Amazing Examples of Vexel Artwork

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Amazing Examples of Vexel Artwork

Vexel is a neologism for an entirely pixel-based form of raster art that imitates the visual appearance of vector graphics technique (i.e. sharp-edged lines and areas of flat colour or smooth gradient fills). The main difference is that vexels are created using raster layers while vectors are created using vector layers. The word itself is a portmanteau derived from a combination of “vector” and “pixel.

The different nature of raster programs over a vector-plotted approach gives some vexel images a unique appearance when compared with traditional rasterized vector graphics, however, the increased flexibility comes with a loss of image scalability for print media, which is often a source of criticism. To compensate for this, most vexels are created at very high resolution.

A vexel may even be composed using vector graphic techniques, however it becomes a vexel when the vector elements are rasterized and further manipulations to the image are done in raster. Sometimes true raster images are placed behind and/or in front of the original vector elements to emphasize the surrealism that the vector elements produce. A vexel is not essentially created with paintbrushes, airbrushes or a freehand tool such as pencil, although some may include these elements if they are not the primary medium. Ben Woolley says “[V]exels were originally meant to involve a vector technique, not any particular aesthetic style.

What is allowed and what’s not when creating vexel art

vector layers are allowed in the creation as long as they are rasterized before saving the final JPG/PNG
no airbrushing or painting to blend is allowed
glows used to cheat blending, as opposed to using several layers or gradients, are not allowed
brushes allowed only if you are using the stroke path method
soft, feathered or photo brushes are not allowed
photos overlayed over your finished vexel (or behind it) are not allowed
photo textures, filters and layer styles (drop/inner shadows, inner/outer glows, bevels, satin etc.) are not allowed. The exceptions are gradient/colour overlays, stroke and patterns created using the pen tool or lasso tool
photo backgrounds are not allowed
no gradient mesh as this is not created using layered shapes. ref