Vexel

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Difference between a Vexel and a Vector. Both are created using Adobe Photoshop or a similar application with the pen tool although the vector is made using the shape layer function of the pen tool whereas the vexel is based on raster layers.

Vexel is a neologism for an entirely pixel-based form of raster art that imitates the vector graphics technique, but is distinguished from normal vector graphics or raster images. The word itself is a portmanteau derived from a combination of "vector" and "pixel."^[1] It is is an entirely pixel-based raster image that imitates the vector graphics style.

[edit] Technique

Currently there is no one defined way to create a vexel,^[2][3] however, one archetypal way to create a vexel^[4] follows. Instead of using vector-based lines, shapes, and polygons to create an image, a vexel is typically created using a raster program's support of transparent layers. Each transparent layer is given a solid (or sometimes gradient^[5]) shape and a display ordering that when displayed together with other near shape layers appears to create a stepped-but-gradual color transition. In some cases, for more realism, gradients are used that remove the stepping in the color transitions to create a smoother, photo-realistic image.

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.^{[citation needed]} 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."^[6]

[edit] Style and appearance

Vexels are commonly used to portray a sharpened look of a realistic object, such as a vehicle.

Vexels are often characterized by crisp, clean color and lines (that look nearly vector-graphics style) but is entirely pixel-based, with a variety of color levels, from 2-color outlines to pseudo-realism.

Most vexels are also based on photographs.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Popularity

The popularity of vexels stems from the fact that traced vexel requires little drawing ability.

While "vexel" is used and accepted in a relatively narrow, self-described "vexel" community, the art and general worlds have not embraced it as warmly, mostly because it refers to a body of work mostly revolving around DeviantArt^[7] and Vexels.Net^[8] and because of the workflow by which most vexel art is created.

[edit] Etymology

The term vexel was created by Seth Woolley while he was a technical contributor to the now defunct but once popular teen message board Nova Boards to give it a distinctive name from traditional vector graphics.^[9] Seth didn't approve of calling the raster images that looked like vectors the name of "vector". In response to a question of what they would be called, he coined the term "vexel" as a combination of vector and pixel since they were not simply rasters, and those asking needed a name for a new style. He at first suggested calling them rasterized or posterized vector images, but the community took the word "vexel" as an acceptable neologism. Ben Woolley has described its derivation.^[10]

[edit] References and notes