Pixel + aseprite technical tips (Patreon)

Big post of pixel tips, not necessarily about drawing but on exporting and posting, using aseprite, etc. These are the things I get asked about the most. If there's a topic not covered here that'd you like to see, please DM me/comment and I'll add it to the post 

Most of this uses aseprite but a lot of it can be done in any art program (except ms paint) 

• Changing canvas size 

(In aseprite) Sprite > Canvas size. Pretty straight forward. Just adjust the canvas until you have the size you want. 

To crop use the selection tool, select the area you want cropped, then go Sprite > Crop. Some programs will have a dedicated cropping tool 

• Scaling 

Sprite > Canvas Size 

When resizing a pixel it is very important the interpolation method is set to 'nearest-neighbor'! Anything else will blur it! Don't blur it! Some programs will say nearest-neighbor (hard edges). 

I personally like to post pixels with at least 2x zoom. Easiest way to scale is to set the percentage in 100s. Anything outside 100s (even 101) will result in stretching. 

This can also be done on export. 

Option B: take a screenshot of it zoomed in 

• Grids

Super helpful for things like tiles or making sure a set of art is all the same size. 

View > Grid > Grid settings
Lets you set grid size 

View > Show > Grid
Toggles grid view on and off 

View > Grid > Snap to grid
Will force the art tool to only draw along the edges of the grid. I personally find it super annoying but it's pretty good if you wanna draw a bunch of boxes. 

• Symmetry tool

You can find symmetry options using the pen tools. If it doesn't show up select View > Symmetry Options. Symmetry lines can be reset to the center of the canvas. To move the lines around just click at the little box at the top of the lines. 

• Palettes 

Aseprite has some cool palette options. 

A way to limit colours is create palette from sprite, give it a set number and then set the colour mode to index. Index will force the canvas to use only the selected palette. You can also save palettes and have them listed at any time using the third button. 

• Posting/exporting to twitter 

Twitter crops at a ratio of 16:9. This is just personal preference but I like to have a big empty space around art when posting. Twitter will blur any small post. Idk the actual number but anything smaller than around 500x on either side will be blurred. 

Example: your drawing is 40x40. Make the total canvas 130x80, then scale by 4x to make it 520x320. That'll prevent twitter from blurring or cropping. I actually have a dedicated twitter account to testing canvas sizes so twitter won't crop out the important parts haha. 

Other things to consider: twitter crops on faces and text. If you have a signature anywhere, twitter may crop to that. Make sure your canvas is wide enough that twitter won't crop anything out. 

• File types 

It's illegal to save as .jpg. You will go straight to prison. .png is best for non-animated and .gif  for animations. I will know if you use .jpg. I will be there to personally arrest you. Jpg has shit quality. Love yourself. 

• Aseprite UI 

UI can be moved around the screen. I like to have it to the right for drawing and to the bottom for animations because more screen space. You can find a lot more options in Edit > Preferences like UI scaling, more grid stuff, all the fun things.