I’d have put this in WIP, but I didn’t think it would really fit in there.

So I decided to create a 64-color palette which I could use as a potential "base palette" for future works (or to make some NES-style images without having to use the limited NES palette). Thus, the first version of my palette:



And an edited version of a screenshot from Kirby’s Adventure for the NES (top is original, bottom is edited):



…okay yes I know it sucks but I’m still kinda new to this whole ‘color theory’ thing and I don’t have the best eye for color/contrast/shading/etc. to begin with. So any help in refining and improving this palette would be appreciated!

Oh, and you can use this palette (or any future version of it) in any way you want.

I get what you're saying, but I'm the kind of person who likes to plan for eventualities. (Which is funny, considering I do most of my pixel art/pixelling practice on a whim.) A large "base palette" plays into my desire to dick around with color schemes and come up with ideas based on them. I put together a simple sprite, then work with alternate colors to see if there's anything I like better than the initial idea.

Smaller palettes kind overwhelm me because I'm not used to working with such limited color selections (again: new-ish to color theory and all that). At least with a larger palette at my disposal, I can use a fair number of colors in the initial idea, then whittle them down as necessary to create a desired effect. It's something of a writer's approach—get a bunch of sh*t out in the first draft, whittle it down in subsequent drafts until it looks good enough to publish.

Until I can reconfigure my brain to work more from an illustrator’s approach (and get the whole color theory/shading/lighting thing down), I want to enable my current approach to work for me as much as possible. A larger palette that leaves plenty of room for both experimentation and "shrinkage" in later "drafts" does just that.

I like having a large palette. It doesn't mean I need to (or will) use every shade. It just means I have more options right in front of me without having to mix new ramps/gradients each time I want to make a new image.

Kirby's palette is very high saturation all around, not pastel. Pastels have lower saturation and high luminosity. In traditional art you add white to a color to get a pastel.

For lighting the color will desaturate if there's an absence of light or the addition of light. For example if you have an occlusion shadow it'll be close to black and if you have a specular highlight it'll be close to white, not whatever color it is.

If you want to build a "you" palette you can try building it around colors or ramps that you like. And then take those qualities and apply them to other colors/ramps to get a unified look. Like Jinn, Syosa, or Fool. They have personal palettes that they use with their pixeling techniques to define their styles rather than a generalist palette that is optimized for everything.