Relaxing With Pixel Art and Cross Stitch Games

I’ve always liked art. At one point, I really got into coloring by numbers books. My favorite books were a series from a French publisher called Hachette Heroes. I can’t imagine how many packs of coloring pens I went through filling these books. 

But then, just a few years ago, I randomly got thinking about pixel art coloring. I think this is because I once bought this series of coloring by numbers magazines, and one of the pictures included were pixel art, and I quite enjoyed these.

Another thing that I was interested in doing was cross stitch. I’d only once had a cross stitch kit, and had never finished it. Yet I found myself compelled to have another go. But I knew that if I bought a kit, I’d once again struggle to finish it.

I had a sudden fancy for doing pixel art and cross stitch again though. And that’s when I wondered about getting an app on my phone that would allow me to do just that. I searched Google Play, and hit the jackpot. It turned out there were tons of pixel art and cross stitch apps out there. The first one I ended up going with was Cross-Stitch World, which I still have on my phone today and actively use.

That was about 3-4 years ago now. Since then, I have tried out several different pixel art and cross stitch apps. Three of these apps I have used consistently since I downloaded them. If you want to know what they are and why these apps are so appealing to me, then read on and find out!

Cross-Stitch World

Platform: Android

Publisher: Inertia Software

Release Date: March 10, 2016

Cross-Stitch World was the first app of this genre that I downloaded and played. I’m not exactly sure what it was that drew me to this particular app. Maybe it was because it was free? Maybe it was the first one that appeared in the search? Perhaps it was the good ratings it had received from other players? I don’t know, but all I know is that I went ahead and downloaded it. I must have liked it initially because I kept it. If an app doesn’t do much for me, I’ll usually uninstall it.

I have to admit, in the early days I had Cross-Stitch World, I didn’t use it as much as the other two apps I later got. Once I got those, this one was neglected for a while, but I didn’t want to delete it. However, out of the blue, I decided to give this one another go – and ever since, I’ve been using it a lot.

There are lots of categories, but even more patterns in Cross-Stitch World.

Cross-Stitch World on the whole is a very good app for digital cross stitching. There are a ton of patterns that you can buy, which comes in bulks of 10 patterns per set. There are so many themes; landscapes, food, seasons, animals, fantasy, and so much more. You’d need a lot of money, not to mention time, to complete them all, especially as new ones get added every week!

This app is free to use. The only cost comes in when you buy credit, which you use to purchase new sets of patterns. The cheapest is £4.99 and gets you 3,500 points, and the most expensive is £39.99, which gifts you a whooping 40,000 points. To give you context, most patterns are priced between 2,500 to 4,500 points, with the XL sets being 5,000+ points each. Every week though, as new sets are released, a free bonus pattern is released alongside it that you can add to your collection and complete. Plus, completing any pattern earns you credit towards buying new patterns. You also get 25 points totally for free just for loading the app up once each day.

You can buy new patterns, as well as receive free ones released as bonuses for new sets.

There’s something else you should know that might persuade you to buy credit. When you purchase in-game credit for the first time, you get no adverts, plus your daily free credit goes up to 40 points for the whole year!

Since downloading Cross-Stitch World, I’ve bought new sets of patterns with the credit I either earned or bought. My favorites are landscapes and seasons. There’s even a set exclusive to each month of the year which I really enjoy doing.

It’s pretty easy to work on a pattern in Cross-Stitch World. You can even adjust the size of the squares in the settings.

This app plays very well when completing any pattern. It shows you how much time you have spent working on a pattern, you can change the zoom, undo or redo any work, unpick wrongly-placed stitches, and it displays the completion percentage of the picture. Also, if you go into settings, you can set it up so it counts how many squares are needed per color, or change the size of the board. Once you’ve finished, it’ll reward you points and allow you to share or download your newest creation.

Other things you can do with Cross-Stitch World is create your very own pattern, view your previously-completed works in a gallery, view messages, view your profile, check out the loyalty card (you get bonus patterns for buying credit each month), and the game club (where you can play other games linked to this one to get credit for CSW, or play CSW to get credit for other linked games). There’s also a help and support option if you need it, and an option for contacting the publishers if you have any queries.

Cross-Stitch World is well worth looking into if you’re thinking of doing cross stitch patterns yourself. It’s available on PC, mobile, and tablets, and can be downloaded through Google Play, the Apple App Store, Amazon, and the official Cross-Stitch World website.

Cross Stitch Masters

Platform: Web Browser, Android, iOS

Developer/Publisher: TAPCLAP

Release Date: January 15, 2020

Cross Stitch Masters was the second cross stitch app I got, not long after Cross-Stitch World. For a long time, I was addicted to this, and still play it often now.

What attracted me most to Cross Stitch Masters was the variety of patterns available. The library may not be as extensive as Cross-Stitch World, but it’s still impressive nonetheless, and I’ve filled up my pictures gallery overtime. With Masters, you get patterns such as flowers, landscapes, art, animals, food, and lots more. My favorite, just as with Cross-Stitch World, is landscapes.

One of my favorite aspects of Cross Stitch Masters is picking a pattern and seeing how it looks when completed. You do get a preview of the picture beforehand, of course, but it looks faded. When it’s finished, the colors are darker and more saturated, looking much more striking, even the paler-looking pictures. It’s very satisfying seeing the finished result.

The patterns in Cross Stitch Masters look a little different to their preview images when finished.

Cross Stitch Masters also includes a storybook mode, which features images that tells a story. I’ve done all four of the ones available and enjoyed them very much.

This app is technically free to download, plus you get a generous helping of credit and free patterns to get you started off. You also earn more points from completing patterns. You can also get free coins by watching up to five adverts a day, completing a randomized picture of the day, and claiming points for just loading the game up each day. However, if you want to work through the library, you’ll need to buy credit. You can buy as little as 500 points for £3.89, and 10,000 at most for £47.99.

