I built a watercolor-style pixel art tool over Christmas 🎨
Over my Christmas break I built pixels.style, a tiny browser-based pixel art maker where the pixels blend like watercolour instead of staying sharp. It’s simple, playful, and meant to be something relaxing you can open and create with in seconds.
I’d love feedback from IH: does this feel fun/useful, or just a neat toy? And if you tried it, what would you want next?
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The watercolor blending instead of hard pixel edges is a nice differentiator. Most pixel art tools optimize for precision - going the opposite direction toward something more organic creates a distinct feel.
"Open and create in seconds" is the right framing. Creative tools often lose people in complex setup/onboarding. The fact that it's immediately playable matters more than feature depth at this stage.
Re: toy vs useful - that line is blurrier than it seems. A lot of "toys" become useful when someone discovers an unexpected workflow. The question might be: are people creating things they want to share? If yes, that's traction regardless of the "serious tool" label.
What's your read on who's using it so far - more casual doodlers or people making assets for actual projects?
Thanks! Really appreciate this take. So far it’s mostly casual doodlers playing and sharing little scenes, not many "serious workflow" users yet. I like your point that toys can become useful once people discover workflows - right now I’m just leaning into the instant-play, low-friction vibe and seeing where it naturally goes.
Leaning into instant-play is smart - friction kills discovery.
The sharing behavior is interesting though. If casual doodlers are already sharing "little scenes," you've got organic distribution built in. Each share is basically a demo.
Worth watching: which creations get shared most? Not for metrics, but as a signal. If people keep sharing the same type of scene (cozy interiors, landscapes, character portraits), that's your users telling you what the tool wants to become.
The toy→useful transition often happens when someone figures out a workflow the creator didn't anticipate. One person's "I used this to prototype game art" post could shift the whole perception.