How to make pixel art online (no download)
Pixel art is drawn one square at a time, so you need a canvas you can zoom right into and a hard-edged pencil that doesn't blur. Postscript's Free Draw has a Pixel mode built for exactly that.
Step by step
- Open Free Draw. Pick the Free Draw tab in Postscript.
- Switch on Pixel mode. Zoom in until you can see the individual pixels.
- Draw with the pencil. Use the pencil for crisp pixels, the eraser to fix mistakes and the eyedropper to reuse colours.
- Export. Download your artwork.
Beginner tips
Start small: 16 × 16 or 32 × 32 pixels is plenty for a character or icon. Use a limited palette of 4 to 8 colours. Draw a dark outline first, then fill it in, then add one lighter shade on the side the light comes from.
More drawing tools
Free Draw also has a soft paintbrush, lines, rectangles and circles. Pro adds fill, spray, the healing brush, a resize-area tool for moving and scaling parts of a drawing, and your own images, text and clip art on the canvas.
Exporting pixel art without blur
Pixel art should stay crisp when it's shown bigger. Draw at your small size, then make sure the export or upload doesn't smooth the image. Many sites blur small images when they enlarge them, so export at a larger size where you can.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. Free exports carry a small Postscript watermark, which Pro removes.
Do I need to download anything?
No. It runs in your browser.
Can I draw on a tablet?
Yes. It works with touch and stylus on tablets.
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