What Program to use for Pixel Art? (Paid and Free Software)
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- čas přidán 1. 07. 2024
- In this video, we’ll walk through the best options for pixel art software! Below are links to purchase/download each of the programs mentioned in this video:
0:00 INTRO
=== PAID PROGRAMS ===
0:56 ASEPRITE
aseprite.org
store.steampowered.com/app/43...
2:08 PYXEL EDIT
pyxeledit.com
3:25 PRO MOTION NG
cosmigo.com
store.steampowered.com/app/67...
4:12 ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
adobe.com/creativecloud.html
=== FREE PROGRAMS ===
5:31 GIMP
gimp.org
6:37 KRITA
krita.org/
PAINT.NET
getpaint.net
6:53 GRAPHICSGALE
graphicsgale.com/us
7:13 GRAFX2
grafx2.chez.com
7:36 PIKO PIXEL
twilightedge.com/mac/pikopixel/
7:56 PISKEL
www.piskelapp.com
8:16 LOSPEC PIXEL EDITOR
lospec.com/pixel-editor/app
8:40 FINAL VERDICT/RECOMMENDATIONS
----
Check out my art here:
/ brandonjamesgreer
/ bjgpixel
► Online Shop: BJGpixel.redbubble.com
----
I commissioned the music in this video from these fantastic artists:
Title sequence theme music by Failpositive:
failpositive.bandcamp.com/
/ failpositive
All other background music by mcguy215:
fiverr.com/mcguy215
/ mcguy215 - Jak na to + styl
Links and timestamps in the description! :D
FOLLOW-UP: Aseprite is free if you compile it yourself. Also, other common software options include: pixilart, pixel studio, pixelorama, ms paint, seashore (mac)!
As I mentioned, the options presented here were the top 12 most frequently mentioned when I combed through a bunch of "recommendation" sites - there are so many other choices out there, it gets hard to keep track 😥
Just figured I'd mention, Piskel has an application version too so you can work offline. It makes backups of your work automatically, and you can browse through them at any time.
It also has a few notable features you didn't mention here, such as being able to make and export your own palettes, and being able to tweak things such as individual layer transparency.
Just a quick edit, maybe you could do a more in-depth review of it sometime? It's one I've been using for a long time, and I'd love to see someone's professional opinion of it.
I'm doing a pixel art hat because of a competition for a game and this is my first pixel art drawing :D
Thanks for the information that you give to us! 😊 And omg The Shins (Heartworms) T-shirt! I literally love that album.
Did you just skipped Paint.net bro ? smh
Why do you use Mac? That shit is trash!
As someone who uses GIMP, is used to GIMP, and is most comfortable in GIMP, don't use GIMP.
right Ho then
WHY NOT ?
@@joecooper8527 The UI is pretty bad and unintuitive. Like, you can do the stuff you need to do, but it doesn't do them in the way that you would think an image editor would.
I tell everyone these same words whenever GIMP is brought up: "GIMP was not made for use by a human".
@@WhatDaHeckIsThat the ui has been pretty much the same since like 2006 lol (yeah it sucks)
Oh hey! 1:26 Creator of *EDG32* here! Was a pleasant surprise to hear my palette being suggested!
Oh right on, HELLO! Of course, I think it's a wonderful palette - great balance between colour limit and versatility of selection, and nicely balanced hue shifting. Happy to see it pre-loaded in Aseprite! Thanks for watching! :D
I was actually looking for your comment, Seth XD
oh hi Seth
I’m not even a pixel artist, but your videos have been showing up on my recommended and honestly? I might start making pixel art. Thanks for making such high quality videos! That are free to watch!
u are an artist who draw? or just do pixel art ?
Have you ever tried pixel art?
@@poleve5409 what I made good looking stuff within a week
Yo its 2 years later i need a update here : P
My guy it has been three years, are you good at pixel art now?
I'd like to mention LibreSprite, which is a fork of the last fully free aseprite version (which used to be license under the GNU GPLv2, which essentially means "You can do anything except that you cannot sue me and if you share a modified version of my app, you must also share the code under the same license.") before it transitioned to the personal-use-only aseptite eula.
