Now that everything is set up, we can start creating the sprite. Go to Preferences > Units & Rulers and choose Pixels in the drop-down menu near Rulers to see all measurements in pixels. This will ensure that the edges of the objects you work with always stay sharp. Go to Preferences > General ( Control-K) and set up Image Interpolation to Nearest Neighbor. Note: The grid will be seen only on a newly created canvas with zoom level 600% and above. If you don't see this item in the menu, go to Preferences > Performance and turn on the graphic acceleration. Turn on the Pixel Grid ( View > Show > Pixel Grid). Set up Pencil Mode for the Eraser Tool and use the same brush settings as below. Your aim is to make the line absolutely sharp. Select a Hard Round brush in the Brush settings and apply the settings shown below. Select the Pencil Tool from the Toolbar, it will be your primary instrument for this tutorial. There's plenty of pixel art available too. If you want a quick way to find sprites or other game assets for your projects, check out the collection of sprites on Envato Market. In the process, I will cover all of the basic rules that you can apply to your future pixel art illustrations.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create and animate a pixel art sprite using just a few simple tools in Adobe Photoshop.

Pencil animation grid