Pixel art in Krita

Pixel art has exact pixels: a small canvas, a small palette, no blur and no antialiasing. Krita paints soft strokes by default. Do the work with the scripts and settings below, not with Krita's defaults.

When to use this skill

• "在 Krita 里画一幅像素画", "像素风的茶园", "make a 32x32 sprite", "draw pixel art tiles".
• Pixel art when the user names no app. This phone has Krita. It does not have Pixelorama.
• Do not generate the picture with image generation and then open it in Krita. The user asked to see it drawn in Krita.

Files

• /usr/share/rungic-voice-agent/skills/rungic-krita-pixel-art/pixel.py: functions that draw exact pixels into the document open in Krita. Its first lines list the functions.

Steps

1. Plan the picture before you draw. Choose the size and the palette:
   • A sprite or a tile: 16x16 to 64x64.
   • A scene: 64 to 160 pixels wide. A portrait scene (竖屏): 90x160 or 108x192.
   • A palette of 6 to 16 colours, with 2 or 3 shades of each main colour. Write the plan as steps (update_plan): background, far shapes, near shapes, details, save.
2. Open Krita with desktop_launch on the screen where you work.
3. Open the Scripter: menu Tools > Scripts > Scripter (Krita 6 has it on). If the menu does not show it: Settings > Configure Krita > Python Plugin Manager, select Scripter, restart Krita. In the Scripter's editor, type this line and run it (the Run button, or Ctrl+R): exec(open('/usr/share/rungic-voice-agent/skills/rungic-krita-pixel-art/pixel.py').read())
4. Draw with short scripts, one step at a time. Run each script. The canvas shows the result at once, so the user sees the picture grow. Example:

   canvas(108, 192, 'xinyang-tea-hills')
   palette({'sky': '#a8d8ea', 'mist': '#e3f1f0', 'far': '#7fa99b', 'tea': '#4f8a3c', 'tea2': '#3b6e2e'})
   rect(0, 0, 108, 90, 'sky')
   layer('far hills')
   ellipse(30, 95, 40, 18, 'far')
   layer('tea rows')
   for y in range(120, 192, 6):
       line(0, y, 107, y - 10, 'tea')
   

   • Work from back to front: sky, far hills, near hills, objects, details. Put each depth on a layer of its own (layer(name)).
   • Use rows() for small shapes drawn pixel by pixel (a tea house, a figure, a tree).
   • Use dither() for soft transitions between two colours, for example mist on hills.
   • Write note text in desktop_act in the user's words ("画远山", "加茶垄"), not about scripts.
5. Touch up by hand where it helps. Call brush() for the 1-pixel "u) Pixel Art" brush. Zoom in and draw with desktop_act drags on the canvas.
6. Save: save('~/Pictures/<name>', scale=8). It writes <name>.kra, <name>.png (the real pixels) and <name>-8x.png (enlarged by nearest neighbour, sharp). Show the 8x picture in your answer and give the .kra file as a link.

Krita settings for drawing by hand

pixel.py draws exact pixels with no settings. When you use Krita's own tools, set them first (Tool Options docker, right side). From the guide "Making Pixel Art With Krita: Settings" (pixelglade.net.au, 2026-05-10):

Do not use blur, smudge, soft brushes, the airbrush or bilinear and bicubic scaling. They make colours between the pixels.

Facts about this Krita

• Krita 6.0.1 (Ubuntu package). Python scripting works. The brush presets with "Pixel" in the name are "u) Pixel Art", "u) Pixel Art Dithering" and "u) Pixel Art Fill".
• In the Python API, setPixelData takes bytes in BGRA order. pixel.py converts from #rrggbb.
• A new document from createDocument has a white background layer. canvas() makes it transparent, or the colour that you give.