Tips on Drawing Buildings in Pixel Art

Hello, I would like some tips on how to draw buildings in pixel art, if you have some post below I would really appreciate it. :space_invader:

4 Likes

What type of buildings? Top-down, side scroller, background silhouettes?

1 Like

Building’s that face at you so I guess side scroller

2 Likes

Does this look good?

4 Likes
  1. Why are the windows the same as the walls?

  2. I would change the chimney to be different from the rest of the building (So you could either change the chimney or the rest of the building)

  3. Not crazy about the grey line separating the first and second floors.

  4. I think you could use a different style for the bricks of the building. Currently, you’re just outlining every brick, but it’s unneeded. If you disconnect some of the lines it will look cleaner and give a better effect.

  5. I’m not the best at art so take everything I say with a grain of salt. Something to remember is if something doesn’t; look right to your eye you should trust it

2 Likes

yeah, the windows should be different, I like adding things on the side to make it nicer, like a bush or a shed, but it looks nice

gasp is there a city or a town in ducky???

1 Like

No I’m working on a side project

1 Like

@nhgcr_for_the_3rd_time the cubetales remaster background buildings
@John_Shrekinson the glowing fella background buildings
White bg for better visibility
flowlab.io

1 Like

all the ovals are slightly off-centre, and I hate myself for noticing that

as for my building, they were simple silhouettes in the background

3 Likes

Buildings!

So depending on how much you really want to get into it there’s a long version and a short version.

In short:


There are few things you really need to keep check of when it comes to buildings.
A large problem with face on building is that they can look really flat, so it’s important to make sure that your lighting comes from one singular spot so that there’s shading to give it depth.

I think a a lot of people add shading under overhangs but you’ll also need to remember that some features are sometime pushed back into the building, like a door that isn’t flat with the wall.

I also use shading as a loose term for brightness, I sometimes for get to say that parts where the sun will hit will give off a shine but it’s dependent on the material so make sure that any metal parts have a shine and wood parts don’t.

Then there’s a matter of scale.
if you have a player walking around and then they suddenly fit into a door frame half their size, you better know that there also has to be a crawling mechanic to make it work. If a window is larger than the door, it’s probably a rich person house. If there’s multiple sorties, make sure there’s height between the two floors, so don’t have a door and then 5 pixels up a second floor, or else that’s a low celling. And also don’t have a roof that’s smaller than the door.

When it comes to texturizing a sprite, don’t overdo it. If it’s apart of the back back background then go all out, but if it’s foreground ish, go with little texture. This is a bit confusing to explain and it’s better if you just search up some stuff on Pinterest to get a good look, but just don’t over do it on textures.

These are really the three main things I think you should start off with, if I had time or patience I’d tell you about all the different structural components a building has but for the most part you can learn a lot off of just looking at pixel art buildings. I would recommend Pinterest for reference, I especially like the work of angrysnail, they have some great stuff.

6 Likes