Glitchy, fun 8-bit drawings from designer and illustrator Ailadi

Italian-born but now Shanghai-based designer and illustrator Ailadi has been producing drawings using the PETSCII character set from 8-bit home computers. Using a software created by her friend known only as Jambonbill, the images have a wonderfully glitchy and nostalgic feel we’ve come to embrace in recent years.

As well as creating a series of static images, Ailadi has recently progressed to making animated gifs from her drawings, which she showcases on Instagram. Depicting the mundane and non-eventful, like a mother feeding her baby in a highchair to the slightly more unusual petting of a crocodile, her subject matter is diverse. The rigidity in Ailadi’s characters makes every movement purposeful and even in her still illustrations the stiffness of her clunky characters adds humour and irresistible charm.