I researched on a suitable starting point, but nothing was easy. I think my best option is the one from the CIA. At least this is the one I chose for a starting point: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/World_Time_Zones_Map.png. It's far from where I wanted to end up, but the desired information is there plus a lot of other info that's too rich (messy) for a background image. One advantage is that the resolution of 4000 x 2000 pixels means that I can create a 4K (3840 x 2160) picture and hopefully the work I do should be valid also in the not-so-far future. I have spent several hundred hours on this. I've cross-checked with Google Maps (sometimes the map, sometimes the satellite photo).
For private and non-commercial use, you're free to use this Pixel Art, but if you are selling a product and wish to use this image, or you wish to somehow earn money on this image, please contact the creator for further agreement. It's only fair that if you make money on my work, then I also wish to make money on it, don't you think? Please respect that changing a few details doesn't make it your original work.
Map facts: The circumference of the earth around the equator is 40075 kilometers, the map is 3840 pixels wide, so at the equator, each pixel represents a distance of 10436 meter. The north to south pole circumference is 39931 km and half the circumference is represented by 1920 pixels (excluding the top and bottom borders), so each pixel vertically is equivalent to about 10399 meter (on average). But there is a "problem" because the bottom of the map is not shown. Notice how the Falkland Islands, located at the 51.8 degree Southern latitude are at the same southern position as London in the north (51.5 degree N). There's quite a bit missing at the bottom (the Antarctica + some). There's as much as about 10 percent of the map missing. This is called the Miller Cylindrical projection and notice how the Equator is below the middle of the picture. This is the reason I have included the Equator in the image. The purpose is to show more of the Northern hemisphere (and the area covered by land). It must also mean that the height of a pixel is somewhat less than 10 kilometer, maybe only 9/10 so just about 9 km.
The map is essentially in 16:8 format, but our PC screens are 16:9, so borders have been added to the top and bottom, which also happens to be nice because then there's room for a top or bottom menu bar like what I have in Windows 10, and yet you can still see the time zone hours.
A cylindrical projection results in a lot of distortion towards the ends (in this case in particular to the north, since this part is not cut away from the map). Notice how Greenland is wider than it is long, which is not true. The distortion also means that Greenland seems larger than e.g. Australia. This is of course wrong and you can look up that Australia covers an area about 3.5 times larger than Greenland.
Although a pixel represents an area of about 90 square-kilometer, (or less, especially towards the upper part of the map) I have tried to add recognizable details in a way that it makes sense both as you zoom in to see the details as well as when you zoom out, preserving the overall geometry. Sometimes creating a "stylized" map like this also means removing details. In a few instances lakes, islands and such are simply missing. Since the map was created in 4K and meant for downsizing to FHD, I have paid attention to ensure that some of the details are suitable for downscaling. Since a pixel map has limited resolution, I have sometimes moved details a bit to the side, but sometimes there wasn't room for all details and e.g. two fjords have been merged into one. Tiny atolls (e.g. the Maldives, south of India) are enlarged to be shown. Should you be interested in a particular area, please check the original map source, which shows all the names.
If there's a fairly large detail missing, which bothers you, then please just let me know (and why it's important to you). I can see if I can fit the detail into the map. I'll need you to provide a great deal of detail about the missing part, so I can identify it both in Google Maps as well as the pixel art map. I have already added some details, like for example the lakes Vättern and Vänern in Sweden (they're missing from the original map by the CIA).
A map like this shows either land or ocean, there's nothing in-between. Removing details from the original CIA map consists significantly in judging whether something belongs to either land or ocean. It's all about making the edges look right.
The time zones are as specified in the original map published by the CIA, dated 2018, and I don't plan to update it as it changes. The time zones are without daylight savings time (some areas do, others don't), i.e. you could call it "winter time" time zones, and this is for example the reason why the southern part of Chile is in a different time zone than the capital (Santiago) and the northern part of Chile. I double-checked the CIA map with the Norwegian Embassy, who has a Consulate in Punta Arenas and they confirmed this.
This map is organized with Greenwich Mean Time ("0") located approximately in the middle of the map and with the International Date Line to the far right, which is how I think a world map should be pictured.
The "Think Global" pixel art is about time zones, not about country borders, so no borders are shown (except indirectly when they coincide with time zones). This can hopefully make us think about the world in a less national and more global way, hence the name, and the fish just west of Australia remind us to not only think about land, but also the ocean.
If you wish to have a higher resolution image, please contact the creator.