Free Pixel Art Editor — Draw Pixel Art from Scratch
Draw pixel art from a blank canvas, one pixel at a time. Choose from 256 carefully curated pixel art colors, use keyboard shortcuts for fast switching between pen, fill, and eraser, and export a crisp PNG. Made for game sprites, icons, avatars, and retro-style art.
All Colors (256)
How to Draw a Perler Bead Pattern
Choose Your Canvas Size
Pick your dimensions based on the project: 16×16 for icons, 32×32 for sprites, larger for detailed scenes. Smaller forces creative economy; bigger allows more detail.
Block In Your Base Colors
Start with the silhouette — use fill to lay down large color zones. Don't detail yet. Get the overall shape and palette right first.
Refine with the Pen Tool
Switch to pen and add detail pixel by pixel. Use the eraser to clean edges. Toggle the grid on/off to check how the art looks at final size.
Export PNG
Download a crisp PNG. Each pixel is a perfect square with no smoothing — ready to use in games, websites, or anywhere pixel-perfect output is needed.
Features
256-Color Pixel Art Palette
Curated 256 colors optimized for pixel art — bright primaries, muted earth tones, shadows, highlights. Not a generic color picker; every shade is chosen for pixel work.
Pixel-Perfect Drawing Tools
Pen locks to single pixels. Fill bucket floods contiguous same-color areas. Color picker samples any pixel on canvas. Eraser removes to transparent. All tools have single-key shortcuts.
Canvas Sizes from 8×8 to 100×100
Start at 8×8 for icons, 16×16 for classic game sprites, 32×32 for detailed characters, or up to 100×100 for complex scenes. Resize anytime — existing pixels scale to the new boundary.
Grid Display Toggle
Toggle the pixel grid on and off. Grid-on is essential for precise placement; grid-off shows how the final PNG will look at actual size.
50-Step Undo History
Full undo/redo history for confident experimentation. Try a new color scheme, see if it works, undo if it doesn't — no commitment required.
Crisp PNG Export
PNG export renders each pixel as a perfect square — no anti-aliasing, no blur. The file is exactly what you drew, ready for games, web, or printing at any scale.
What Is Pixel Art?
Pixel art is a digital art form where images are created and edited at the pixel level, using a limited color palette. It's the visual language of early video games — NES, Game Boy, SNES — and remains central to indie game development, icon design, and retro aesthetic today.
What makes pixel art distinctive is intentional constraint. Working at 16×16 or 32×32 forces clarity: every pixel counts, every color choice is deliberate. This constraint is also what makes pixel art fast to learn and deeply satisfying to master.
MakeBead's pixel art editor gives you everything you need to start: a purpose-built 256-color palette, tools that snap to pixel boundaries, and a clean PNG export. Draw your first sprite, build an icon set, or create an entire game tileset — all in the browser.
More Perler & Bead Tools
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Frequently Asked Questions
What canvas size should I use for game sprites? ▾
16×16 is the classic NES sprite size. 32×32 is common for modern indie games and gives room for detail. 64×64 works for character portraits. Most platformer tiles are 16×16 or 32×32.
How do I make a transparent background? ▾
Leave cells empty (un-drawn). The PNG export renders empty cells as transparent, giving you a clean sprite ready for any background color in your game or app.
Can I use this for game development assets? ▾
Yes. Export as PNG and import directly into game engines (Unity, Godot, Pygame). The crisp pixel export with no anti-aliasing is exactly what sprite rendering requires.
How do I fill a large area quickly? ▾
Select the fill tool (F key) and click any cell to flood-fill all contiguous cells of the same color. Works for backgrounds, solid shapes, and replacing a color across a region.
Can I zoom in while drawing? ▾
The canvas view is designed for close-up work by default. Use the grid toggle to see pixel edges clearly at any zoom level in your browser.