In this easy pixel tutorial you will learn how to create a pixel art donut also known as a doughnut! We will go over the different steps it takes to make your very own donut made out of pixels!
Are you ready to design your own pixel art donut? Learning how to draw a cute pixel art donut is more popular than ever! Whether you’re looking to create a simple pixel art donut sprite for your cute mobile puzzle game or maybe you just want to share a fresh new pixel art donut design as part of your treats art collection on social media, this pixel art tutorial will help you make a pixel donut fast and easy.
How to Make a Pixel Art Donut
These are the basic steps for how to make a pixel art donut:
- Select a Pixel Art Software such as Adobe Photoshop, Mega Voxels or Aseprite
- Create a 32×32 pixel grid
- Sketch out an Outline for the shape of the donut
- Fill in the color of the pixel art donut
- Draw a Shade on the donut 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 donut, 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 donut, also known as a donut, 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 donut, 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:
- 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 donut. 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 donut on. Your donut pixel art grid should have a canvas, also known as a spreadsheet, that looks something similar to this:
Sketch an Outline for the Donut
Next we will start by making the outline for the donut so we can get the overall shape for our pixel donut. 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 donut 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 donut, we will add some color to make it stand out. Fill in the bottom section of the donut brown (#CC7B39). On the top section of the donut we will use a rich dark brown (#62321E). Next for the sprinkles we chose some random colors such as red (#FB2E9C), yellow (#F1B13D), green (#4DC738) and blue (#00C2DE). Try matching our picture of our 8 bit pixel donut 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 donut using a single color. This color will be applied to the bottom of the donut and the bottom of the frosting. Remember, to create a shadow color for the donut we will use a darker brown based on the brown we used before (#B46D34). We will also do the same thing with the bottom of the frosting by using a darker brown than the dark brown we used before (#4C2819). 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 donut to give it a 3D feel. Let’s create a highlight using the same dark brown from the frosting, but instead of going darker this time we will go lighter (#793B21). Remember, this doesn’t have to be the exact color in fact this is an opportunity to make the donut look like your own. In our version we only highlighted the top section of the frosting. Use our image as a guide for your donut.
Great! When you are happy with your shadows and highlights on your donut, be sure to view your final image. To see your pixel art donut go ahead and turn off the grid lines to make sure you like the way the donut came out.
Fill the Background Color
Finally, let’s change the background color of our donut sprite to really make our donut 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 donut.
Where to Go From Here
Congratulations! You now know how to create your very own pixel art donut. Try making different types of donuts by changing the color of the frosting and the sprinkles.
Bonus: Make a 3D Pixel Art Donut
Now that you have drawn your own pixel art donut, 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 donut into a 3D pixel art donut. You can now create 3D turntable videos of your 3D pixel art donut and even view your donut in Augmented Reality!
