Q: making graphics for the 7800

[+xucaen]

Today I was doing some research about how to make graphics for the 7800. I skimmed all the posts returned by a search for "graphics". I saw several threads discussing using the Gimp to make graphics. I even found a thread with two ".art" files attached, though at this point I don't know how those would be used. Since alot of questions have already been asked and discussed, let me ask a slightly different question:

 

Back in the day, how did Atari programmers make graphics for their games?

 

I have one idea how - I recall from my forays into 2600 programming that sprites could be "drawn" in the text editor using 0s and 1s (ex: .byte #%00111100). Looking at a sample 7800 demo, it appears graphics are stored in a similar way. So my guess is that back in the day sprites were drawn by hand in a text editor using 0s and 1s.

[+xucaen]

I think I found something. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/77655-using-7800-graphic-converter/?p=3117535

 

Maybe Atari programmers had a tool like this.