My Personal Do's and Don'ts of Pixel art! (How I make pixel art!)

Today I explain the things that I think look good in pixel and the things I think don't look good. I crammed a lot of content and visuals into this one, because I hate long tutorials. If you need some time to look at the examples just pause the video.

Reddit (Where I usually just post the finished artworks): u/Pixel_Overload
Instagram (Random Things): pixeloverloadyt

0:00 Intro
0:35 Do's and Don'ts
6:04 Outro

[Faylayx]

The amount of effort you put into the ui and styling of your visual brand identity is astounding...just wow. Great job

[domjanabi]

4:15 both are valid, the left one would be for something interactive while the right one would be background, as it implies fog

[janikarkkainen]

All of these tips are good, but just remember, it's okay to break any rules if it is something that you feel makes what are you creating "more you". Nothing wrong with liking and using, for instance, black outlines on objects, if that is the aesthetic you are going for.

EDIT: And just to make it clear for everyone, I do realize that's exactly what the video says too: these are just tips, not hardline rules that make your pixel art not be pixel art if you don't follow them.

[flofrost]

It's funny how most of these do's and don'ts root from just having limited hardware. I'm working on a project, which consist of making a video game on very limited hardware. So "have limited color", i only have 136 possible colors ever, so it's pretty much covered. "don't overuse anti aliasing" it just doesn't exist on hardware, unless hard made in the sprites, which isn't easy still. "have small canvas" to limit memory usage, small sprites are preferred. So i'm basically forced to follow most of these tips. I really admire how creativity sprouts from restrictions.

The other tips are useful for my use case too tho, so thanks for this video!

[cupofdirtfordinner]

this is all amazing advice! however, at 3:52, it largely depends on what you are making your drawing for. close together shades make the art far more relaxed and less bold and loud. if you, for example, are making a background for a desktop, or a game, or anything that shouldnt attract too much attention, then having close together shades is generally beneficial. With darker outlines as apposed to little to no outlines, it can often appear more clean or less intrusive. other than this, this video is really good and offers tons of great tips!

[CaseyFaris]

Dang. Excellent job. Beautiful roundup.

[nerdygeekyart]

You're quickly becoming one of my favorite pixel art content creators. Keep up the exceptional work!

[alessiobenvenuto]

I always use black outline, maybe sometimes not 100% black, but always one single color for everything. It mantains the clear and cartoon look

[Jar.Headed]

Do: Use warm colours for lighter areas and cooler colours for darker areas
UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE DO NOT: Mix your colour with white, black, or any other monochromatic colour

[bitpineapple_dev]

I disagree with "Don't use black for outlines". Especially for the example of a key.
Looking at screen shots of Super Mario World, things like have black outlines.
Black outlines seem to be more of a stylistic choice ... and can help hint at gameplay -- like distinguishing what's background art and what's an enemy/collectable or solid ground.

[Amricium]

1:20 IMO rocket on the right looks nice, if you can handle your colors well and can shade like this. The game Blasphemous has some realistically shaded encounters, yet you likely would not argue that it is not pixel-art.
5:48 once again the drawing on the right looks nice, it reminds me some of Pixel-boy art.
While I mostly agree with all the previous points, the canvas size one is the most subjective. Outcome piece size doesn't really matter if it still achieves pixelated look or style you aim for.

[cosmicreciever]

I have to say I wouldn't hold too much weight in these rules, half the time I preferred the images on the right

[hugoclarke]

Your Pixellency, this selection of beautifully presented tips has attracted me from afar to serve as your humble subscriber

[Scott...]

According to this video, Terraria has committed several crimes against pixel art

[jewels]

I love this as someone just learning pixel art. But its funny how my experience in other part has already given me a preference for some of the Dos like outlining in a darker shade of the same colour.

[stmiqote]

This is so helpful! Ive always just done pixel art by adding what looks good without looking at any tutorials, but it's always looked... flat? So I've recently been more serious about learning to do pixel art properly. Kinda hurts seeing the things I always do - outlining with black, and just picking any colour that looks good, and pancake shading - all listed in the don'ts. But now I know better thanks to you! I also love the way all the UI in this video is beautifully done pixel art.

[ronsronshirt]

At 3:34, the key with the black outline you listed under "don't" actually looks A LOT better to me.
I THINK this is because the severe contrast in brightness indicates that the key is made of a reflective material, and so the side of the key that is perpendicular to your vision will be dramatically brighter than the edges of the key, which are parallel to your vision.

[ViralKiller]

your work is amazing. I did a John Wick 2 SNES animation a few weeks ago. Wasn't really consistent in terms of pixel sizes

[leobernardo]

The amount of work that was poured into this tutorial is amazing!

[vitorz.]

Great video, excellent content. Many relevant and well selected tips that make all the difference when starting at pixel art