Every tool, step by step

1. Pick colors in the Colors panel or the palette.
2. Left button paints with the primary color, right button with the secondary.
3. Press X to swap them.

Option+click

Pick a color from the canvas with any drawing tool

1. Press [ for smaller and ] for larger, or use Size in the options bar.
2. Choose a square or round tip next to it.

Select some pixels and choose Drawing → Brush from Selection (Cmd+B) to paint with them as a custom brush.

1. Zoom with Cmd+= and Cmd+-, or Cmd+scroll and pinch.
2. Cmd+0 fits the sprite in the window, Cmd+1 shows it at actual size.
3. Toggle the pixel grid with Cmd+'.

Cmd+Z

Undo

Shift+Cmd+Z

Redo

1. Press and drag on the canvas.
2. Turn on Pixel-perfect in the options bar to remove L-shaped corners from your lines.

Right-drag

Draw with the secondary color

Option+click

Pick a color

With a tablet, the pressure chips make size and opacity follow the pen.

1. Drag over the pixels to clear.
2. Change the size with [ and ].

1. Hold and drag: it keeps spraying while the button is down.
2. Set Density (5–100%) in the options bar. A bigger size sprays a wider circle.

1. Drag over the area to soften.
2. Set Strength (5–100%) in the options bar.

1. Drag over the area.
2. Great for grass, dirt, rock and other rough surfaces.

1. Click inside the area to fill.
2. Turn Contiguous off to replace every pixel of that color in the cel.
3. Choose a Pattern (Checker, 25%, 50%, 75%) to dither between the primary and secondary colors.

Right-click

Fill with the secondary color

1. Drag from where the gradient starts to where it ends.
2. Choose Linear or Radial, and Smooth or a 2×2, 4×4 or 8×8 dither for a pixel-art look.

Shift+drag

Snap the direction to 45°

Right-drag

Reverse the colors

1. Drag from the start point to the end point.

Shift+drag

Lock the angle to 45° steps

1. Drag from one corner to the opposite corner.
2. Turn on Filled in the options bar for a solid box.

Shift+drag

Make a square

1. Drag out the bounding box.
2. Turn on Filled for a solid shape.

Shift+drag

Make a circle

1. Drag the line from start to end and release.
2. Drag again to bend it with the first control point.
3. Drag once more for the second control point: the curve is placed.

Return

Finish early

Esc

Cancel

1. Click to add each corner; a preview follows the cursor.
2. Double-click or press Return to finish. Turn on Filled for a solid shape.

Esc

Cancel

1. Press and draw the outline.
2. Release: the path closes. With Filled on, the inside is filled too.

1. Drag over the area.
2. Click without dragging to clear the selection.

Shift+drag

Add to the selection

Option+drag

Subtract from it

Cmd+A

Select all

Cmd+D

Deselect

Shift+Cmd+I

Invert

1. Drag around the pixels you want.

Shift

Add

Option

Subtract

1. Click each corner of the area.
2. Double-click or press Return to close it.

Shift (first click)

Add

Option (first click)

Subtract

Esc

Cancel

1. Click a color.
2. Raise Tolerance (0–255) to take in similar colors; switch Contiguous to Global to select that color everywhere.

Shift+click

Add

Option+click

Subtract

Select → Select by Color (Option+Cmd+B) does the same from the menu.

1. Drag to move.
2. Pasted pixels stay floating with the Move tool; press Return to drop them.
3. Drag a handle of the selection box to start a free transform.

Arrow keys

Nudge 1 pixel

Shift+Arrow

Nudge 10 pixels

1. Select pixels and choose Edit → Free Transform.
2. Drag a corner or edge to scale, drag outside the box to rotate, drag inside to move. The orange dot is the pivot.
3. Type exact values in the bar (X, Y, W, H, angle). Turn on RotSprite for clean pixel-art rotation.
4. Press Return to apply or Esc to cancel.

Cmd+edge drag

Skew

Shift

Keep proportions

1. Click where the text should start.
2. Type in the Text window and press Place.
3. Set Pixel scale (1–16×) for the built-in pixel font, or tick “Use system font” to pick a font and size; it is drawn without antialiasing.

Right-click

Use the secondary color

1. Click or drag over the canvas: the primary color follows.

You rarely need to switch to it: hold Option with any drawing tool and click.

1. Drag on an empty spot to make a slice.
2. Click a slice to select it, drag to move, drag its handles to resize.
3. Double-click to edit its name and settings. Delete removes it.

1. Simple replaces pixels. Alpha Compositing blends the color over them.
2. Lock Alpha only recolors pixels that are already there, so you never paint outside the shape.
3. Behind paints under existing pixels.
4. Shading moves each pixel one step along your palette from the primary toward the secondary color. Right-click steps back.

Find it in the options bar of the pencil, spray and shape tools, or under Drawing → Ink Mode.

1. Turn on the Pixel-perfect chip in the pencil's options bar, or Drawing → Pixel-perfect Pencil.
2. It applies to pencil and eraser strokes.

1. Turn on Mirror left/right or Mirror top/bottom at the right end of the options bar (or Drawing → Mirror).
2. Pink dashed guides show the mirror line across the canvas center.

1. New frame Option+Cmd+N, duplicate frame Shift+Cmd+D, new layer Shift+Cmd+N.
2. Group frames with tags such as idle, run or attack: each tag becomes its own animation in Godot.

Space

Play or pause

,

Previous frame

.

Next frame

1. Turn it on in the timeline header or Sprite → Onion Skin.
2. In View → View Options choose how many frames (0–3 each side), opacity, and a red past / blue future tint.

1. Tilemap → New Tilemap Layer, or convert an existing layer.
2. Turn on Tilemap → Tile Stamp Mode, pick a tile and click with the pencil to place it.
3. Flip X, Y or diagonal with the chips in the tilemap panel.

Shift+click

Erase a tile

Option+click

Pick the tile under the cursor

1. Open the Terrain panel and turn on Brush.
2. Paint with Brush, Rect or Fill; Pick, Stamp and Auto are in the same row.
3. Size goes from 1 to 16 cells, square or round.

Shift or right-click

Erase terrain

1. Turn on View → Isometric Grid.
2. Set the tile size (default 32×16) and offsets in View → View Options → Custom Grid.
3. Select → Isometric Tile selects the diamond under the cursor.

1. File → Export to Godot… and choose a folder in your Godot project.
2. After changes, File → Re-export to Godot (Shift+Cmd+G) writes to the same place.
3. For tilesets use File → Export Tileset to Godot….