I make pixel art and would like to paste it into photoshop. But I'm running into a few problems

[amlid]

I'm trying to add sprites I've made onto a transparent background but when I try to make an image transparent it just makes the entire image transparent. And when I paste a sprite it has a white background and it's not transparent. How do I resolve this?

[Nancy OShea]

Yes, a transparent background denoted by a checkerboard pattern covers the whole image. That's expected. The actual image is on the layer above the background layer.

1. When you're done editing, Ctrl/Cmd+S to save your native PSD file. 
2. Then go to File > Export > Export As > PNG with Transparency. 
3. Without the transparency box checked, your flat image will have an opaque background.  See screenshot.
4.  

[amlid]

I tried this but the background is still white. I'm using an image I made in mspaint because I was hoping the white background would be transparent in photoshop but I'm not sure how to make it transparent. Sorry I should have included mentioning mspaint.

[Nancy OShea]

In Photoshop CC, go to File > New and select a Transparent background from the drop list.  See screenshots.

In this example, I have created 4 new layers on top of the background, each with a different custom shape:  sun, bird, snail and butterfly.  As you can see, the checkerboard pattern denotes transparency through all layers. And since each element is on its own layer, it can be moved & edited separately from all other elements.  This is why you should Photoshop instead of MS Paint.

Custom Shapes over Transparent Background

[amlid]

Thank you so much, sorry for the late reply. I appreciate you taking time to help me resolve this. You're awesome.

[Michael Bullo]

Your title implies to me that you aren't building your pixel art in Photoshop. If so, what are you building it in?

Can you tell us more about your copy/paste process. When you copy, are the visibility of background elements on or off? Photoshop contains both a Copy and a Copy Merged option. Which one are you using?

[amlid]

Hi, sorry about that. I draw in mspaint for my pixel art but I'm trying to move it over to photoshop. The problem I'm having is white backgrounds when I paste my art for sprites.

[vickim68445947]

I would not use MS Paint, if I were you. Why are you using that program? If you have Photoshop, just do all your image creating in there.

[amlid]

I make pixel art and I'm not too familiar with how photoshop works. I like making detailed and elaborate enviroments so I need to be able to zoom in really close for creating something and making a beautiful combination of colors. I've started using other programs as well though besides ms paint. I'm also not sure if I'm doing something wrong but I can't seem to zoom in as far as I would like in photoshop and there is input lag at times and I'm not familiar with the UI yet. MS paint works well for pixel art. That's why I use MS paint.

[Nancy OShea]

Zoom is relative to the size of your canvas (total pixels).   The bigger your canvas, the greater your zoom potential. 

Ctrl++++++  After a while, you cannot zoom in any more because there aren't enough pixels.

[amlid]

Hey thanks I appreciate the reply also thanks for being patient with me. For some reason zoom wasn't working well for me earlier but I was able to figure it out. I feel a little embarassed that I was having issues with zooming in.