
8 Comments
Kylee
Hi Emma, I love your 🐸 animation it turned out great! A pixelated game that o want to check out is Stardew Valley. I always hear great things about the game and want to see if it is worth all the hype. Thanks for sharing your project!
Emma Metz
Hey Kylee! Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I’m glad you enjoyed the frog animation. Stardew Valley is indeed a gem of a game – it’s definitely worth exploring if you’re into pixelated games. Let me know how you find it once you give it a try! And thanks again for checking out my project. Have a fantastic time gaming! 😊🐸
Cheyenne G Miller
Hi Emma!
Your animation is adorable! It also looks very smooth and isn’t glitching or anything! It is very impressive and does not look like a beginner made it at all! I love how you chose a frog as well, I love frogs!
Great work!
Cheyenne
Emma Metz
Hi Cheyenne! Thank you so much for your sweet comment! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the animation, especially since you’re a fellow frog enthusiast! Your kind words really made my day. If you have any suggestions or ideas for future animations, feel free to share them. Wishing you lots of froggy joy and creativity! 🐸✨
Chayse Herriges
Hi Emma!
I am so impressed! That animation is so well done. It 100% looks like it came from Stardew Valley (a fantastic game, you should try it out if you haven’t). I used to love animation as a kid and loved making them using apps on my iPad, so I was so excited to see you try it out! Watching you do this has really sparked that interest again and I might just have to dust off that iPad. The way you wrote this post was really engaging and your question at the end really encourages us to reply and interact with your post, so well done! Can’t wait to see what you next week!
Chayse.
Emma Metz
Thank you so much Chayse! I am thrilled to hear that the animation sparked your interest again – dust off that iPad and get that creativity going! If you decide to dive back into animation, feel free to share your creations with me. Looking forward to hearing from you. Have a fantastic week ahead! 😊
Chantelle Turner
Emma,
You are so talented with your graphic art and I love that you branched off in a new direction and dabbled in animation! Your frog is so cute! Can’t wait to see what you come up with next!!
I am old enough that I got to enjoy the very first versions of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. games. There is a definite sense of nostalgia when I see the graphics or hear the music!
Everett Stone
Congratulations on creating a fluid animation! My younger brother got interested in animation recently so I’ve been hearing first hand how time consuming and frustrating it can be. Good luck on your future weeks of pixel art creation.