A little palette help?
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: The Lounge
Forum Name: Resources and Support
Forum Discription: Help your fellow pixel artists out with links to good tutorials, other forums, software, fonts, etc. Bugs and support issues should go here as well.
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=20059
Printed Date: 28 October 2025 at 2:19am
Topic: A little palette help?
Posted By: StoneStephenT
Subject: A little palette help?
Date Posted: 03 November 2014 at 6:10pm
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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.  |
Replies:
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 03 November 2014 at 6:33pm
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Having a 64 color palette as a base is going to cause more problems than its worth. Maybe a 32 color is a better choice so you can focus when working. You can always add a shade or two. A 19-24 is best and many have done wonders with 16-24 like Jinn and Syosa. As an example of this take DBs 16 and 32 palettes and notice that most who use them find more comfort and success with the 16 because the 32 can be overwhelming when thinking of a base/universal palette. Remember that every art is its own thing and has its own need. ------------- |
Posted By: StoneStephenT
Date Posted: 03 November 2014 at 10:16pm
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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. |
Posted By: StoneStephenT
Date Posted: 05 November 2014 at 10:25am
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Oh, I just remembered something else that's been bugging me. Saturation. This is likely where a lot of my issues with color are falling. I know how saturation works and all that, but my chief issue is properly controlling it to achieve a desired "look". Take the Kirby's Adventure screenshot from above: the NES palette lends itself well to a kind of cartoonish "pastel" look thanks to a lot of colors with high saturation levels (or low, in the case of Kirby's signature pink color). How can I achieve certain "looks" or palette "styles" via the use of saturation in my ramps? |
Posted By: jtfjtfjtf
Date Posted: 05 November 2014 at 12:14pm
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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. |
Posted By: StoneStephenT
Date Posted: 05 November 2014 at 12:25pm
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Thanks for the clarification about pastel colors there. And I appreciate that advice; I'll keep that in mind the next time I open GIMP to work on my palette. |