In this easy pixel tutorial you will learn how to create a pixel art ship! We will go over the different steps it takes to make your very own ship made out of pixels!
Are you ready to design your own pixel art ship? Learning how to draw a cute pixel art ship is more popular than ever! Whether you’re looking to create a simple pixel art ship sprite for your mobile pirate game or maybe you just want to share a cute new pixel art ship as part of your sea collection on social media, this pixel art tutorial will help you make a pixel ship fast and easy.
How to Make a Pixel Art Ship
These are the basic steps for how to make a pixel art ship:
- Select a Pixel Art Software such as Adobe Photoshop or Mega Voxels
- Create a 32×32 pixel grid
- Sketch out an Outline for the shape of the ship
- Fill in the color of the pixel art ship
- Draw a Shade on the ship to create depth
- Fill in the Background with Color
Now that you are familiar with the basic steps on how to create a pixel art ship, 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 ship 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 ship, 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:ix
- Mega Voxels Pixel Art Tutorials
- Adobe Photoshop Tutorials
- Aseprite Tutorials
- Adobe Illustrator Tutorials
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 ship. 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 ship on. Your ship pixel art grid should have a canvas, also known as a spreadsheet, that looks something similar to this:
Sketch an Outline for the Ship
Next we will start by making the outline for the ship so we can get the overall shape for our pixel ship. 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 ship or like we mentioned before feel free to design your own.
Fill in the Color
Now that you made an outline for your pixel art ship, we will add some color to make it stand out. Fill in the main section of the ship brown (#946354) and the sail gray (#D1D1D1). Next for the windows on the boat, we will use a blue color (#46638B) and for the flag we will use red (#BC4233), and for the rail a gold color (#EBBA43). Try matching the picture of our 8 bit pixel art ship below.
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 32×32 pixel art ship using a single color. This color will be applied to the bottom of the ship and the bottom of the sail on the ship. Remember, to create a shadow color for the ship we will use a darker brown based on the color we used before (#7D5343). We will also add a darker gray (#AAAAAA) to the bottom of the sail. Try to match where we put the shadows in the image below.
So now that you got the basic idea we will continue adding some depth to our ship to give it a 3D feel. Let’s create a highlight using the same brown from the main ship section, but instead of going darker this time we will go lighter (#A6725D). Remember, this doesn’t have to be the exact color in fact this is an opportunity to make the ship look like your own. In our version we highlighted the top of the ship sail, the flag, the windows, and the ship body. Use our image as a guide for your ship.
Great! When you are happy with your shadows and highlights on your ship, be sure to view your final image. To see your pixel art ship go ahead and turn off the grid lines to make sure you like the way the ship came out.
Fill the Background Color
Finally, let’s change the background color of our ship sprite to really make our ship 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 ship.
Where to Go From Here
Congratulations! You now know how to create your very own pixel art ship. Try making a different types of ships such as a navy ship or even a cruise ship.
Bonus: Make a 3D Pixel Art Ship
Now that you have drawn your own pixel art ship, 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 ship into a 3D pixel art ship.
You can now create 3D turntable videos of your 3D pixel art ship and even view your ship in Augmented Reality!
