Pixel Art Maker: draw pixel art online
Pick a grid, tap a colour and draw pixel by pixel – with mouse, finger or stylus. Done? Save it as a PNG with a transparent background, scaled 1× to 32×. Everything runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded.
How it is calculated
Pixel art is artwork where every single pixel is placed on purpose – familiar from 8-bit and 16-bit games and still popular for icons, emojis, sprites, avatars and cross-stitch patterns. This pixel art maker is a lightweight editor right in your browser: no account, no install, no upload.
How it works
- Choose a grid size: 8 × 8 for tiny icons, 16 × 16 or 32 × 32 for classic sprites, up to 64 × 64 for more detail. When you switch, the top-left content is kept.
- Tap a colour from the palette or pick your own with the colour field.
- Draw: the pencil sets pixels, the eraser makes them transparent again, bucket fill colours a connected area of the same colour, the eyedropper picks a colour from your drawing and the line tool draws a straight pixel line from start to end point.
- Turn on mirror to draw symmetrically – perfect for characters, faces and icons. The red line marks the mirror axis.
- Download as PNG: choose a scale (1× to 32×) and save. Unpainted pixels stay transparent.
Why export at a larger scale?
A 16 × 16 image is tiny at its original size. If you enlarge it later in an image editor, it often gets smoothed and blurry. The export here turns each pixel into an exact block (e.g. 16 × 16 at 16×), so edges stay crisp. For game engines that scale by themselves use 1×; for social media, slides or print pick 16× or 32×.
Technology and honest limits
- One single layer – no layers, no animation (GIF/sprite sheet) and no import of existing images.
- Bucket fill only spreads to horizontally and vertically connected pixels (diagonal gaps stop it); the line tool uses the classic Bresenham algorithm.
- Undo goes back up to 100 steps while the page is open.
- The largest output is 64 × 32 = 2,048 pixels per side.
Privacy
Your drawing is created and stays in your browser – there is no server it is sent to. So nothing gets lost, the editor keeps your draft in this browser's local storage (localStorage, key pixelart:v1). “Clear all” removes it; you can also clear the site data in your browser.
Keep going: turn your pixel motif into a website icon with the favicon generator, fit the PNG to required dimensions with resize image, and find matching colours with the colour palette generator. Vector graphics convert with SVG to PNG.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make pixel art online?
Choose a grid size (e.g. 16 × 16), tap a colour and set pixels with the pencil. Bucket fill covers areas, the line tool draws straight edges. Finally click “Download as PNG”.
Is this pixel art maker free?
Yes – no sign-up, no watermark and no download limit. The finished image is yours.
What size is best for pixel art?
16 × 16 and 32 × 32 are the classics for game characters and icons. 8 × 8 forces very simple shapes, 64 × 64 allows detail but takes much longer. For beginners, 16 × 16 is ideal.
How do I save pixel art with a transparent background?
All unpainted pixels are transparent (checkerboard pattern). The PNG export keeps that transparency automatically. Erased pixels become transparent again too.
How do I scale up pixel art without blurring it?
Choose a scale before downloading (up to 32×). Each pixel then becomes an exact block of colour – no smoothing. If you resize later in other software, use “nearest neighbour” scaling.
Will I lose my drawing if I close the page?
No. The draft is saved automatically in this browser’s local storage and restored on your next visit – on the same device and browser. Private browsing may prevent this.
Does it work on phones and tablets?
Yes. Draw with your finger or a stylus; the canvas does not scroll while you draw. For fine work at 48 × 48 or 64 × 64 a larger screen is more comfortable.
Can I create animations or sprite sheets?
No, the editor creates a single image. You can draw the frames of an animation one after another, export each one and combine them in an animation tool.
Sources and legal basis
- W3C – Pointer Events Level 3 (Maus, Touch und Stift)
- W3C – Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification (Alphakanal/Transparenz)
- MDN – CanvasRenderingContext2D: putImageData()
- MDN – CSS image-rendering: pixelated
- J. E. Bresenham (1965): Algorithm for computer control of a digital plotter, IBM Systems Journal 4(1)
As of:
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