Is a mouse good enough?

[Cygnus]

I was just wondering if i can make good pixel art using only a mouse and not a drawing tablet. Also what do you use?

[did you see my dog]

From time to time I've tried to use my drawing tablet, but for me, it feels a lot more precise with the mouse. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't try with a drawing tablet if you want to, but I personally prefer the mouse over a drawing tablet (for Pixel Art, at least)

[Vespertine]

Its all I use, this program has precision in mind so it works absolutely perfectly.

[Malpa]

mouse master race ftw

[ShadowX]

Trust me a drawing tablet is almost useless for pixel art. It's great for everything else. But not pixel art. Pixel art is the most budget friendly art form: al you need is a PC. It's not performance hungry, it doesn't require expensive programs and tools (in fact a lot is free). But if you don't believe me then try with a drawing tablet. Good luck ^^

[Robin]

I use a tablet but really only because of the ergonomic factor. Tablets are really only mandatory for high res line art because of the pressure sensitivity. Has little impact on pixel art.

But a cheap monitorless tablet isn't a bad investment if you start getting wrist pain.

[YukoValis]

Mouse works much better (in my experience) when it comes to pixel art. Zooming in and out is one of the aspects of this type of art, since a single pixel in the wrong place can change everything about a picture. So the mouse is easier. The pen is too clunky and random for this.

[Conar]

I find mouse to be more than viable. It's what i use for most things.

[Chironyx]

The beauty of pixel art is not needing to know how to draw in order to create it, I've created stuff for hundreds of hours without knowing how to draw - using my mouse.

I eventually decided to learn drawing, it really leveled up my workflow, my work speed and my confidence when approaching an empty canvas, and when I reached that point, I found a drawing tablet to be much more comfortable! (of course, it took many hours of adjusting and transitioning from being used to a mouse, to working with a tablet)
I've actually went as far as getting a screen tablet which I use mainly for pixel art

Here's the thing though - when I'm sketching out a character and animating it, or drawing an organic-looking background, I'll favor the pen, but if I'm doing low-res background items (BG furniture for a top-down game for example) I might find myself transitioning over to the mouse, because I'll be using the brush tool less since I'll mostly be using rectangles and straight lines along with the paint bucket.

I ABSOLUTELY disagree with the person who said a drawing tablet is "useless" for pixel art, I've also seen professional use it for low-res stuff, both are viable for pixel art and which one you use really depends on your current workflow and desired result.

[Elimeliilemilez]

There is no need for a tablet to do pixel art, like the others here have said. You don't need amazing fine motor skills, either. What you do need is to work on your theory knowledge to efficiently stylize things and do well with a limited colour palette.

[YukoValis]

yeah what you use isn't as important. What IS important is learning a good workflow.
Key binding in Aesprite is 100% needed for you to set up.
Proper keybinds will make things so much faster and fluid.

[Achrileg]

I use a tablet and it's quicker than a mouse, but if I don't have access to a tablet, I can use a tablet with no issues.

It's all about what you favor, BUT, imho, tablet let's you create organic shapes way quicker, and is easier to use for mid-range resolution and higher resolution works, and I think is better for animation work.

Tablet is speed, whereas mouse is precision, until you really get used to either of them.

But as said before, workflow and especially key-binds are super important.
Great key-binds that you should think about:
zoom in and out;
change brush size (increase and decrease) (godlike option, make sure it's easy for you to access this, i have S to increase brush size by one increment and Shift+S to decrease);
flip the canvas;
hide walking ants on selections (like wand or rectangle selections, the moving borders);
invert selection;
toggle tiling preview, both horizontal and both axis;
and I'm sure there's more.

[EtheraelEspeon]

The reason I do pixel art is I can't draw lol, a mouse has been totally fine for me.

[All Thriller No Philler]

Just one more voice saying use a mouse. Pixel Art is based on precision and using the tools, so I'd recommend the mouse, definitely.