PixelMint

Pixel art ideas

Sixty things to draw, grouped by difficulty with a suggested canvas size. Or tell the generator what you’re into and get prompts made for you.

Personal idea generator

Can’t decide?

Pull a random prompt from the list below. No AI involved.

Open the editor

Easy ideas for beginners 8×8 to 16×16

Simple silhouettes with few colours, perfect for learning clean outlines.

  1. A heart container with a one-pixel highlight
  2. A red mushroom with white spots
  3. A gold coin, then animate it spinning in 4 frames
  4. A potion bottle with a cork
  5. A sword with a two-tone blade
  6. A slice of watermelon
  7. A smiling cloud
  8. A key
  9. A cherry pair
  10. A skull icon
  11. A lit candle
  12. A four-leaf clover

Characters and creatures 16×16 to 32×32

Focus on a readable silhouette and one exaggerated feature.

  1. A slime with big eyes, plus a 2-frame squash idle
  2. A knight seen from the side
  3. A wizard with an oversized hat
  4. A frog in a tiny raincoat
  5. A robot with a CRT head
  6. A ghost that fades at the bottom
  7. A cat curled asleep
  8. A viking with a braided beard
  9. A tiny dragon hatchling
  10. A skeleton archer
  11. An astronaut floating
  12. Yourself as a 16×16 RPG sprite

Items and game assets 16×16 to 24×24

Inventory icons teach you to say a lot with very few pixels.

  1. A full set of 5 RPG potions in different colours
  2. A treasure chest, closed and open
  3. A spell book with a glowing rune
  4. A pickaxe, axe and shovel set
  5. A bow and quiver of arrows
  6. A roast chicken leg
  7. A crystal shard with hue-shifted shading
  8. A retro game cartridge
  9. A lantern with a warm glow
  10. A shield with a heraldic crest
  11. A pixel-art keyboard key set
  12. A bomb with a lit fuse

Scenes and environments 64×64 to 128×128

Bigger canvases: practise depth with a limited palette and atmospheric perspective.

  1. A cosy bedroom at night lit by a monitor
  2. A lighthouse in a storm
  3. A ramen stall in the rain
  4. A floating island with a waterfall
  5. A desert with a lone cactus at sunset
  6. A dungeon corridor with torches
  7. A tiny train station
  8. A forest clearing with fireflies
  9. A cyberpunk alley with neon signs
  10. An underwater shipwreck
  11. A snowy mountain cabin
  12. A 16×16 tileset: grass, dirt, water and stone

Animation practice 16×16 to 32×32

Short loops that teach timing, spacing and squash and stretch.

  1. A bouncing ball in 8 frames
  2. A candle flame flicker in 4 frames
  3. A character idle breathing loop in 4 frames
  4. A 6-frame walk cycle
  5. A spinning coin in 6 frames
  6. A blinking eye
  7. Falling rain on a window
  8. A waving flag
  9. A treasure chest opening
  10. A fire torch in 4 frames
  11. A heart pulse
  12. An explosion in 7 frames

Turning an idea into a finished piece

Pick the canvas size first. It decides how much detail the idea can carry. Then choose a palette of 4–8 colours from the palette library, block in the silhouette with one colour, and only then add shading. The step-by-step tutorial walks through the whole process.

Frequently asked questions

What should I draw in pixel art as a beginner?

Start with a single object on an 8×8 or 16×16 canvas: a heart, a coin, a mushroom or a potion. Objects have simple silhouettes, need only 3–5 colours, and teach you outlines and shading before you tackle characters.

What is a good first pixel art animation?

A bouncing ball. It needs only one shape and teaches timing (how many frames), spacing (how far the ball moves each frame) and squash and stretch. A 2-frame idle for a slime is a close second.

How do I get better at pixel art quickly?

Pick a small canvas and a fixed palette, finish many small pieces rather than one large one, and redraw sprites from games you admire to study their choices. Daily prompts help build the habit.

How does the idea generator work?

It asks an AI model (OpenAI’s gpt-6-luna via Vercel AI Gateway) for six prompts that match your theme, canvas size and skill level, each with a palette size and a technique tip. Your theme is sent only to generate the ideas.