8 Bit Art

About

8 Bit Art can refer to a style of synthesized electronic music called “chiptunes”, as well as a form of digital art called “pixel art”. Both chiptunes and Pixel Art can be more than 8-bits.

Chiptunes, also referred to as “chip music”, are often made using sound hardware from old video game consoles or computer systems. Gameboys have become popular for live chip performers as they are very portable and can be played with ease on stage.

Pixel Art is style of digital graphics that is often associated with 1980s and early 1990s video game art. It can employ a range of resolutions, but is often associated with low res Super Mario Brothers style graphics. (See also: Move Your Feet, Post-It Stop Motion)

History

According to Wikipedia^[1], the earliest computer music dates back to 1951:

In 1951, the computers CSIRAC and Ferranti Mark 1 were used to perform real-time synthesized digital music in public. In the late 1970s, video game consoles and microcomputers started to have integrated circuits with dedicated sound logic. A notable early example is the TIA chip of the Atari VCS (1977) featuring two voices with separate volume and waveform setting.

Much of the inspiration for chiptunes music comes from the third generation video game consoles, the most notable being the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) released in the US on October 18th, 1985. An iconic chiptune song from this era was the “Overworld” theme from the game Super Mario Bros.

Chiptune Spread

One of the pioneers of the chiptune movement was the artist Trash80. He starting publishing several independent chiptune style songs in 2000, and developed a device that allows midi-making on the Gameboy. In 2003, the Japanese chiptune band YMCK was formed. They ended up recording the music for a Nintendo DS game, PiCOPiCT. In 2004, the NYC based chiptune indie rock band Anamanaguchi was formed that use a hacked original NES and Gameboy. In 2005, an American Grammy nominated musical group named MGMR was formed that has been known to fuse pop and chiptunes. In 2008, a NES-rock band I Fight Dragons was formed that perform original works and covers of other songs in chiptune style.

Chiptune Remixes

Youtube has become a popular place to post covers of songs done in completely chiptune formats.

More can be found in the video gallery below.

Demakes

Another part of the 8 bit subcultures is the practice of “demaking” games into an 8 bit format. Some video game companies have embraced this practice resulting in games like Megaman 9 and Megaman 10.

More can be found in the video gallery below.

Pixel Art History

According to Wikipedia^[2], pixel art has it’s roots in paint software from 1972:

The term pixel art was first published by Adele Goldberg and Robert Flegal of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1982. The concept, however, goes back about 10 years before that, for example in Richard Shoup’s SuperPaint system in 1972, also at Xerox PARC.

Spread

In 1997 the group eBoy was formed who has become famous for their extremely detailed and complex pixel art. Their work can be seen on their official website eboy.com.^[3]

In 2001, an early pixel art webcomic called 8 Bit Theater^[4] first episode was published, and has had a total of 1,225 episodes till it’s end in June, 2010.^[5]

Examples

More can be found in the video gallery below.

External Links

^[1] Wikipedia – Chiptune

^[2] Wikipedia – Pixel Art

^[3]eboy.com

^[4] Nuklear Power – 8 Bit Theater

^[5] Wikipedia – 8-Bit Theater