A sprite has a few hundred pixels to say who a character is. The best prompts describe the things that survive at that size: silhouette, two or three main colours, and one or two signature props. Everything else is noise the model has to guess about.
A structure that works
Write it in this order, as a short list of phrases:
- Who or what: “dwarf miner”, “slime enemy”, “health potion”.
- Silhouette details: body shape, hat, hair, cape, big weapon. These are what players recognise.
- Colours: two or three, named plainly: “orange beard, blue overalls”.
- Props and gear: what they hold or wear: “pickaxe over shoulder, lantern on belt”.
- Mood, if it matters: “grumpy”, “sleepy”, “menacing”.
dwarf miner, stocky, orange braided beard, blue overalls, pickaxe over shoulder, lantern on belt, grumpy
That’s enough. Longer prompts don’t make better sprites; they make the model drop things.
What to leave out
- Style words. “16-bit”, “pixel art”, “SNES style”, “retro”. The style preset already does this, and repeating it can push the model into a different look. Pick the style in the Style picker instead.
- Camera and view words. “Side view”, “top-down”, “isometric”, “full body”. Use the View option; it also controls how directions are laid out.
- Backgrounds and scenery. Outputs are transparent sprites. “Standing in a forest” adds clutter around the edges.
- Size and resolution. “64x64”, “high resolution”, “4K”. Use the Frame size option.
- Franchise and artist names. “Link from Zelda”, “in the style of a famous artist”. You can’t use the result commercially anyway, and it often produces a muddled copy.
- Lighting jargon. “Volumetric lighting”, “ray traced”. It doesn’t translate to 16 colours.
Before and after
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| “A cool knight character for my RPG, pixel art, 16-bit, side view, high quality” | “young knight, silver armour, red plume on helmet, kite shield with sun emblem, longsword” |
| “Monster” | “round green slime, one big eye, drippy edges, small crown” |
| “A wizard like Gandalf” | “old wizard, tall pointed grey hat, long white beard, gnarled wooden staff with blue crystal” |
| “Cute animal” | “chubby orange fox, oversized fluffy tail, green scarf” |
| “Sword icon, game item, detailed, 4K” | “short sword, golden crossguard, red gem in pommel, slight glow” |
| “Grass tile, top-down, seamless” | “short grass with a few small white flowers and pebbles” (choose the Tileset type, which handles seamless tiling) |
| “Robot enemy that shoots lasers and flies and has armor” | “boxy flying drone robot, single red eye, two small rotor arms, dented yellow paint” |
| “Girl hero, anime” | “teen adventurer, short purple hair, oversized yellow raincoat, slingshot” |
| “Shopkeeper NPC” | “plump shopkeeper, striped apron, curly mustache, holding a coin pouch” |
| “Boss” | “giant armoured beetle, glossy black shell, golden horn, six legs” |
Size changes what you can describe
| Frame size | What survives |
|---|---|
| 32 px | Silhouette and 2–3 colours. One prop at most. Faces are a few pixels |
| 48–64 px | Clear outfits, one or two props, a readable face. The sweet spot for most characters |
| 96–128 px | Small details: emblems, belts, hair strands. Good for bosses and portraits |
| 256 px and up | Detailed art. Starter allows up to 256 px, Pro 512 px, Studio 512 px |
If a detail keeps disappearing, it’s probably too small for the frame size. Make it bigger in the prompt (“oversized hammer”) or go up a size.
Use variations, then animate the best
Generate 4 variations (2 credits each) and pick the one with the clearest silhouette. Then animate that sprite from “My sprites”. Every animation reuses the same character, so it’s worth spending a few credits to get the still right first. Animating straight from a text prompt draws a new character each time.
Using a reference image
Upload a reference when you already have a design: concept art, a hand-drawn sprite, or a character from an earlier project. Keep the prompt short and only describe what should change (“same character, holding a bow instead of a sword”). Clean references work best: one character, plain background, full body visible.
Prompts in other languages
You can write prompts in any of our 12 interface languages. Short, concrete phrases work best in every language.
Related: Palettes and colour limits · 4 and 8 directions · How to make a walk cycle sprite sheet