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Illustration colours from an image

Artists often borrow a palette from a picture they love and apply it to new work. Drop a reference image and keep its ten main colours as a list you can load into your drawing app. Nothing is uploaded: your image stays in your browser.

Drop an image here

Or paste one with Ctrl+V. PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, AVIF or BMP, up to 25 MB.

More palette ideas

How it works

  1. Add an image

    Drop a picture on the page, paste it with Ctrl+V, or browse for a file. A logo, a photo, a screenshot or a product shot all work.

  2. Choose how many colours

    Pick 4, 6, 8 or 10. The most common colours come first, with the share of the image each one covers, so you can see which colour leads.

  3. Pick, scale and copy

    Click the image to pick any exact pixel with a magnifier, open an eleven-step tonal scale for any colour, and show the colours as HEX, RGB, HSL or OKLCH.

  4. Export it

    Copy the palette as CSS variables, a Tailwind theme, SCSS, JSON or plain text, download it as a file, or save a PNG strip of the colours.

Questions about a illustration colours

How do I get a illustration colours from an image?

Add your image, and 10 colours are chosen for you. You can change that to 4, 6, 8 or 10. Then open Export, choose Plain text and copy the code. Use the colour strip as a swatch row at the edge of your canvas, so you can sample from it while you draw.

Is it fine to use a palette taken from someone else's picture?

Colours themselves are not owned, so a palette is a fair starting point. Copying the picture itself is a different matter, so make your own artwork with the colours.

How many colours should a illustration colours have?

Ten colours gives you full range for lighting, shadow and accent. Use fewer when you want a stricter, more graphic look.

Is the image I use for my illustration colours uploaded?

No. The picture is read by your own browser in a background worker, so your illustration colours stays private and the page keeps working offline once it has loaded.

Next step

Check that these colours are readable

A palette looks fine until text sits on it. Test any pair from your palette against WCAG AA and AAA, and get the closest passing colour when one fails.

Open the Contrast Checker
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About these tools

Small tools, made by Sifency

Sifency is a small studio that builds themes, plugins and web apps. These tools began as the things we kept needing ourselves, so we tidied them up and left them open for everyone. There is nothing to sign up for.