To draw a pixel art metal plate, fill a square with a blue-grey tone, add a bevel with light lines on the top left and dark lines on the bottom right, then diagonal stripes that look like reflections. Bolts and a pressed-in square are optional, and they turn one sprite into four different plates. Draw it below on a 32 by 32 canvas.

From my course video: the same piece, drawn on camera, sped up 48 times. Also on our YouTube.

What the plate is made of

The plate, the bevel, the texture, the bolts and the debossing. Six colors: the main tone, two light tones for the bevel and the debossing, one tone for the stripes, and two dark tones for the other side of the bevel and the debossing.

Step 1: The plate

Fill the whole canvas with the main tone. That's it. Put each part on its own layer as you go, you'll see why at the end.

Step 2: Bevel

The metal plate with light edges on the top and left and dark edges on the bottom and right

The light comes from the top left. Take the lightest tone and draw a line along the top and the left edge. Then a second line next to it in the slightly darker light tone, one pixel shorter. Do the same on the bottom and the right with the two dark tones. Now the flat square has depth.

Step 3: Texture

The metal plate with groups of diagonal light and dark stripes

I call this texture, not highlight or shading. The surface of the metal reflects light and shadow, and those clean diagonal reflections tell you the plate is perfectly smooth.

Draw diagonal stripes in small groups: three light ones near the top, then four darker ones a few pixels below, then five, and so on, with different gaps between the groups. Hold Shift in Aseprite and the stripes come out perfectly straight.

Step 4: Bolts

The metal plate with small two-pixel bolts around its edges

A bolt is just two pixels. The top left one is almost white, because it faces the light. The bottom right one is dark, because the bolt's own head blocks the light. Put one in each corner and in the middle of each side, and keep them lined up.

Step 5: Debossing

The finished metal plate with a square pressed into its middle

Debossing means the shape is pressed into the metal. So it's lit the opposite way from the bevel: dark lines on the top and left, where the edge blocks the light, and light lines on the bottom and right. Count two pixels in from the bevel and start there.

One sprite, four plates

Metal plate with bolts and debossing — Bolts and debossing

Metal plate with debossing only — Debossing

This is why every part goes on its own layer. Switch the bolts and the debossing on and off and one sprite gives you four plates for floors, walls and machines.

Draw a pixel art metal plate, step by step

Step 1

You did it!