What Canvas Size Should you use for Pixel Art? (Pixel Art Tutorial)

Hello! In this video I'll be explaining what the best sizes are for your pixel art.
Thanks for watching, and enjoy the video!
Intro: (0:00)
Part 1: Deciding on a Size
Sizing your Character: (0:38)
Choosing a Tile-map size: (1:43)
Part 2: Drawing within a Size
Materials at different Scales: (3:42)
Using your Pixels: (4:23)
Animating your Character: (5:59)
Summary: (6:33)
Outro: (7:09)
Reddit: u/Pixel_Overload
Itch.io: pixeloverload.itch.io/
Instagram: pixeloverloadyt

[@jaredjones6570]

My takeaways from this video (a paraphrase of the video summary, essentially): The most common resolutions for pixel art games are 16x16 and 32x32. Larger resolutions than 64x64 tend to look like photos. Photos generally require high resolutions to look good, so 128x128 and larger tile sizes can look sloppy. This also means that the value of a single pixel will vary with scale. A misplaced pixel will very obvious on a 16x16 sprite, and will remain fairly obvious on 32x32 scales. Don't worry too much though, since sprites will look small against the backdrop of the canvas when they are displayed on screen. A sprite must visually convey what it will do at all times. All choices related to sprite sizes and animations need to contribute to enjoyable movement and gameplay.

[@jokesterthemighty227]

well you are wrong

[@thekingscrown8931]

@@jokesterthemighty227 "You're wrong" *refuses to elaborate.* *leaves*

[@BattleBossZeri]

Gigachad​@@thekingscrown8931

[@Gustavo-ye1ko]

Something that nobody mentions: 320x180 is the perfect resolution for full screen, it scales perfectly to HD, Full HD, WQHD and 4K monitors :)

[@fonzy675]

Does that mean I can make 32x18 tile maps?

[@DizzieXD]

can it be multiplied? like 640x360

[@-TheOddity]

@@DizzieXDyea

[@lucascapelao]

thanks brother. that's what i was looking for.

[@Roxor128]

It's also not far off the classic DOS gaming resolution of 320*200, though that one uses non-square pixels (320*200 on a 4:3 display has pixels that are 1.2 times taller than they are wide).

[@OmegaSanctum]

This tutorial was smashing. Most ''pixel art'' tutorials just go into normal art/color theory, which is not the reason you look up ''pixel art tutorial''.

[@hollowknightenjoyer]

Not really

[@fonzy675]

No that's exactly how it goes.

[@aliaksandrilyushenka5597]

This is an EXTREMELY HIGH quality video. It definitely deserves more views and likes. Not mentioning that the info given in the video is super useful for a beginner Thank you!!!

[@jokesterthemighty227]

no it's not

[@marxrubronegro9677]

Excellent! I just want to point out that 64×64 is very hard for beginners and should be avoided, but once you mastered it, it can lead to gorgeous Hi-Bit Art, while still retaining the Pixel Art aesthetic.

[@Artazix]

Im beginner but my comfort canvas size is 128 💀

[@TurtleTracksStudio]

@@Artazix Working with smaller sizes definitely improved my art, definitely have to be a lot more clever

[@Artazix]

@@TurtleTracksStudio yeah i forgot to say that i often do landscapes so

[@spindash64]

Right now I'm trying to shoehorn my character into 64x64 (excluding animation atm), but I partly want that extra size because I want the big, expressive faces of characters like Sonic, but I want that on a character with more human proportions: 4-5 heads tall rather than 2-3. That necessitates a taller sprite It's still probably more than I need, but this setup gives a nice, easy world scaling where 1 pixel is about 1", and 40 pixels is about 1 meter.

[@leiferikson4279]

It's fine to say that you shouldn't start with 64x64 because it's too hard for beginners. But you absolutely cannot ever convince me that it looks worse or loses it's charm. Good 64x64 art looks insane. Even the example you showed, the 64x64 leafy block looked so much better than the others. Some people really appreciate the art and want a nice medium between "old school" and drawn art. This should not be discounted.

