Agent skill · creative production · nousresearch
pixel-art
Pixel art w/ era palettes (NES, Game Boy, PICO-8).
Why this skill is useful
Adds two executable scripts for converting images to pixel art and animating them, which the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
Requires python installed locally. About 5k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 226,679 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Pixel Art Convert any image into retro pixel art, then optionally animate it into a short MP4 or GIF with era-appropriate effects (rain, fireflies, snow, embers). Two scripts ship with this skill: scripts/pixelart.py — photo → pixel-art PNG (Floyd-Steinberg dithering) scripts/pixelartvideo.py — pixel-art PNG → animated MP4 (+ optional GIF) Each is importable or runnable directly. Presets snap to hardware palettes when you want era-accurate colors (NES, Game Boy, PICO-8, etc.), or use adaptive N-color quantization for arcade/SNES-style looks. When to Use User wants retro pixel art from a source image User asks for NES / Game Boy / PICO-8 / C64 / arcade / SNES styling User wants a short looping animation (rain scene, night sky, snow, etc.) Posters, album covers, social posts, sprites, characters, avatars Workflow Before generating, confirm the style with the user. Different presets produce very different outputs and regenerating is costly. Step 1 — Offer a style Call clarify with 4 representative presets. Pick the set based on what the user asked for — don't just dump all 14. Default menu when the user's intent is unclear: When the user already named an era (e.g. "80s arcade", "Gameboy"), skip clarify and use the matching preset directly. Step 2 — Offer animation (optional) If the user asked for a video/GIF, or the output might benefit from motion, ask which scene: Do NOT call clarify more than twice in a row. One for style, one for scene if animation is on the table. If the user explicitly asked for a specific style and scene in their message, skip clarify entirely. Step 3 — Generate Run pixelart() first; if animation was requested, chain into pixelartvideo() on the result. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills nousresearch/pixel-art