Thanks for the mention lead; Will download it and try it out [Edit: Looks good, only need the vcruntime to place in the folder, runs good]
@@JDRedding you still use it? how do you erase lol
@@ZenitsuKunn I use the eraser tool. Not sure what you mean; The eraser tool is on the sidetoolbar.
I can kiss you, THANK YOU.
thank you
Krita has extremely powerful animation timeline, seriously give it another look, it's one of the most intuitive timelines i ever used in any animation program.
yes, it very much does, the biggest thing for me is how seamless it collaborates with multiple layers and how no changes are made until you purposely make them
To me, it was hard to get started with krita animation, but it was worth it.
Krita is good in almost everything and Great for pixel art
Buuut there's that little problem
The godamn circle tool
@@chaflem6333 so many tools could use alot of improvement...we'll just have to wait..
Can you use asperite files for jurors animations
I use Piskel. It saved my ass when I wanted to get into animation. I find other timelines to be messy, while Piskel's worked how I needed it to.
Same
I hate it how ignorant some people are thinking that Piskel has no power, and they all jump to thinking that Aseprite is the only answer, but I used it a ton towards the beginning of my days making pixel art and it never felt like it limited too much of my creativity, comfort with making pixel art and waste any of my time.
i don't even use it for animation, i use it for sprites, but it's still efficient
@@NintendoGamer789 Yes! Some of my works have hit 25 layers, and provide fluid looping motion. Feels good.
@@isaacsteen4828 I have a big problem with piskel (I'm beginner) I can't save the pictures in PNG. It's always like a piskel archive. Help with this :(
As someone who has used Paint 3D and MS Paint and Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator programs and apps for a long time I have really loved your videos. They gave me a good inspiration for all of my drawings and paintings and even my digital art artworks and it has helped me with learning how to do pixel art and even both 2D and 3D art animations on my computer, my phone and also my drawing pad computer tablets too with the mechanical drawing pencils too.
Honestly, MS Paint is the OG pixel art program.
It’s trash for other things, but if your in the mood to draw, that’s my go-to besides Krita and Piskel.
As a kid I always liked the look of rts games like Age of Empire, but I didn't have the game or even really be smart enough to play it. So I used paint to make little pixel art worlds with stick figures building tents and planting wheat fields, just creating or drawing duplicates when the towns "grew" :)
Look up "Jim'll Paint it" on Facebook. He's an artist who draws wacky user requests, and he only uses MS Paint.
@Dman20111
Me too 😄
Yeah it works.
I remember making pixel art with paint 3d. I only used it over Ms paint cause it has a clear canvas option.
Aseprite is free if you compile the code yourself. It's not that user friendly, but the option is there if you're keen enough to learn.
it's also free if you torrent it
@@okie9025 well... yeah...
@@David44050 the power of torrenting will make you feel like the richest man in the world, albeit being the poorest 😂
@@okie9025I KNOW RIGHT HAHAHAHAA
@@okie9025 I love torrenting. Anyone who is against it is missing out.
the best program for pixel art is mario paint
xD
No its minecraft
Minecraft is already 3D pixels..so I guess it is the best 3D pixel program?
@@coderpenguin1 those are called voxels (3d pixels)
your username goes off my screen
I really enjoy your art style for your videos and animation. Thank you for confirming my interest in Aseprite!
Listening to your voice while making pixel art is so soothing and cozy, thank you for your content!!!
This channel is so underrated
well it also appears to be new. I was kinda taken back by that.
You, sir, have some of the best pixel art tutorials on this website. Thank you!
GIMP 3 is releasing soon, which is the first major update since 2004. It will have a ton of improvements, also GIMP supports plugins if you need to add some extra functionality
I use blender+aseprite and honestly, it's a killer combo
Of course it does? Blender for 3d model aseprite for 2d model
Krita has really good animation tools as well now - just wanted to let you know
Hey Brandon, I want to say thank you for introducing me to pixel art. I went for Aseprite a few years ago, and currently, I'm really happy making pixel art for general fun and for game development! Thank you Brandon!
I remember goofing around on piskel in my elementary school computer lab, it was really fun and easy to get the hang of!
Aseprite is awesome! I switched to it from Photoshop and used it to animate a game.
