Pixel art

Pixel art uploads use Powder Game and Powder Game 2 not as a physics simulator but as a graphics editor, using different elements to create the image. Most pictures can be only watched in stop mode, because upon pressing start, the elements will react (often violently) with each other, thus destroying the picture.

Pixel arts, when uploaded, generally gain a high amount of votes due to large amount of patience required to produce one. Generally the larger and more complex the image, the more votes it will gain. Not only can pixel arts be used as standalone uploads, but are also extremely important parts of nearly every other upload type. Pixel arts can by very useful in adding detail to things such as player houses and underwater bases.

Pixel Art Types[]

Checkerboard Art[]

Checkerboard art relies on the random effects of Virus, using non-reactive powders such as Powder, Seed, Fireworks, and other such objects, making a rough draft of the image on squares of the same color, and replacing half of the area with virus. The virus will spread and randomly reset, filling the blank area, making a rather accurate image. This artwork was the earliest form of art, being very crude and leaky, like too much water with watercolor paintings. Nonetheless, it shows a very interesting form of Powder Game history, and is still used today for virus' map-like results.

Example upload: Earth by The Green Yoshi

Stop Art[]

At the introduction of Start-Stop, people began using 'stop art,' making a picture that would normally react violently to the elements making up the vivid colors of the image. Stop art became a revolutionary system for art, and is what is mainly used today to get the colors needed without the explosive tendencies of the reds, oranges, and yellows, and the tendency for blue objects to turn into water or blow other elements around.

Sendai-Style[]

PGFan Picture — *First Pixel Art* by sendai45

A term coined in honor of sendai45, one of the greatest and most controversial revolutionaries in Powder Game history. Although he was not the first, Sendai45 introduced a method known as "Gimp-Cheating" which uses software to break down an image into Powder Game colors, that can then either be traced or inserted directly into the game with other software.

The process used the free program Gimp to change the color palette to Powder Game element colours. Then, it used a program called Vitrite to turn the java game window transparent, allowing it to be overlayed on top of the image for easy tracing. More information is available here.

More recently around 2015, a user named aegamesi created an online tool to generate a Powder Game Get-Set code from an image, making pixel art effectively trivial. The tool could previously be found here, but is no longer accessible.

With the help of such programs it is much easier to create pixel art with the quality of a photo.

Aura Art[]

Aura Art, or 'spirit chambers,' were used during the early introduction of the background, BG-aura. Using the gradients and lines formed by the odd pattern of the BG, the images produced could be interpreted in many ways.

Aura Art is similar to aura lasers, a form of laser created by a contraption and placed on Background Aura.

Line Art[]

A Line Art pixel art is a simple pattern created by using many straight lines. Before this was fixed, it was usually done by using a glitch. Make sure the game is on stop, select your element and save the current creation. Hold L for load on the key board, then click somewhere and hold the mouse button. Release first the L key and then the mouse button. This can also be done with text. To do this, set text to the right click and the element which the player desires the line to be made of to the left click. Right click at where the user wishes the line to start and the then left click at where the player wants the line to end. A straight line between the points will then appear, with the thickness of the line determined by the pen-S. Although the pen-line and pen-lock are much simpler to use.

Line art generally consists of several, rainbow coloured lines emanating from a central point in the screen, and requires very little effort to produce.

Hidden Art[]

A relatively new type of art on Powder Game, first produced by a Japanese user. Hidden art is a special type of art where one can see the intended on the thumbnail's of the saved files, or through the use of minimap. To make hidden art, place Grid on 7 and place each dot where the gray lines intersect. When the desired image is produced and the file is uploaded, the thumbnail of the file will be completely filled without any blanks. The first English 'hidden art' was created on June 24, 2010 by 受害者.

Common Images in Pixel Art[]

Pixel arts are usually images of:

Video game or TV-show characters.
Photos, such as people or pets.
Copy and paste art, the same pixel art copied over and over again.
Ideas for Powder Game or other Dan-Ball games.
Dan-Ball related icons, such as the Dan-Ball mascot.