[@spindash64]

It also depends on how big you want your character to be relative to the screen space. Most platformers will want those smaller characters. But for a Beat-em-up, Fighting Game, or even a few "special" platformers with precautions against blinding speed, you might want your character to fill up more of the screen. For example, Samus's sprite in Super Metroid is 48px tall. That obviously does not fit into the 32px size range, but we wouldn't consider Super Metroid to somehow NOT be pixel art. She simply takes up more screen space than a character like X or Mario I'd set the cutoff more by the final SCREEN resolution than by tile size: by the time you reach Standard Definition of 450-480, each individual pixel is small enough to be ignored, and it stops feeling like pixel art. 360x640 is on the high end of resolutions that still feel absolutely pixel focused, and where those 64px tall characters can really work well: that's roughly 18% of screen height, about the same as Sonic in the Genesis games

[@jomambo]

Another thing that i think it's worth mentioning is, the default resolution for RPG maker MV and onwardsis 48X48. Great video btw!

[@lucern1]

These videos are fantastic - for their quality, I'd expect at least another three zeroes to the views. Keep it up!

[@MAXIMUMPOWER42]

137 million views

[@LaserGadgets]

The fact that you give credit to the guy who gave you the idea...thats rare! Sadly. You're a good cookie!

[@SirSagaSage]

Thank you for making this, I was unsure what size to work with for my sprites, but now I'm a bit more confident in what I want thanks to the explanations in the video. Deserves a lot more attention especially for the effort in the presentation, absolutely beautiful job.

[@joscharadaj6735]

This channel is really underrated (yet). Excellent content, very high production quality. Please keep going.

[@Benvoyonsdoncle]

Incredible video quality. The effort really shows and the information is top quality. Thank you for making this a free upload.

[@foxtorche]

These videos are calming, educative and have a nice style to them. Well done, keep up the good work!

[@EliotWeber]

The video quality is crazy high! I can't even imagine the amount of work it took to make it, but this is the most beautifully crafted video about pixel art. Liked, subscribed, and waiting for more :)

[@redmist4963]

I'm so happy i found this gem of a channel

[@gamedevelopment1973]

OMG !!!! This tutorials are sooooo clean !!! i love it please make more tutorials like this!!!!

[@gattillynx]

This video is such high quality! Great content! You've got a new subscriber

[@Illusionaire1]

While I really do love your content in general, I'm pretty sure you ended up "pillow shading" the character and it made the ghost look extremely flat. I really think a more careful placement of the highlights and shadows, and not just "left edge highlight, right edge shadow" could really benefit this kind of pixel art. With that being said, I just love your whole video presentation, the design and the way you speak!

[@sireggan54]

This video was really helpfully for me as I'm now starting off with pixel art. Thank you!

[@alexramos9155]

Great information, beautiful edit and just overall fantastic! Got yourself a new sub! Thanks for the help you bring to us new pixel artists! Keep up the good job

[@pixellated-turtle1164]

This is really useful! great work, and great pixel art :)

[@jeffy7621]

Underrated channel, amazing quality!

[@henrysarunic8377]

awesome video! it helped me get through this difficult threshold in getting better at pixel art!

[@TheHostelPodcast]

beautiful video. this deserves to be seen by every pixelart creator in the world

[@camilalouisem]

On the first 30 seconds I subscribed already. High quality video!

[@Sunbreaker7]

This was an outstanding tutorial! Thank you.

[@spellmender7902]

Subscribed. Thanks for the clear descriptions and tutorial! Very helpful!

[@bencepaul3497]

Excellent summary with some things that I can put into action. Thanks!

[@Charlie-cu9vc]

Actually perfect, exactly the info I needed to know. Thank you!

[@ConnectedGamerGirl]

Informative and beautifully presented. This channel is awesome!

[@perdugo]

Man, finally I found some good explanation about this topic! Thanks a lot, great video.

[@h7d50n-ii5uv]

thank you so much for making this, it should help a TON!

