How to make pixel art in Minecraft
- Pick a simple image. Logos, game sprites and cartoons with bold outlines and few colors work best. Photos work too, but need a bigger size and dithering to look good.
- Set the width. The height is calculated automatically to keep the shape. Start around 32 to 64 blocks wide.
- Choose your blocks. Concrete alone looks clean and bright. Add wool and terracotta for more shades.
- Collect the blocks. Use the block list, and paste the total into the stack calculator to see how many shulker boxes to fill.
- Build row by row. Build flat on the ground for a top-down view, or upright on a wall. Use the 16-block lines to keep your place.
Tips for better pixel art
- Crop first. Cut away empty background before uploading so every block counts. Transparent areas in PNG files are left empty.
- Fewer colors look cleaner. If the result looks noisy, try concrete only and turn dithering off.
- Build big, view from far. Pixel art always looks better from a distance. Fly up or use a spyglass to check your progress.
- Plan the background. A frame or a solid background wall makes the art stand out from the landscape.
About the colors
Each block is matched by its average texture color, so the preview is close to, but not exactly, how the blocks look in game. Lighting, shaders and resource packs also change how colors appear. Gray and brown shades are the hardest to tell apart, so check them in a test row before building the whole piece.