Is it "cheating" to use AutoCAD for pixel art?
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: Pixel Art
Forum Name: WIP (Work In Progress)
Forum Discription: Get crits and comments on your pixel WIPs and other art too!
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=27071
Printed Date: 10 September 2025 at 3:52pm
Topic: Is it "cheating" to use AutoCAD for pixel art?
Posted By: Mike9377
Subject: Is it "cheating" to use AutoCAD for pixel art?
Date Posted: 04 January 2021 at 6:09pm
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This is an unfinished work, but nearly all the lines come from a screenshot in AutoCAD. Many of these lines will go away, some will stay, and others will be modified to look better. The final result will 100% appear to be pixel art, but I'm not sure if this is exactly pixel art since I really didn't place the pixels themselves by hand.  |
Replies:
Posted By: Franuka
Date Posted: 08 January 2021 at 4:38pm
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It isn't cheating, it is smart to use guidelines. It's like saying using a ruler is cheating when hand drawing.
You'll have to clean those lines a lot by hand, anyway. So yeah, if it saves you time, gives you a better perspective and starting point, go for it. |
Posted By: Mike9377
Date Posted: 09 January 2021 at 4:19pm
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Originally posted by Franuka It isn't cheating, it is smart to use guidelines. It's like saying using a ruler is cheating when hand drawing. You'll have to clean those lines a lot by hand, anyway. So yeah, if it saves you time, gives you a better perspective and starting point, go for it. Thanks. This makes sense.
 Here is my progress so far. I think its going to take me a while to finish this. I'm going to add lab equipment, textures, shadows, some kind of monster, and more. |
Posted By: It'sDargon
Date Posted: 09 January 2021 at 8:21pm
| Using reference images/programs is a great way to learn, and can help a lot with images that might be especially tricky with proportion or shape. It is by no means cheating and is a good tool, but don't over rely on it! An over reliance on a tool could cause you to stop learning or find it much more difficult to replicate the effect without it. The WIP is looking great though! |
Posted By: Maye
Date Posted: 20 January 2021 at 5:48pm
| Im architect and make pixel art as hobby, use every tool you have is not cheating, is use your resources. |
Posted By: Mike9377
Date Posted: 09 May 2021 at 1:01pm
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Thanks for the feedback guys! Here is how it looks now. I still have a ways to go.  |
Posted By: vrine
Date Posted: 09 May 2021 at 7:36pm
| I'd recommend upping the contrast of the shadows of the cabinets and the wood grain lines |
Posted By: Mike9377
Date Posted: 14 May 2021 at 11:17am
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Originally posted by vrine I'd recommend upping the contrast of the shadows of the cabinets and the wood grain lines How is this? I'm going to feather out the shadows on the cabinets more.  |
Posted By: Maye
Date Posted: 14 May 2021 at 11:35am
| You can learn use SketchUp (Most easy) and see how light affect. Is really good option if you know how use AutoCad. |
Posted By: Mike9377
Date Posted: 23 May 2021 at 1:50pm
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Originally posted by Maye I do know Autodesk Inventor pretty decently which is pretty much a 3D modeling software. I could try that out sometime. This is my progress now btw. I'm going to see about adding shadows on the floor from the cabinets, and putting some handles on the cabinets too.You can learn use SketchUp (Most easy) and see how light affect. Is really good option if you know how use AutoCad.  |
Posted By: Pixelarg
Date Posted: 24 May 2021 at 6:20pm
I made a color edit
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Posted By: vrine
Date Posted: 24 May 2021 at 7:33pm
| That's a great improvement! |
Posted By: Mike9377
Date Posted: 25 May 2021 at 3:22pm
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Originally posted by Pixelarg I made a color edit
I like the colors on the wood floor and I like the tinted shadows on the cabinets. I think the sky has a better color too, but I don't like the wall colors. I feel like they are too contrasty in my opinion. Thanks for doing that. Making appealing colors is kind of my weakpoint.
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Posted By: Maye
Date Posted: 29 May 2021 at 6:51pm
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Cool progress.
Im not sure about the botton line of the white stuff in the wall (Check corners). Also in back, can do the sky (moon and clouds) more bigger. And add the stuff tu pull in and out the cabinet. |
Posted By: Mike9377
Date Posted: 30 May 2021 at 5:50pm
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Originally posted by Maye Cool progress. Im not sure about the botton line of the white stuff in the wall (Check corners). Also in back, can do the sky (moon and clouds) more bigger. And add the stuff tu pull in and out the cabinet. Is it the shadow from the cabinet on the the bottom line? It is supposed to be a baseboard btw. I feel like if I make the moon bigger, its going to be huge looking. I think the clouds should be bigger now that I look at it. I am in the process of adding handles to the cabinets. I'm going to put a bunch of random lab equipment and clutter in too. Progress since a few days ago:  The pink pixels aren't supposed to be there. I'm going to edit the color pallet at the very end. I have over 70 unique colors so far, and I need a way to organize the colors so I can tint the darker shades and all that.
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Posted By: Mike9377
Date Posted: 14 June 2021 at 2:44pm
 Just did a major color edit:  |
Posted By: Mike9377
Date Posted: 17 July 2021 at 6:14pm
 Update on my progress.
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Posted By: Hapiel
Date Posted: 18 July 2021 at 5:44am
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It's coming together nicely! The shading in the doorway is a bit confusing to me. Shouldn't we see part of the ceiling there too? |
Posted By: Mike9377
Date Posted: 19 July 2021 at 9:23pm
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Originally posted by Hapiel It's coming together nicely! The shading in the doorway is a bit confusing to me. Shouldn't we see part of the ceiling there too? You're right!  I made this edit. I still doesn't look quite correct. Maybe I could make the shadow behind the doorway and under the ceiling less soft.
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