8-Bit Pixel Art Maker
Create professional 8-bit pixel art and sprites. Features custom grids, layer export, flood fill, and palette management. No download required.
About
Pixel art requires absolute precision. Unlike vector graphics or high-resolution painting, a single misplaced pixel changes the readability of a sprite. This tool is engineered for exact grid manipulation, eliminating the anti-aliasing artifacts found in standard photo editors. It operates directly on a coordinate-mapped matrix, ensuring that every color placement is binary: it is either there, or it is not.
We solve the risk of scaling artifacts. When exporting pixel art from standard software, resizing often introduces blur (bilinear interpolation). This engine uses Nearest Neighbor scaling algorithms during export, preserving the sharp, blocky aesthetic essential for game assets and retro interfaces.
Formulas
Grid Coordinate Mapping
To translate a continuous mouse position P into a discrete grid cell xy, we apply the floor function to the offset coordinates divided by the scalar cell size s.
xgrid = floorxmouse − xoffsets
Export Scaling (Nearest Neighbor)
When upscaling for export, the destination pixel color C at uv is derived from the source pixel at integer coordinates:
Cuv = Sourcefloor(u ÷ scale)floor(v ÷ scale)
Reference Data
| System / Standard | Resolution (px) | Palette Limit | Aspect Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atari 2600 | 160 × 192 | 128 colors | 4:3 |
| NES (NTSC) | 256 × 240 | 54 colors | 4:3 |
| Game Boy (Original) | 160 × 144 | 4 shades (Green) | 10:9 |
| Sega Genesis | 320 × 224 | 61 colors (of 512) | 4:3 |
| SNES | 256 × 224 | 256 colors (of 32k) | 8:7 |
| Pico-8 (Fantasy Console) | 128 × 128 | 16 fixed colors | 1:1 |
| Icon (Favicon) | 16 × 16 | True Color | 1:1 |
| Icon (App) | 32 × 32 | True Color | 1:1 |
| Sprite (RPG Character) | 24 × 32 | Variable | 3:4 |