Clean Up the Pixels

Lesson 5 of 6 · Beginner · 6 min

What you will make
A polished sprite with connected clusters, deliberate curves and a transparent border.

Your progress0 / 6

Lesson checklist

Compare your own work with these checkpoints. Check each one when your result is ready.

There are no accidental floating pixels around my character.The contour has no unexplained bumps or gaps.The face and shading still read when I zoom out.

0 of 3 checked

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This lesson's project

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Polish your own shaded slime, or open the deliberately rough starter and find the stray pixels shown above.

Practice in the editor

Open a 16 × 16 practice canvas with lesson examples and onion skin enabled. Your work saves automatically to My projects.

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Starter files and backup import

Follow the steps

Make every pixel earn its place before you export.

Start with: Your shaded slime. The optional starter deliberately includes stray pixels for cleanup practice.

1
Inspect the empty space
Scan the checkerboard around the character. Erase any disconnected marks unless they are an intentional effect. For this first asset, keep the space around the slime completely empty.
No floating pixels outside the silhouette.
2
Walk around the edge
Follow the contour one pixel at a time. Remove accidental spikes and avoid pairs of touching diagonal pixels that make a curve look heavier in one spot. Compare the left and right sides without forcing perfect symmetry.
A smooth rhythm of stepped edges.
3
Remove unnecessary detail
Look at the sprite at a small zoom. If a highlight or dark dot no longer has a clear job, erase it or return it to the body color. Keep the eyes distinct from the highlight.
A face and body that read together at game size.
4
Save your clean version
Check that you did not paint a background while fixing the contour. Save and return to the lesson so the final export uses your latest pixels.
A clean, saved sprite ready to leave the editor.

See the technique

Stray pixels and edge bumps

Every pixel has a reason

Look for the isolated marks above and beside the left sprite, and the extra pixel sticking out of its right edge. The clean version removes those distractions without redrawing the body. Cleanup is a small number of intentional changes, not extra decoration.

Learning notes and references

Spot isolated pixels and accidental edge bumps.
Check readability at both working zoom and actual size.
Protect transparency while cleaning the outline.

Pixel Perfect Drawing Pixel Art Shading Guide

Follow the steps

Make every pixel earn its place before you export.

Start with: Your shaded slime. The optional starter deliberately includes stray pixels for cleanup practice.

Inspect the empty space

Scan the checkerboard around the character. Erase any disconnected marks unless they are an intentional effect. For this first asset, keep the space around the slime completely empty.

No floating pixels outside the silhouette.

Walk around the edge

Follow the contour one pixel at a time. Remove accidental spikes and avoid pairs of touching diagonal pixels that make a curve look heavier in one spot. Compare the left and right sides without forcing perfect symmetry.

A smooth rhythm of stepped edges.

Remove unnecessary detail

Look at the sprite at a small zoom. If a highlight or dark dot no longer has a clear job, erase it or return it to the body color. Keep the eyes distinct from the highlight.

A face and body that read together at game size.

Save your clean version

Check that you did not paint a background while fixing the contour. Save and return to the lesson so the final export uses your latest pixels.

A clean, saved sprite ready to leave the editor.

See the technique

Stray pixels and edge bumps

Every pixel has a reason