Create An Isometric Pixel Art

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ISOMETRIC
Create an Isometric Pixel

Art Apartment Building in
Adobe Photoshop
by Ren Alejandro Hernndez
73
155
22 Jan 2015
9
0 Comments
This post is part of a series called Isometric Pixel Art.

How to Create an Isometric Pixel Art Neighborhood Block in Adobe Photoshop
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Create an Isometric Pixel Art Office Building in Adobe Photoshop
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What You'll Be Creating
If you've been following this series of tutorials, you may already have a
neighborhood block with (slightly) different houses and cars. Let's continue to grow
our city, but this time vertically; we'll be making a building multiple stories high.
1. Dimensions
As usual, we'll use our character as a sort of yardstick to find a reasonable height
for each floor. Dimensions don't need to be completely realistic; it's better for
buildings to be slightly smaller so that characters still get to stand out on the
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canvas.
Step 1
Place your character next to a surface line and, to be mindful of the texture we'll
add later on, make many copies of this line with regular spacing in between so you
have a wall of lines that stops at the desired height for one floor. As with the
wooden textured house, I have left three blank pixels between each line.
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Step 2
We've got the height for our first floor, so now let's define the lengthit may be a bit
more or less than the length of the house. We'll mostly base it on the rows of
windows, the door, and other architectural elements we might want to add.
The windows will be a bit narrow, and the space for the door we'll leave wider and
taller than the door we made for the house, because the door frame will be a bit
wider.
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Here I added the main widths and maximum heights for these details in other
contrasting colors. These are mere guidelines, so it doesn't really matter what
colors you use, but it's better to separate them enough from the colors of elements
that will be kept in the final version.
Step 3
For the side I decided to add only one window to go for a more unexpected,
asymmetrical look. I think it helps the end result because otherwise it's just a grid of
windows, and if you've seen one you've seen them all, so it's nice to let the texture
breathe on an area.
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Step 4
Now that we have the main lines for each floor, we just copy it as many times as
we want. Go for a cartoony height if you want, or just a few floors. Here I've done
four floors, because that looks nice and normal for a brick and mortar type of
building.
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Step 5
Let's finish our main building shape by adding the vertical edge lines and rooftop
lines.
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Looking nice enough!

We could have created a more complex shape like L or H or T or what-have-you,
but we'll be able to make this very basic shape look nice and compelling with the
texture and the rest of the details we'll add. And anyway, for the type of building
we're doing, this shape is quite normal.
2. Texture
Let's add our brick texture. We won't be going the easy way for the texture, but the
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result will be, in my opinion, worth it!
Step 1
To work on our texture and later add it to the building, it's best to get the door and
window guidelines out of the way. Select them with the Magic Wand Tool
(Contiguous unchecked,) paste them in the same place but in another layer, and
make that layer invisible for now.
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Here I filled the holes left by those elements, although that's not necessary.
Step 2
We'll be making a texture with "hand-picked" colored bricks to have something that
looks random or, in a way, organic. Ideally it shouldn't look so repetitive so our tile
shouldn't be so small but if it's too big then making the texture will get tedious.
The size I landed on allows for 12 bricks horizontally and 24 vertically.
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Let's start the tile in a new layer with a bunch of "horizontal" lines. To be precise
these are 25 lines with a width of 134 px.
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Step 3
Let's add some vertical lines to define some bricks' edges. They should align and
alternate, one row on and one row off.
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And for the off rows we add the same lines but a few pixels off to the side. Here
they are off by 3px:
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Then simply select those two first columns and repeat all across the pattern,
keeping the spacing regular.
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We already have a basic brick texture, but now let's work on the custom brick
coloring!
Step 4
Let's fill all the bricks with some random color for now; vivid but not blinding!
Shortcut to do this: fill the entire area with theBucket Tool, with the Contiguous
setting checked off. Then with the Magic Wand Tool, with the Contiguous setting
checked on, select all the color that's outside of the bricks and Delete.
Also make the dark brick edge lines a similar color to the brick one to lower
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contrast.
Step 5
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Now start adding some other color randomly placed across the whole texture. We'll
have three different brick colors, so to keep it even, if we have 12 bricks per row,
there should be four bricks of each color.
So here I went through adding four green bricks per row, hoping to keep things
random and sort of evenly spread, trying to avoid areas that stand out.
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Step 6
Repeat the same process with a new color for now the colors are high in contrast
to help in making the pattern.
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Step 7
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Once that is finished we can tile our pattern a few times (but keep an original tile
separate) and analyse the result. The edges should match precisely.
Most likely some areas will stand out, especially the ones that were on the edges.
Any areas where a particular color dominates or a pattern repeats too much causes
the tiling to be more conspicuous, when what we want is seamless.
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But you can go in and move some colors around, fill some here and there (but
mostly in the middle section), stand back a bit and squint, and if it looks a bit more
averaged out then the pattern will be more successful.
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Step 8
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If you edited the pattern, you'll want to remove the extra areas you got from tiling it.
You can do this by making a selection in the shape of the original pattern, moving
that selection over the big pattern, copying the improved area, and deleting the rest.
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Here's the almost finished pattern only missing the final colors.
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Step 9
Brick can be quite a few different colors. I've chosen a slightly saturated and slightly
light orange. Apply your preferred color to one of the brick colors (Contiguous
checked off for the Bucket Tool.)
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And then make a darker shade for the brick lines; this should be the darkest shade.
And then two more shades, one lighter and one darker for the remaining bricks:
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What I have here is:

