Color Palette Generator – Free Tool for Matching Color Schemes

Our free color palette generator creates matching colors in one click: press the spacebar for a new color scheme, lock the colors you love, and build the rest with harmony rules like complementary, analogous, or triadic. You can also pick a color palette from an image, start from the colors of famous paintings, check contrast and color blindness, and export your palette as PNG, PDF, CSS, Tailwind, ASE, or GPL. No sign-up, no watermark, and everything runs in your browser.

How to Use the Color Palette Generator

The tool opens with a palette taken from Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”. From there, create a new color scheme in a few steps:

1. Generate a palette. Click “Generate” or press the spacebar (after you have clicked into the tool once). Every unlocked color changes.
2. Lock what you like. Click the lock icon on a color. Locked colors stay put, and the next palette is built around the hue of the first locked color (grays are skipped).
3. Choose a harmony and a mood. “Harmony” sets how the hues relate to each other, for example complementary or triadic. “Mood” sets the range of lightness and saturation, for example pastel, earth tones, or dark and moody.
4. Edit single colors. Click a color to open it below the palette. Type a HEX code, an RGB value, or a color name, use the color picker, move the hue, saturation, and lightness sliders, or click one of its tints and shades.
5. Arrange your palette. Drag the grip icon to reorder colors, use “+” and “−” to have between 2 and 12 colors, and use the dice icon to replace one color. On a computer, the “+” that appears between two colors inserts a blend of both.
6. Check and export. Look at the contrast checker and the color blindness preview, then copy the code you need, download the palette, or copy a link to share it.

“Undo” and “Redo” (or Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y) go back and forth through your last 100 changes.

You can work in three ways: as a random color palette generator, by building a color palette from an image, or by hand, color by color.

Color Harmony Rules: How the Tool Finds Matching Colors

Colors look like they belong together when their hues follow a simple pattern on the color wheel. These patterns are called color harmonies, and the “Harmony” menu turns the generator into a color scheme generator for each of them:

“Auto” picks a random harmony each time and tells you which one it used. “Random” ignores harmony rules and only follows the mood. If one of your colors is locked, every harmony starts from its hue, which makes the tool a quick way to find colors that go with a color you already have.

Palettes From Famous Paintings and Moods

You can also start from the colors of a famous artwork. Load the palettes of 18 famous artworks, among them “The Starry Night” by Van Gogh, “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt, Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, and Monet’s “Water Lilies”. We extracted each palette ourselves from a public-domain image on Wikimedia Commons with k-means clustering, the same method as the tool’s “Balanced” option for your own images. Photos and screens shift colors a little, so treat these palettes as inspiration, not as the exact paints the artists used.

The 13 moods and themes include Earth tones, Pastel, Muted, Neutral, Warm, Cool, Bright and bold, Jewel tones, Dark and moody, Sunset, Beach, 90s, and an approximation of the limited Zorn palette. When you load one, the “Mood” menu switches with it, so new palettes stay in that style. Our guides to the earth tone color palette and pastel colors explain how to use these moods in your own work.

How to Get a Color Palette From an Image

Scroll to “Color palette from an image” and click “Upload image”, drag a picture onto the image area, or paste it with Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on a Mac). You can also paste an image link or take a photo on your phone.

The tool then picks 2 to 12 colors from the picture, and they become your palette right away. “Balanced” starts with the color that covers the largest area and then adds colors that differ from those already chosen, so small but strong accents get a chance. “Dominant” takes the colors that cover the largest areas. Below the image, each color shows what share of the picture is closest to it.

Each color also gets a circle on the image. Drag a circle to another spot, and that color in your palette changes to the average of the 5 × 5 pixels under it. For single colors, our image color picker shows the codes of every pixel.

Check Contrast and Color Blindness

The contrast checker shows every pair of your colors, plus white and black text, as a matrix with its contrast ratio according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). A ratio of 4.5:1 passes level AA for normal text, 3:1 is enough for large text as well as icons and borders, and 7:1 reaches level AAA (4.5:1 for large text).

The color blindness check shows your palette as it may look with protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia. Red-green color vision deficiency is common: about 1 in 12 men are affected, but far fewer women. Pairs that become hard to tell apart get a red outline. The last row, “Grayscale”, shows only the values of your colors. Painters use this value check all the time, because a picture with strong value contrast reads well even when the colors are close.

