Draw One Frame Well
Make the first cell a complete, finished sprite on its own.
Your result
A finished 16 by 16 character in cell one, with cells two to four still empty.
01What you will learn
- Finish a character completely before thinking about motion.
- Keep the character inside its own cell with a margin.
- Treat the empty cells as a promise about where frame two has to go.
Start with: The 64 by 16 sheet from lesson one.
02See the technique
One finished cell
64 × 16 pixels
All four cells, flat-filled
64 × 16 pixels
03Follow the steps
- 1
Leave a one-pixel margin
Keep the character at least one pixel inside its cell. A sprite that touches a cell edge bleeds into its neighbor when the sheet is sliced.
A character with breathing room on all four sides.
- 2
Finish it completely
Outline, flat fill, highlight, shadow: all of it, in cell one. An unfinished first frame is the reason most sheets feel inconsistent later.
One sprite complete in every respect.
- 3
Check it alone
Crop your view to cell one only. If the character still reads at native size, the design is sound enough to animate.
A frame that stands on its own.
- 4
Note its resting position
Record which row the character's feet sit on. Every later frame has to return to this exact row, or the character will appear to float.
A baseline row to align all four frames against.
04Practice in Pikanim
Draw and fully finish the character in cell one, keeping a one-pixel margin and noting its baseline row.
Opens a 64 × 16 canvas with the lesson's starting pixels. Your work saves in the Workspace.
05Check your result
Compare your own work with these checkpoints. Check each one when your result is ready.
Progress saves in this browser. No account needed.
06Continue learning
Keep these references handy
How to Draw Pixel Art Characters
A step-by-step approach to pixel art characters: proportions that read at small sizes, where the face pixels go, and how to keep a character animatable.
Pixel Perfect Drawing
What 'pixel perfect' means in practice: clean corners, consistent pixel runs, no orphan pixels — the cleanup pass that separates amateur from crisp pixel art.