Photos are the hardest input for pixel art: faces carry meaning in tiny details, and a careless conversion loses the likeness. Three settings matter most when you turn a photo into pixel art:
- Pixel size 6–12 for faces. Small enough to keep eyes and mouth readable, big enough to look intentional. For full-body shots you can push to 16.
- Auto palette at 12–24 colors. Skin tones need in-between shades; median-cut quantization keeps the ones your photo actually uses.
- Crop before converting. A tight crop means each grid cell covers more face, which preserves identity at the same pixel size.
Avatar workflow
Paste a selfie with Ctrl+V, set pixel size around 8, try Auto first and PICO-8 second, then export at original size. The result drops straight into Discord, Twitch, Slack or X as a profile picture with a hand-made 8-bit feel.
Related tools
Converting artwork or screenshots instead? The general image to pixel art page covers those. For the green handheld aesthetic, use Game Boy pixel art.