Plan on a grid first
Pixel art in Minecraft is easiest when every block of the picture is decided before you place anything. Make the grid in the tool, count the colors, and work out how many blocks of each you need. A 64 by 64 picture is 4,096 blocks, which is a lot to gather, so check that your size is realistic.
Decide early whether the art stands upright as a wall or lies flat as a floor. A wall is easier to see from a distance. A floor is easier to build, because you can walk across it.
Choose your blocks
Wool, concrete and terracotta all come in many colors. Wool is simple to get but has a woven texture. Concrete has a smooth, flat color, which is why many builders prefer it for pictures. Terracotta gives softer, muted tones.
Concrete is made from concrete powder, which turns solid when it touches water, so allow time for that step.
- Wool: easy to obtain, textured look.
- Concrete: flat, bright colors.
- Terracotta: muted, earthy colors.
Count stacks and shulker boxes
Blocks stack to 64. Divide the number of blocks per color by 64 to see how many stacks you need. A shulker box holds 27 stacks, or 1,728 blocks, so a handful of boxes can carry a large build. Label them by color to save time.
Use scaffolding and build row by row
For a wall, build scaffolding in front of it so you can reach every row. Place your blocks one row at a time, starting from the bottom or the top, and compare each row to the grid before moving on. Small mistakes are hard to spot later.
Mark every tenth block with a different color or torch to keep your count.
Use coordinates
On Java Edition, the F3 debug screen shows your position. Note the coordinates of the bottom corner of your picture, then use them to line up each row exactly.
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Sources and further reading
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