I learned a lot about other software from your video, super helpful as usual! Happy New Year dude! :)
Thanks, and Happy New Year! Yeah I definitely find the Aseprite animation tool more immediately intuitive than Photoshop (although I'm used to PS at this point!). That's really cool, is your game available online?
Thanks! It's called Neon Hook, I made it with my friends at Arytomi. I used to run the Instagram up until ~September, you might've seen us! Seeing your works on Instagram definitely inspired us in the process, so thanks for doing that! Haha
@@CKTDanny Ohhh of course! Yeah I'm familiar with Neon Hook; love the cyberpunk aesthetic! Glad to have had any kind of inspiration. Nice job, just now putting together that you're with Arytomi haha 😂
Hahaha thanks man!! Love to hear the support :)
Keep the videos coming!
Can't belive I missed the holiday offer for Aseprite .I love your video.
Haha hate it when that happens! If it's any consolation, it's still incredible value at full price and very easy to get your money's worth!
Compile it yourself. Nobody stopping you, as long as you do not violate EULA, which says you just cannot distribute it.
If I remember correctly, this is the video that introduced me to piskel, which I do all my pixel art in and have really improved with! Thanks!
as someone who uses piskel, be VERY prepared to export, check, and export again if your screen is on the small side. the preview window is coded kind of weirdly so it doesn’t always render every pixel as a proper square.
Oh yeah this is true, when I used Piskel my exports would look weirdly blurry and shitty sometimes.
I'm a programmer and recently got into pixel art for game development. Graphics Gale is the first pixel art editor I picked up and I never looked back. It's very easy to learn and I never once felt limited with what I was able to create within the software. The whole lack of an eraser thing never really bothered me since I'm new to this, but I'm sure it's easy to get used to. From an ameteurs perspective, I think it's a really great program for beginners.
I’m currently using aseprite trial and after I figured out you couldn’t save your work I just take screenshots of my work. I’ll definitely buy the full version! :D
I’m also lucky enough that my art class at school provides me with the full Adobe library of apps! Its awesome!
Wonderful! Thanks for helping me on my journey to becoming a pixel artist!
Thank you for this Tools overview.
Will give a look into aseprite and Pro Motion NG.
My very first go was pixilart & even had a notebook printed & I'm pretty glad I did that, improved decently compared. I use Aseprite mainly however I do love curling up with procreate equipped with a free pixel brush. I often get a lot of of ideas from scribbling & this is perfect for that. I just email myself a png & open in Aseprite to animate or to refine a bit more. I'm still a beginner as well as being a crafter turned pixel artist so I'm not the most tech savvy 😅
I am stoked to give GraphicsGale a go as soon as I have a suitable comp*
Your vids have enriched my journey & for that I do must thank you!
Hexels 3! It's absolutely fantastic for environment and tile art. Layering Hexel layers and Pixel layers on top for details is fantastic.
i fell in love with piskel as soon as i tried it, and have been using it for personal art for over a year now. it's excellent for doing animations, once you get the hang of it
forgot to leave a like last time, you deserve it man!
I'm a GIMP sprite artist and indeed it's really powerful. I never really use the brush customizations but I do use weird brushes to make quick splashes of discoloring. It's definitely a steeper learning curve but I'm at a point where it's second nature to me. I'm also hoping the animation features improve. Great vid!
Ah very cool, thanks for sharing! Yeah definitely felt comfortable in it like Photoshop; I bet you'd make a seamless transition there as well. So when you're doing sprite work in GIMP, do you prepare animation frames as different layers and use the playback feature, or export a sprite sheet and preview elsewhere?
@@BJGpixel I usually layer and export as gif to preview
@@BJGpixel GIMP's animation abilities were designed primarily to handle loading/exporting animated GIFs, so that's partly why the "playback" tool is so limited ... (it's technically an external plug-in!) e.g. frame timing and disposal are controlled via layer naming conventions (e.g. "layer 3 (100ms) (combine)" ) which is about the kludgiest way of going about it...
I love how you just anweser the title question within the first five seconds :D
shrak
@@flowler70 shrek or shark? maybe both?
@@mrocto329 shekl
With all your recent modeling stuff I think it would be great to see a "sequel" to this video covering modeling software.
