Draw Clean Outlines
Lesson 2 of 6 · Intermediate · 8 min
What you will make
Line art with an unbroken outline and an empty interior.
Lesson checklist
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Reduce your silhouette to a one-pixel outline with a transparent interior, and smooth the cap's curve.
Open a 24 × 24 practice canvas with lesson examples and onion skin enabled. Your work saves automatically to My projects.
Starter files and backup import
Follow the steps
Turn a filled blob into line art with edges a reader can follow.
Start with: The silhouette from lesson one, still in a single color.
- 1
Erase the interior, keep the border
Clear everything except the outermost ring of pixels. On a 24 by 24 canvas the interior is a large area, so this step removes far more than it keeps.
A one-pixel outline with a transparent middle.
- 2
Check the outline is unbroken
Trace the border with your eye. A single missing pixel breaks the shape and makes the edge look ragged at game size.
A continuous outline with no gaps.
- 3
Fix the curve, not the pixel count
On a curve, a stair-step of single pixels reads as a curve, while a straight run of two reads as a corner. Swap any doubled pixel on the dome's edge for a single pixel in the row above.
A dome that curves instead of faceting.
- 4
Keep the underside dark
Leave the outline intact under the cap. That edge is what separates the cap from the stem once both are dark.
Line art that will hold up once it is colored.
See the technique
A solid silhouette
Outline only, interior empty
Learning notes and references
- Separate the outline from the interior instead of filling everything.
- Keep a one-pixel outline that follows the shape exactly.
- Leave interior pixels transparent so later fills have somewhere to go.