Brick color #1: 94% brightness
Lines color: 78% brightness
Step 10
Copy the pattern and flip it horizontally to make the right hand side, which I typically
shade darker. Colors can be updated manually (selecting and filling with the bucket
tool) or simply by lowering brightness by selecting it and using the Image >
Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast slider.
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Step 11
Now let's bring the textures togetherbut remember to keep the original tiles
somewhere safe for any future use!
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Tile them enough to cover the building completely and make them meet at the
corner. Try to make them meet nicely; if there's a long brick on one side of the
corner, we should only see its short side on the other side of the corner. Like this:
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We could also color the corner bricks to make them all match but maybe we don't
need to be that finicky!
Step 12
As usual we add a highlight to all peak corners. Make a new, brighter shade and
apply it to the corner, leaving the brick lines untouched (or make that lighter as well,
just don't erase them with the new color).
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You can make these edits to one or two bricks and thenAlt-nudge or Copy/Paste
on and on until you cover the whole length.
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Step 13
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Now we place the texture over the building.

To make the placement easier, you can lower the opacity for the texture's layer and
then place it so that the brick lines match the bunch of lines we had on the building.
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Then remove the bits of the pattern that we won't need.
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The vertical residue should be easy enough to remove with theMarquee Tool but
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the other areas could be trickier. If you click with the Magic Wand Tool outside of
the pattern, you'll have a negative selection of the pattern's shape, and you can
then move this negative selection over the residues you want to remove and simply
press Delete.
Bring the layer's Opacity back to 100% and merge down with the building's layer.
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And you're done applying the texture!
3. Details
So now we sort of have a big brick-textured-brick. We have to work in the rest of
the details.
Step 1
Let's make our windows layer visible again.
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And finish defining the size for our windows. You can make a selection of the blank
space around the windows with the Magic Wand Tool and move it up a bit and
delete. Try many different lengths and see which you prefer just don't apply the
length change to the door.
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Step 2
After defining these sizes, take one window guideline aside to turn it into a final
window.
Start by removing the placeholder colors and completing the rectangle shape.
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Step 3
We'll add a small window ledge. After trying a few different versions, I ended up
preferring this style, with a darker grey shade running through the middle of the
ledge, but you could try a single solid color if you want.
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This grey actually has a bit of color saturation. For consistency, we'll be applying
these colors to all concrete/cement/plaster material details we're about to add, so
plain grey could possibly be too boring after so much repetition.
Step 4
Now let's add depth to our windows. We should see the ledge go a bit far back into
the window, and we'll need a vertical line from the topmost ledge corner to the top
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window edge.
Step 5
Now let's fill this bit of corner wall with, not just color, but brick texture. Since this bit
we're adding is facing right, we need the brick shades from the darker pattern, but
there's no need to have the varying brick colors for this bit; one single brick color
(the middle brightness one, logically) will do. We of course need to keep the brick
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lines and have the corner highlight.