Patterns can be as small as 50×50 squares, but most are either 100, 150, or 200, with some of the biggest being 250, 300, even 400 by 400 squares big.

If you want to check out Cross Stitch Masters for yourself, it’s available on mobile devices as well as PC. You can download it via Google Play, the Apple App Store, Aptoide, and the official Cross Stitch Masters website. Alongside Cross-Stitch World, I would definitely recommend it.

Pixel Art – Color by Number

Platform: Android, iOS

Developer: Easybrain

Release Date: October 16, 2017

The last app I’m going to talk about is the third one I use a lot. Unlike the other two, this is just pixel art, not cross stitch. It’s full name is Pixel Art – Color by Number. This is also a seriously good puzzle-art app.

Pixel Art has a ton of pictures that you can complete. There are so, so many. They aren’t placed into themed categories like the two cross-stitch apps, but there are lots of things to do in Pixel Art.

The first is a daily picture that you get every single day without fail, and is usually randomly themed, but can be related to a festive event such as Christmas or Easter, depending on the date.

With daily pictures, you’ll never run out in Pixel Art.

Pixel Art has a main picture category, where the majority of pictures appear. There’s a big variety and they can be anything. Food, animals, people, landscapes, flowers, seasons, and lots more. Not just that, but the difficulty in the picture varies. It can be very pixelated and blocky, with only a few colors, or it can be very intricate, with dozens of different colors needed to fill it in. There are also other unique pictures, such as 3D models and sparkly pictures. At one point, there was even animated images, although I’m not sure this is a thing anymore (and if that’s the case, it’s a shame because I enjoyed these ones).

There’s more! One feature I really like about Pixel Art is its books category. This is a bit like the sets of patterns I talked about with Cross-Stitch World. Every week (Tuesdays, to be precise), two new books are added to the library for you to do. You’ll get a specific theme, which will contain 7 simpler pictures, then once you’ve done all these, you unlock a final more difficult and detailed picture to complete the set. It’s fun doing all the pictures and building up to unlock the big one, wondering what it could be.

Books are a particular favorite of mine in Pixel Art.

Pixel Art is a very active app. Every week, there seems to be some in-app event going on that allows you to unlock more pictures. These go on for a few days, even a few weeks in some cases. These events are themed and include the usual festive ones such as Christmas, New Year, Easter, Halloween, but you also get Back to School, Sports, Games, and lots more. As you complete these series of pictures, you unlock bonus pictures. Also, by completing pictures, you earn perks such as color bombs, filler buckets, and magic wands for making completing pictures faster.

Look out for special events in Pixel Art, where you can complete pictures to unlock bonus pictures and other perks.

But there’s even more yet! If you go into the official Pixel Art Facebook page, you can find bonus packs to download totally for free. You don’t even need to be registered on Facebook! You just need to click the download link and it will appear in your app. Through the Facebook page, you can actively take part in choosing new upcoming bonus packs, choosing new palettes for existing pictures, and play games to unlock exclusive pictures. It’s worth checking out if you really get into this app.

Bonus pictures appear in their own category, and you can gather a lot of them!

Is Pixel Art free? Yes, it technically is, but it does contain ads, and if like me you spend a lot of time playing this app, the ads do get a bit tedious after a while. Plus, you need to sit through an ad if you want to unlock certain pictures. That’s why I recommend you pay a subscription fee if you want to play this a lot.

There are several options for paying the subscription. You can subscribe through the game by paying monthly, which is about £5, or yearly, which is about £40. However, if you have Google Play, you can sign up to Google Play Pass monthly for £4.99 or yearly for £29.99, which covers Pixel Art.

You can get Pixel Art – Color by Number through Google Play or the Apple App Store.

Which App Is Best?

I honestly can’t say which of these three apps is the best. The reason I talk about them in such length here is because I think they’re all great. I sought out a good cross stitch or pixel art app, and these were what I got and I love them all in their own way. All three certainly keep me busy, and I juggle between playing them. Perhaps you have a favorite puzzle-art app that you’d like to share, including any of the ones I’ve talked about here?

Why Do I Like These Apps?

I’ve talked a lot about these apps, but why do I like them so much? Why are they so appealing?

Honestly, I just find them so relaxing, so chilling. I could play them all day if I wanted, which I can’t because I have too much other stuff to do in my life! Seriously though, when I do have a free moment, I love to get any of these apps open and just spend time completing a picture. I can’t always get a picture done in one sitting, depending on how difficult they are, but it’s still a great way to unwind between my day-to-day life.

You also might wonder why I do cross stitch and pixel art on my phone and not from a book or cross stitch kit. There’s obviously a big difference between doing the real thing and then doing it on my phone digitally, but there are a few reasons. One is that they’re all stored on my phone in one place. I also have my Google Play subscription and occasionally putting some money into one of the cross stitch apps, but it’s probably cheaper than buying books and pens. The other reason is that providing I have a decent wifi signal, I can play these apps anywhere I like, whether I’m at home, away on holiday, or out and about. Having all these apps in easy reach on my phone allows me to just open one up and quickly work away on a picture.

Playing games such as Pixel Art is a great way to unwind.

Are There Other Apps Like This Available?

Oh yes! There are plenty of puzzle-art apps that you can find just by searching Google Play or the Apple Store, or the internet itself. These three apps I’ve talked about extensively aren’t the only ones. These are just three of my favorites. If you’re interested, why not take a look yourself? There’s not just cross stitch and pixel art either. There are also coloring pages, color by numbers, crystal art… so many options. All designed to help you unwind from the comforts of your phone, tablet, or computer.