Plan the Silhouette
Lesson 1 of 6 · Intermediate · 5 min
What you will make
A recognizable mushroom silhouette in one flat color.
Lesson checklist
Compare your own work with these checkpoints. Check each one when your result is ready.
No account needed. Learning progress is saved in this browser.
This lesson's project
Not created yet
Draw the mushroom's full outline in one color, then zoom out and check it still reads as a mushroom.
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
Decide the whole shape before you commit a single color.
Start with: Any pixel editor and a 24 by 24 canvas. Course 01 is helpful but not required.
- 1
Name the three parts out loud
Cap, stem, and the gap between them. If you can say what separates them, you already know where the transparent pixels go.
A mental plan with one empty region in it.
- 2
Draw the cap as a dome
Start at the top center and widen by one pixel on each side per row. On a 24 by 24 canvas this gives a cap about 18 pixels wide, wide enough to feel like a mushroom rather than a button.
A dome with a smooth, symmetric edge.
- 3
Draw the stem narrower than the cap
Keep the stem around 8 pixels wide and centered under the cap. Anything wider and the two shapes merge into one blob when seen small.
Two shapes with a clear gap between them.
- 4
Check it before you continue
Zoom out until the image is small enough to blur. If it no longer looks like a mushroom, fix the silhouette, not the colors. Every later lesson depends on this shape.
A silhouette that still reads at a glance.
See the technique
An empty canvas
The shape you actually need
Learning notes and references
- Read a subject as an outer shape before you think about its parts.
- Keep the silhouette readable as a single blob of pixels.
- Use symmetry to save decisions instead of inventing new ones.