Nevertheless they are related, don't you think? I see that what you call pixel art is somehow limited in its restrictions and it can be fun to work with those and see how you can fool ones eyes to make them see sceneries and creatures that actually are just made of piles of little squares with only a small number of colours. And on the other side I know the pixel style thing was kind of a graphical trend a few years ago and, yes, it was annoying sometimes to see all the graphic designers and illustrators copying each other (like we allways tend to do...   ). But on the other hand I think both topics could benefit from eathother - as long as you are willing to give it a try.
 
Or to say it clearer: From a distance you might think "aw, pixel style is simply a trendy and useless way of making things look somehow interesting from and to some people who haven't got a clue about where this all came from." And from a distance I might think "aw, pixel art is only some highly developed handcrafted but nerdy way of illustrating some random manga characters, aliens and rpg/fantasy stuff over and over again without a deeper meaning to form, statement or concept behind. " But both thoughts are not true really, I guess. The bounderies are fluid I would say in German, which means there are probably no strict bounderies in art and design at all as long as you are not stuck to a tool/handheld/screen/whatever that gives you the restrictions we are talking about. It's all just a matter of where your main focus is by creating something.

Oh, and by the way, as I am new here on this forum I am not sure if this kind of discussion is welcome at all or if maybe everyone is hacked off by all the slipslop I am going on about without presenting any pixel art worth to be shown at all. Please tell me if that's the case. But as far as I'm concerned I do enjoy this discussion with you and the others, so thanks.  

Well, yes, I see your point. But all this might not be as new to me as you might think. I like to play Sonic or Golvellius on my little 8 bit Sega MasterSytem sometimes, I just loved playing Zelda on my Game Boy Classic when it was released. I recently played Chrono Trigger on my NDS and of course payed much attention to all the pixelled elements and characters in those. Well, of course this is all about watching and consuming and not about creating this stuff...

But apart from that the difference might be where I come from: I am a graphic designer focussing on web design, not an illustrator. Usually it is my job to make things functional and as easy to understand as possible for others by using all the tools and possibilities one has, of course including gradients, photography, antialiasing, even filters maybe and all that crap. At best I use some very basic pixelbased drawing to make very small interface icons look sharper and crisper.

There were and are some pixel art influences on the graphic design scene of course, too, like maybe the works of eboy for example, which I allways liked. But that somehow often seems to me to be a more playfull and free way to work with that pixel style, it might be even mixed with vector graphics or photography if it benefits the result.

To me it seems this here maybe is more about the handcraft of pixel art, old school style - which is good! I like and appreciate that. I just wasn`t aware enough of that when I posted my emoticons up there. I skimmed through the board rules and definitions, though.  

As I said in my introduction I am a beginner at this kind of art. All I did up to now in this direction is some very low level stuff about 7 years ago and I do remember this was allready a challenge to me, haha:



Well, maybe I can improve a bit and learn from you all.  

wait how come the sprite thing that's on the front page of your website is on this forum by kamol??

Well, at least posting my work here wasn't that pointless in the end. How glad can I be...  

Ah, ok, I should have known that this gradient thing could brake my neck here. Sorry for that...

So in other words those emoticons are not the kind of work that is to be discussed here, right? Maybe I have to have a closer look at my former little pixel experiments and see if something there is worth to be shown here. Or I just keep on reading all your posts untill I have someting new to show that fits into this discussion board. Thanks anyway.