How to Draw a 16×16 Diagonal Steel Sword in Pixel Art

Published on July 17, 2026 · 10 min read

This sword crosses the entire canvas with a strict one-cell diagonal rhythm. Its blade is only three interior cells wide at most, so every broken rail or misplaced highlight is immediately visible. The lower half expands into a segmented grip made from ivory, muted gold, and dark leather.

The exact CC0 reference contains 78 visible pixels and 8 visible colours. We will build it in five stages. Coordinates use (x, y) from the top-left corner.

Explore the complete drawing history

Step through the saved frames before drawing. Show changes isolates the 38-cell outline, sixteen-cell blade core, ten cool highlights, ten warm grip lights, and four final leather shadows.

Start with an empty 16×16 canvas

The history viewer, automatic player, and editor share one exact 78-pixel diagonal steel sword target.

Step 1: outline the diagonal sword silhouette

Use black #000000 for all 38 outline pixels. Begin with the three-cell point on row 0, then follow this exact row map:

r0: x0–2
r1: x0, x3
r2: x0, x4
r3: x1, x5
r4: x2, x6
r5: x3, x7
r6: x4, x8
r7: x5, x9
r8: x6, x10
r9: x7, x11
r10: x8, x12–13
r11: x9, x13
r12: x9–10, x14–15
r13: x11, x15
r14: x11–12, x15
r15: x13–15

Rows 1–9 form two unbroken diagonal rails. The extra black cells from row 10 onward turn those narrow rails into alternating grip chambers and a three-cell pommel cap.

Step 2: fill sixteen deep-steel blade cells

Use deep steel #2F4049 at:

r1: x2
r2: x2–3
r3: x3–4
r4: x4–5
r5: x5–6
r6: x6–7
r7: x7–8
r8: x8–9
r9: x9

The blade core starts and ends with one cell, but remains two cells wide through seven central rows. This consistent band is the sword’s visual spine.

Step 3: add ten cool steel highlights

Place base steel #A5C9C9 at (1,1), (1,2), (2,3), and (7,8).

Add light steel #CEECEC at (3,4), (4,5), (5,6), and (6,7).

Finish the blade with shadow steel #83A3A3 at (8,9) and (9,10). The colour sequence changes from base to pale and back to muted as it travels down the upper-left face. Those changes make a thin blade read as reflective without widening it.

Step 4: build ten ivory and gold grip cells

Use ivory #EEE5C5 at (10,10), (11,11), (12,12), (13,13), and (14,14). These five cells create a perfectly straight grip axis.

Place muted gold #C6A366 at (10,9), (10,11), (12,11), (12,13), and (14,13). The first gold cell marks the blade-to-grip transition; the other four alternate around the ivory axis as short wrap bands.

Step 5: set four dark leather grip shadows

Complete the sprite with dark leather #7E4E26 at (11,10), (11,12), (13,12), and (13,14).

The two cells at x11 form the first separated shadow pair, while the two at x13 repeat that rhythm lower down. Keeping them off the ivory axis preserves the bright diagonal through the handle.

Exact row blueprint

Rows	Final construction
0–3	three-cell black point, stepped rails, base-steel glints, and deep core
4–7	four pale edge cells beside the continuous two-cell deep-steel band
8–10	base and shadow transition, first gold shoulder, ivory cell, and leather notch
11–12	alternating gold, ivory, leather, and widened black grip chambers
13–15	second wrapped grip segment and a three-cell black pommel cap

Watch the narrow blade turn into a segmented grip

The automatic player places the complete black silhouette first, fills the deep-steel spine, walks the cool highlight down the upper edge, and then builds the warm grip in two readable passes.

Automatic drawing

Start with an empty 16×16 canvas

0 / 78 pixel changes

The replay separates the strict diagonal rails, dark blade core, changing cool reflection, warm grip lights, and four leather shadows.

Draw the diagonal sword yourself

Build both black rails before adding colour. Use Diff after each material pass: one misplaced cell can create a visible kink in this unusually thin silhouette.

Draw the diagonal steel sword yourself

Match 70%

Rebuild all 78 visible pixels. Use Diff view to keep both blade rails continuous and every grip segment on the correct diagonal.

Target

Editor

What this sprite teaches

Thin diagonals depend on parallel rails. The blade stays readable because both black edges advance one cell per row.
A highlight can change value without changing direction. Three cool colours share one upper-left path.
Single cells can describe a material transition. The gold shoulder and muted steel root separate blade from grip immediately.
Alternating widths imply wrapping. Wider black chambers make the warm handle feel segmented.
A bright axis organizes a small handle. Five ivory cells keep the lower construction visually continuous.

The source sprite is by Shade and is released under CC0 on OpenGameArt. The finished tutorial frame matches every source cell exactly.