Free online pixel art maker

Classic Paint draws with hard, pixel-exact edges — there is no anti-aliasing to blur your lines — which makes it a simple, free way to make pixel art, sprites and icons right in your browser.

Why Classic Paint works well for pixel art

Most drawing apps soften every line so it looks smooth. That is the opposite of what you want for pixel art, where every square should be one solid colour. Classic Paint never anti-aliases: the Pencil, Line, Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon and Fill tools all paint whole pixels.

• 1-pixel Pencil for placing individual pixels, with Bresenham lines so fast strokes never leave gaps.
• Magnifier up to 800%, plus a pixel grid (View › Zoom › Show Grid) once you zoom to 400% or more.
• Exact-match Fill that only replaces pixels of exactly the colour you click.
• Pick Color to grab a colour you already used, and Edit Colors to mix your own palette.
• Stretch and Skew that scales with hard edges, so you can enlarge finished art to 200%, 400% or more without blurring.

How to make pixel art, step by step

1. Set a small canvas. Open Image › Attributes and choose a size such as 32 × 32 or 64 × 64 pixels.
2. Zoom in. Pick the Magnifier and choose 8x in the box under the tools, then click the canvas. Turn on the grid with View › Zoom › Show Grid (Ctrl+G).
3. Draw the outline with the Pencil. Left-click paints with the foreground colour, right-click with the background colour.
4. Fill large areas with Fill With Color, then add shading a pixel at a time with the Pencil.
5. Fix mistakes with Ctrl+Z, or erase with the Eraser (which paints the background colour).
6. Scale it up if you want a bigger image: Image › Stretch/Skew at 400% keeps every pixel crisp.
7. Save it with File › Save As and choose PNG — the best format for pixel art.

Tips for better pixel art

• Start with a limited palette of 4–8 colours; it makes sprites look cleaner and more consistent.
• Draw a dark outline first, then fill, then add one lighter and one darker shade for depth.
• Avoid "jaggies": keep diagonal steps even (1-1-1 or 2-2-2 pixels) for smooth-looking curves.
• Zoom back out to 100% often (View › Zoom › Normal Size) to see how the art looks at its real size.

Frequently asked questions

Is this pixel art maker free?

Yes. Classic Paint is free, runs in your browser and needs no download or account.

Can I save pixel art with a transparent background?

Classic Paint saves pictures with a solid background, like the original desktop program. If you need transparency, Paint Studio (paintart.cloudunity.in) can create a transparent canvas and export PNG.

Will my work be lost if I close the tab?

Your current picture is kept in your browser automatically, so it is still there when you come back on the same device. Use File › Save As to keep a copy as a file.