Sub-pixel animation in pixel art

By · October 16, 2026

Sub-pixel animation adds trails of neighbor colors behind moving pixels, so motion looks smoother than one whole pixel at a time. It makes up for the fact that you can't move something half a pixel. Use it on soft, flexible things: cloth, leaves, liquids. Try it below with the sage breathing.

This sprite is wide. It's easier to draw on a computer, or with your phone turned sideways.

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Why sub-pixels

Two animated sages breathing: on the left without sub-pixel animation, on the right with it
Left: regular animation. Right: with sub-pixel animation.
Roman's slide: the sage's robe up close, regular animation on the left, with sub-pixel trails of neighbor colors on the right
Up close: the in-between neighbor colors on the right are the sub-pixels.

The sage is breathing heavily, his body moves and his robe flutters. In pixel art you can only move things one pixel at a time, and often that's not enough for a smooth motion, especially with something soft like cloth.

So we add trails in neighbor colors. The texture on the robe is deep red, and the trail next to it is almost pink. The highlight on the hat bounces up and down, and for a moment it's replaced by a little pale yellow trail. Next to each other, the left sage looks jumpy and the right one looks smooth.

It's not a replacement for regular animation, it's an addition on top of it.

Frame by frame

Without sub-pixels, the breathing takes two frames. With them, we add two more. Frame 1 is the same in both. In frame 2 the regular version is already done, while the sub-pixel version still has trails. In frame 3 the trails catch up with the main texture and disappear. In frame 4 the body goes up again, followed by the trails, and then the cycle starts over.

The timing is uneven too: the poses last 400 milliseconds and the in-between frames 200.

Where else to use it

Leaves fluttering in the wind, a cape or a robe in the wind, water. Anything flexible is a good place for a few trails in neighbor shades. And feel free to change the trails: other shades, more of them, or fewer.