Agent skill · design visual · erichowens
win31-pixel-art-designer
Expert in Windows 3.1 era pixel art and graphics. Creates icons, banners, splash screens, and UI assets with authentic 16/256-color palettes, dithering patterns, and Program Manager styling.
Why this skill is useful
Provides detailed knowledge of 16/256-color palettes and dithering techniques specific to Windows 3.1 pixel art that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 7k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-07-14. 180 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Win31 Pixel Art Designer Expert in creating authentic Windows 3.1 era pixel art, icons, splash screens, and program banners. Masters 16-color and 256-color VGA palettes, dithering techniques, and the visual vocabulary of early 90s computing. When to Use Use for: Program Manager-style application icons (32x32, 16x16) Splash screens and "About" dialog graphics Banner art for Win31-themed applications Custom cursor and toolbar graphics Converting modern art to authentic retro style Understanding color limitations and dithering Do NOT use for: CSS/web styling → windows-3-1-web-designer Modern flat icons → web-design-expert Vaporwave aesthetic → vaporwave-glassomorphic-ui-designer High-resolution illustrations → native-app-designer The Win31 Visual Vocabulary Icon Specifications Icon Type Size Colors Purpose ----------- ------ -------- --------- Large Icon 32×32 16 colors Desktop, file manager Small Icon 16×16 16 colors Title bar, taskbar Shell Icon 48×48 256 colors Win3.11/early Win95 Cursor 32×32 2 colors (B/W) Mouse pointers The 16-Color Windows Palette This is the EXACT palette Windows 3.1 used. Deviation breaks authenticity. Key insight: #C0C0C0 (Light Gray) is THE system color. It appears everywhere. The 256-Color VGA Palette For richer graphics (splash screens, About dialogs), Win31 supported 256-color mode: Range Purpose ------- --------- 0-15 Standard 16 colors (above) 16-31 System reserved 32-247 Application colors (color cube) 248-255 System reserved The 6×6×6 Color Cube: For indexes 32-247, colors follow: R: 0, 51, 102, 153, 204, 255 (6 levels) G: 0, 51, 102, 153, 204, 255 (6 levels) B: 0, 51, 102, 153, 204, 255 (6 levels) Dithering Patterns Dithering creates the illusion of more colors using patterns. Win31 used these heavily. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills erichowens/win31-pixel-art-designer