Question: I'm using django to do a pixel tracker on an email

Is it easy to return an actual image from a django view (and how would this be done?) or is it easier to just return a redirect to the url where the actual image lives?

Answer: 
You don't need an actual image for a tracker pixel. In fact, it's better if you don't have one.

Just use the view as the source for the image tag, and have it return a blank response.
Django has a [static file](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/howto/static-files/) helper that could be used to serve up the image, but it is not recommended because of performance. I believe that having a view that does the bookkeeping to track the pixel, then redirect to a url that [serves the actual image via the webserver](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/howto/static-files/#serving-static-files-from-a-dedicated-server) is going to give you the best performance.