Hello, everyone! I’m Zoe from the Scratch Team, also known as Zinnea. Today, I’m excited to show you three fun ways to make pixel art using Scratch. Pixel art is a cool style of art that you often see in games and animations. It’s made up of tiny squares called pixels, and it’s super fun and easy to try. Let’s dive in!
First, let’s learn how to turn any sprite into pixel art with just one code block. Start by choosing a sprite. Click on the “Choose a Sprite” button and pick one you like. I’ll choose the chick sprite for this example.
Next, go to the “Looks” category in the code blocks. Scroll down until you find the “Set Color Effect” block. This block can change how your sprite looks, and one of the effects is called “Pixelate.” If you set the Pixelate Effect to zero, the sprite looks normal. But if you set it to 60, it becomes blocky and cute! You can try different numbers like 40 or 80 to see how blocky you want it to be. This method is great for making pixel-art-style backdrops too!
For the second method, we’ll change a sprite’s appearance in a different way. Let’s choose another sprite, like a dragon. Click on the “Costumes” tab. If you see a button that says “Convert to Bitmap,” click it. Scratch has two drawing modes: Vector and Bitmap. Vector is good for shapes, while Bitmap is perfect for drawing directly on the canvas.
We want to be in Bitmap mode for this method. After converting, select everything and make it smaller. Then, click away to deselect, select everything again, and make it bigger. Now your dragon looks awesome in pixel-art style!
The third method is all about drawing pixel art from scratch. Click on the “Choose a Sprite” button and select “Paint” to start with a blank canvas. Make sure to convert to Bitmap mode for drawing. Zoom in a lot so you can see the pixels clearly.
Select the paintbrush tool and set the brush size to one, which is the smallest square. Now you can draw whatever you like! For example, I’ll draw a little blob with eyes and a mouth. It looks cute! Use the fill bucket to add color. I chose a blue color and made it less bright. Since we zoomed in a lot, the sprite might look tiny, so I usually set the size to around 800 to make it visible.
That’s all I wanted to show you today! Pixel art is really fun and easy to start with. I hope these methods give you some cool ideas to try. I can’t wait to see what you create. Happy scratching!
Create Your Own Pixel Art Gallery: Use the third method from the lesson to draw your own pixel art. Choose a theme, like animals or space, and create at least three different pixel art pieces. Once you’ve made your art, display them in a mini-gallery at home. Invite family members to view your creations and explain how you made each piece. This will help you practice explaining your process and inspire others to try pixel art too!
Pixel Art Scavenger Hunt: Go on a scavenger hunt around your home or neighborhood to find real-life objects that look like pixel art. Look for things that have a blocky or square pattern, like tiles, bricks, or certain fabrics. Take photos or draw sketches of these objects. Discuss with a friend or family member how these real-life “pixels” compare to the ones you create in Scratch.
Experiment with Pixelation Levels: Using the first method, choose a sprite and experiment with different pixelation levels. Set the Pixelate Effect to various numbers like 10, 30, 50, and 70. Observe how the sprite changes with each level. Write down or draw what you notice about the details and shapes at each level. Which level do you think looks the most interesting? Why?
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the YouTube transcript:
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Hi, everyone! It’s Zoe from the Scratch Team, also known as Zinnea. Today, I wanted to show you three ways of making pixel art in Scratch. If you’re wondering what pixel art is, it’s a style of art often used in games, animations, and various art forms. I think it’s really fun and easy to try out.
So, let’s get started with method one. This method allows you to turn any sprite into pixel art using just one code block. To demonstrate, I will choose a sprite. I’ll hover over the “Choose a Sprite” button and click “Choose.” I think I’ll select the chick sprite.
Next, go to the Looks category and scroll down to the “Set Color Effect” block. This block has several effects, including pixelation. If I click the block now and set the Pixelate Effect to zero, the sprite looks normal. However, if I set it to 60, it becomes blocky and cute! If I set it to a smaller value like 40, it becomes a bit more defined, and if I increase it to 80, it gets super blocky. This method may not work well on all sprites, especially photos, but it can turn out great sometimes. It’s also a fantastic way to create pixel-art-style backdrops.
Now, let’s move on to method two, which involves changing a sprite’s appearance in a different way. I’ll grab another sprite, this time a dragon. For this method, go to the Costumes tab. If the button says “Convert to Bitmap,” click it. There are two drawing modes in Scratch: Vector and Bitmap. Vector mode is great for creating shapes and moving them around, while Bitmap mode is better for drawing directly on the canvas.
For this method, we want to be in Bitmap mode. After converting, drag to select everything and resize it to a smaller scale. Click away to deselect, then drag to select everything again and enlarge it. Now the dragon looks great in pixel-art style!
Method three is about drawing pixel art from a blank canvas. Again, hover over the “Choose a Sprite” button, but this time click “Paint.” Make sure to convert to Bitmap mode for drawing. Zoom in significantly, and when it’s small enough, select the paintbrush tool. Set the brush size to one, which is the smallest square. You can then draw whatever you like!
For example, I’ll draw a blob and give it some eyes and a mouth. I think it looks cute! I’ll use the fill bucket to choose a blue color and make it less saturated. Since we zoomed in a lot, the sprite appears tiny, so I usually set the size to around 800 to make it visible.
That’s basically what I wanted to show you! I think pixel art is really fun to create and easy to get started with. I hope this video has inspired you with some ideas to try or things to draw. I’d love to see what you make. See you next time, and happy scratching!
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This version maintains the essence of the original transcript while removing any informal language and unnecessary details.
