Pixel Art and Animation

Hey there, it’s that time of year when we celebrate the arrival of spring, and in the UK Easter - which normally boils down to chocolate eggs and a long weekend. Easter this year falls between newsletters so I hope you had a good time, and if you don’t celebrate Easter, I hope you had a nice weekend anyway!

I am still working on my retro game engine. Having tested it on mobile phones I decided it was too big which made the characters too small, so I am now rejigging everything to make it easier to see on smaller devices. This does make it a bit less detailed and colourful but I think it will be better in the long run. You can see screenshots of the resized games I’ve been changing on Bluesky.

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Aseprite

Aseprite is a pixel art tool that’s been around for years, and it’s still one of the best. It’s focused, powerful, and just plain fun to use. Whether you’re making animations, tiles, characters, or UI elements, Aseprite gives you everything you need—and then gets out of your way.

The interface has a retro charm that perfectly fits the vibe. It looks like something from a SNES dev kit, but it’s all intentional. Normally I prefer apps to feel native, but Aseprite’s style is part of the appeal. It feels like a videogame about making videogames, and that’s kind of brilliant.

Beyond the visuals, it’s genuinely packed with features. Layer support is solid. The timeline for animations is simple but effective. You can tag frames, preview loops, and even export sprite sheets with ease. Palette editing is a joy, with tools for tweaking and organising colours that make experimenting quick and creative.

It started life as an open-source side project but has grown into a well-loved commercial app. The devs have done an amazing job of keeping it lean, focused, and affordable. Updates are regular, with smart additions rather than bloated features.

Technically, it’s still open-source. If you’re comfortable compiling from source, you can get it for free. But honestly, it’s such a useful tool that paying for the pre-built version feels like a no-brainer. You can buy it on Steam, Itch, Gumroad and a few other places. I got mine on Gumroad years ago and I’d buy it again in a heartbeat.

Most recently, I’ve been using it while building games with Beep8, and it’s been a perfect match. If you’re doing anything with pixel art, Aseprite should be on your shortlist.

Try Aseprite

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Learn the BIG idea beneath the animation fundamentals

This is a great video from Alex Grigg that gives you some tips on how to improve your animations. Alex is great at explaining animation principles and has a whole series of videos on the subject. This particular one is about weight and making your animations feel more real - even when they are cartoony.

Alex’s channel is a treasure trove of animation knowledge, and I highly recommend checking it out if you’re interested in learning more about animation. He has a knack for breaking down complex concepts into digestible pieces, making it easier to grasp the fundamentals. If you want to practice any of these techniques then you could do worse than use Brush Ninja 😉

Watch the video on YouTube.

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Sparked Discoveries

Here’s a handful of links I found intriguing recently:

‘Something magical is happening’: sales boom for children’s comics creating young readers of the future

There seems to be a big increase in children’s comic books. Looshkin, Dogman, Catkid, and loads of others are filling the shelves at bookshops and libraries. This article looks at the reasons behind this trend, and how it’s helping to create a new generation of readers. I know comic books are sometimes frowned upon as not real books, but I feel that anything that gets children reading is good, and if comic books act as a gateway to full books then great. Personally, I read the Lightfall series by Tim Probert last year and they were my favorite books of the year.

The Balatro Timeline

Balatro is a poker-themed roguelike deck-building game by LocalThunk, where players build unconventional poker hands using unique joker cards. The article explores the game’s creative journey, challenges, and pivotal moments behind its unexpected success. It also openly addresses the impact this success had on the developer’s mental health—something rarely discussed in behind-the-scenes articles.

Matte Shot - a tribute to Golden Era special fx

I love this, a look back at the golden age of special effects in film. When you mention special effects people often think of films like Star Wars and Jurassic Park but there’s a whole world of amazing special effects that happened from the very earliest days of movie making. This article looks at matte painting and compositing (which was used a lot in Star Wars as well). It’s packed with before-and-after photos from all sorts of films. A great reminder of how much creativity went into making them.