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

How to Make a Pixel Art Panda for Beginners

Are you ready to design your own pixel art panda? Learning how to draw a cute pixel art panda is more popular than ever! Whether you’re looking to create a simple pixel art panda sprite for your mobile game or maybe you just want to share a fresh new pixel art panda as part of your animal art gallery on social media, this pixel art tutorial will help you make a pixel panda fast and easy.

How to Make a Pixel Art Panda

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

  1. Select a Pixel Art Software such as Adobe Photoshop, Mega Voxels or Aseprite
  2. Create a 32×32 pixel grid
  3. Sketch out an Outline for the shape of the panda
  4. Fill in the color of the pixel art panda
  5. Draw a Shade on the panda 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 panda, 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 panda 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 panda, 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 panda. 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 panda on. Your panda 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 frappe

Sketch an Outline for the Panda

Next we will start by making the outline for the panda so we can get the overall shape for our pixel panda. 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 panda or like we mentioned before feel free to design your own.

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

Fill in the Color

Now that you made an outline for your pixel art panda, we will add some color to make it stand out. Fill in the ears, arms and feet of the panda dark gray (#3C444F). On the paws use a light pink (#E69EAA). Then make sure the rest of the panda is white (#FFFFFF). Try matching our picture of our 8 bit pixel art panda below.

Simple pixel art panda 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 32×32 pixel art panda using a single color. This color will be applied to the bottom of the head and the arms. Remember, to create a shadow color for the panda we will use a darker white, or light gray, (#E9EAF1). We will also do the same thing with the bottom of the arms of the panda by using a darker gray than before (#2E353D). Try to match where we put the shadows in the image below.

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

So now that you got the basic idea we will continue adding some depth to our panda to give it a 3D feel. Let’s create a highlight using the same dark gray from the ears, but instead of going darker this time we will go lighter (#464F5C). Remember, this doesn’t have to be the exact color in fact this is an opportunity to make the panda look like your own. In our version we only highlighted the top section of the ears. Use our image as a guide for your panda.

Adding highlights to the 8 bit pixel panda

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

Kawaii pixel art panda on a transparent background

Fill the Background Color

Finally, let’s change the background color of our panda sprite to really make our panda 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 panda.

Cute Pixel Art panda on Blue Background

Where to Go From Here

Congratulations! You now know how to create your very own pixel art panda. Try making different sizes of pandas to make your own nature scene.

Bonus: Make a 3D Pixel Art Panda

3D Pixel Art Panda

Now that you have drawn your own pixel art panda, 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 panda into a 3D pixel art panda. You can now create 3D turntable videos of your 3D pixel art panda and even view your panda in Augmented Reality!