Pixel art portraits from a photo (free) or from a description

Convert a photo in your browser for free, or describe a character and let the portrait preset draw it. Both use the same 96 px grid and 32-colour palette, so a converted photo and a generated avatar sit well next to each other.

For a gift or a profile picture, start with the converter: your photo never leaves your computer, and the result has hard edges and a fixed palette instead of the blurry mosaic most filters give you. For a character that does not exist yet (a D&D character, a VTuber draft, a game protagonist), describe it below and the generator drafts it. The portrait preset uses soft ordered dithering so skin and hair read well at 96 pixels.

Generated portraits cannot be of a real, named person; the prompt filter blocks names of public figures, and the drafts are labelled AI-generated. Converted photos are yours and carry no label.

Writing a portrait prompt

Hair, face shape, one accessory, one colour: young woman with short red hair and round glasses, old dwarf with a braided grey beard. Leave out backgrounds; the preset fills a plain one.