Has worked mainly on Krita, I just make custom shortcut to change between Frames and Layers using W, A, S, D, And changed every other most used shortcut in shorter distance to my hand.
In the animation tool, you can drag and drop the frames and even drag the frame to different layer. Very handy
Also, when used for Painting, You can now save multiple states of the drawing in different layers. For example, when you're about to make major changes.
Hi! I do pixel art on the online program PISKEL, in fact, almost all of my work comes from that program, including my profile picture. Sadly, they are slowly removing the ability to save your works online, as it has become too costly for them to keep up tabs on the servers, so, you will have to use the application you can download from the site if your want to save it all in one place. But, if you want to just dip your toes in, and use the browser app on its own, you still can, and here's a few tips!
#1 - Tooltips. I actually hadn't noticed these for a long time, and I wish I would've been told sooner, but, if you hover over a tool, pay attention to it. It usually has tips for special features, such as hold shift on the circle and square tools, to keep them at a 1:1 ratio.
#2 - Rotating. Sadly, there is no way to rotate objects in PISKEL, so you will need to be prepared to draw, and redraw, and redraw again if it doesn't turn out the right way. You become accustomed to it over time, but if you're just starting, do keep this in mind.
#3 - Stamping. There is a special tool called "Shape Select," which let's you do just that. Any pixels of the same color, that are connected, count as a shape, and thus, you can use it to make stamps, by having a silhouetted version of your art to act as a shape select, dragging the selection over to your drawing, copying, and pasting your now copied "stamp" wherever you like. This is useful if you have a simple grass texture you want to throw around, or if you are making a mock up for a game level.
If you have anything you are confused about, don't hesitate to reply to this comment with your question regarding the program. I'd love to answer them for you~!!
Clip studio is great and has dithering built in. It's my go to when doing pixel work. I do a lot of different types of image work, so use capture one, photoshop, sai, painter and clip studio depending on the deliverable.
This was super helpful! Thanks man✌🏽
Excellent video, was perfect for providing some direction!
For me, I'm fluent in GraphicsGale, like my all my pixel art stuff in my channel or my pfp is created from it. I'm glad you think it's a good free program :>
Awesome content production and edition, thanks for share!!
What softwares are used to make pc98 art?
Wow thanks for this incredibly informative video!
I'm a long time Graphics Gale user and to get the most out of that program you really need to set up hotkeys and customise the GUI a bit first. Once you've done that it's incredibly efficient though.
The "lack" of an eraser is unintuitive at first but makes perfect sense. After all, what is "erasing" if not just drawing with a transparent colour? It's very simple to set a hotkey to select the transparent colour too (I use "E", for obvious reasons).
It took me a while to wrap my head around how transparency works, since there's an option for both layer and frame transparency. If you save a PNG with the bottom layer with transparency but don't set transparency in the frame options then GG fills it in with a solid colour (and if it's a colour your image uses it can be a pain to remove, if not completely destroy your work). Once you add in alpha channels it's even more confusing, but I only use 8-bit mode so I don't have to deal with that. No semitransparency in 8-bit though, which is annoying.
In short, it has its quirks but it's overall fantastic.
I second this, I have all my tools set to my left hand home row on the keyboard.
i would probably use graphics gale if it was avaliable for mac, but it isn't
I will never get used to GraphicsGale because you need to actually swap the color you're drawing with to do so instead of just right or middle clicking (Usenti is awesome for letting me middle click for a third color)
@@EphemeralPseudonym I find it quicker, TBH. You're almost always close to the colour you want, and having the dropper mapped to the right mouse button makes swapping colours easy. If I had to go back to the palette every time I needed a new colour it'd get tiring quick.
@@NoeLPZC I just have a macro set up for using the eyedropper tool on the fly lol
I prefer not having to do any color selection like that either, having three colors available at all times usually is enough for rendering any areas of pixel art
More than that, I can't stand how the cursor works in Aseprite or PS-likes, and it's still a bit janky in GraphicsGale, although GG is imo the best by far when you're not just doing a standalone piece.
People dislike it because the UI is windows 95 theme by default, but like... we used to switch windows UI to 95 style on purpose
Sure thing, Krita requires quite a few setting twitches, but once you've done them your experience with the program becomes nice and smooth. Coming from Photoshop background I really liked Krita because of how light but powerful it is. Not to mention awesome animation tool. Definitely worth exploring.
