Illustrious PixelArt Shader is a LoRA designed for the Illustrious model that converts regular illustrations into clean pixel art.
Instead of generating pixel characters or sprites from scratch, this LoRA acts like a pixel art shader, transforming existing images into a consistent retro pixel style.

The model focuses on applying a pixel grid, reducing visual detail into strong blocks of color, and creating the classic look of retro game graphics while preserving the original subject of the image.

This makes it ideal for turning illustrations, characters, portraits, or objects into stylized pixel art while keeping the composition and shapes recognizable.

Features

• Pixel art style transformation for illustrations

• Works like a pixel art shader / pixelizer filter

• Converts detailed images into clean pixel blocks

• Retro game style aesthetic

• Sharp pixel edges and simplified shading

• Works with characters, objects, and scenes

Important

This LoRA focuses on style transformation, not subject generation.

It does not specialize in generating pixel characters or sprites.
Instead, it converts existing images produced by the model into pixel art.

Think of it as applying a pixel art filter over the generated image.

Short Prompts Work Best

This LoRA tends to produce cleaner pixel grids with shorter prompts.

Very long prompts or too many quality tokens can encourage the base model to add extra detail and smoothing, which may slightly break the pixel grid effect.

For best results, keep prompts simple and direct.

Example:

pixelart, anime girl, fantasy armor

Instead of:

pixelart, masterpiece, best quality, amazing quality, 4k, ultra detailed anime girl with fantasy armor and cinematic lighting

Quality tokens such as masterpiece, best quality, amazing quality, 4k may push the model toward smooth rendering and high detail, which can interfere with the pixel grid structure.

Trigger Word

pixelart

Recommended Settings

Model: Illustrious
LoRA Weight: 0.8 – 2.0
Steps: 8–12
CFG: 5–7

Pixel Perfect Generation (Important)

For the cleanest pixel art effect, generate at a higher resolution and apply pixel scaling afterwards.

Example workflow:

Generate the image normally, then:

1. Downscale the image by 8x

2. Upscale back to the original resolution

Example:

1024×1024 → Downscale to 128×128 → Upscale back to 1024×1024

This creates perfectly clean pixel blocks while preserving the pixel grid.

Always use Nearest Neighbor scaling when resizing to keep the pixels sharp.

Example Prompt

pixelart, anime girl, fantasy armor, portrait, simple background

Best Use Cases

• Turning illustrations into pixel art

• Stylizing characters into retro game style

• Converting fantasy art into pixel graphics

• Retro-style portraits

• Pixel art versions of existing designs

• Stylized pixel environments