In this easy pixel tutorial you will learn how to design a pixel art knight! We will cover the simple steps it takes to create your very own knight made out of pixels!
Are you ready to create your own pixel art knight? Learning how to draw a cute pixel art knight is more popular than ever! Whether you’re looking to create a pixel art character sprite for your castle scene in a mobile game or maybe you just want to share some new pixel art as part of your medieval collection to your social media account this pixel art tutorial will help you make a pixel knight quick and easy.
How to Make a Pixel Art Knight
These are the basic steps for how to make a pixel art knight:
- Select a Pixel Art Software such as Adobe Photoshop, Mega Voxels or Aseprite
- Create a 32×32 pixel grid for your knight
- Sketch out an Outline for the shape of the knight
- Fill in the color of the pixel art knight
- Draw a Shade on the knight to create depth
- Fill in the Background with Color
Now that you are aware of the basic steps on how to create a pixel art knight, 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 create your own pixel art knight 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 knight, 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 knight. This size is common 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 knight on. You should have a canvas, also known as a spreadsheet, that looks something similar to this:
Sketch an Outline for the Knight
Next we will start by creating the outline for the knight so we can get the overall shape for our pixel knight. 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 knight 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 knight, we will add some color to make it stand out. Fill in the top of the helmet, the main section of the body and half of the sword a traditional gray color (#A3A3A3). Next lets color in the face mask, the belt and the inside of the shield a dark gray (#686868). Now lets color the outer rim of the shield, the center of the armor and the belt buck a light gray (#CCCCCC). And last but not least lets color the feather on the helmet, neck piece and the design on the shield a nice dark red color (#770601). Try matching the picture of our 8 bit pixel art knight below.
Draw the Shading
So whenever you make pixel art there are essentially two parts to shading: the highlights and the shadows. We will start with the shadows. We will be applying shadows to our 32×32 pixel art knight in two places. First will be the bottom of the face mask and belt. To create a shadow color for the knight face mask and belt we will use a darker gray based on the dark gray we used before (#545454). The second shadow will be for the bottom of the feet which will be the same color we colored it before but again it will be a darker gray (#949494). 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 knight to give it a 3D feel. Let’s create a highlight using the same gray from the knight helmet and body armor, but instead of going darker this time we will go lighter (#BEBEBE). Remember, this doesn’t have to be the exact color in fact this is an opportunity to make the knight look like your own. In our version we highlighted the top section of the helmet, body armor and arms. We will also give our face mask a highlight by using a lighter gray (#A8A8A8). Use our image as a guide for your knight.
Great! When you are happy with your shadows and highlights on your knight, be sure to view your final image. To see your pixel art knight go ahead and turn off the grid lines to make sure you like the way the knight came out.
Fill the Background Color
Finally, let’s change the background color of our knight sprite to really make our knight 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 knight.
Where to Go From Here
Congratulations! You now know how to create your very own pixel art knight. Try making different types of knight pixel art by changing the color of the armor.
Bonus: Make a 3D Pixel Art Knight
Now that you have drawn your own pixel art knight, 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 knight into a 3D pixel art knight. You can now create 3D turntable videos of your 3D pixel art knight and even view your knight in Augmented Reality!
