This blue-haired beauty is my very own Kaiko, a mascot created for my first business Comet 10 Collectibles (see Web Gallery page for more details). If it looks somehow rudimentary to your eye — good. Kaiko is no typical vector-based computer image. She is a lovely example of Pixel Art, which is essentially as ancient as an old-school Macintosh.
When I was in grade school, we had 1 or 2 early 90s IBMs in each classroom, which featured, among other things, the early Windows Paint program. We all know this art program: Paint Buckets and Draw Squares tool — it’s the grand-daddy of the more robust imaging programs we’ve grown accustomed to. When the term “vector” holds no meani
ng, we rely on direct pixel manipulation, thus giving the appearance of Super Nintendo games of yesteryear.
To achieve optical effects such as gradients and texture, the key is in the zoom. Often times I find myself looking at slivers of images at 800%, where pigtails are reduced to square upon square . . . if it sounds monotonous, it can be. But the end result is a truly retro look that is appropriate for many computing and gaming purposes.
As with any Amigami art you see on this site, I am always happy to receive requests for custom works of art such as this. Please feel free to contact me at contact.amigami@gmail.com with your ideas and we can begin the collaborative process.
Amigami - Eastern Art & Jewelry 
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