80s Pixel Art

E.T. on ExciteBike

Children of the 80s all remember the pixelated characters of the Atari, NES, and Sega video game era. Graphics have come along way since square bullets and basketballs that existed in the 8-bit gaming world. But thanks to some inventive artists, pixel art is making a comeback using all kinds of 80s properties and pop culture.

Carl Jagt
Carl Jagt is the artist behind the following 8-bit movie posters. Here are his comments:

I still remember the 70s and 80s with wide-eyed, take-a-step-back wonder: high-tops, Sony Walkmans, feathered hair, home computers and The Boss. And the movies: arguably not a golden age of cinema, the 80s were the birthplace of many of my all-time favourite flicks. Here are a few 8bit pixel posters of some of my favourite 80s movies (ok, one of them is from the late 70s) – enjoy!

Carl also has some original portraits that available to purchase on ImageKind, including these pixelated sidearms of some famous Sci-Fi characters. See if you can recognize them...

Visit CarlJagt.Com for his portfolio

Very Important Pixels

I recently came across the Very Important Pixels website and immediately reveled in some great pixelated 80s characters. These are totally rad. My favorites are the "80s Heroes" collection including Michael Knight, B.A. Baracus, Magnum P.I., Sonny Crockett, & MacGyver.

Rebellions

His Purple Highness

80s Heroes

King of Pop

I highly recommend visiting VeryImportantPixels.Com and check out there other collections which include Star Wars villains, James Bond actors, Movie Directors, Star Trek captains, Hip hop and rap MCs, and the Sex in the City crew.

Punga.TV

I love the internet! The following video comes from the people behind Punga.tv website. Here's what they say about the video: 

The good folks at FOX gave us this sweet script that turned to be Gabriel Fermanelli's first gig solo as a Director for PUNGA! FOX Retro is all about that: retro series! So the idea of working in an 8bit format sounded good. We reinterpreted it an added some 3D magic to it and here\'s the result: a beautiful trip back to the 80's Punga style!

Fox Retro from PUNGA on Vimeo.

Jude Buffum

Awestruck....pure 80s awesomeness is how you can describe the pixel art of Jude Buffum. He also has an amazing resume including illustrations for the New York Times, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, and Newsweek. Here is just a sampling of his work:

If you enjoyed these as much as I did, check out Jude's website JudeBuffum.Com and his shop where many prints and posters are available. You can also find much more on Jude's Flickr page including tributes to movies like Office Space and The Big Lebowski.