In this tutorial, I will show you how to make pixel art textures in GIMP and use them to texture objects in Blender for your project.
Setup
I will be using a 32×32 canvas in GIMP for my pixel art
I will be using the pencil
I will be using the pixel brush
I change the size to 1px and a hardness of 100
For the eraser, I make sure “hard edge” is activated
Under the View menu, I make sure “show grid” is checked
I make a set of guidelines by going to Image > Configure Grid
I will leave the line style as “solid” and change the spacing to 1×1
Pixel Art
I add a new layer and rename it
I also lock the background layer
For the first layer, I will be making a very simple grass, dirt, and stone texture
I change the foreground color to a green [#5d6c1d]
I then use the pencil to fill in grass on the top of the canvas
You can hold down your LMB and fill in the pixel areas
I then change to a darker green and add some random pixels [#455017]
I repeat this process to make the dirt [#836027] [#5d4319]
I once again repeat this process for the stone [#2f3334] [#1c1e1e]
I will duplicate this layer two times
One duplicated layer will be the grass for the top
One duplicated layer will be for the stone on the bottom
I use the color picker and select the base green color
I hide the ground layer and use the bucket fill to fill the grass layer with the base green color
I then select the darker green color with the color picker and use it for the new color on the grass layer
I use the color picker and select the base stone color
I hide the ground layer and use the bucket fill to fill the stone layer with the base blue-gray color
I then select the darker blue-gray color with the color picker and use it for the new color on the stone layer
Pixel Art Texture
I make a new document that is 96×32
I select each individual layer and use CTRL + A to select everything
I use CTRL + C to copy the layer
I use CTRL + V to paste the layer on the new document
I then export the new document as a PNG
Blender
In Blender, under the UV Editing workspace, I select cube
I use the U-key to bring up the UV Mapping menu and choose “mark seam”
I then open the UV Mapping menu and choose “unwrap”
Under the Shading workspace, I import my pixel texture
I then connect the texture to the Base Color of the Principled Shader
In the UV Editing workspace, I activate UV Sync Selection and go into Material Preview mode
I select the top face and then move it and scale it to fit the grass portion of the texture
I repeat this process with the bottom face and the stone portion of the texture
I select each of the side faces and move them onto the base portion of the texture – rotating them as needed