Hello All!
Carlos once again! This time with a fun way to make art with LearnToMod!
What is pixel art?
Pixel art is something that has become very popular in Minecraft. A player can create basically anything by placing enough blocks in the correct manner. Because the world of Minecraft is made up of only cubes, anything created will have an old arcade game look to it. Minecraft players from all over the world have taken the challenge of creating structures of their favorite TV characters in the video game.
It might be tedious to create a huge statue one block at a time, students have the advantage of programming drones in LearnToMod which really speeds up the process. The students will need to know how to trace the drone very accurately, look at our previous post “Where is that Drone?” for more details.
Students at all skill levels can take part in making pixel art. It is recommended to start with a simple two-dimensional creation, like the image below:
Once comfortable with the structure, add detail and depth like the image below:
Deciding what to build
Pixel art is a great activity for students who want to practice using drones, and it can be a challenge for advanced students when they have run out of things to build. They can create their favorite characters in pixel art or make their own.
Students can also find pixel art on Google and recreate it on LearnToMod using drones. There are many websites that provide templates and ideas for pixel art creations, such as minecraftpixelarttemplates.com.
Drafting Art
The position of every block is very important in this type of project, which is why it’s such a great idea to make a draft before starting to code.
Graph paper can be very helpful for making custom drafts. Students can treat each square as a block in Minecraft. They can draw the image they like and then fill in the square around it to give it the shape it will take in Minecraft. Start simple, then add detail.
Drafting on a website can be a faster to work with. Editing color and deleting blocks is much easier when done online. There are lots of websites that provide a canvas to create pixel art. I like to use piskel which is illustrated below.
Making the art piece
Once the draft is done, it’s time to start writing the code. Choose block as a starting point in the draft, usually one of the bottom edges is the best starting point. The next step is to program the Drone to place blocks where needed.
For simple two-dimensional creations, a single Drone can be programmed to place all of the blocks in the right place one row at a time using a printer type pattern. The Drone would only move in horizontal or vertical lines placing a block where needed.
For larger projects, it is a good idea break up the part of your creation and use different drones to put them together. This way a single Drone doesn’t have to be traced through hundreds of commands and the code will be easier to debug.
Practice Makes Perfect
Pixel art can be simple or it can be taken into an intense level of creativity. It is important to start simple then add details in the end. As more blocks are used and the structure increases in size, the art piece will begin to lose its pixelated effect. Take a previous a project idea and make it your own!
How have you used pixel art? Fill out this short, 5-minute survey and give us some feedback!