Best video for pixelart programs ive ever seen
Love this overview! I'm no expert so I don't have much to add, other than I've played with a few mobile tools that seemed decent - Pixel Studio and Pixelable. Using them on an iPad with the stylus was pretty fun!
I personally have never used any of the other softwares besides piskel, but I’ll give tips to those looking to use it:
It is PHENOMENAL if you are looking to do a small animation or anything that is relatively moderate in size. But this is great for trying to learn your way into pixel art and do it in a timely fashion, since almost every action has a key bind to it and the interface is very easy to understand. It allows for many many layers and you can change the transparency of each of them. There’s many other things regarding visuals and aspect ratios that are also easy to grasp, but the website doesn’t constrict you in any way. The main problem is with the saving. Everything saves perfectly, but depending on the size of the project, you begin to lag as more saved versions get loaded. But I found a fix to this, as you can either exit and renter the project, or clone it so that the older and unnecessary save states are removed. This was just my bit of advice.
And for those who wonder, I do rvb and halo pixel art animations, and I’m currently working on a mega project (1-2 minute long 64*64 animation), which is how I found out all these things.
damn didn't know about this... thanks for the advice!
Isn't piskel transparency very very limited, and only applies for layers' opacity only?
Besides you can only toggle between 0 and 1 when changing layer opacity, which either hides the layer or show it. You can't control the transparency like you stated
@@Taha632RMF i started using piksel today and came across the same issue. The layers are either completely covering or not visible, even when I put opacity to 0.3 or something. In other people's videos the layers normally
I've been making a texture pack with Piskel and FireAlpaca.
Firealpaca's been my go-to, albeit lacking some Piskel tools. It's free, too.
Asperite saved my passion for pixel art. It's both powerful and very intuitive, I can't work without it now
Thank you for this video!
Great video, Brandon!
Grafx2 is a tribute to Deluxe Paint and Brilliance on the Commodore Amiga, not MSPaint
I thought Grafx2 reminded of Deluxe Paint.
I've never met anyone who actually likes Gimp, only they pretend to like Gimp or are in denial. It's a serious problem in this world and doctors dedicated to helping these lost souls are no longer as difficult to find as they were back in the early 2000s.
GIMP needs the 'Blender 2.80 overhaul' treatment to make it more than just a desperate choice.
I'm in a middle spot, it's definetely good because it's free, but it isn't that friendly to the user
I've been using GIMP so long that Photoshop feels unintuitive tbh
What crack pipe did you smoke
Great video. Super helpful!
Everything take me so much time to do haha It took me 3 years hahaha
But finally I've purchased Aseprite and finally I'm ready to have fun!
Now all I need to have proper day off and time for myself to start that new adventure with Pixel art.
This software looks so lovely and user friendly!
Cheers for this video!
🤘😊🤘
i use both piskel and krita, but i personally prefer using piskel for pixel art and krita as an image editing/drawing software
I also use piskel...gotta say its pretty neat...the only downside is that it doesn't have transparency features :(
@@arya7095 there is a transparency tool in piskel, however its a bit of a tricky get around. put whatever you want to be transparent in a separate layer, and set the transparency of the layer to whatever you want(its on the right of the layer number)
The “animation” section of gimp or other programs with the same thing is actually just the playback/speed paint of your art
Piskel is so amazing! Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
my art teacher makes us use it and i dont know why but it just feels really slow compared to aseprite which i've been using recently.
@@unfixability I use both.
Loved your video, thanks!
I like piskel a lot, as i can use it on both my windows and linux machines.
When i started i used paint
pixilart.com is a good upgrade from piskel. its super easy to use and it kinda works like a social media as well because you can view other peoples art
@@WESWANGKTA hum, I will give it a try, but the social media part I don't know, I prefer the fóruns and deviantart
Heartworms shirt? I see you’re a man of culture as well.
Super helpful! Thank you : )
Works great! Thank you
Ternyata software untuk membuat pixel art banyak pilihannya, terima kasih reviewnya
Lah kok b.indo ? Mana ngerti orgnya xD
(indonesia ? They won't understand what are you talking about xD)
@@disconnect.ed_ ngerti lah bro
If you’re looking to use any Adobe, just pirate it.
