How to use the Eddy McPixel editor

Getting started

Eddy McPixel runs entirely in your browser, so there's nothing to install. Visit the editor and you'll land on a fresh canvas ready to draw. On larger screens the full workspace is visible; on phones and small tablets the interface adapts into a touch-friendly layout.

Creating a new canvas

• Open the New canvas dialog from the top toolbar (or press the New button).
• Enter a width and height in pixels. Common sizes include 16×16, 32×32 and 64×64 for sprites, or larger for scenes and tilemaps.
• Choose a starting palette if you like, then confirm. A blank canvas with one layer is created.

Tour of the interface

The workspace is arranged into clear regions:

• Top bar: branding, file actions (New, Open, Save), undo/redo, clear, shortcuts, about, and the Export button.
• Tabs bar: work on multiple canvases at once using tabs.
• Options bar: context-sensitive controls such as brush size, mirror, fill toggle and selection actions.
• Left toolbar: all the drawing tools, plus the grid toggle.
• Canvas: the centre stage where you draw. This is the main working area.
• Right panel: reference image, colour picker and swatches, and the layers list.
• Status bar: cursor coordinates, zoom level, canvas size and a fit-to-screen button.

Drawing tools

Select a tool from the left toolbar or press its shortcut key. Most tools paint with the foreground colour on the left mouse button and the background colour on the right mouse button.

Tool	Key	What it does
Pencil	B	Draw single pixels or thick strokes. Brush size is adjustable from 1 to 32 pixels.
Eraser	E	Remove pixels (set them to transparent) on the active layer. Respects brush size.
Fill (bucket)	G	Flood-fill a connected area of the same colour with your active colour.
Eyedropper	I	Pick a colour from anywhere on the canvas into your foreground swatch.
Line	L	Draw a crisp, pixel-perfect straight line between two points.
Rectangle	R	Draw a rectangular outline. Hold Shift for a filled rectangle.
Ellipse	O	Draw an elliptical outline. Hold Shift for a filled ellipse.
Select	M	Drag a marquee selection. Selected regions can be moved, cleared, copied and pasted.
Magic wand	W	Select a connected region of similar colour with one click.
Move	V	Drag the contents of the active layer (or your selection) to reposition it.
Hand	H	Pan around a large or zoomed-in canvas by dragging.

Brush size

For the pencil and eraser, change the brush size with the slider and number field in the options bar, or the shortcuts [ and ]. Larger brushes are handy for blocking in big areas quickly.

Colours & palettes

Colours live in the right-hand panel. You'll see two swatches: the foreground (left-mouse paint colour) and the background (right-mouse paint colour). Click a swatch to edit it with the native colour picker, or type a hex code directly. Press X to swap the two instantly.

Palettes

Below the picker is a grid of palette swatches. Switch between curated palettes: Eddy Default, Endesga 32, PICO-8 and Grayscale: and click any swatch to load it into your foreground colour. You can also add your own colours to the active palette so they're always one click away.

Layers

Layers let you separate parts of your artwork: for example a sketch layer, a colour layer, and a details layer. The layers list in the right panel shows every layer with a live thumbnail.

• Add & reorder: create new layers and drag to reorder them.
• Visibility: toggle the eye icon to show or hide a layer.
• Opacity: fade a layer from fully opaque to fully transparent.
• Rename: give layers meaningful names to stay organised.
• Duplicate & merge down: copy a layer or combine it with the one beneath.
• Delete: remove a layer you no longer need.

Selection & copy/paste

Use the Select tool (M) to drag a marquee around part of your art, or the Magic wand (W) to grab a region of similar colour. With a selection active you can:

• Move it with the Move tool or arrow keys (Shift+arrows nudge by 10px).
• Copy it (Ctrl/⌘+C) and paste it (Ctrl/⌘+V): pasting always creates a fresh layer.
• Copy image to clipboard as a PNG (Ctrl/⌘+Shift+C) to paste into other apps.
• Select all (Ctrl/⌘+A) or deselect (Ctrl/⌘+D or Esc).
• Clear the selection or the whole layer (Delete).

Mirror & symmetry drawing

Draw symmetrically to create balanced art in half the time. In the options bar, toggle mirror horizontally, vertically, or both. Every stroke you make is then mirrored across the chosen axes: ideal for faces, characters, emblems and patterns.

Reference images

Load any image as a non-editable reference layer you can draw over. Use it to trace proportions, match colours, or keep inspiration visible while you work. You can:

• Move it by dragging and resize it with the scale slider or fit option.
• Toggle its visibility and adjust its opacity.

Grid, zoom & pan

• Grid: toggle an alignment grid with the toolbar button or the ' (apostrophe) key to help place pixels precisely.
• Zoom: zoom in/out with + / -, reset to 100% with 0, or hold Ctrl/⌘ and scroll with the mouse. The zoom range runs from 1× to 64×.
• Fit to screen: use the fit button in the status bar to frame the whole canvas.
• Pan: hold Space and drag, use middle-mouse drag, or switch to the Hand tool (H).

Saving & projects

Eddy McPixel saves your entire project: canvas size, every layer, your reference image and your palette: as a single portable .eddy file.

• Save (Ctrl/⌘+S) writes the project file. In Chrome and Edge, opening a .eddy file lets Save overwrite that same file in place (with a one-time permission); a green dot in the top bar shows the bound file. On other browsers, Save downloads the file.
• Open (Ctrl/⌘+O) reloads any .eddy file to continue working.
• Autosave: your work is continuously saved to your browser and restored automatically when you return.

Exporting to PNG

When your art is finished, export it as a PNG. Open the Export dialog and choose a scale from 1× to 16×: the pixel art is upscaled cleanly so it stays crisp at any size. A live preview shows exactly what you'll get, and you can either download the PNG or copy it straight to your clipboard.

Keyboard shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Pencil / Eraser / Fill / Eyedropper	B / E / G / I
Line / Rectangle / Ellipse	L / R / O (hold Shift for filled)
Select / Magic wand / Move / Hand	M / W / V / H
Brush size − / +	[ / ]
Swap foreground / background	X
Clear selection / layer	Delete
Copy / Paste	Ctrl/⌘+C / V
Copy image to clipboard	Ctrl/⌘+Shift+C
Select all / Deselect	Ctrl/⌘+A / D
Nudge layer (×10)	Arrow keys (Shift)
Undo / Redo	Ctrl/⌘+Z / Shift+Z
Save / Open project	Ctrl/⌘+S / O
Toggle grid	' (apostrophe)
Zoom in / out / reset	+ / - / 0
Pan canvas	Hold Space + drag

Tips & tricks

• Work in passes. Block in big shapes and colours on a lower layer, then add detail and outlines on layers above.
• Limit your palette. A small, deliberate palette keeps pixel art cohesive and readable: try the built-in palettes to start.
• Use symmetry. Mirror drawing halves the work for anything that should be balanced.
• Zoom in to place pixels precisely, then zoom out often to check the overall read of the image.
• Save often. Autosave has your back, but exporting a PNG gives you a sharable snapshot at any stage.
• Keep reference handy. Drop in a guide image to match proportions or colour without it ever reaching your export.