karol polak made 8-bit art
one of my favorite things in the entire world is receiving email or coming upon posts of people using make8bitart.com, which is a free in-browser pixel art editor i've built and been maintaining since my own learning-to-javascript journey back in 2011 - 12 years ago! over the past 12 years teachers have been using it to teach their students how to make characters for stories and games, game developers have used it to prototype scenes, knitters and cross-stitchers have used it to plan out their next beautiful artwork, and parents have even used the source code to teach their kids how websites are made.
back in november, i received an email with the subject "make8bitart is fun" and the following kind words:
Hello! I'm writing just to let you know that your website ( https://make8bitart.com ) has served me as a tool to make my Master's Degree prints! :) You can see them on my instagram if you're interested
https://www.instagram.com/karolxpolak/
Best regards
Karol Polak
i was in love with what i was seeing and asked if i could buy a couple of pieces and know more about the project.
"These prints are part of my Master's Degree in Graphic Arts at The Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. I named this cycle 8-bit Rain Garden (it rhymes in polish :D ). I focused primarily on the search for painterly pixel values and the transformation of the impressions characteristic of the screen into a material object in the form of a print on paper. The themes are based on the language of digital culture. Old computer games, pixel art, and the lofi theme (low accuracy) inspired me to create the composition (and obviously make8birtart.com!). The process of creating the works is a combination of digital processing and manual dissolving of the print with water."
after moving apartments, a bit of drama around a former neighbor hiding my packages for some strange reason, and the (pleasant) surprise that these works were not - as i assumed - the size of standard printer paper, we have these beautiful works on display. this one is called XRAY:
i have RAINBOW hanging on the opposite side of the wall. i bought the poster hangers off of etsy. if you find yourself on a video call with me while i'm working from home, or if i do any streaming in the future, you'll get to see XRAY bringing beautiful pixels and colors to the rest of my curated backdrop.
these are a couple of my most prized possessions and i thank karol for letting me purchase their artwork from the other side of the globe. and i thank the jenn of 2011 for building something in the open so others can use it and connect using art.
if you use make8bitart.com i'd love to see what you create - my email is jenn@dotbiz.info.
speaking of creating things, i've had the month of august off of work and been exploring the answer to the question "what do you do when you're not at work" which has been impossible for me, but i'm doing a lot of work on that and making good progress. i look forward to sharing more soon.
xoxo jenn
