In this easy pixel tutorial you will learn how to create a pixel art mountain! We will go over the different steps it takes to make your very own mountain made out of pixels!

How to Make a Pixel Art Mountain for Beginners

Are you ready to design your own pixel art mountain? Learning how to draw a cool pixel art mountain is more popular than ever! Whether you’re looking to create a simple pixel art mountain sprite for your video game or maybe you just want to share a cute new pixel art mountain as part of your art collection on social media, this pixel art tutorial will help you make a pixel mountain fast and easy.


How to Make a Pixel Art Mountain

These are the basic steps for how to make a pixel art mountain:

  1. Select a Pixel Art Software such as Adobe Photoshop, Mega Voxels or Aseprite
  2. Create a 32×32 pixel grid for your mountain
  3. Sketch out an Outline for the shape of the mountain
  4. Fill in the color of the pixel art mountain
  5. Draw a Shade on the mountain to create depth
  6. Fill in the Background with Color

Now that you are familiar with the basic steps on how to create a pixel art mountain, we will cover each step visually so that you can follow along on how to create it.

If you are completely new to pixel art we recommend reading our post How to Create Pixel Art: Beginner’s Tutorial

Select a Pixel Art Software

In this beginner tutorial we will be showing you the steps to design your own pixel art cat using a pixel editor software. Before we begin you will need to know how to create a grid and use the pencil tool in Mega Voxels. Once you create your pixel art cat, you can use the pixel art in other games such as Minecraft or software such as the Unity Game Engine. In this tutorial we will be using the Mega Voxels Pixel Editor. We offer tutorials on how to use the Mega Voxels Pixel Art editor below:

Want to see what pixel art software is best for you? Read our post Top Free Pixel Art Software

Create a Grid

To begin we will be using a simple 32×32 pixel grid to draw a small pixel art mountain. Making 32×32 pixel art is a common size when making pixel art, especially for projects like video games. Be sure that your canvas is set to the color White (#FFFFFF). This will be our canvas that we use to draw our pixel art mountain on. Your mountain pixel art grid should have a canvas, also known as a spreadsheet, that looks something similar to this:

A blank canvas for drawing the pixel art mountain

Sketch an Outline for the Mountain

Next we will start by making the outline for the mountain so we can get the overall shape for our pixel mountain. To do this choose the color Black (#000000) and activate the pencil tool in your editor. Since this determines the overall shape, feel free to adjust the outline to what match your game or art project. As a guide, you can use the outline we made below for your mountain or like we mentioned before feel free to design your own.

An outline of the pixel art mountain grid similar to a spreadsheet

Fill in the Color

Now that you made an outline for your pixel art mountain, we will add some color to make it stand out. Fill in the main section of the mountain the color (#617CBC). You can use the eyedropper tool to get the remaining colors. Try matching the picture of our 8 bit pixel art mountain below.

Simple pixel art mountain with solid colors

Draw the Shading

So whenever you create pixel art there are essentially two parts to shading: the highlights and the shadows. We will start with the shadows. We will be applying a shadow to our 32×32 pixel art mountain using a single color. This color will be generally be applied to the bottom of the mountain. Remember, to create a shadow color for the mountain we will use a darker version of the color we used before (#324B9A). To create more shades you can simply color pick the main color and darken it. Try to match where we put the shadows in the image below.

32x32 Pixel art black with shadows to give depth to the mountain

So now that you got the basic idea we will continue adding some depth to our mountain to give it a 3D feel. Let’s create a highlight using the same color from the main mountain section, but instead of going darker this time we will go lighter (#87ACD8). Remember, this doesn’t have to be the exact color in fact this is an opportunity to make the mountain look like your own. Use our image as a guide for your mountain.

Adding highlights to the 8 bit pixel mountain

Great! When you are happy with your shadows and highlights on your mountain, be sure to view your final image. To see your pixel art mountain go ahead and turn off the grid lines to make sure you like the way the mountain came out.

Kawaii pixel art mountain on a transparent background

Fill the Background Color

Finally, let’s change the background color of our mountain sprite to really make our mountain stand out nicely. Select the Bucket fill tool in your editor. For the color enter a very Light Blue (#BCEAFE). Then simply click on the white area outside of the pixel mountain.

Cute Pixel Art Mountain on Blue Background

Where to Go From Here

Congratulations! You now know how to create your very own pixel art mountain. You can create different versions of your pixel mountain by changing the colors or modifying the size.

Bonus: Make a 3D Pixel Art Mountain

Now that you have drawn your own pixel art mountain, you can turn it 3D with Mega Voxels. Mega Voxels contains a 3D Pixel Art Maker that allows you to convert traditional 2D pixels into 3D pixels. Simply download the free Mega Voxels app for iOS or Android.

Then import the pixel art you just made using the Add File button inside of the My Gallery page. And that’s it! Mega Voxels automatically transforms you pixel art mountain into a 3D pixel art mountain. You can now create 3D turntable videos of your 3D pixel art mountain and even view your mountain in Augmented Reality!

Mega Voxels is a mobile app for creating 3D pixel art and voxel art using an easy-to-use voxel editor. It allows users to build models with blocks, paint them, create animations, or play games with their creations on a smartphone or tablet. The app is available on both iOS and Android and is popular with artists, gamers, and beginners alike.

Download it for Free today!

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