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Piskel

Sprite and animation editor with onion skinning and a live loop preview, exporting straight to a spritesheet or GIF.

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How to get the most from it

Piskel sits in Pixel Art under Make, filed as coffee break.

  • Set aside five to fifteen minutes and give it your proper attention.
  • Use a laptop or desktop computer — we file it as desktop only.
  • It works with the sound off, so it is fine on a train or in a quiet office.
  • No account needed — you can start without signing up.
  • Go in expecting something useful and clever.

About this category: Sprite editors and pixel canvases. The limited grid does most of the design work for you, which is why beginners' output looks good immediately.

Good for

  • Filling a coffee break properly
  • Getting something practical done
  • Being impressed by a clever idea
  • A quiet break at your desk
  • Trying it with zero commitment

Piskel: quick answers

Is Piskel free?

Yes. Piskel is free to use and needs no account.

Do I need an account to use Piskel?

No. You can use Piskel without signing up for anything.

Does Piskel work on a phone?

Not well. We file Piskel as desktop only, so open it on a laptop or desktop computer.

Is Piskel safe for work?

Yes, we file it as safe for work. It also works muted.

How long does Piskel take?

We file it as "Coffee break": Five to fifteen minutes of proper attention.

More in Pixel Art

All 14 in Pixel Art
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    • <1 min
    • Desktop
  • Draw on the grid and it writes the box-shadow monstrosity that renders your sprite with no image file involved at all.

    • 10 min
    • Desktop
  • Feed it a photograph and it hands back a pixel-art version, with block size and palette entirely under your control.

  • Two decades of the pixel art scene's best work, still curated by hand and still running weekly drawing challenges.

    • 1 hr+
    • Desktop

Same mood: useful

All useful sites
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  • Open-source pixel editor with tilemaps, animation and 3D layers, playable in the browser or free to download properly.

    • 10 min
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Keep exploring

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