Make an icon set that reads at 64px

Last updated: October 12, 2026

Make a set of item icons that share one style and still read at 64 pixels, cut out on transparency, for a UI artist filling an inventory, a shop or a reward screen.

What you'll make

A matching set of item icons, one file per icon, each a PNG with a transparent background. They are drawn larger than they ship (512 pixels or more is typical) and designed for the smallest size the game shows them, here 64 by 64 pixels, so they survive the downscale.

Before you start

  • The list of items and the size your game shows them at. Design for the smallest one.
  • The set's shared grammar, written down once: outline weight, light direction, perspective, palette, and whether icons sit on a plate or float free. Every prompt in the set repeats it.
  • If the set must match icons you already ship, have two or three of them ready to attach as references.
  • Every run spends Creative Units, and the cost depends on the model. See Creative Units.

Draw the set in one run

Icons drawn in one image are drawn against each other, so they come out matching. Create images covers the form in detail.

  1. In a session, open Create image from the tools in the side panel.

  2. In the prompt, name every icon, the layout and the size they must read at: "Four item icons for a frost-fantasy mobile RPG, two by two with space between them, on a plain light-grey background: a frost potion, a runed ice shield, a crystal key and a fur-lined pouch. Bold silhouettes that read at 64 pixels, a thick dark outline, top-left light, no fine detail, no text."

  3. Select Create image. The sheet lands on the board.

Ask for a plain background and space between the icons. Frames, tiles or divider lines drawn between them survive the cutout and have to be removed by hand. Where the model supports it, you can also turn on Transparent background in the form and skip the cutout stage below.

Check it reads at 64 pixels

Judge the set at the size players see it, not at full resolution. Download the sheet and, in your image editor, scale a copy down so each icon is 64 pixels across. Then fill each silhouette solid black: if you can still tell the potion from the key, the icon reads. When one does not, regenerate with fewer elements and a heavier outline rather than upscaling the detail.

Cut the icons out

See Remove an image's background for the tool in detail.

  1. Hover the sheet on the board and select View to open it full-size.

  2. Open Remove image background from the tools beside the image.

  3. Select Remove background. The transparent sheet joins the original's version strip, and the viewer stays open on it.

Split the sheet into icons

Ask the Layer agent to cut the transparent sheet on its grid: attach it in the chat and write "Split this sheet into four icons, two columns by two rows, each trimmed to its edges." Each icon comes back as its own file. See Work with the Layer agent. You can also slice the sheet yourself in your image editor or your engine's sprite editor.

Hand it off

Download each icon as a PNG and keep the full-size files as your masters. Scale to the shipping size in your own pipeline, not in the prompt.

Unity

Import as Sprite (2D and UI), with Alpha Is Transparency on and mipmaps off for UI. If you import the uncut sheet, set the sprite mode to Multiple and slice it by grid in the Sprite Editor.

Unreal

Import as a texture with the UserInterface2D compression setting and use it in a UMG image or a Slate brush.

Godot

Import as a Texture2D; for an uncut sheet, use an AtlasTexture per icon.

Scale it up

  • Grow the set in the same session, repeating the shared grammar word for word in every prompt, and attach two or three approved icons so new ones inherit their outline and palette.
  • For a set that keeps growing over months, train a reference set on the approved icons. See Create a reference set.
  • Put generation and background removal in one workflow so each new batch comes out already cut. See Generate images in a workflow and Remove backgrounds in a workflow.
  • For icons that must scale to any size, such as a store badge, run Vectorize image on a cut-out icon.

If something goes wrong

  • The icons look great large and turn to mush at 64 pixels. Too much interior detail. Ask for bold silhouettes, a thick outline and no fine detail, and state the target size in the prompt.
  • Dividers or tiles stayed after the cutout. The sheet was drawn with frames between the icons. Regenerate on a plain background with space between them, or remove the lines in your image editor.
  • A new icon does not match the set. It was generated with different wording or without the approved icons attached. Reuse the exact shared description and attach approved icons.
  • The edges of a cutout have a halo. The background was close in color to the icon. Generate on a background that contrasts with the icons.

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