Pixel art, with its nostalgic charm and aesthetic appeal, has captivated many artists and enthusiasts worldwide.
Dmitry Petyakin, a talented pixel artist and game music composer, shares his journey and insights into this fascinating medium:
Dmitry Petyakin : “PixelArt just looks incredibly cool”
1.Question: What drew you to pixel art as a medium?
Dmitry: I spent a large part of my childhood playing Sega/NES games, and seeing all these tiny colourful squares creating literal magic on a TV screen made me fall in love with them. I also used to paint a lot when I was a kid, so these two passions (gaming and painting, also music, which makes it three basically) were combined into one large passion years later.
In my teenage years, I also played a lot of games, and again, a lot of them were either low-poly or pixel-art games. There is something very appealing and comfy about pixel art. In my early 20’s, I started to work as a game music composer, and along with straight commercial projects, I also worked in many teams as an enthusiast—indie gamedev was in its peak phase back in the day. I worked with a ton of talented pixel artists, and one day, I just decided that I should start drawing pixels myself. Considering my childhood experience, it wasn’t that hard for me.
So I just started to draw and post my art on my social networks, and people started approaching me asking to make some art for them—whether it’s videogame art, banners for websites, illustrations, etc. Two years later, my main job was drawing pixel art while music composing became my second main job. So this is how I started to work as a pixel artist.
Color Palettes
2. Question: How do you approach the creative process when working with pixel art?
Dmitry : I usually ask the client for references and a detailed description of the scene for better understanding. After that, I just start to doodle some stuff. Rarely do I have a full idea of how the finished art should look like. Then, after the main sketch is done, I start to work on details.
I love to run, and pretty often, I just draw details in my head during running—then I just recreate the full picture from my head in my work file. So it’s a normal part of the process for me. Sometimes I just sit down and get into the flow, and it just goes fine. I also use five to seven palettes through all these years. Sometimes I try new palettes, but overall my main “guns” are those five palettes:
- Vinik 24 (pic1)
- Pokemon SGB (pic2)
- DB32 (pic3)
- VH (pic4)
- And this palette I picked from Oceanscented (pic5) work, I don’t know its name.
Currently, I added lux2k (pic0) to my arsenal—an extremely versatile palette and very interesting to work with.
Timeless Aesthetics
3. Question: In your opinion, what is the most significant appeal of pixel art in today’s digital world?
Dmitry : I just like pixel art aesthetics, and many people like it as well. I can’t name a certain reason for its popularity—it just looks incredibly cool. I am also glad that the younger generation embraces it and expands its horizons: the future is very bright for pixel art considering the number of talented artists around the world we have.
4. Question: Can you share a favorite project you’ve worked on and what made it special?
Dmitry : There are a lot of them, and it’s not just game art, so it’s hard to pick one. I think PsyAI is one of my most favorites. Working on it was incredibly interesting, and I learned a ton of stuff from its developer, L3RK. I can’t spoil the plot, but it’s mind-blowing. The game is still in development, by the way (pictures 6/7/8).
“Observing the world around you is a great exercise to improve your skills. Basically remember all the cool stuff you see around yourself: light angles, some interesting trees shape, building’s structures, colors of duck’s feathers in the park. Just make it a habit – remembering things without making pics of them. It stimulates your imagination. I often draw artworks with no references – they just based on these little moments only. If you make constant observation your habit you will improve your skills immensely.“
Connect with Dmitry Petyakin
Twitter – @ElMetallico1
Bluesky – el-metallico.bsky.social
Instagram – dmitrypetyakin
Artstation – el-metallico
Thank you Dmitry!
Cheers,
Ersi
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