UO Graphical Program?

[Pistolgrip PUMP!]

Hey guys. I'm having some difficulty making 2D graphics for a small-scale online game using Photoshop and I was wondering if anybody knew what the "official" go-to program was for the original UO developers themselves was? What I've been doing was blowing things up 10 fold with Photoshop, drawing what I need, then scaling it back down to regular (much smaller) size so it can fit in with the game -- problem is it generates a fair bit of "compression garbage" in doing so. If anybody has any idea on what methods or programs they (UO devs) used or if you have a personal recommendation yourself please let me know. Thank you :]

 

[Vorspire]

The standard graphic tile size in UO is 44 x 44, in the format ARBG1555.
I imagine that the artwork was actually done on that small scale, it just requires a steady hand a fine attention to detail.
People who specialize in this kind of artwork are often known as pixel artists.

 

[Pistolgrip PUMP!]

If this is truly the case then I am even more amazed at the graphics they managed to push out for their time period. Granted, most of their graphics were just improved upon from the previous Ultimas, but still amazing nonetheless.

I figured I'd be audacious with the graphics of my game, using Photoshop and all of that, but this post has definitely made me rethink my situation. I very well may return to my pixel art roots again . Thanks for the quick response!