Interested in doing a bit of pixel art? Not sure which program to choose, or do the main options seem too complicated? Don't worry, there is an alternative that is not only free, but also very easy to use, and it supports animations. It is Piskel, and all you need is a compatible browser.
Connecting pixels may not be the most efficient way to create digital art, but it is one of the simplest and most entertaining. What was once the product of technical limitations is now a style with its own identity and millions of followers around the globe. The best part is that on the Web we can find an impressive number of examples to follow, or why not, take as a base for our own designs. Even if we don't have a solid idea of what we want to do, we are going to need a program. The good news is that to make pixel art, you don't even have to download it.
The process is reduced to visiting the Piskel portal and starting to work. This webapp has all the basic elements we can find in a graphic editor, including freehand selection, an eyedropper to copy colors, and a palette with support for hexadecimal codes (something very good when it comes to reproducing exact colors). The settings section allows us to activate the pixel grid, change the transparency of layers, and alter the speed of frames per second. This means that Piskel supports basic animations (two or three frames in a loop) or much more complex ones. Once the work is finished, you can export as a static image, or as an animated GIF.
Piskel doesn't load with any dependency, and I must admit that it works especially well on Google Chrome. In case the online version doesn't work or for some other reason you don't like the idea, its developers offer local builds compatible with Windows, Linux, and MacOS. Undoubtedly you should take a look at Piskel. Once you master the controls, in a matter of minutes you will be creating pixel art.
