Inside the pixelated imagination of Italian artist @the_oluk

“I asked myself, ‘Will I be able to draw something appealing in such a small area?’” says Manolo Saviantoni (@the_oluk).
The art director from Ciampino, Italy, began creating these characters in a limited pixel drawing area as a game to play with his daughters. “The funniest thing was getting home at night and asking my daughters to guess who those characters are.”

Manolo soon realized there was a wider audience for his art online. “I created my own pixel art style and began to post those creations on Instagram,” Manolo says. “My works are usually inspired by video games, films and cartoons. It is wonderful to know that you can make people smile through tiny colored squares.”