iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Check it out at retronator.com/pixeldailies Thank you, @pixeldailies.bsky.social, for all the amazing artworks over the years! (Note: about 10–20% of artworks are hidden due to deleted tweets/accounts. The last archived day was June 12, 2023, after which X made the API paid.)

retronator.com

Retronator // Pixel Dailies Archive

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I updated the Pixel Dailies archive to include all retweeted artworks from 2016–2023. There are almost 50k submissions, all presented in a beautiful fashion. Browse each year by day, artist, or most-liked artworks.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

If you ever go to Croatia, do stop by Zlatni Rat!

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Thank you! It works so well for nature scenes, but still quirky enough that it has the retro feel. I love it.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Yeah, I'm only using the palette of the 2600. Other graphics limitations were very hard so you could mostly only do very stretched out backgrounds with weird symmetry. I'm yet to attempt an artwork that could actually be displayed on the 2600.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Yeah, it's crazy that a 70s machine had such a versatile palette. Unfortunately the other graphical limitations of the 2600 made it almost impossible to do anything complex. Weird symmetry constraints and such.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

A new landscape, as usual, Atari 2600 palette, 90s vibes. #pixelart

Pixel art view of Zlatni Rat beach. The curved sandy spit extends from the right into blue-green water. Tree branches hang in from the upper left, foliage frames the right side, and hills sit on the horizon under a partly cloudy sky.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Independent Games Festival happened last night and I looked at all the pixel art finalists for the blog: retronator.com/post/8109083... There are even a couple of winners in there too!

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Inspired by my trip to the north of Sweden, beyond the polar circle. After a week of enjoying auroras in the sky with no sun in sight, on the day of our return, sunshine peeked out of the mountains and it felt like a warm hug of a friend you haven't seen in a long time.

This is a pixel art landscape depicting a winter sunrise over a vast, snowy wilderness. The scene has a serene, cold atmosphere rendered in a predominantly blue palette.
In the foreground, bare deciduous trees and scrubby vegetation poke through patches of snow, their dark branches creating delicate silhouettes. The middle ground rolls away in undulating, snow-covered hills blanketed with dense blue-toned brush or low forest.
In the distance, the land meets a large lake whose surface catches and reflects the light of the sun. The sun itself peeks out of the distant mountains, glowing with warm pinks and greens that contrast against the cool blues dominating the rest of the scene.
The pixel art style gives it a nostalgic, retro video game feel — reminiscent of 16-bit era landscape backgrounds — while the composition and color work are quite painterly and atmospheric. The contrast between the warm horizon glow and the cold blue tones of the snowy land creates a quiet, contemplative mood.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

For the ZX Spectrum style, you have to know the rules (only 2 colors per 8x8 block, both same brightness). You can check Brandon James Greer's video, how he tackles it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocNj...

youtube.com

Making Pixel Art Inspired by the ZX Spectrum!

YouTube video by Brandon James Greer

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Happy to hear that! Wishing you this one be as well!

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Haha, to me it feels like a pillow for my eyes when I look away. 😆

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Yup, I switched to it when I didn't want to pirate Photoshop anymore in 2010. Use it to this day.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Same for me, I would have hated the dull C64 colors, but now I appreciate their gentle caress. 😌

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

After a long time a new ZX Spectrum work. 6 colors, no bright mode. Drawn in Pixquare and dithered in GIMP.

A pixel art depiction of a vibrant sunset landscape rendered in a retro, limited-color style using the ZX Spectrum computer limitations. The scene shows a peaceful ocean reflecting a colorful sky filled with clouds illuminated at dusk. Silhouetted trees and bushes frame the image, while rocks and vegetation protrude from the water, creating a serene and dreamy atmosphere. The distinct pixelated style contributes to a nostalgic, digital aesthetic.

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Reposted by Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy

Anna E. @queergermangirl.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

A new track of mine has been added to Pixel Art Academy! ⭐ In his new devlog, @retronator.bsky.social shows how he makes sure the music stays dynamic and adapts to the player's experience. Check it out to hear the new track:

youtube.com

Pixel Art Academy: Learn Mode devlog 22

YouTube video by Retronator

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Happy to hear that! Can't wait to put landscape drawing and painting in the game as well!

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Clouds practice #3, this time from my own reference with colors mostly picked plein air at a different sunset with similar conditions (Atari 2600 palette, as always).

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Couple more, the collection is growing … It's becoming increasingly important to me to take my own references instead of doing studies of other people's work (image search). It's OK of course to study, but capturing the composition yourself and holding complete copyright has its value.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Intriguing! 🤨 I wonder where this is going …

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Sunsets are happening faster than I can paint them, so here are a couple of IRLs instead.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Oh, that's nice to hear! I'm sticking to the Atari 2600 palette which is quite limiting sometimes, but the quirky colors in there force that 80s/90s look to keep it rooted in that era.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Thank you so much for the shoutout, Dom! I'm slowly getting my foot here, looking forward to seeing what you've been up to lately.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

First artwork of 2025. I tried to retain the expressiveness of my pixel paintings but also clean it up and make the clusters at the edges reminiscent of impressionistic painting where there are abstract blobs of color that slowly get representational towards the center.

It’s a pixel art seascape at sunset, with a vibrant, layered sky full of purples, pinks, oranges, and blues. The sun is dipping down at the horizon line in the center, casting warm reflections across the water. A dark silhouette of coastal cliffs lines the right side, with small trees or vegetation dotting the skyline. The overall feeling is serene and atmospheric, capturing the transition of daylight to evening over the ocean.

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Retro 🎨🕹️🎮 Pixel Art Academy @retronator.bsky.social · 17/09/2024

Oh my goodness Eniko, I will spend my first Bluesky post to say thank you thank you thank you thank you, because I've been trying to find out the name of this game/program ever since DOS came out of fashion. I played so much with this as a kid, planned big cartoons I never finished of course … 🙏

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