Pixaki
Retro art, modern app $24.99 Developer Rizer, rizer.co Platform iPad Requirements iOS 9.0 or later
Pixaki 3 is a pixel art editor, aimed at digital artists who want to evoke the feel of everything from Susan Kare’s wonderful icons for the original Mac through to the delicate pixel work found in a slew of gaming greats. This might reek of nostalgia, but pixel art remains big business; many games still utilize this style, as do illustrators wanting their craft to stand out, and who value the precision placement of every dot.
Pixaki’s main interface is split between the canvas and a toolbar. The selection of tools – pencil, eraser, fill, shape, selection, and eye-dropper – is small but enough for this kind of art. Optionally, you can slide in a sidebar housing the layers list and color palette, and another with Pixaki’s new animation system.
During testing, the app proved responsive and usable, and although pixel art’s nature means a stylus is beneficial, it still works fine when scribbling away with a finger. Pixaki’s animation system is simple, but you do get control over speed – along with onionskinning, so that you can faintly see adjacent frames.
Extended use unearths plenty of additional touches. You can prod a zoom button for an instant “actual size” preview of your work. The fill tool works superbly, doubling up as a color replacer for non-contiguous pixels – even across multiple layers. Animated GIFs, palettes from other apps, and reference layers for tracing can all be imported. Export options include everything from layered PSDs through to sprite sheets for games.
On occasion Pixaki stumbles slightly. Moving content on a layer is cumbersome, requiring a select/move dance. When editing existing animations, you can’t duplicate a new layer across every frame. And we would have loved a visual grid overlay, and custom line widths for the shape tool.
For the most part, though, the app feels like a properly professional effort to bring pixel art to iPad – the perfect place to create it.
the bottom line. A great update to what was already the iPad’s leading pixel art app. Craig Grannell Pixaki Very pleasant to use Strong import/export options Fill tool is great Occasionally cumbersome workflow GREAT