▸ Pixsama tutorial

How to make pixel art on Android

You can draw a complete sprite on an Android phone with a small canvas, a pencil tool and a handful of colours. In this tutorial, you will make a 16 × 16 slime character in Pixsama, then try a two-frame animation. A finger works fine; a stylus is optional.

Install Pixsama from Google Play on a phone or tablet running Android 10 or newer. Every drawing step below, the two animation frames and the PNG export fit within the free version.

New to the drawing style? Read pixel art fundamentals for a visual example and tips on silhouettes, colour and shading.

1. Start with a 16 × 16 canvas

Create a new project from the gallery and choose a 16 × 16 canvas with a transparent background. Pinch to zoom until you can place individual pixels comfortably. Turn on the canvas grid if the pixel boundaries are hard to see.

Keep the first drawing small. A bigger canvas means more pixels to manage, and a simple shape is easier to finish than a detailed character. Use two fingers to pan instead of dragging with the drawing finger.

2. Pick four colours

Choose a dark outline colour, a medium green for the body, a darker green for shadows and a pale green for highlights. The eyes can use the outline colour. Keep these colours in the project palette so you can reuse them without guessing.

Make the shadow noticeably darker than the body. If the colours are too similar, they may look identical when the sprite is displayed at its actual size. You can change the palette later; a first pass only needs enough contrast to read clearly.

3. Draw the silhouette

Set the pencil to one pixel wide. Leave a little empty space around the edges and draw a rounded mound: a short flat base, sloping sides and a curved top. Close the outline, then use the bucket fill to colour the inside green.

If the fill escapes, undo it and look for a gap in the outline. Zoom out occasionally to check the shape. A sprite should make sense at its small display size, as well as when you can see every pixel.

4. Add eyes and simple shading

Place two dark eyes in the upper half of the body. Add a small pale patch near the top left and a darker patch along the lower right. This gives the character a consistent light direction without needing lots of extra colours.

Avoid scattering isolated bright pixels everywhere. Start with one connected highlight and one connected shadow. Compare the result at full zoom and at actual size, then adjust anything that looks noisy.

5. Try a two-frame bounce

Duplicate the first animation frame. On the second frame, make the slime slightly shorter and wider, keeping its base in roughly the same place. Turn on onion skinning to see how the new pose lines up with the first one.

Play the two frames and adjust their duration until the bounce feels readable. A small change is enough for this exercise. For more animation controls, see the frame-by-frame animation guide.

6. Save the project and export a PNG

Save your editable project, then export a PNG of the sprite. Use integer scaling, such as 4×, when you want a larger image with crisp pixel edges. Keep transparency enabled if the sprite will sit on a game background.

PNG saves a still image. Animated GIF, WebP and sprite-sheet export are Pro features. You can still create and preview your two-frame animation in Free. Export an editable APX project as a backup before uninstalling the app or changing devices.

What should an Android pixel art app include?

For a first sprite, look for precise zoom, a one-pixel pencil, a reusable palette and PNG export. Layers help separate parts of a drawing. For animation, frame duplication, playback and onion skinning make it easier to compare poses.

Pixsama includes those core tools in Free, with up to 3 layers, 6 frames and a 128 × 128 canvas. If you need larger projects or editable Aseprite interchange, compare Pixsama Free and Pro before deciding.

Next, try a different silhouette using the same four colours, or add a third pose to the bounce. The full Pixsama user guide explains selections, layers, indexed colour and the rest of the workspace.