Creating Characters - The Indie Illustrator's Guide to Procreate

Character Creation Workflow

Creating a character in pixel art follows a simple process: shape → features → shading → polish. Let's walk through each step.

1Set Up Your Canvas

Create a new canvas: 32×32 pixels
Turn on the Drawing Guide grid (set to 1px)
Select your Monoline brush (1-2px size)
Choose your color palette (8-10 colors)

2Block Out the Basic Shape

Start with simple geometric shapes. Think of your character as building blocks:

Head: Circle or oval (8-12 pixels wide)
Body: Rectangle or rounded shape (6-10 pixels wide, 10-14 pixels tall)
Arms: Simple lines or small rectangles (1-2 pixels wide)
Legs: Vertical or slightly angled lines (1-2 pixels wide)

Don't add details yet! Get the proportions right first. The head is usually about 1/3 of the total height for a cute, chibi-style character.

3Add Features

Now add facial features and basic clothing details:

Eyes: Just 1-2 pixels each. Black dots work great!
Hair: Add outline first, then fill with color
Clothes: Block in different colors for shirt, pants, shoes
Accessories: Hats, glasses, jewelry (keep it simple!)

You don't need to show a mouth at this scale! Eyes and hair shape give enough personality. If you do add a mouth, a simple 1-pixel dot or 2-pixel line works.

4Apply Simple Shading

Add depth with minimal shading. Pick a light source (top-left is standard) and apply shadows:

Use your shadow color on the opposite side of the light
Add shadows under the hair, on the neck, and on the far side of the body
Only need 2-4 pixels of shadow per area
Keep it consistent across all parts

5Polish & Refine

Final touches to make your character pop:

Add a 1-pixel outline around the character (dark brown or navy, not pure black)
Check the silhouette: can you recognize the character as a solid shape?
Add small highlights (1-2 pixels of lighter color on hair or clothes)
Clean up any stray pixels

Character Variations

Once you have a base character, you can create variations quickly:

Different poses: Standing, walking, waving (create new layers for each)
Different outfits: Duplicate the base, change clothing colors
Different characters: Change hair color, skin tone, and accessories

Use layers! Create your base character on one layer, then duplicate it and make variations. This keeps your work organized and makes iterations faster.

Common Character Types

Here are standard canvas sizes for different character needs:

Tiny sprites (NPCs, background characters): 16×16 px
Standard characters (main characters, players): 32×32 px
Large characters (bosses, detailed portraits): 48×48 or 64×64 px