Pixel art walk cycle: animate a character in 4 frames

By · October 16, 2026

A simple pixel art walk cycle needs just four frames: the starting pose, a step with the left leg, the starting pose again, and a step with the right leg. On each step the leg, the elbow and the head go down one pixel. Frames 1 and 3 are the same, so you only draw two. Try it below with the sage, then press Play.

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

Step 1

Colors for this step
Tools
Guide

Show the finished step

Animation basics in one minute

Animated pixel art sage walking in place, seen from the front
The walk cycle from the course
Roman's slide: four sage frames of 150 ms each, keyframes at the ends, an animation cycle of 4 frames and 600 ms, about 7 frames per second
From my course slides: frame, keyframe, animation cycle and FPS on the sage.
  • Animation is an action shown as a sequence of images, called frames.
  • A frame is one single image of the animation. This one has four.
  • A keyframe is a frame that marks where an action starts or ends. Here the first and the last frame are keyframes.
  • The animation cycle is the duration and the number of frames together. Each frame here lasts 150 milliseconds, four frames make 600 milliseconds.
  • Frames per second is how many frames you see in one second: 1000 divided by 150 is about seven.

Only seven frames per second, and it still looks smooth. Pixel art is forgiving with low frame rates. Cartoons usually start at 24 frames per second and go much higher, but in pixel art a few frames go a long way.

What moves in a step

Frames 1 and 3 are exactly the same starting pose. Frames 2 and 4 are the steps, left and right. So you only work on two frames.

Start with the outside of the sprite. On the left step, the left leg and part of the robe go down one pixel, the elbow goes down one pixel, and the hat goes down one pixel. Then back up. On the right step it's the mirror, and the hat nods down again. With every step, the sage nods his head.

Then the inside. While the left leg goes down, the right arm goes down too, and the left arm gets a little shorter. The pattern on the robe shifts one pixel and leans a bit, like the cloth moves with the body.

That's a lot to watch at once. If it feels like too much, start simple: animate only the steps. Then add the hat, then the arms, then the texture on the robe.

A tip: on the step frames the whole upper body sits one pixel lower, so a lot of pixels change. Select that part (M) and move it down one pixel (V), in Aseprite and in the trainer alike. Then fix the details by hand.

Onion skin settings

In Aseprite I set the onion skin to show behind the sprite, in the red and blue tint mode, at about half opacity. Then you see exactly which pixels will move in the next frame. In the trainer the previous frame shows in red.

Your turn: four directions

Animated pixel art sage walking in four directions: back, front, left and right
The bonus challenge from the course

Once the front works, try the back, the left and the right side. Same idea: frames 1 and 3 are the starting pose, frames 2 and 4 are the steps. I'd do the back next, since it's close to the front. Look at the details: the bottom of the robe swings a little with every step, and the texture shifts. Those small things give a walk its rhythm. The side view has its own trainer: side view walk cycle.

And once you're confident, experiment. Change how the texture moves, or the limbs, or the head. It's your animation.