Also, let's make a new darker brick shade and apply it to the borders of the ledge
that will be in contact with the brick pattern.
Step 6
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Now we add the window. We can use the same window frame color we used on the
house, and we should use the same window color and same border effects for
consistency.
Step 7
Finally let's add an extra detail of window frame to make the windows more
interesting. And adjust the contrast of the corners where surfaces meet.
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Step 8
One window is done but we'll need two more types of windows: the wider ones (to
which I added extra vertical lines to make them less boring) and the windows that
face right, where some colors needed adjustments, as that's the side I typically
keep darker.
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Notice the ledge is darker when it's facing right, and so is the window frame.
Meanwhile the bit of brick wall on that right facing window is lighter, because that
surface is facing left.
Step 9
Once you have all windows it's only a matter of placing them right over the
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guidelines.
Step 10
Now's time to work on the door. We can simply reuse the door we made for the
house.
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Step 11
But we'll change its color.
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Remember that you can easily try multiple colors with theHue slider (Image >
Adjustments > Hue/Saturation/Brightness) to find a color that goes well with
the rest.
Step 12
Here I applied to the door frame a style that matches the window ledges; it has the
same colors and the same dark line in between, making it seem as if the same
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materials and finishes are applied throughout the building. As though there was an
architect behind it all which there kind of was!
Step 13
Now let's push the door back a bit, giving depth to the entrance.
To do this you can select everything and then subtract the door from the selection
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To do this you can select everything and then subtract the door from the selection
(for example, holding down Alt while selecting the door with theLasso Tool), and
then move the whole selection over a couple of pixels to the side and one down.
Of course you then have to fill in some spaces to get this result. And to finish the
door off you could adjust the colors of the corners where surfaces meet. I usually
don't leave those black.
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Step 14
Let's add a ledge to the roof. It will be quite similar to the window ledges but a bit
thicker, and it can be darker because it will have a different angle.
You can start it with some parallel grey and darker grey lines.
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Step 15
As usual, make the right side darker and bring in the corner highlight.
Step 16
And now trim off the corners on the sides. You will have seen ledges like this in real
life or reference images; they look a bit like steps, and that's why I made these
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corners like this.
Step 17
The top surface is now higher and a bit wider. Add the top lines to finish it off and fill
with the light concrete/cement/plaster color.
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Step 18
Now let's add some inner borders to the ledge.
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And fill this big rectangle with our main roof color.
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I went with a very dark grey. Something that implies it could be a tarred or gravelled
surface, which seems to be common for these kinds of buildings.
Step 19
Finally I added a subtle texture to further convey the roof possibly being tarred or
gravelled, or at least not perfectly smooth.
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Step 20
Now we're going to add a small base to the building, with a few steps leading up to
the entrance.
Let's start with one step, outlined here, about as narrow as it can be. The extra
lines inside of the step we'll later use for making a small hand rail.
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Step 21
The subsequent steps are just a repetition of the prior one, laid in front of it but
moved two pixels down.
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Step 22
Add the usual concrete/cement/plaster colors to fill the steps.
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Here I already added the inside corner between the steps and the rest of the base.
Step 23
And here's the base applied to the whole width of the building (with a softened color
where the base meets the brick texture.)
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Step 24
This will be the shape of the small hand rail. It's basically a wall, but has the
complexity of conforming to the steps and having a different angle for its surface.
Do this in a new layer.
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Step 25
Final colors applied to the rail.
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Step 26
We'll need another rail on the other side of the steps. Let's copy the first one.
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And make a few easy adjustments to it.
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Step 27
You can merge all these elements if you want. And to finish them, you might want to
soften the bottom corner lines, where the vertical surfaces will meet the floor.
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Step 28
We're close to finished. Let's just add a few elements to the roof.
Roofs in isometric art end up using quite a bit of canvas space, so generally I would
add a terrace so that it doesn't feel so much like a waste of the illustration's space.
But terraces aren't so common that every building would have one, so let's instead
just add some utility elements or anything that can be found on a random rooftop.
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Maybe part of an air conditioning unit
Which would just be a box...
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With some vent lines or anything to suggest it's a machine.
Step 29
We can also add a few chimney exhausts.
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To achieve the metallic look, I generally use bluish greys for the dark shades and
yellowish greys for the light ones. Here I finished coloring and then duplicated the
exhaust.
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Step 30
Finally I'm adding a random element, in this case pigeons. I think it adds a fun little
touchof course, it wouldn't be such a great touch if in a larger scene every single
rooftop had pigeons. So it'd be best to keep these elements "random". There are
other options that could be on rooftops: stuck basketballs, a tanning girl or guy,
paper planes, an eagle's nest, potted plants, etc.
Here are the pigeons' outlines.
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And here they're colored.
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And that's it. For real this time. That was the final detail!
Building Complete!
Congratulations! You finished the apartment building and can now house justso
many pixel citizens!
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I hope this tutorial was useful! Feel free to ask any questions or leave a comment
below.
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About Ren Alejandro Hernndez

Ren Alejandro Hernndez lives in El
Salvador and has been working on pixel

art, especially the isometric kind, for over
10 years.
How to Create an Isometric Pixel Art

Neighborhood Block in Adobe
Photoshop
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at WebDevStudios in Philadelphia, PA,
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How do you create an isometric pixel art office building?

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What are the steps to define the dimensions of the building?

What are the steps to define the dimensions of the building?

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Design & Illustration

Create an Isometric Pixel

This post is part of a series called Isometric Pixel Art.

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Create an Isometric Pixel Art Office Building in Adobe Photoshop

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What You'll Be Creating

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Looking nice enough!

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result will be, in my opinion, worth it!

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Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

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Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

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