This Pixel Art activity aims to create a collaborative piece of a Japanese commercial street. Inspired by that country's unique architecture, logo design and overall aesthetics, @mayke-arth.bsky.social and @gors.bsky.social invite you to collaborate!

This art activity was idealized by @mayke-arth.bsky.social after this interaction with @mienglish.bsky.social:

This site and Feed was created by @gors.bsky.social to help us organize everything. We hope you will enjoy it!

• Test Bluesky as a hub to organize an art project;

• Create art collaboratively;

• Broaden the network of pixel artists in Bluesky;

• Have fun!

Send a DM to @gors.bsky.social to be added to the Japanese Cityscape Contributors Bluesky List. Those added in the list will be able to post in any Bluesky post I make about this project.

Keep those references in mind when creating your building:

• Pexels;

• Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (River City Ransom in America): 1, 2, 3;

• Yakuza series: 1, 2;

• We Pixel Street Collab for building sizes;

• Pinterest;

• Bluesky.

Additionally, implement those elements to make it even more life-like:

• Signs of wear and tear and plants;

• Shop façades with stylized text;

• Buildings with two storeys or more;

• Hanging signage, posters, advertisement with cute characters;

• And more!

Palette

The voting period is over; every contribution has to use this palette, supplied by Rejected Palettes:

Make sure to use the colors available. If we find colors outside of this palette, they will be clamped to the nearest value.

Size

The buildings are built in increments of 32x32 pixels, as shown. Try filling the whole width of the buildings, so that the assembled street looks full and lively! Try picturing a human person as a 16x24 pixel sprite for a visual aid (Final Fantasy VI SNES sprite size).

The building's perspective must be seen directly from the front. Do not make buildings in top-down, oblique, isometric or placed on a slope.

If your art goes a little over the limit but otherwise looks fine and meshes well with the other entries, we will accept it. Otherwise, we might require you to edit your art to make it fit better with the rest.

IMPORTANT: The sidewalk tiles are added later and do not count to the size limit!

Submitting Art

1. First, make sure the art was made by you, and that you are not posting it on anyone's behalf;

2. Post your art on Bluesky with the #JPPixelCity hashtag, and tag Gors to notify him;

3. Use the official Submission Form to send your art;

4. Minor corrections can be sent directly as DM so that Gors can update the art accordingly.

You can see every individual submission and its credits here.

Other

• There is no limit to how many entries a single person can make.

• There is no set deadline for the art activity - keep contributing as you wish!

• Keep it safe for all ages.

• Official Feed;

• Member List.

• This is not a commercial project, and The Japanese PixelArt Cityscape (we) do not intend to sell or buy any designs made for it;

• We will not claim the final artwork as ours;

• We will credit every artist that collaborated in this project in an obvious and visible way;

• We will not accept any AI-generated content;

• We will not use any AI art tool in any part of the project;

• We will update this site regularly with new information and art submissions;

• This site and project is still a work in progress. If you have any doubts, please read the FAQ.