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Color Theory for Pixel Artists
Practical palette compression, contrast, and ramp design for game-ready sprites.
Color Theory for Pixel Artists
Color theory matters more when you have fewer colors, not less.
Three working rules
- Value contrast carries readability before hue does.
- Palettes should step in deliberate ramps, not random saturation jumps.
- Limited palettes win when related assets share the same shadow logic.
Why PaletteForge uses perceptual matching
RGB distance is cheap, but it often makes the wrong artistic decision. PaletteForge uses perceptual spaces so a converted pack preserves the feel of the source art instead of only minimizing channel error.
A good house palette
- Has enough neutral structure for props and UI.
- Reserves the most saturated colors for attention.
- Keeps shadow steps consistent across packs.