Infrequent updates - it's programmed by one guy who also has other things on his plate.Early beta, so there are bugs/optimization issues.UI is similar to Photoshop, so if you're transitioning from there it's familiar.Excellent program if you're getting into game dev art. Specialized for tile sheet/sprite sheet management.There are some great quality of life things to the program (ex, shift+scroll wheel to change brush size).This is a long time down the road, though. When the program gets to version 2.0 if you want to update you'll need to repurchase. The aesthetic may not appeal to many people.Frequent updates and new feature additions.Very good animation tools, great if you're getting into animated spriting.Much less resourse-intensive than full suite digital art programs. Available on Steam, if that's your jam.Free if you can compile code from Github.UI seems a bit clunky and hard to parse, at least to me.Free version can't save some file types, most notably.Well used and respected in the pixel art community.I haven't used GraphicsGale personally, so pros/cons are what I've heard from others and aren't from personal experience. These programs come with more tools than you need for pixel art, so they are more resourse intensive and require working around and modifying the basic functions of the programs in order to work well for it. SAI, while more affordable than PS, still costs more than specialized pixel art programs.You can use the same program for other mediums as well.If you already have them, you don't need to get a new program.As a note, the pros/cons are mostly my opinions, but I feel like they are fairly common opinions for people who use these programs for pixel art. I just thought I'd share some resources here, to the tune of pixel art programs information and pros/cons. I've been seeing many people mention that they're just trying pixel art out for the first time, and that gives me the warm fuzzies.

Selecting a region changes the language and/or content on everyone! I've been doing pixel art for 10+ years now, and have been having a great time modding this game. You can also use pixelation effects over just a portion of an image in order to obscure someone’s face, a brand logo, an address, or other sensitive information. Whatever image size or quality you start with, you can quickly create your own pixel art by pixelating an image. In fact, a whole genre of pixel art has grown out of the nostalgia for early video games. Pixelation can happen accidentally - for example, when you resize an image to dimensions too large for its resolution - but you can also create cool effects by intentionally pixelating an image. Pixelation occurs when pixels become visible to the naked eye instead of being seen as seamlessly blended. A pixel is the smallest square of hue, saturation, and light (HSL) that makes up the grid in a digital image. In other words, they’re maps of bits - essentially grids of pixels that blend seamlessly to form images. Most image files, like JPG, PNG, and GIF, are bitmaps.

To understand pixelation, it helps to know how pixels combine to form digital images.

Pixelshop pizel art