A sense of wplace

Friday, February 06, 2026

pink heart drawn with rough pixellated lines.

Wplace is my new internet toy. I first read about it as a 'digital graffiti project' in this article by It's Nice That, and learned more in this ZDNet article.

Digital graffiti is the best way to describe the site to me: a huge world map that can be drawn on, pixel by pixel. Like 'real-world' graffiti, people can add anything anywhere, adding to or drawing over existing artworks.

There are lots of wonderful examples of pixel art scattered all around the globe - some very small, which probably took a few minutes to make, and some massive, which probably took weeks to make. And then anyone can come along and paint over it [technically it is against the rules, but, from reading reddit, the site has moderation 'issues'].

To add art, you start with a tiny amount of credits, which increase every 30 seconds. Eventually, after a lot of time using the site, you would have built up a lot of these credits, compound interest style.

Here is some very nice pixel art I've come across on wplace. There are lots of flags (national, regional, pride, community), lots of pop-cultural memes, football memorabilia, political slogans, nonsense brain rot, and actually excellent art - just like graffiti and street art. (The heart above is located in Algeria.)

pixel art of a lighthouse

This lighthouse is found on one of the Chastye Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk, far in the east of Russia.


pixel art, a grid in rainbow colours

This triangular rainbow lattice, along with a bunch of random cats, is located to the north of Dundee in Scotland.


A beautiful double-portrait, with various 'tarot cards' below is in the middle of the English Channel.


pixel art of the globe.

The whole world itself can be found in northern Brazil


pixel art with paintings, houses and many different elements.

In Amsterdam, wplace artists have replicated Van Gogh and Vermeer, the city's houses and lots of other random stuff.

pixel art, a flying figure in a blue sky with clouds.

Mario (I think) and blue skies are somewhere off the coast of the north island in New Zealand.


There's a whole floating stadium in France, near the border with Switzerland.


two rainbow lines in pixel art with black silhouette figures at the ends.

There are lots of 'lines' on wplace - national, rainbow, pride and trans flags - connected different locations. This one, to the north of Corsica, has two cartoon figures too.