Hello and welcome to 2 Minute Pixel Art Tutorials, episode 1.

@pixebo

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Promoted product

Pixebo's Pixel Art Brush Packko-fi.com

Why it worked

The video provides high-value, actionable educational content that solves a specific pain point for digital artists, making the product promotion feel like a helpful resource rather than an ad.

Summary

The creator provides a tutorial on setting up pixel art in Procreate, covering brush selection and canvas sizing. She promotes her own free pixel art brush pack available on her Kofi page as a solution for Procreate users.

Structure

1Introduction to pixel art tutorials
2Promoting free pixel art brush pack
3Explaining canvas size challenges
4Comparing sprite resolutions
5

Original caption

Ep 1: The two questions I get asked the MOST about my pixel art are: - What app? and - What canvas size? And y'all have been asking for more tutorial videos, so I figured these two questions would be the best place to start. On canvas size in particular, I think there is something that you really need to understand in order to understand pixel art: pixels are very small! They represent the smallest amount of visual data that a computer can convey! Creating visual graphics that communicate meaning with a limited amount of pixels is a difficult design problem, and a large part of the artistry behind iconic sprites (like the pikachu in this video), is defined by that efficiency. Every pixel artist has to decide where they want to draw the line when they are balancing efficiency and detail. Instead of asking yourself "What canvas size should I use?", ask yourself how many pixels you need to use in order to convey the level of detail that you want to express to the viewer. Using more pixels means more work, so the smaller you can make your art, the faster you can go... up to a point. At the smallest sizes, pixel art becomes a puzzle where you are battling at the edges of legibility and every pixel matters. The best way to develop this skill is to practice pixel art in different sizes and styles... and studying vintage sprites doesn't hurt. Finally, I had to use my new self-portrait to narrate! I'm so happy with how this tutorial turned out and I hope it will help all of y'all who are just starting out with pixel art. My ko-fi page is @pixebo, you can find a link to the ko-fi, brushes, other pixel resources, and my shop on my profile page. In addition to my art, this video features art from: Game Freak's Pokemon Yellow (Published by Nintendo in 1998) Witch Beam's Unpacking (Published by Humble Bundle in 2021) I'm a huge fan of both! 👾 #tutorial #pixelart #procreate #embroidery #crossstitch #indiegameart #stardewvalley #unpacking #pokemon #retroart #pixels #early2000s #gamehistory #recenthistory #gamedesign

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On-screen text

hello and welcome to 2 Minute Pixel Art Tutorials episode 1 in this video I'm gonna cover how to make pixel art in procreate including pixel brushes and canvas sizes procreate is my go-to drawing app but it's not initially set up for pixel art to start so you'll need some pixel brushes luckily I offer a free set on my Kofi page thanks for 18,000 downloads by the way these are the same brushes that I use in all my procreate videos and tutorials they're not perfect but they work well for me I made the brushes free because I really think that procreate should support pixel art by default but tips are appreciated if you're so inclined and if you have trouble downloading the brushes check the Kofi product description for a step by step video that will explain exactly what to do once you have your brushes It's time to configure your canvas choosing the right canvas size for pixel art can be tricky because pixel art sprites come in all different sizes for example Art from: Pokemon yellow Nintendo 1998 the Pikachu sprite in the environment is only 13 pixels wide by 14 pixels tall but the sprite in the Pokedex is 39 pixels wide by 40 pixels tall when you compare these two sprites you can see how much pixel resolution affects even for the same character in the same game No one can tell you what sprite resolution is right for your project you'll have to experiment and discover that for yourself keep in mind that if you wanna change resolution later on the only way is to redraw your artwork which is something that I definitely Learned the hard way one tip from Wren Brier the creative director of Unpacking is to start with your smallest item Art from: Unpacking Witch beam 2021 this case it is 18 pixel wide by 21 pixel tall mug and then once you've established a scale for the smallest details you can work out from there for comparison the mug that I'm using in my pixel world is 9 pixels wide by 9 pixels tall this smaller resolution means that my art will be less detailed and have more pixelation than the art in unpacking this is all to say that generally when starting with pixel art smaller canvas sizes are better I usually recommend about 100 by 100 pixels to start and you can always scale up the canvas as you go that's pretty much all you need to get started I hope it was helpful in Episode 2 we'll be covering pixel scaling and how to make your pixel art bigger so that you can export it and post it on social media if you're interested in that give me a follow happy pixel-ing

Transcript

Hello and welcome to 2 Minute Pixel Art Tutorials, episode 1. In this video I'm gonna cover how to make pixel art in Procreate, including pixel brushes and canvas sizes. Procreate is my go-to drawing app but it's not initially set up for pixel art to start, so you'll need some pixel brushes. Luckily, I offer a free set on my Kofi page. Thanks for 18,000 downloads by the way. These are the same brushes that I use in all my Procreate videos and tutorials. They're not perfect, but they work well for me. I made the brushes free because I really think that Procreate should support pixel art by default, but tips are appreciated if you're so inclined. And if you have trouble downloading the brushes, check the Kofi product description for a step-by-step video that will explain exactly what to do. Once you have your brushes, it's time to configure your canvas. Choosing the right canvas size for pixel art can be tricky because pixel art sprites come in all different sizes. For example, in Pokemon Yellow, the Pikachu sprite in the environment is only 13 pixels wide by 14 pixels tall, but the sprite in the Pokedex is 39 pixels wide by 40 pixels tall. When you compare these two sprites, you can see how much pixel resolution affects the artwork, even for the same character in the same game. No one can tell you what sprite resolution is right for your project, you'll have to experiment and discover that for yourself. Keep in mind that if you wanna change resolution later on, the only way is to redraw your artwork, which is something that I definitely learned the hard way. One tip from Wren Brier, the creative director of Unpacking, is to start with your smallest item. In Unpacking's case, it is 18 pixel wide by 21 pixel tall mug, and then once you've established a scale for the smallest details, you can work out from there. For comparison, the mug that I'm using in my pixel world is 9 pixels wide by 9 pixels tall. This smaller resolution means that my art will be less detailed and have more pixelation than the art in Unpacking. This is all to say that generally when starting with pixel art, smaller canvas sizes are better for beginners. I usually recommend about 100 by 100 pixels to start, and you can always scale up the canvas as you go. That's pretty much all you need to get started. I hope it was helpful. In Episode 2, we'll be covering pixel scaling and how to make your pixel art bigger so that you can export it and post it on social media. If you're interested in that, give me a follow. Happy pixel-ing.