How to make pixel art
Learn a repeatable sketch, silhouette, palette and cleanup workflow.
- 1
Start with a small canvas such as 16 × 16 or 32 × 32.
- 2
Block the silhouette in one color before adding details.
- 3
Use a short palette with clear light, middle and dark values.
- 4
Build intentional pixel clusters; remove isolated noise pixels.
- 5
Check curves and diagonals at 100% zoom so stair steps look deliberate.
- 6
Export without smoothing: PNG keeps the hard pixel edges.