I got pixel edit a couple of years ago on Humble Bundle, and I love the program, working with tiles is really useful when making animation assets, and I've actually have used it to paint a couple moving UV maps for 3d models
You got some good content. Thank you for sharing your knowledge! :)
"hello there my name is brandon"..."and i make pictures out of tiny squares and post them for fun"
9:47 For those who want to just see what's best with the pros and cons
🏆 excellent video!
no way your just a hobbyist, you're so good! appreciate the informative video, I think ill try aseprite and try making some animation, wish there was an affiliate link.
I'm surprised you never mentioned Pixilart. It's like Piskel, but in my opinion is better, with a cleaner UI and more functionality.
You forgot to mention how intuitive Paint.net is for starting pixel art and how flexible it is as well.
Amazing channel and content! Thank you!
Love the energy
0:04 Best tutorial ever. All you need in four seconds.
you look like my father, where've you been all this time? mother was worried about you. I'm gonna graduate collage next year
Nice and very interesting comparative video :) Thanks.
wow
thanks for the tips!
I'm trying to get used to Asesprite, but I'm so used to GIMP I don't know how to change
MirageOwl same bro. I used gimp so much that using asesprite just feel off
"We're just talking about putting small squares onto a canvas" you sound like every single one of my friends who don't know just how complicated pixel art can be 😂
Great info!
Thanks a lot for your information about pixel art softwares
I use Pixilart it is free and super easy to use
Krita > GIMP any and every day. Much more intuitive and concise.
I compiled aseprite! It's awesome!
thanks for the vid mang!
I use Piskel.
Who would want an upgrade from perfection? MS paint is fine.
There is no MS paint on Linux or Mac. My personal best option on Linux for pixel art is grafx2. I like how simple limited and efficient it is. Similar to old MS paint. It is even ported to Amiga and Atari if that matters.
@@krux02 geez i didn't need your life's story.
*MS Paint XP
amen brother
@@krux02 linux can run basically anything from other OS, also what the heck are you doing on mac, get the heck off that
I'm sure there is also a very impratical and convoluted way you could use blender for pixel art, either making a plane with the amount of faces being equal to the pixels, then either using Blender's paint function or assigning colors to each face, or even just using blocky 3d models as the sprite. It's not the best solution but for people already used to Blender and that can't afford to learn another program right now, it is a solution.
Great video. Point of correction on Grafx2. It is referencing the grand daddy of 16 bit paint programs for personal computers, Deluxe Paint on the Amiga. Came out in the mid eighties. Still is a brilliant piece of software.
It’s obviously better to use Microsoft paint
Use the one on Windows 7
I just use google sheets lol
aka the 'Master' difficulty setting lol
I bough Aseprite and it's just- AMAZING. Best and easiest to use Pixel Art program I ever found. 10/10
clean and useful video. nice
Use minecraft
😂
aseprite: we cost $15
also aseprite: we are open source and it take 10 minutes to download and compile
everyone: wat?
It takes more time to compile there are lots of dependencies there
@@HaseebHeaven There's probably some legal "gotcha" in there as well. It's the first time I've seen someone put something as an open source and ALSO sell it commercially. I'm not sure if you can make commercial works if you compile it yourself.
@@dragonlord1935 A quote from the developer on the Aseprite forum: "The source code is available because it was already available before I started doing a business from it, so it was a nice thing to keep. People that cannot afford the program will pirate it anyway, so having the source code is a way to access the program without viruses with a little of effort."
There is no gotcha.
@@marcelboon6525 Well dang, I guess I know what I'll be doing next then. Thanks for the clarification. Do you have a link to the forum post? It would be nice to verify this for myself (Plus, anyone who happens upon this comment can also verify it for themselves then).
u are the number one person on this you tube .. that i press like button .. honestly
Pyxel edit is what I use in my actual work. The game uses 32x32 assets or at most 64x64, and it helps to lay each part out to quickly be able to glance at your work then export it. It's been my main stay tool for this for quite a while.
Great presentation 😍😍😍😍