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
Instagram: pixeloverloadyt

[jaredjones]

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.

[Gustavo-yeko]

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

[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''.

[aliaksandrilyushenka]

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!!!

[marxrubronegro]

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. <3

[jomambo]

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

[joscharadaj]

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

[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.

[lucern]

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

[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 :)

[RickProkosch]

I don’t know the last time I saw a video that was so well done and informative. Now I need to check out your other videos!

[sireggan]

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

[redmist]

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

[pixellated-turtle]

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

[gamedevelopment]

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

[henrysarunic]

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

[bencepaul]

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

[gattillynx]

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