diff --git a/engine/lib/loadImage.test.ts b/engine/lib/loadImage.test.ts
index dd3b1c0..07e0f68 100644
--- a/engine/lib/loadImage.test.ts
+++ b/engine/lib/loadImage.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, expect, test } from "vitest";
 import { loadImage } from "./loadImage.ts";
+import missingTextureSrc from "./missingTexture.svg?url";
 
 class MockImage {
 	static instances: MockImage[] = [];
@@ -47,9 +48,16 @@ test("loadImage error", async () => {
 	const promise = loadImage("missing.png");
 	const image = MockImage.instances[0];
 
-	image.onerror!("missing");
+	image.onerror!("boom");
 
-	// errors are logged, but the promise still resolves with the image
-	await expect(promise).resolves.toBe(image);
-	expect(errors).toEqual([["missing"]]);
+	const placeholder = MockImage.instances[1];
+
+	expect(errors).toEqual([["boom"]]);
+	expect(placeholder.src).toBe(missingTextureSrc);
+
+	placeholder.onload!();
+
+	// errors are logged, but the promise still resolves
+	// with a drawable placeholder texture
+	await expect(promise).resolves.toBe(placeholder);
 });
diff --git a/engine/lib/loadImage.ts b/engine/lib/loadImage.ts
index 1ff4c0d..311a703 100644
--- a/engine/lib/loadImage.ts
+++ b/engine/lib/loadImage.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+import missingTextureSrc from "./missingTexture.svg?url";
+
+const placeholder = new Image();
+placeholder.src = missingTextureSrc;
+
 export function loadImage(src: string): Promise<HTMLImageElement> {
 	return new Promise((resolve) => {
 		const image = new Image();
@@ -5,7 +10,7 @@ export function loadImage(src: string): Promise<HTMLImageElement> {
 		image.onload = () => resolve(image);
 		image.onerror = (error) => {
 			console.error(error);
-			resolve(image);
+			resolve(placeholder);
 		};
 
 		image.src = src;
diff --git a/engine/lib/missingTexture.svg b/engine/lib/missingTexture.svg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..086052d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/lib/missingTexture.svg
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="16" height="16">
+	<rect width="16" height="16" fill="#ff00ff"/>
+	<rect width="8" height="8" fill="#000000"/>
+	<rect x="8" y="8" width="8" height="8" fill="#000000"/>
+</svg>