#184 (Patreon)

Touhou Pixel H World:
Yado Taityou / Furumero / Aoihitsuji / Takorin (Circles)

From the short list of names above, most chances are you've recognized only one that starts with a T, but what about the rest?

All of the artists above have one thing in common: drawing the sickest Touhou pixel art in the world, more specifically animated works!

Whenever you came across a Pixel Touhou character giving head or trying to start fire with a dick by using her feet, then 99.9% chance it belongs to one of the legends above.

So today I'm going to cover from a different angle one of the most popular gaming franchises that seem to have lasted through eternity, and along the way have brought us probably the highest pixel animation standards in the scene.

Takorin (@namako8982 / なまこ大爆発)

You can't say Touhou H pixel art without saying Takorin.
If the quality scale goes up to 10, Takorin gets an 11. Their attention to details and high level drawings have set a very high bar for other Touhou artists.

As far as is known, Tako was the first to deliver these next level works, initially with still images, and as time went by they developed a liking to animating, which has a very recognizable art style with big splashes of color, very light contours, and overall feels somewhat closer to an oil paint in pixel form.

Takorin's ambition didn't stop at drawing big juicy bits slammed into smaller juicy bits.
They've also taken main part in developing one of the most popular H Vampire Survivors clones: Great Senka DX, and as of writing these lines, are also working on another unnamed title which they share more info every now on then.

You can find more WIP info, along with a literal GOLD MINE of pixel work on their Twitter.

You can also check their bio about supporting them on Fantia.

Aoihitsuji (@JonOoedo / 蒼羊)

Talk about underappreciated talent!

The early bird gets the worm, and Takorin who was the pioneer of anything Pixel H Touhou have overshadowed other artists talents by simply appearing as most common search results when Touhou was more at its prime, but also whenever someone wanted a high quality spank session with Cyrno or Reimu.

So if you haven't heard yet about Aoihitsuji, then prepare for instant regret, as I present to you one of my all time favorite pixel artists: using similar color splash style to Takorin, but with more pronounced contours and a more rigid, lesser anti-aliasing between textures.

Aoi's smooth as hell animations leave no doubt that they are a world class pixel artist and animator alltogether. The high frame volume (and work ethic) that identifies Takorin also exists in Aoi's works.

Their works are nothing short of a masterpiece that puts to shame less talented artists with triple their following.

It is very clear that Aoi and the following non-English native artists who have emerged past Touhou's prime are having a hard time breaking through social media's glass ceiling, as talent alone can only take you so far without making the effort to put yourself in the spotlight.

Follow and appreciate all of Aoihitsuji's work on their Twitter.

You can also check out their Pixiv account in the bio for further support!

Yado Taityou (@yado_taityou / やどたいちょう)

When I first saw Yado's work, I immediately thought that I've overlooked some other works of Takorin.

Big surprise when a completely different artist was so inspired by a fellow colleague, that you can literally see their entire skill progression from start to finish.

Yado had the earliest debut among the four talents here, but you can tell they're a prodigy by simply comparing their works from '21 to '23, where the former were much more basic: poor shading, disproportioned bodies, coloring book tier coloring...
Kinda like those poor fan arts where you can tell the person made an honest effort and asks for feedback, but you don't have it in you to tell them that it just ain't it.

In just about 2 years Yado have managed to almost catch up to Takorin's level of drawing and animating.
Their content does distinct itself by being a bit more wacky than Tako's, which is great for having its own identity than simply imitating another artist.

Many artists don't share their "duds" until they are a lot more confident in the quality of their works (including the ones here), so I cannot recommend enough checking out Yado's content from start to finish on their Twitter.

And of course if you wish to further support them, then check out their Pixiv in their bio!

Furumero (@hurumero_ha_R / フルメロ)

The last for this post, but hopefully not least. Although having more following on social media, Furumero has far lesser public works than the former artists.

Furumero's art style generally features a much lighter use of colors, very basic backgrounds, and fully animated scenes.

Their works however are less "aggressive" for the most part, and are more in line with the light colors vibes, giving a sort of "love" relationship between the models, rather than a rough pent up sexual act.

Furumero takes more liking to receiving support on Fantia, which results in less Twitter posts, and more focus on crowd support.

Find Furumero's works on their Twitter.

Make sure to check their bio for further support on Pixiv, where they receive their largest support.

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Overall, I firmly believe that many of us share very positive sentiments towards pixel art in both H and non-H themes.

There's a certain novelty about that style of art being such a pure form - the fine details as every single pixel wasn't a brush stroke's or a filter's byproduct, but a consciously placed dot of a much larger piece.

It is by no coincidence that among all art styles out there, AI still cannot generate pixel art even close to the same level as professional artists. (it can attempt to "convert" existing images)

You just can't fake soul 🔥

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❤️ Relevant H content of these artists can be found at the twitter links in the article.