Circle Tool

Basic Usage

Select the Circle tool by pressing Shift+Cor Shift+U . Click and drag to define the bounding box of the ellipse, then release to draw.

Drag Modifiers

• Shift — Constrain the ellipse to a perfect circle
• Ctrl — Draw from the center: the point you started on becomes the middle of the ellipse. Holding Ctrl suspends grid snapping for the drag.
• Alt — Rotate. Holding it mid-drag freezes the current size and turns the pointer into a rotation handle; release it to carry on sizing in the rotated frame.

Fill Modes

Like the Rectangle tool, the Circle tool supports:

• Outline — Draws only the edge of the ellipse
• Filled — Draws a solid filled ellipse

Toggle between modes using the fill mode button in the tool options row.

Pixel Art Circles

Pixel art circles have specific visual characteristics. At small sizes:

• Very small circles (3-7px) have distinctive pixel patterns
• Even diameters create symmetric circles; odd diameters have a center pixel
• The algorithm ensures clean, consistent results at any size

Ink Modes

The Circle tool supports two ink modes, set in the tool options row:

• Simple — Standard color application. The circle replaces the pixels beneath it.
• Lock Alpha — Only applies color where paint already exists. Useful for coloring or shading inside an existing outline.

Tips

• For eyes, buttons, or other small circular elements, a 3x3 or 5x5 circle often works best.
• Circles respect symmetry settings.