Skin art guide

Practical pixel-art rules for 64×64 Minecraft skins, written for agents: where features go, how to shade, and the mistakes that make skins look amateur.

#The face (head.front, 8×8)

The face is 8 pixels wide, so every pixel is a decision. A reliable layout:

HHHHHHHH   H hair      h hair highlight
HhHHHhHH   S skin      s skin shadow
HSSSSSSH   D brow      W eye white
SDDSSDDS   E iris      M mouth
SWESSEWS
SSSssSSS
SSsMMsSS
SSSSSSSS

Rules of thumb:

• Eyes 2 px wide (white + iris) read best. Iris toward the center gives a friendly look; toward the edges looks surprised.
• Never outline the face in black. Contrast comes from value, not lines.
• Hair should wrap: continue it on head.top, head.back and the upper/back part of head.right / head.left.

#Body landmarks

#Shading

Minecraft's lighting is flat, so skins carry their own shading. Assume light from above and slightly in front.

1. Tone ramp per material: 3 to 4 tones: highlight (+8…+12), base, shadow (−8…−12), deep (−20…−28). Define them in the palette with : shifts.
2. Top-down: lighter on top rows/top faces, darker toward the bottom of each part. gradient with steps: 3–5, or shade on the last row.
3. Inner and back faces darker: limbs' inner faces (rightArm.left, rightLeg.left, …) and back faces by −6…−10.
4. Separate overlapping parts: the row where sleeves end, where shirt meets pants, and where boots begin should have a 1 px shadow.
5. Texture, not noise soup: noise with jitter 2–5 for cloth/metal grain; 6+ looks dirty. Don't jitter faces or small details.
6. Hue-shift shadows for richer art: shadows slightly cooler/more saturated, highlights warmer. (Pick explicit hex tones for that instead of : shifts.)

#Color

• 15–60 distinct colors is typical for a good skin. Fewer than 6 looks flat.
• 1 dominant hue, 1–2 secondary, 1 accent (small area, high saturation: buckles, eyes, gems, lights).
• Keep adjacent parts at different values (lightness), not just hues. Silhouettes must read in grayscale.
• Avoid pure #000000 and pure #ffffff in large areas.

#The overlay layer

The overlay is a shell 0.5 px (head) / 0.25 px (body, limbs) outside the base. It is what makes skins feel 3D.

• Hair volume: extend hair on head.*@overlay a pixel or two past the base hairline.
• Hoods / helmets: fill head@overlay, then clear where the face should show.
• Jackets, scarves, belts with pouches, backpacks: body.*@overlay.
• Cuffs, gloves, boot tops: arms/legs.*@overlay bands.
• Keep overlay pixels fully opaque or fully transparent.

#Workflow that works

1. fill all with the dominant skin/suit color (no transparent base).
2. Fill parts: head, body, arms, legs.
3. Bands: sleeves, belt, pants, shoes.
4. Head: pixels for the face, hair on top/back/sides (copy right → left with flip: "h").
5. Shading and texture on the broad areas: gradient / shade / noise.
6. Details on one side (they stay crisp because they come after the texture); mirror limbs; then asymmetric details.
7. Overlay pass.
8. Review, screenshot, patch.

#Common mistakes