If you make a mistake at any point in this tutorial, press CTRL+Z. This will undo the last changes you made, and you can do it several times in a row, though there is a limit of how much it will undo.
If you want to see a square-like grid to help you draw and align the pixels, you can turn on gridlines by clicking View and then checking the Gridlines box. Select black, and draw three pixels side by side. If you need to see closer, click View and then zoom in to maximum. You should have something similar to this:
This is your starting point for the cube, and will serve as either the bottom or top corner. Obviously now we need to make the other lines. Choose a side and place two pixels beside each other, making sure you start one block up and one block over from the ends:
Using the same two-pixel strategy, do this several times more, until you have it as long as you want it to be. Make sure you begin your count from the center of the 3 pixel line at the bottom/top, the reason being that pixel serves as a corner and counts towards either side. So, we now have this:
Now that we've got the bottom of the cube, and our two lines measuring 10 pixels in length, we will draw new lines. These lines will also be 10 pixels long and will extend upwards from three points: the left side, the right side, and the center pixel at the bottom (in the group of three). Remember on this step you're actually drawing nine pixels since you're starting from the first one. That will give us the following result:
Looks pretty blocky so far, but bear with me. Now that the entire bottom part of the cube is done, all that's left is to draw the remaining lines that will complete the top side of the cube. There are four lines to be drawn, this time starting from either of the three vertical lines we just drew. Remember to count the pixels that are already there when doing your lines! We'll use the same two pixel strategy and connect them, like so:
Now we just have to draw the other two lines. Notice how there's another three-pixel section at the top? When the lines meet, they form this area. Draw the last two 10-pixel lines at the top of the cube to make the completed image:
Finally the shape is done! Still looks really blocky though. Turn off gridlines if you have them on, and zoom out to normal size, and you'll see the result:
So now we've finished a cube. 10 pixels isn't a lot to work with, but for learning purposes it's perfect. And we'll use this completed cube in the next tutorial, which will teach you how to properly shade these shapes, as well as to choose a light source and adjust color values based on where the light is. If you want a bigger one, feel free to experiment and draw bigger shapes, as the shading tutorial will work regardless of what size the cube is. Stay tuned!
-kethsong
Additional Information
If you're wondering why the starting line is three pixels wide rather than two, the answer is simple (the post is done otherwise). With the bottom corner being only two pixels wide, the nearby edge will have to be either on the left or right, rather in the middle. This creates a cube that looks a bit askew, especially as you draw bigger ones. Take a look at this example:
On the left, a starting line of three pixels is used. On the right, a starting line of two pixels is used. The cube on the left is more visually pleasing, but the cube on the right has useful purposes as well. Say you wanted to connect these blocks together, like you would see on Tetris or Minecraft. In this case, it's better to start with a two-pixel line rather than three, because they stack better. Note the following image, with 3-pixel vs 2-pixel cubes:
So basically if you want to build things from the blocks you draw, or you want to connect them together, it's best to start with 2-pixel lines.
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