Please expand this article or section. You can help by adding more information if you are an editor. (June 2019)
An example of a finished Apple Blockshade.
This article is a stub. It may be incomplete, unfinished, or have missing parts/sections. If the article can be expanded, please do so! (September 1st 2026)

Blockshading is a type of computer art form in which a normal photo is covered with reshaped circles of the same color as the photo. There are many different blockshades on Scratch, ranging from a simple piece of fruit to a complicated human faces. Blockshades can be done in both vector and bitmap, although some vector tools may be more helpful when blockshading, such as the reshaping tool. Thus, many Scratchers prefer using the vector editor, resulting in higher-quality images.

Choosing a Blockshade Image

The more colors there are in an image, the harder the blockshade will be. To do a blockshade that is easy or quick, choose a simple image without much shadow, varying color darkness, or mixed colors. As said above, a piece of fruit may be a good choice for a simple blockshade. Other good beginner photos include simple foods, an animal that is not too complicated (a sea star, for example), or an easy to-draw plant such as a tree or a flower.

For a challenge, though, one can choose a more advanced image with more shadowing, colors, and light variations. More advanced blockshades could be a human face, a more complicated animal, or even a landscape.

Creating the Blockshade

To start a blockshade, find a spot on the image to start on. One can pick an area that does not have much color variation, and make a circle around that size. Then, it must be colored to look as close to the color on the image as possible. The eyedropper tool can be used to get the exact color. To create a shape which resembles the patch of color, the circle must then be reshaped using the shaping tool in the vector paint editor. The circle can then be bent and stretched to form a shape that correctly fits that color section of the image. Repeat this process, layering ellipses over each other to fill in the image. Make sure to get every part of it so there are no blank spaces.

Finishing the Blockshade

Once this process has been done that for the entire image, the original photo can be deleted. Then, just do some touch-ups such as erasing excess coloring and filling in blank spots that have been missed. The artist can compare the blockshade to the original picture to see if there are any parts that look odd, and fix those as well. After that, the blockshade is complete! Feel free to add effects or just leave it as is.

See More

Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.