Design Inspiration: Superbrothers

I've taken way too long to post about Superbrothers, a pixel artist from Canada. I remember falling in love with the look and feel of his videos when I discovered his website last year. His characters are very abstract but he still maintains a high level of detail, and the animation is incredible.

I looked to Jordan Mechner‘s Prince of Persia and Eric Chahi‘s Out of this World as well as the original Super Mario Bros, and I began to make some discoveries of my own. I began to avoid curves and outlines, deploying ‘jaggies’ carefully, keeping the focus on carefully calibrated fields of color and a sparse approach to pattern and texture. I experimented with less cumbersome stick-limbed pin-headed pixel rigs, which has since become my aesthetic preference. Eventually I began to see a distinct style develop – it seemed fresh, clean and absolute.

Website
Twitter
In-depth interview at 8-bit Today

DOT MATRIX REVOLUTION from superbrothers on Vimeo.


DESIGN REBOOT HD from superbrothers on Vimeo.

"sword" S:S&S EP @ GDC 2010 from Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery on Vimeo.