Growing up with Pokémon, I was fascinated by how entire towns and landscapes could be represented through a simple grid of pixels. The games use tile-based environments and limited color palettes to create worlds that feel both nostalgic and immersive.
In this project, I reimagined my own neighborhood in Seattle as a Pokémon-style overworld map. Each building, street, and tree was illustrated pixel by pixel in Photoshop using a consistent grid and sprite scale.
To explore how environmental storytelling can evolve over time, I created four seasonal variations of the same map: summer, autumn, winter, and spring. Subtle changes in foliage, weather, and environmental details bring the neighborhood to life across different times of year.
Below are some closeups to show more detail. Can you spot the differences?
The animation below reveals the layered construction of the illustration. Individual elements were built on separate Photoshop layers and composited to form the final scene.
Satellite imagery of my neighborhood, sourced from Google Maps, served as reference material to accurately study building forms, street patterns, and spatial relationships used in the illustration.
Museum quality art prints, 14" x 14" walnut frame