Export, Share, and Save Your Palette

When your palette is ready, you can export it in these formats:

• Code: CSS or SCSS variables, Tailwind CSS (version 4 and 3), JSON, a HEX list, or a CSS gradient, named after the closest color names.
• PNG: an image of your palette with HEX codes, color names, and RGB values.
• Print or PDF: an A4 sheet with swatches, HEX, RGB, and CMYK values, names, and shades and tints. Choose “Save as PDF” in the print window.
• ASE: an Adobe Swatch Exchange file for Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Procreate can import ASE files, too.
• GPL: a palette file for GIMP, Krita, and Inkscape.
• Link: “Copy link” creates a web address that contains the HEX codes of your colors. Anyone who opens it sees the same palette.

“Save palette” keeps up to 60 palettes, and the “Recent” list remembers the last 24 palettes you generated or loaded. Both are stored only in your browser. “Gradient view” blends your colors into one gradient, and “Adjust the palette” shifts the hue, saturation, brightness, or temperature of all unlocked colors at once.

What Is a Color Palette?

A color palette is a set of colors chosen for one project, such as a painting, a website, an app, a brand, or a room. It can have two colors or a dozen, but it always has a purpose: to create a mood, keep a design consistent, or give a brand a recognizable look.

Some palettes follow a harmony rule, others come from nature, a photo, or a painting, and many are built around a target audience, a theme, or the values of a brand. Painters also use the word for the board on which they mix paint.

How to Pick a Color Palette That Works

• Start with three to five colors. More are harder to balance.
• Give each color a role. The 60-30-10 rule from interior design uses one dominant color for about 60%, a secondary color for 30%, and an accent for 10%. The “See it in use” preview shows your palette in exactly these proportions.
• Mix light and dark. A palette with only mid-tones looks flat. Check the grayscale row to be sure your colors differ in value.
• Use saturation carefully. One or two strong colors stand out more next to muted colors and neutral colors.
• Think about temperature. Warm colors seem to come forward, while cool colors seem to recede. Mixing both creates depth.
• Test it in context. Colors change next to each other and on different screens and papers, so print a test sheet before you commit.

For ready-made ideas, browse our collection of aesthetic color palettes.

What Color Palettes Are Used For

• Art and illustration: planning a painting, setting a mood, or limiting your colors so a picture feels unified.
• Graphic design and branding: creating an appealing and consistent visual identity for a brand.
• Web design and UX design: choosing readable text, button, and background colors.
• Fashion and textile design: defining seasonal collections and coordinating fabrics.
• Photography and video: planning color grading.
• Interior design and crafts: matching paint, fabrics, or yarn before you buy.

How the Tool Works

The generator works in OKLCH, a modern color space in which equal steps in lightness look about equal to the eye. Each mood sets a range of lightness and chroma, the lightness values are spread over that range so the colors differ in value, and the harmony rule sets the hue angles. Because the hue angles are measured in OKLCH, the opposite of a color can differ a little from a traditional painter’s color wheel. Colors outside the sRGB range that screens show are reduced in chroma until they fit.

Color names come from a list of 2,331 named colors. The palette from an image uses k-means clustering in the LAB color space. The color blindness preview uses the model by Machado, Oliveira, and Fernandes (2009) for red and green deficiencies and the model by Brettel, Viénot, and Mollon (1997) for tritanopia, and similar colors are flagged with the CIEDE2000 color difference formula. Everything runs in your browser, and your images are never uploaded. Only the sample artworks load from Wikimedia Commons.

More Free Art Tools

All our tools are free, run in your browser, and need no account. See them all on the free art tools page.

