Pixel Art Palette Generator: Hue-Shifted Ramps

Pick up to four base colors, or press Random colors, and get a pixel art color palette built from hue-shifted ramps: shadows lean toward blue, highlights toward yellow. Click any swatch to copy its hex code, or download the palette as a .gpl for GIMP and Aseprite, a Lospec .hex file, or a PNG strip.

Step 1 of 3: Base colors

Pick 1 to 4 main colors, such as grass, skin and your hero's outfit. Each one becomes a ramp from shadow to highlight.

  • #3a9a5b
  • #c0503f

How to use it

  1. Set your base colors with the color pickers, press Add color for up to four, or press Random colors, then press Next.
  2. Set the Ramp length and the Hue shift, watch the ramp preview, and press Next.
  3. Choose 8 colors, 16 colors or 32 colors and press Generate palette.
  4. Click a swatch to copy its hex value, or download the .gpl, .hex or PNG files.

What hue shifting is and why pixel artists use it

A color ramp is a row of one color from dark to light, used to shade a single material such as skin, grass or metal. If you only make a color darker and lighter, the shadows look grey and muddy and the highlights look washed out.

Hue shifting rotates the hue along the ramp: shadows move toward blue or purple, like objects lit by a blue sky, and highlights move toward yellow, like warm sunlight. This generator also raises saturation a little in the shadows and lowers it in the brightest highlights. A shift of 15 to 25 degrees reads as natural; 30 or more gives a stylized, colorful look; 0 gives straight light and dark versions of one hue.

Picking a palette size

8 colors suits tiny sprites and very retro looks: for example one 5-color ramp plus a few darks and lights. 16 colors, the size of the PICO-8 palette, fits a main character ramp, an environment ramp and a contrasting accent. 32 colors gives room for several materials and a full grey ramp.

Ramp length works the same way: 3 colors (shadow, base, highlight) is enough for 16x16 sprites, while 5 to 7 suits larger sprites and smooth gradients like skies. If your base colors cannot each get a full ramp in the chosen size, the generator shortens the ramps and tells you before you generate.

Palette file formats

The .gpl file is the GIMP palette format: a GIMP Palette header, a Name and Columns line, then one red, green, blue line per color. Aseprite reads and writes .gpl too. Columns is set to the ramp length so each ramp shows as one row.

The .hex file is the format Lospec offers for download: one six-digit hex color per line with no #. Aseprite can load it directly. The 1x PNG is a strip with one pixel per color, and the 8x PNG makes each color an 8x8 square, matching Lospec's PNG downloads. Aseprite can also load a palette from an image.

Frequently asked questions

How many colors should a pixel art palette have?
Most small games do well with 16 to 32 colors. Fewer colors make sprites look consistent and are faster to choose from; start with 16 and add colors only when a material really needs its own ramp.
How do I load the palette in Aseprite?
Download the .gpl or .hex file, open the options menu above the palette in Aseprite, choose Load Palette and pick the file.
What does hue shift mean in pixel art?
It means changing the hue, not just the brightness, as a color gets darker or lighter. Shadows usually shift toward blue and highlights toward yellow, which makes shading look richer than plain darkening.
Can I use the palette in Godot?
Yes. Paste the hex codes into Godot's color picker, which accepts hex values, or import the 1x PNG strip and sample it in a palette shader. Keeping every sprite to the same palette keeps the art consistent.
Why are there colors I did not pick?
The palette is filled to exactly 8, 16 or 32 colors. After your base color ramps, spare room gets ramps on related hues, starting with the complement of your first color, and a neutral grey ramp for outlines, UI and backgrounds.
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