What Size Should Pixel Art Be? 8x8 to 64x64 Compared

By KT Apps · Updated October 16, 2026

Why size matters so much

Doubling the width of a square canvas quadruples the number of pixels. That is why the jump from one size to the next feels so large:

• 8 x 8 = 64 pixels
• 16 x 16 = 256 pixels
• 24 x 24 = 576 pixels
• 32 x 32 = 1,024 pixels
• 48 x 48 = 2,304 pixels
• 64 x 64 = 4,096 pixels

More pixels means more detail, but also more work and more chances for stray pixels. In pixel art, choosing the smallest size that can hold your idea usually gives the strongest result.

What each size is good for

8 x 8: tiny icons and practice

Enough for a heart, a coin, a key or a simple face. Early games often built larger graphics out of 8 x 8 tiles. It is excellent practice in saying a lot with very little, and pieces take minutes.

16 x 16: classic sprites and items

The most popular starting size. There is room for a recognisable character, an item, a tile or a small icon, and you can still finish in one sitting. It is also a typical size for small website icons.

24 x 24: a step up

A useful in-between when 16 x 16 feels cramped, for example to give a character a clearer face or hands.

32 x 32: detailed characters and portraits

Enough room for a character with expression and shading, a detailed item, or a simple avatar. A common size for game characters and profile pictures.

48 x 48 and 64 x 64: scenes and larger portraits

Room for small landscapes, scenes with several objects, or a bust portrait with clear features. These take much longer, and it becomes easy to over-detail. Many artists still treat them as "small"; it is just a different style.

How to choose

1. Decide what the art is for. A game sprite, an icon, a bead or cross-stitch pattern, or a picture to share each have different needs.
2. If it needs to match other art, such as a game's tile size or a pattern grid, use that size.
3. Otherwise, sketch the idea at 16 x 16 first. If an essential feature will not fit, move up one size.
4. For bead and stitch patterns, remember that every pixel is one bead or stitch. 32 x 32 is already 1,024 of them.

Characters in the same game usually share a size, so they look consistent next to each other. Pick the size once and stick with it for the whole set.

Scaling pixel art up for sharing

A 16 x 16 image is postage-stamp sized on a modern screen, so pixel art is usually enlarged before posting. Two rules keep it crisp:

• Scale by a whole number, such as 4x, 8x or 10x. A 16 x 16 sprite at 20x becomes 320 x 320; a 32 x 32 sprite at 10x is also 320 x 320; a 64 x 64 piece at 8x becomes 512 x 512.
• Use nearest-neighbour (sometimes called "pixel" or "hard edges") resampling, not bilinear or bicubic, which blur the edges.
• Save as PNG. JPEG adds blur and colour noise around hard edges.
• Uneven scale factors such as 2.5x make some pixels wider than others, so avoid them.

What about non-square sizes?

Tall characters are often drawn on rectangles such as 16 x 32, and scenes on wide canvases. If your tool only offers square grids, use a square that fits the longest side and leave the rest as background, then crop afterwards in an image editor.

New to pixel art? Pixel art for beginners covers palettes, outlines and shading.

Choosing a canvas size in Dotmake

Dotmake offers six square grids.

1. Open the grid size option and pick 8 x 8, 16 x 16, 24 x 24, 32 x 32, 48 x 48 or 64 x 64.
2. Use zoom (from half size up to triple size) and the hand tool to work on detail on larger grids.
3. Toggle the grid lines off from time to time to see how the art looks without them.
4. Download a PNG with the save button when you are done, or export the project as JSON.

The PNG is a capture of the canvas as shown on screen, so it is larger than the grid. For an exact one-pixel-per-square file, or a precise 10x enlargement, resize it in an image editor with nearest-neighbour scaling. The web version does not keep the canvas between visits, so download before closing. Dotmake is also on iPhone and Android.

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