Pixel Brush in ibisPaint: Setup for Crisp Favicon Pixel Grids

The short answer

To draw pixel-accurate artwork in ibisPaint, use a small canvas sized to the target, a 1-pixel brush with anti-aliasing turned off, and no stroke stabilization. Resize only with nearest-neighbor interpolation, and export to a lossless format such as PNG. This gives you hard-edged raster pixels, which suits favicon grid work. It does not give you a vector logo. ibisPaint paints pixels, not paths.

Evidence gap: no source material on a specific ibisPaint version was supplied. Menu names, brush names and where each setting sits can differ between versions and platforms. Use the steps below as the order of checks, and confirm each label in your own copy of the app.

Why pixel brush strokes come out soft

When a pixel brush in ibisPaint leaves blurry or semi-transparent edges, the cause is almost always one of a few settings that smooth or resample the image. Check them in this order, because each one can hide the effect of the next.

• 1. Canvas size: start at the final pixel dimensions, or an exact multiple of them. Drawing on a large canvas and shrinking it afterwards creates in-between pixels.
• 2. Brush choice: pick a hard-edged brush, ideally one meant for dot or pixel work if your version has one. Avoid airbrush, watercolor or textured brushes.
• 3. Anti-aliasing: turn it off in the brush settings. With it on, edge pixels are drawn partially transparent.
• 4. Brush width: set it to a whole-pixel value, starting at 1 px for grid work.
• 5. Stabilization and correction: disable stroke smoothing. It moves strokes off the pixel grid and can add stray pixels.
• 6. Opacity and pressure: keep opacity at full and turn off pressure-based size or opacity, so every pixel is either fully on or fully off.
• 7. Transform and resize: when moving, scaling or rotating, choose nearest-neighbor interpolation if it is offered. Avoid non-integer scaling and rotations other than 90-degree steps.
• 8. Export format: save as PNG. JPEG compression adds artifacts around edges and does not keep transparency.

Telling file facts apart from how the image looks

Some properties can be checked directly in the file. Others are visual judgments that depend on how the image is displayed. Keep the two separate when you decide whether the artwork is finished.

Property | Type | How to check

Pixel dimensions | Observable | Image info or canvas size readout

Presence of partially transparent edge pixels | Observable | Zoom in heavily and sample edge colors

Transparent background | Observable | Export as PNG and view on a contrasting background

Color count | Observable | Sample pixels or inspect in an editor that reports a palette

Looks sharp on screen | Visual judgment | Display scaling and viewer smoothing can hide or add blur

Reads clearly at small size | Visual judgment | View at actual size in the browser tab or on a device

A preview that looks sharp is not proof of a clean pixel grid. Many viewers upscale small images with smoothing. Judge the edges at a high zoom level in an editor that shows individual pixels without interpolation.

Pixel art versus vector logos

Artwork made with ibisPaint's pixel brush is raster artwork. Each pixel is stored as a color value, and there are no paths, anchor points or live text. Placing that PNG inside an SVG or PDF does not make it a vector. The file would simply hold embedded raster content. If you need a scalable logo, build it in a vector editor as paths. Then use ibisPaint, or any pixel editor, only for small-size versions where you hand-tune individual pixels.

This split is common in favicon work. A vector master gives you large, scalable versions. Hand-refined pixel versions handle the smallest sizes, where automatic downscaling of a detailed logo tends to blur. Common favicon targets include 16×16 and 32×32 pixels, but check the current requirements of the platforms you deploy to.

Reworking an existing logo

Having a copy of a logo file does not give you permission to redraw, simplify or publish it as a favicon. If the logo belongs to a client, employer or third party, confirm the usage rights and any brand guidelines before you produce a pixel version.

When further checking is needed

If strokes still look soft after every setting above is confirmed, the likely source lies outside the brush. It could be a resize applied during import or export, a share or upload step that recompresses the image, or a viewer that smooths small images. Export again as PNG at the exact final size and inspect that file directly. If the file's edge pixels are clean, the problem is in how it is displayed, not in the artwork.