Pixel Art Color Palette Guide
How to build a pixel art palette: how many colors you need, hue shifting instead of darkening, and how to keep every color pulling its weight.
Quick answer
Decide the palette before drawing. Most sprites need 3–6 colors per material, and shading should shift hue (not just darken) — shadows toward blue/purple, highlights toward yellow.
How many colors?
| Asset | Color budget | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 8×8 icon | 2–3 | Shape does the work |
| 16×16 character | 4–6 | Skin, cloth, metal, outline |
| 32×32 character | 6–12 | Two materials + shading ramp each |
| Scene / tileset | 16–32 shared | Consistency across the world |
The budget matters more than the exact colors: a fixed palette forces cohesive choices and is the single strongest 'pixel art look' signal.
Shading ramps and hue shifting
A ramp is the set of colors used for one material from darkest to lightest — typically 3–4 steps. The beginner mistake is a straight brightness ramp (dark gray → light gray). Pixel art shading instead shifts hue along the ramp: shadows drift toward blue or purple, highlights toward yellow or warm tones. The result reads as light, not as fog.
- 1
Pick the mid tone first
The base color you would call 'the object's color'. Everything else hangs off it.
- 2
Build the shadow step
Lower the lightness and shift hue toward blue/purple by 10–20°. Keep saturation similar or slightly higher.
- 3
Build the highlight step
Raise lightness and shift toward yellow/warm. The highlight should be smaller in area than the shadow.
Three steps per material is enough at 16×16; four at 32×32.
- 4
Check separation
Squint or zoom out: adjacent ramp steps must still be distinguishable. If not, increase the lightness gap rather than the hue shift.
Put it to work
Palette cohesion rules
- Share colors across materials where possible — a single outline color unifies the sprite.
- One saturated accent color per sprite maximum; everything else stays calmer.
- Test the palette on both dark and light backgrounds before committing.
- Reuse one game-wide palette; per-sprite palettes fragment the world's look.
Common mistakes
- Shading by lowering brightness only — the result looks dirty, not shaded.
- Too many similar mid tones and no real darks or lights.
- Pure black outlines around every shape — tinted outlines (dark purple, dark brown) read richer.
Related
Pixel Art Shading Guide
Pixel art shading that reads: one light direction, connected shadow clusters, selective outlines and highlights placed where they tell a story.
OpenPaletteRetro Game Palette
An 8-color arcade-style palette with a warm mid tone, deep shadow and a punchy accent — the safest all-purpose starting point for 16×16 game sprites.
OpenPaletteFantasy Hero Palette
A 10-color RPG palette: steel and leather ramps for equipment, skin and cloth tones for characters, plus a magic accent for effects.
OpenFAQ
Should outlines be black?
Selective outlines in a dark tint of the local color usually beat pure black everywhere. Save true black for the darkest accents.
Put this idea to work.
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Build a Small Color Palette
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Pixel Palette Generator
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