Stranger Things pixel art: Eleven, the Demogorgon, the logo, and how to make yours
Fans · Pixel art · Creations
The show is set in the age of 8-bit consoles, its first game was in pixels, and its characters hold in a few squares: a girl with a shaved head, a waffle, a petal mouth. Pixel art is the most natural form of tribute to the show. Here are the motifs people make most, and how to make yours.
The essentials
- Why it works: the period, the 2017 mobile game, characters recognizable in a few pixels
- The motifs: Eleven, the Demogorgon, the logo, the Eggo waffle, the bike, the lights
- The formats: fuse beads, cross-stitch, pixels on a screen, bricks
- The starting size: 16 by 16 for a face, 32 by 32 for a character
Contents
Why pixel art suits the show so well
The show is set between 1983 and 1987, the golden age of 8-bit consoles and arcade halls, and it knows it: the group spends its afternoons at the Palace Arcade, on Dig Dug and Dragon's Lair. Its first video game, in 2017, was in pixels, with Hopper and the group drawn in a few squares. And its characters have simple silhouettes: Eleven's shaved head, Dustin's cap, Steve's hair, the Demogorgon's petal mouth. All of that holds in a grid.
Pixel decor, for the bedroom.
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The most made motifs
| Motif | Recommended size | Difficulty | The trick |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eleven, season 1 | 16 by 16 | Easy | The shaved head, the pink dress, the blood under the nose: three colors are enough |
| The Eggo waffle | 8 by 8 | Very easy | A yellow square checkered with brown |
| The logo | 64 by 16 | Average | Red letters, two lines, a light outline |
| the Demogorgon | 32 by 32 | Average | The mouth open in five petals, gray and pink |
| The wall of lights | 32 by 16 | Easy | Colored lights on a black background, with the letters |
| Mike's bike | 32 by 32 | Hard | The diagonal rays, pixel by pixel |
| Dustin and his cap | 16 by 16 | Easy | The red and white cap, the curls |
| Vecna | 32 by 48 | Hard | The vines, the outstretched hand |
How to make yours
Pick a grid: 16 by 16 for a face, 32 by 32 for a full-body character. Start from a reference image, reduce it mentally to its main shapes, and place the black outlines first, then the color flats, then one shadow per zone. Limit yourself to six or eight colors: that is what gives the 8-bit look. On a screen, any drawing software with a grid will do; on paper, a grid sheet and markers.
The secret is the silhouette: if the black outline alone is recognizable, the rest will follow.
Fuse beadsFans' favorite medium: a bead grid, an iron, and the pixel art becomes a keychain, a coaster or a frame. Eleven in 16 by 16 fits on a small board and takes twenty minutes. The grids are shared on social media, for free.
The other formats
Cross-stitch, which is only pixel art in thread, with logo and character grids to embroider; building bricks, for a wall tableau of the logo or the Demogorgon; bead grids; and, on screen, avatars and wallpapers, which fans publish by the thousands. Some have remade the key scenes of each season in a single 64 by 64 image.
Where to find templates
On image networks, by searching the character's name and "pixel art" or "fuse beads," and on fan communities, who share their grids. The mobile game from 2017 remains the best style reference: its characters are the show's pixel art as its creators validated it.
The Eleven figure, the model.
In the shopLego red Demogorgon figure 691 pieces110,90 €See the product
The show's pixel games, to take inspiration from
Pixel art is in the show's DNA. The first video game, released on mobile in 2017 for Season 2, was entirely in 8-bit graphics, in the style of 1985 consoles: Hawkins from above, the characters in a few dozen pixels, the lab in gray tiles. The Season 3 game, in 2019, took the principle up in 16-bit, more detailed. The opening credits themselves, with their assembling letters, have the spirit of a title screen.
Those games are the best source of models: each character has a pixel version there validated by production, with their palette, their proportions, and their accessories, Eleven's headband, Dustin's cap, Steve's bat. That is where you should look before drawing your own.
Twelve motifs, from the simplest to the hardest
| Motif | Difficulty | What makes him recognizable |
|---|---|---|
| The Eggo waffle | Very easy | A gold circle checkered, eight pixels are enough |
| The twenty-sided die | Easy | A red hexagon with a 20 in the center |
| Will's bike | Easy | Two wheels, a frame, a lamp on |
| The walkie-talkie | Easy | A gray rectangle, an antenna, a red button |
| The logo | Medium | Red letters on black; the most copied, the most delicate to balance |
| Eleven, 1983 | Medium | Shaved skull, pink dress, headband, a red drop under the nose |
| The wall of lights | Medium | Black letters and colored bulbs on a cream background |
| the Demogorgon | Hard | The head in open petals: five lobes around a dark center |
| Steve and his bat | Hard | The haircut, the sweater, the nails in the bat |
| Eddie on the roof | Hard | The patch jacket, the guitar, the trailer |
| Vecna | Very hard | The vines, the burned skin, the raised hand |
| the Byers house | Very hard | The wood facade, the windows lit in color |
Fuse beads, cross-stitch and boards
Pixel art of the show is done on every grid medium. Ironing beads, for simple motifs, on square pegboards 29 beads across; cross-stitch, for portraits, where each stitch is a pixel and the waffle or the die takes an hour; building bricks, for the logo or the Demogorgon in relief; and knitting, where a Hawkins-motif sweater picks up the look of the group's sweaters.
Regulars' advice: start with a 16 by 16 grid, pick three or four colors, and work from a reduced image rather than from the photo. A Demogorgon 16 pixels across is more readable than a 64-pixel portrait, because it rests on a silhouette, not on details.
The retro poster, arcade style.
In the shopThe van on the road poster19,90 €See the product
TakeawayThe 8-bit period and the 2017 game: pixel art comes naturally. Eleven, the waffle, the logo, the Demogorgon: the basic motifs. 16 by 16 for a face, six to eight colors. Fuse beads, cross-stitch, bricks: every medium.
Frequently asked questions
Which Stranger Things pixel art is the easiest?
The Eggo waffle in 8 by 8, then Eleven in 16 by 16: a shaved head, a pink dress, blood under the nose, three colors.
What grid size to choose?
16 by 16 for a face, 32 by 32 for a full-body character, 64 by 16 for the logo.
How to make pixel art with ironing beads?
A bead grid, a pattern, an iron: Eleven in 16 by 16 takes twenty minutes.
Where to find templates?
On image networks and fan communities, who share their grids; and in the 2017 mobile game, the style reference.
Which game from the show is in pixel art?
The first, released on mobile in 2017 for Season 2, entirely in 8-bit, and the Season 3 game, in 2019, in 16-bit. Those are the best sources of models.
What grid for a first pixel art of the show?
16 pixels on a side, three or four colors, and a silhouette motif: the waffle, the die, the bike or the Demogorgon's head.