How to pixelate any image in Adobe Illustrator

 How to pixelate pictures in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial, I will show you step-by-step how you can turn an image into pixel art in Adobe Illustrator. This is a very easy process and should be easy to follow with.

End result:

As usual, I will add some challenges on the end of the tutorial, so you can test your skills and see if you learned. But now, let's get to it!

Step 1:

First you need to create a new Adobe Illustrator document. You can choose any size you want, as it doesn't affect the process.

Step 2:

Import the photo you want to pixelate. This can be literally anything. To import your photo, you can simply drag and drop the image into the document, or click "File", and "Place".

Step 3:

Once you have imported your image, you want to double click it and click the "Embed" button in the top left. This way you can still open the .AI file on other computers.

Step 4:

When you press "Embed", this menu should pop up. Make sure "Convert Layers to Objects" is selected, then press "OK". This will convert the image to an Illustrator Object.

Step 5:

Now click the "Object" button if the top left of the document. Then move down and click "Create Object Mosaic...". A new menu should then pop up.

Step 6:

In this menu you can decide the outcome of the pixelated image. Make sure to check the "Delete Raster" box, which I forgot to do in the picture.
The "Number of Tiles" tab will decide the pixel dimensions of the image. I chose to go with 64x64, which means the image will be 64 pixel high, and 64 pixels wide.
Here you can also choose between colored or grayscale result.
Click OK when you're happy.

Step 7:

If you followed my steps, the outcome should be something like this.

And that my friends, is how you pixelate images in Adobe Illustrator.

Here are some challenges for you:

1.  Try creating a pixelated image in grayscale.
2. Create a pixelated image with 128x128 dimensions.