Put Your Hand On The Computer

March 21, 2023

(Hello & Hello Again! You may have noticed I’ve been posting a lot of pixel art. I’ve been sick a lot recently & while it is not technically impossible to watercolor in bed, digital art is much harder to spill. I’ll be starting a new series soon!)

Where Am I Coming From?

I am fairly new to pixel art- just started last month. I love it! As a child raised by Nintendo, it hits me right in the nostalgia. I work in Krita, a free open source painting program. Krita is a great program with a supportive community. I absolutely recommend this to anyone looking to get into digital art- pixel or otherwise.

What is a PICO-8?

PICO-8 is a fantasy video game console. What this means is that it does not exist physically; It can be accessed on the PICO-8 website or downloaded to your computer. PICO-8 lets me take my drawings & play games with them, both literally & figuratively. You can play games with PICO-8, but what’s more: you can make animated art & games for it.

When I say “you can make animated art & games for it”, I mean you. You, reading this right now, can make games for PICO-8. I know because I can do it, and when it comes to programming I am the low bar. Before I found PICO-8 I never tried to program anything, never wanted to program anything, never thought of programming anything. I don’t even like math – but look at what I learned to do Saturday afternoon:

Can't get GIFs to load in page rn, please follow this link I drew that! Then I animated it in PICO-8! Look on my works, ye mighty, & despair!

Coding in Pico-8 is easy & surprisingly straightforward. To make things even better, there are a plethora of tutorials out there for you to follow. I have been watching a lot of tutorials from Krystian at LazyDevsAcademy. Even though I haven’t gotten far enough in anything to implement 99.99% of what he’s talked about, I'm learning how to get in the right headspace for programming. Honorable mention: I have heard good things about NerdyTeachers from people I trust, but I have not had a chance to check them out personally.

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Bat Game!

I have dreams & schemes, & they include making my own little PICO-8 game! I want to make a SHMUP to develop both my pixel art & my programming skills. To that end, I drew & animated this adorable little squeak. What do you think their name should be?

Can't get GIFs to load in page rn, please follow this link

I Am The Night!

I just started this weekend & haven't had time to draw much yet, but I have managed to make my bat fly using keyboard arrows! Even better, you can try it out with your phone or computer!

I want to make this into a game, not just a super cool bat flying around a black void. I will be following more tutorials & updating you all on the process as I go. Let me know what you think!

What? We’re done?! What am I going to talk about next time? Tune in & find out. Or head over to my socials (below) & tell me what you want to read about! See you on Tuesday!

Karin Wanderer Learns