I wanted to have an alphabet chart on A&E’s wall, but I couldn’t find one I liked, and then I thought why not make my own, and then I thought why not make it in a distinct art style, and so I came up with…
The Pixel Art Alphabet Chart
First I thought of interesting things that each letter begins with. I looked at other chart online, and tried to choose unusual things, but I also had to choose things I could create in pixel art, which I’ve not done much of, unless you count using The Artist II on the ZX Spectrum, using a joystick instead of a mouse, if you can believe it. I still have a cassette of saved artwork that I created back then, if I could only retrieve it somehow – any hints, let me know.
Once I had all my subjects, I fired up GIMP and got to work. In some cases I looked online for “source material” to give me a head start. For example, the image for the letter F might look familiar to retro arcade fans, as might the C, and R is for more early 90’s game fans…
Once it was done, I got it printed on foamcore, and now it’s on their wardrobe door. Maybe I’ll get a nicer print and frame it.
On the whole I’m quite proud how it came out. If I were to pick some nits, here are the nits I would pick:
- Quartz is not a great choice. Queen maybe?
- Wheel didn’t come out very well – could have been more 3D
- Ring doesn’t have good 3D either.
But hey, I’m nitpicking (as I clearly stated above in case you missed it) . I did it, it’s on the wall, and they like to go through it with me, even if I have to tell them what Q is supposed to be.