DIY pixel art T-shirts

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jun 24th 2007 at 2:45PM }

Here's a cute art project for a lazy afternoon: Do-it-yourself pixel art shirts. HackerZen has all the instructions on how to make your own pixel art clothing for those of us without silkscreen contraptions. The project does seem a little bit involved, but if you've got a kid to keep occupied for a full afternoon, here's a good option. We're keen on the Mario shirt, but anything 8-bit is easily possible.

It's amazing what you can find in a modern crafts store. There must be an iron-on thing where you can fill in what you want and do the same thing ... although, acrylic paint definitely has better staying power than an iron-on. If this art project seems a little bit too involved, might we suggest the simpler and less artistically taxing game clocks.

[Via DSFanboy ]

Tags: art, clothing, fashion, pixel, tshirt

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

hvnlysoldr @ Jun 24th 2007 4:03PM

I finally beat SMB1 and its second quest today and I can say Peach looks so weird compared to her modern day depiction. As Mario she's huge and as Fire Mario she looks squat.

Blizz4l9 @ Jun 24th 2007 5:14PM

It'snot princess peach in the original super mario bros. its Princess Toadstool, Peach originated in the Gameboy Mario's, if you notice some games like mariokart and maybe mario party they have both princess' as characters to choose

QuestionBlock @ Jun 24th 2007 5:29PM

@2

Princess Daisy is the oe you're thinking of from Super Mario Land - she was a one-shot until Mario Golf 64 came out.

As for Toadstool, she was always referred to as Princess Peach in Japan - her name was initially changed in the US to Princess Toadstool in the US to help associte her with the Mushroom Kingdom, but her full name was revealed as Princess Peach Toadstool in Super Mario 64. Since then, Peach has been used in both the US and Japan.

Blizz4l9 @ Jun 24th 2007 6:17PM

ah thanks for the correction, thats right it was daisy on the gameboy

David @ Jun 24th 2007 6:51PM

There are iron on things. You can even get copy paper that you print out and then iron on.

Tim @ Jun 24th 2007 8:42PM

How much staying power do these paints have? I've used iron-ons and if these won't flake after a few washes I'm sold!

Megalomaniac @ Jun 25th 2007 12:59PM

You could always just go over to sites like cafepress.com and apply your pixel art to t-shirts and just have them do all the work for you. Or (Shameless Plug) visit my t-shirt site for some pixel art shirts at:
http://www.cafepress.com/thegamerlife/
or
http://www.thegamerlife.cjb.net.

Andy Coish @ Jun 25th 2007 8:41AM

You could always do it the easy way and just do the design and get a site like cafepress to do the hard work for you like I did. I have pixelated shirts(shameless plug) over at:

http://www.cafepress.com/thegamerlife/
or
www.thegamerlife.cjb.net

OldElvis @ Jun 25th 2007 11:23PM

Any ideas on where I can find pictures of the 8 bit characters from Nintendo? Google search isn't cutting it.

Andy Coish @ Jun 25th 2007 10:36AM

try searching for nes screenshots and then removed the stuff you dont want with either photoshop or MS paint. Then just enlarge them using the resize feature in paint.

Shameless plug #2: http://www.cafepress.com/thegamerlife/

ciracira @ Jun 25th 2007 1:07PM

I wouldn't recommend the acrylic paints by themselves for this project because they will make the fabric stiff. Instead, I use either DecoArt Fabric Painting Medium (which, when mixed with acrylics, will make it more suitable for fabric painting) or Tulip Soft Brushable Fabric Paint. These are *made* for fabric so have staying power and flexibility. :)