INTRODUCTION

Welcome, everyone~ today I am going to explain how you can turn your illustrations into pixel art using the available tools in Clip Studio Paint.

Creating normal illustrations is different from creating pixel art. As a beginner, we thought that pixel art is easier than doing normal illustrations but that is not the case. When doing normal illustrations we tend to use different brushes, textures, colors, and we want it to look smooth and well shaded as much as possible.

However, in doing pixel art, we need to learn how to use a limited set of colors and set of tools to create depth in our art. In addition, if you are a beginner in pixel art, you will notice how hard it is to create beautiful lines out of pixel without a proper guide.

 

Now let me show you how Clip Studio Paint can help you.

STEP 1: Setting Up Your Canvas and Tools

First, we need to create a new canvas. Our canvas needs to be smaller so that we can achieve the pixel effect in our illustration. I’m going with 100x120 pixels and 72 in resolution.

After you create your canvas click on view and on the drop-down click Grid. This will show a grid on your canvas.

 

 

Next to make it the ideal size for our pixel art click on view again and then click Grid/ruler bar settings

This should appear in your screen

Click center and then change the number on Gap(D) and Number of divisions to 1. Now, this grid will serve as a guide for our illustration.

This is how your canvas should look

Now what about the pen, what should we use? I will recommend using the available pen from Clip Studio Paint. This pen does not need to be modified in order to be used in pixel art. You can see it on the marker and click the dotting pen. Now as you can see the pen is as big as the grid making it easier for us to create illustrations in pixels.

Step 2: Outline

With that, you are now ready to create your very first pixel art

 

Choose an illustration of your own that you want to turn into pixel art. In my case, I will be using this illustration. I created this last year using also Clip Studio Paint

 

If you want to use other brushes, just change the anti-aliasing settings here. This way, you can still achieve the same effect the dot brush has.

Let's start by doing the outline. The outline is important to create a division in the colors we want to put. If you are having a hard time illustrating the details, create the basic shapes first that you can see from your illustration.

Step 3: Flat Colors

After doing an outline, you can now put the flat colors you want for the illustration.

Step 4: Shadow and Highlights

And last, put a simple shadow and highlight to your pixel art. Do not put too much shadow and highlights on it because it'll look confusing. Make sure to balance it properly. Most of the time, 2-3 colors are enough to emphasize the details in pixel art.

Final Results

That's it! Your very first-pixel art is now done. Of course, after you practice more, you'll develop your style and will get used to it.

That is all, thank you for reading. I hope this helps you^^