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Free ultra-low-res stock art website launched by former Nintendo designer

Free post-modern solutions for the digital world.

There are a number of royalty free stock image sites around the Internet in a variety of styles, covering everything from a cute drawing of a pufferfish vomiting water to a photo of a semi-nude muscular man riding through an inter-dimensional portal in a tiny cardboard box.

With all the competition around, these sites try to lure users in by offering the highest image resolutions around. But what if a stock image site dared to go the other way and offered pictures of various people and items at the lowest resolutions humanly possible?

Such a website has been born and is called Dotown.

Image: PR Times

Dotown is the brainchild of Maeda Design Room, a studio headed by former Nintendo art director Takashi Maeda. All images are done in a style Maeda refers to as “ara-dot” or “rough-dot” pixel art, in which the purpose is to try and convey the meaning of the image in as few pixels as possible.

▼ The devolution of pixel art to ara-dot

Image: PR Times

In that way, these sprites, which are available in png files with transparent backgrounds, resemble those found in very early NES era games, and only slightly above Atari-level graphics in terms of colors used. It’s a deceptively difficult art form, but the team at Maeda Design Room put together a growing array of around 700 impressive images.

All your favorites are there, such as:

▼ Poop

Image: Dotown

▼ Smelly Poop

Image: Dotown

▼ Poop-Man

Image: Dotown

▼ Poop-Man Pooping

Image: Dotown

▼ And the enchanting Poop-Dog

Image: Dotown

And if you happen to be one of those people not interested in poop, there’s a whole lot more on Dotown too, from office buildings to dried persimmons.

Image: PR Times

All of these images are free to use, for both private and commercial works. The website is also ad-free and Maeda Design Room hopes designers and non-designers alike can develop an interest in the art form and appreciate the core principles of design they embody while having fun.

▼ The images can be used to decorate poster layouts or as patterns for crafts like needlepoint or bead arrangements

Image: PR Times

It certainly worked for me, and inspired me to create my own ara-dot picture of Mr. Sato and his giant Starbucks coffee mug.

The rest of my Bored Sato Coffee Club NFTs should be up and running by spring.

Source: Dotown, PR Times, Hachima Kiko
Top image: PR Times
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