[@hw2007]

thank you soo much! I have been really struggling with pixel art, so this helped a ton!

[@meiv_]

I've just found the answers to most of my questions. Amazing content and visualization ♥

[@addisoncorey5636]

Great video my dude! Seriously! The high quality is appreciated; I’m excited to see your channel grow. Surely it will if you keep up the work like this :)

[@litjellyfish]

Nice but don’t forget that 8x8 do not mean this low detail. All games in the 8 and 16 but era used 8x8 that then was used to form meta tiles. With that approach you could decide on your base “this is 1 meter” tile size. With this you do not even need to go from 16 to 32 to 64. You could choose a base size formed by 3x3 / 8x8 tiles = a 24x24 tile size. Or why not 40x40 Also remember that with this approach you also can reuse and create really detailed tiles that also take VERY little memory

[@Pixeloper]

Micro Mages is the best example I can mention.

[@brandannh]

Mobile platforms specifically have image optimization in the background for images size 2^x I believe it has to do with compression so I assume the same is on PC/Mac/Linux too.

[@frokydafroakie]

i was gonna say that u were wrong but i remembered that link has 2 sprites ( his head and his body )

[@jarlfenrir]

NES used 8x8 sprites internally that was combined for larger sprites, but video was about total size. You see... what's the difference for a player if a sprite is 32x32 or consits of 16 8x8 sprites?

[@kaojaicam]

Wouldnt this dramatically increase the workload in having to stitch all the 8x8's together to make larger tiles and characters?

[@deamorta6117]

What canvas size to choose, drawing a pixel sprite, animating it in one video. well done.

[@KamiSlayer0]

Thank you for this high-quality tutorial

[@shadow-bo8tn]

I like the way you display in the video a lot, everything in the design is coordinated, great, what program do you use to make the animation

[@PixelOverloadChannel]

Thanks! I use Piskel for the drawing and pixel animations, and then I import them as image sequences into Hitfilm, where I do most of the editing. I also use key frames in Hitfilm if I'm just moving an image (e.g the chapter cards). Both programs are free.

[@serenabrowne4517]

@@PixelOverloadChannel ohhh i used piskel before but now that the accounts thing is gonna be gone ive moved my work over to pixilart

[@Stopinvadingmyhardware]

I had a cat named Shadow. The neighbors poisoned him. He weighed 35lbs of furry Tom cat. Big alpha boy.

[@aadithecool448]

@@Stopinvadingmyhardware damn that got dark. Sorry for your loss man, and screw those neighbours

[@nelloorsolon7763]

Brilliant explanation! This help me to understand how to make a briefing to artist

[@Shmark]

It felt like I watched a cartoon or a let's play while actually learning stuff. Fantastic

[@berkeaksoy9808]

Perfect beginner tips! Thanks for sharing

[@Xansafaroov]

This is one of the best starting video for Pixel Art.

[@potantirittisak8494]

Thank you for the well-made video!

[@pixzelbeast7451]

i love u so much bro

[@definitelydead-666]

this is so useful I was struggling as a beginner to pixel art and this helped ( the octopuses that were drewn were so cute )

[@user-hy2yy3qh6c]

Very helpful rundown. Thanks!

[@MelMacaluso]

This was extremely informational and put me in the right directio, thanks!

[@kevinmantao1357]

What a great video. I want to make a pixelart game but I never know where to start especially with resolution. Your video is really helpful :)

[@honu2980]

Commenting for true algorithm to recommend you more!

[@midnightgallery8]

Thanks, this was extremely helpful for starting out and what to consider :)

[@brandonjacksoon]

Thank you! Really useful)) I want to know more about Pixel Art. I want to watch more tutorials))

[@joseangelestevez8367]

Something finally made sense to me after watching this video. Thank you so much!

[@raindeir5860]

Dude, you’re so underrated, really hope u will blow up soon! :D

[@Leoxxxxx5]

Well, this was the most useful video about pixelart sprites. Thanks.

