Pixels

This tutorial will show you how to make an ice cream pixel. Any program with a brush tool can be used, so if you only have a simple program like Paint, that's fine. The shading steps in this tutorial can also be applied to different pixels with different shapes.

Step 1

Using a 1px brush tool, draw the outline of the pixel. Make sure the lines are even and not jagged. I used a medium pink for the outline of the ice cream scoop, and brown for the outline of the cone. If you need help picking out shades to use in your pixel, you can use the same palette I used by clicking here. The outline colors I used are the 5th color in each row.

Step 2

Use the flood fill tool to fill in your pixel with lighter shades of color (use color 3 if you're using my palette). Make sure all of your pixel is closed in, or you won't be able to flood fill it.

Step 3

Now you're ready to shade. You'll need to choose a light source. Most pixels have a light source coming from the top or top left of the pixel. Imagine a light shining directly over your pixel. The brightest part would be near the light, while the shadows would be at the bottom. Draw in some shadows using a color that is darker than your fill color, but lighter than your outline color (color 4 if you're using my palette). I drew shadows at the bottom of the ice cream, the bottom of the cone, and the top of the thinner part of the cone.

Step 4

Once you've added shadows, you have to add some highlights as well. I'm using a light source from above the ice cream, so the highlights are closer to the top. I used color 2 from the palette for highlights.

Step 5

Add extra shadows to the outline of your pixel using the 6th color in the palette. The green areas show you where to add shadows to the outline.

Step 6

Ice cream isn't perfectly smooth, so I added some texture using colors 1, 3, and 4 in my palette. Draw lines with color 4 from the shadows to the center of the ice cream. Add some highlights with color 1. This will make your ice cream look more realistic. Zoom out and preview your pixel, and save.