• Image color picker: find the exact colors in any photo or painting.
• Color name finder: get the name of any HEX, RGB, or photo color.
• Color wheel: find complementary, triadic, and analogous colors.
• Color mixer: mix paint or screen colors and find paint recipes.
• Random color generator: get random colors and palettes with paint mixing tips.
• Tint and shade generator: make tints, shades, and tones of any color.
• Color blindness simulator: see images and palettes as color blind people do.
• Photo to painting: turn a photo into an oil or watercolor painting.
• Photo to sketch: turn a photo into a pencil sketch or line art.
• Photo to coloring page: turn any picture into a printable coloring page.
• Image to pixel art: convert an image into editable pixel art.
• Pixel art maker: draw pixel art on a grid and print it as a pixel pattern.
• Notan generator: plan light and dark shapes with a two- or three-value study.
• Art grid tool: put a drawing grid over any photo.
• Pose reference: practice figure drawing with timed poses.
• Graph Paper Printable: print graph paper, dot grid, isometric, and hex paper to scale.
• Aspect Ratio Calculator for Art: work out aspect ratios and scale art to any canvas size.
• Tracing Worksheets: make tracing worksheets with letters, numbers, and lines.
• DPI Calculator: find the DPI and largest print size of any image.
• Calligraphy Practice Sheets: print calligraphy and hand lettering practice sheets.
• Art Style Quiz: find out which art style fits you.
• Cursive font generator: turn text into cursive letters to copy or download.
• Gothic font generator: write in blackletter and Old English letters.
• Online drawing board: draw and paint online with brushes, layers, and symmetry.
• Golden ratio overlay: check your composition with a golden spiral and rule of thirds.
• Perspective grid generator: print one-, two-, and three-point perspective grids.
• Paint by number generator: turn a photo into a printable paint by number template.
• Mandala maker: draw symmetrical mandalas and print them as coloring pages.
• Connect the dots maker: turn a picture into a printable dot to dot worksheet.
• Picture frame and mat size calculator: work out mat openings and frame sizes for your art.
• Art pricing calculator: find a fair price for your paintings and prints.
• Art quiz: guess famous paintings, artists, and styles.
• Art prompt generator: get random ideas for drawing and painting.
• Random character generator: create an original character with traits and a palette.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Generate a Random Color Palette?

Click “Generate” or press the spacebar. Set “Harmony” to “Random” for hues without any rule, or keep “Auto” for a different harmony each time. Lock the colors you want to keep.

Can I Create a Color Palette From an Image?

Yes. Upload, drag and drop, or paste a picture in the “Color palette from an image” section. The tool picks 2 to 12 colors with k-means clustering and turns them into your palette. Drag the circles on the image to choose other spots.

How Do I Find Colors That Match a Color I Already Have?

Click a color in the palette and type your HEX code, RGB value, or color name. Lock that color, choose a harmony such as complementary or analogous, and press the spacebar. Every new palette is built around your locked color.

How Many Colors Should a Color Palette Have?

Most designs work well with three to five colors: one or two main colors, a neutral, and an accent. Our tool allows 2 to 12 colors, which helps with illustrations, charts, and design systems.

Is My Palette Accessible for Color-Blind Users?

The color blindness check shows your palette with protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia, and in grayscale, and it marks pairs that become hard to tell apart. Combine it with the contrast checker, which shows which text and background pairs pass WCAG AA or AAA.

How Can I Save or Share a Color Palette?

Click “Save palette” to keep it in your browser, or “Copy link” to get a web address that contains your colors. You can also download it as a PNG image, print it, save it as a PDF, or export it as an ASE or GPL file.

Can I Use the Palettes in Photoshop, Procreate, or Figma?

Yes. Download the ASE file for Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Procreate, or the GPL file for GIMP, Krita, and Inkscape. For Figma and other design apps, copy the HEX list or the CSS code and paste the codes in.

Is the Color Palette Generator Free?

Yes. The tool is completely free, needs no account, adds no watermark, and has no limit on how many palettes you create or export. The contrast checker and color blindness check are included.

Charlene Lewis( Content Creator and Creativity Writer )

In 2005, Charlene completed her Wellness Diplomas in Therapeutic Aromatherapy and Reflexology from the International School of Reflexology and Meridian Therapy. She worked for a company offering corporate wellness programs for a couple of years, before opening up her own therapy practice. It was in 2015 that a friend, who was a digital marketer, asked her to join her company as a content creator, and this is where she found her excitement for writing.

Since joining the content writing world, she has gained a lot of experience over the years writing on a diverse selection of topics, from beauty, health, wellness, travel, and more. Due to various circumstances, she had to close her therapy practice and is now a full-time freelance writer. Being a creative person, she could not pass up the opportunity to contribute to the Art in Context team, where is was in her element, writing about a variety of art and craft topics. Contributing articles for over three years now, her knowledge in this area has grown, and she has gotten to explore her creativity and improve her research and writing skills.

Charlene Lewis has been working for artincontext.org since the relaunch in 2020. She is an experienced writer and mainly focuses on the topics of color theory, painting and drawing.

Learn more about Charlene Lewis and the Art in Context Team.