[@alis1079]

I love your videos, thank you for sharing your art and knowledge Cheers mate

[@holymacaroni3319]

you know it's a great tutorial when there are only 5 dislikes. keep up the good work!!

[@tilanitaliarin]

this was very helpful, thanks for uploading!

[@KalGgoooo7]

Amazing! I learned a lot watching this video billion thanks!!! 👏

[@trollgame5480]

Hey I'm new in making pixel arts for game and this help me a lot ! Thank you! Much love !!!

[@mymans7742]

This is a great video! Thank you so much!

[@unluckypanda5448]

wow the effort put in this video is incredible :0

[@theoldgoddeuce5943]

nice shading... lol love your videos, about to binge them all

[@impact674]

Thank you so much, this helped me out so much!

[@AshcanComicsPub]

Great vid. Thank you for posting. Very helpful for a noob like me, who is just starting out with Aseprite.

[@LucaPassini]

Wonderful video, thanks! It would be useful a video explaining different canvas sizes related to the size of your tile.

[@frogboy831]

thank you thank you thank you !!!! this is exactly what i was looking for!

[@hawkgamedev]

Thanks this video was really useful to help me decide what's best for my game, so 16x16 is the best for top down in my book now, THANK YOU!

[@sirondium]

Great video, I had to go for 36x36 simply for the reason that I am limiting myself to maximum three tones per character, so more pixels are required to add detail rather than shading etc.

[@arthurrodrigues7088]

Your video is so good that I managed to reach my recommended in Brazil

[@zoltanmeszaros988]

Very helpful video, thank you!

[@nvrblonde]

another great vid man, your stuff is akin to the quality of Brandon James Greer, another pixel art KZbinr :)

[@bowersindustry]

This is a very helpful video! Thank you!

[@bini420]

Very professional video dude!

[@spiers1018]

Thanks man! You nice tuto!!

[@Pixelator123]

this really did help thank you for making it

[@benoitbriere6247]

Amazingly informative 😍🙀😸!!

[@Manas-co8wl]

I honestly really like the 64^2. It's probably really hard to pull it off well however.

[@AngusJMcGregor]

Woah! Talk about a hidden gem, damn.

[@FrozenSpark12]

amazing video! you've earned my subscription.

[@courtneysmith9807]

Dude you are a life saver

[@Mercymurv]

nice video and examples / overall art, thanks

[@Hawk_Leigh]

This was a great, super helpful video. Really appreciated that you did an example for each size of canvas, really helped me see which size would be best for me! Can tell you put a lot of effort into your videos!

[@brandonjacksoon]

Mb more loong pixel art tutorials?)) Liked and subscribed! Cool channel!

[@Duckademy]

thanks great info!

[@endieisded]

KZbin recommendations have blessed me

[@XtrimUniverse]

Its such a platinum tutorial. Everything said in a nutshell was equivalent to probably 1 or 2 months of paid study !!

[@caped57]

Another great video!

[@mobiledevloperroadtopro]

Great work i love this channel

[@nowifi3266]

best pixel art channel

[@DirtDiaryMTB]

Amazing Work!!!!!

[@SagePlayz]

Great tutorial, thank you

[@eris4734]

I actually like 8x8, especially because the simplicity means you can add many different tiles more easily, to create more variety and more complex interactions between tiles that just isn't feasible at a larger scale.

[@theera9514]

Personally16x16 is my go to for tiles and medium size characters but if something ever needs to have different dimensions I like to stick with multiples of 8 for both x and y

[@antcoelho]

awesome video! thanks a lot

[@eyalav6293]

Great stuff :D

[@danielesquivel3155]

soy español, pero esta muy buenos tus videos :3 me sorprendio que tengas tan pocos subs uwu, gracias a tus videos podre hacer mis personajes para mis juegos :3

[@v.valclodi8311]

very usefull, thanks

[@Soroosh.S83]

thanks this video was so much helpful i hope get more views and help more people

[@doriginew7blackent]

Your tutorials are super dope! I would love to see what you think about doing what you do using Moho Pro 13! Just a thought. Thank you for what you do!