In this easy pixel tutorial you will learn how to create a pixel art bee! We will go over the different steps it takes to make your very own bee made out of pixels!

How to Make a Pixel Art Bee for Beginners

Are you ready to make your own pixel art bee? Learning how to draw a cute pixel art bee is more popular than ever! Whether you’re looking to create a simple pixel art bee for your video game or maybe you just want to share a fresh new pixel art bumble bee as your profile picture on social media, this pixel art tutorial will help you make a pixel bee fast and easy.

How to Make a Pixel Art Bee

These are the basic steps for how to make a pixel art bee:

  1. Select a Pixel Art Software such as Adobe Photoshop or Mega Voxels
  2. Create a 32×32 pixel grid
  3. Sketch out an Outline for the shape of the bee
  4. Fill in the color of the pixel art bee
  5. Draw a Shade on the bee to create depth
  6. Fill in the Background with Color

Now that you are familiar with the basic steps on how to create a pixel art bee, we will cover each step visually so that you can follow along on how to create it.

If you are completely new to pixel art we recommend reading our post How to Create Pixel Art: Beginner’s Tutorial

Select a Pixel Art Software

In this beginner tutorial we will be showing you the steps to design your own pixel art bee regardless of what pixel editor software you prefer to use. Before we begin you will need to know how to create a grid and use the pencil tool in the software of your choice. Once you create your pixel art bee, you can use the pixel art in other games such as Minecraft or software such as Unity Game Engine. We offer tutorials on the following pixel art editor’s so feel free to pick the one that you feel most comfortable with:

Want to see what pixel art software is best for you? Read our post Top Free Pixel Art Software

Create a Grid

To begin we will be using a simple 32×32 pixel grid to draw a small pixel art bee. Making 32×32 pixel art is a common size when making pixel art, especially for projects like video games. Be sure that your canvas is set to the color White (#FFFFFF). This will be our canvas that we use to draw our pixel art bee on. Your bee pixel art grid should have a canvas, also known as a spreadsheet, that looks something similar to this:

A blank canvas for drawing the pixel art bee

Sketch an Outline for the Bee

Next we will start by making the outline for the bee so we can get the overall shape for our pixel bee. To do this choose the color Black (#000000) and activate the pencil tool in your editor. Since this determines the overall shape, feel free to adjust the outline to what match your game or art project. As a guide, you can use the outline we made below for your bee or like we mentioned before feel free to design your own.

An outline of the pixel art bee grid similar to a spreadsheet

Fill in the Color

Now that you made an outline for your pixel art bee, we will add some color to make it stand out. Fill in the main body of the bee yellow (#F2CA4D). On the wings we will use a light gray (#D8E4EE). Try matching our picture of our 8 bit pixel art bee below.

Simple pixel art bee with solid colors

Draw the Shading

So whenever you create pixel art there are essentially two parts to shading: the highlights and the shadows. We will start with the shadows. We will be applying a shadow to our 32x32 pixel art bee using a single color. This color will be applied to the bottom of the head. Remember, to create a shadow color for the bee we will use a darker yellow based on the yellow we used before (#DEB63B). We will also do the same thing with the wings of the bee by using a darker gray (#C4D0D8). Try to match where we put the shadows in the image below.

32x32 Pixel art bee with shadows to give depth to the bee

So now that you got the basic idea we will continue adding some depth to our bee to give it a 3D feel. Let’s create a highlight using the same yellow from the body, but instead of going darker this time we will go lighter (#FFDB61). Remember, this doesn’t have to be the exact color in fact this is an opportunity to make the bee look like your own. Use our image as a guide for your bee.

Adding highlights to the 8 bit pixel bee

Great! When you are happy with your shadows and highlights on your bee, be sure to view your final image. To see your pixel art bee go ahead and turn off the grid lines to make sure you like the way the bee came out.

Kawaii pixel art bee on a transparent background

Fill the Background Color

Finally, let’s change the background color of our bee sprite to really make our bee stand out nicely. Select the Bucket fill tool in your editor. For the color enter a very Light Blue (#BCEAFE). Then simply click on the white area outside of the pixel bee.

Cute Pixel Art bee on Blue Background

Where to Go From Here

Congratulations! You now know how to create your very own pixel art bee. Try making different types of bees such as a bumble bee or a honey bee to make your own cute nature scene.

Bonus: Make a 3D Pixel Art Bee

3D Pixel Art Bee

Now that you have drawn your own pixel art bee, you can turn it 3D with Mega Voxels. Mega Voxels contains a 3D Pixel Art Maker that allows you to convert traditional 2D pixels into 3D pixels. Simply download the free Mega Voxels app for iOS or Android.

Then import the pixel art you just made using the Add File button inside of the My Gallery page. And that’s it! Mega Voxels automatically transforms you pixel art bee into a 3D pixel art bee. You can now create 3D turntable videos of your 3D pixel art bee and even view your bee in Augmented Reality!