Pixel Sketch Studio is a pocket-sized editor for drawing pixel art one square at a time. There is no score and no timer. You get a grid, a set of palettes and a few classic tools, and you make whatever you like, from a game sprite to a tiny portrait. It also handles simple animation, so you can draw several frames and play them back as a loop. When you are happy with the picture, export it as a PNG. Pixel Sketch Studio started out as PixelCraft, an open-source project by gitstq.
How to Use Pixel Sketch Studio
Start by picking a canvas size. The presets run from 8x8 to 64x64, and you can type any size from 4 to 128 on each side. Small canvases are a good place to start.
Choose a color from the palette, then draw with the pencil. The fill bucket floods an area of matching color, and the color picker copies a color from the canvas. The eraser paints pixels white. Change the brush size from 1 to 8 pixels for big areas, and zoom in to work on fine details.
To animate, use the Frames panel. The plus button adds a blank frame, the copy button duplicates the current one, and the minus button deletes it. Press Play to loop the frames at 2 to 24 frames per second. Up to 100 steps of undo are kept while you work.
Pixel Sketch Studio Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draw with the current tool | — | Click or drag on the canvas | Tap or drag with one finger |
| Pick a tool (pencil, eraser, fill, color picker, move) | P, E, G, I, V | Click a tool in the Tools panel | Tap a tool in the Tools panel |
| Set the main or second color | — | Click a swatch for the main color; right-click or Ctrl+click for the second | Tap a swatch |
| Swap main and second color | X | Click the ⇄ button | — |
| Change brush size | [ and ] | Drag the Brush Size slider | — |
| Zoom and pan the view | V, then drag, to use the move tool | Scroll wheel or the zoom buttons; drag with the middle button to pan | Tap the zoom buttons; use the Move tool and drag |
| Undo, redo, toggle grid, export | Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y, B, Ctrl+S | Header buttons | — |
Tips for Better Pixel Art
- Outline first, fill second. Draw the outline with the pencil, then use the fill bucket inside it. The fill stops at any pixel of a different color, so close every gap first.
- Duplicate frames to animate. Copy a finished frame and change only a few pixels. Small shifts, like a blink or a bobbing head, look smooth at 4 or 8 frames per second.
- Keep two colors at hand. Set your outline color as the second color, then press X to swap between it and your fill color.
- Limit your palette. Retro Green has just eight colors, which keeps small sprites clean and easy to read.
- Turn the grid off to judge the result. Press B to hide the lines and see how the picture looks as a whole.
Features
- Five built-in palettes: Classic, Retro Green, Pastel, Neon and Earth, plus a custom color picker.
- Five tools: pencil, eraser, fill bucket, color picker and a move tool for panning.
- Frame animation: add, copy and delete frames, step through them and play them back at a choice of speeds.
- PNG and sprite sheet export: one frame saves as a PNG, several frames save as one sheet.
- Keyboard shortcuts: single keys for every tool, plus undo, redo and export.
Tested and updated:
