Writing a prompt

• Start with the character: “a desert ranger”, “a knight”, “a cyber fox”.
• Name the colours and materials: “black leather jacket, gold trim, red scarf”.
• Describe the face if it matters: “glowing cyan eyes”, “a scar over the left eye”.
• Describe one character, without a background or scenery.
• Hats are painted onto the head, so tall hats become a cap and band.
• Generated skins leave the overlay (outer layer) empty unless you use a reference skin, so add 3D details in the editor.

Model: Steve or Alex

Steve / Classic has arms 4 pixels wide, and Alex / Slim has arms 3 pixels wide. Choose the same model in Minecraft when you upload the skin, or the arms will look wrong.

Resolution

64x64 is the standard size and works in both Java and Bedrock Editions. 128x128 (HD) has twice the detail. Bedrock accepts it, but Java Edition only shows it with a mod.

Reference images

A reference gives the new skin its face, skin colour and hair. Everything else, including the outfit and anything worn on the head, comes from your prompt. Upload a PNG, JPG or WEBP (up to 5 MB), or use Import to fetch a player's skin by username.

A Minecraft skin file

With a skin file (64x64, 128x128 or an old 64x32 skin), these are copied exactly: the face pixel for pixel, the skin colour wherever skin shows, and the hair, including its 3D layer, wherever new headwear doesn't cover it.

Your prompt can add or remove hats, hoods, helmets and crowns, but headwear always stops at the hairline. Nothing new is drawn over the face, so masks, visors and new glasses won't appear. The overlay is only kept where the reference has one. If the reference's arms don't match the Model setting, they are re-fitted.

Any other picture

A drawing, render or screenshot of a character also works. The AI matches its face, skin colour and hair as closely as the 8x8 head allows and ignores everything else, including the background and pose. The result is a close match, not an exact copy.

Editing your skin

The strip at the bottom of the Skin Editor holds your open skins. Add one with New (a blank mannequin), Open (a skin PNG, or drop it on the editor) or Import (a player's skin by username). Bedrock players need a dot before their gamertag and must have joined a server running Geyser.

• On the model, drag to paint, drag the background or right-drag to turn it, and scroll to zoom.
• In 2D, drag on the skin to paint, drag empty space to pan, and scroll to zoom.
• Move (V) only turns or pans, so you can't paint by accident.
• Pencil (B) paints one pixel at a time.
• Eraser (E) clears overlay pixels. The base can't be see-through in Minecraft, so paint over it.
• Fill (G) recolours all connected pixels of one colour on a body part.
• Pick colour (I) copies a colour from the skin. Alt-click does the same with a painting tool.
• Shade (S) darkens each pixel one step per stroke. Hold Shift to lighten.
• Mirror (M) copies each stroke to the other side of the body.
• The Arms menu re-fits the arms to Steve or Alex.
• Undo with Ctrl+Z and redo with Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y (Cmd on a Mac).

Layers

A skin has two layers. The base is the body itself. The overlay sits just above it for hats, hair, jackets, sleeves and trousers, and can have see-through gaps. With Base selected, you paint what you see on the model: the overlay where it covers the body, and the base everywhere else. Select Overlay to paint only the outer layer, including its empty spots, to add new 3D details.

Each layer card shows a small figure. Click a part, such as the hat or a sleeve, to hide it, and click it again to show it. Hidden parts can't be painted, so hiding the hat lets you paint the face under it. The eye button hides or shows the whole layer and turns gold when only some parts are hidden. The bin button clears the overlay.

Saving

Save (Ctrl+S) stores the skin in your account. Your own skins are updated in place, and anything else, such as an example, a file or a gallery skin, is saved as a new skin. Save as a new skin keeps the original and saves your changes as a copy. Download saves the PNG without an account.

Open skins keep their changes and undo history until you leave the page, and a gold dot marks unsaved changes. To edit a saved skin, click its pencil button on the Skins page or in the Gallery.

Skin Splitter

The Skin Splitter combines two to four skins into one, with each skin filling one piece. Upload a skin PNG or Import a player's skin by username. Dropping several PNGs on a slot fills the slots after it too. The 3D preview shows the cracks running all the way round the model, over the head and down the back.

• Pieces: Side by side runs from the model's right (your left as you face it) to its left, Top to bottom runs from the head down, and Shards meet at the chest.Spliced limbs gives each limb, with its hat, jacket or sleeve, to one of the skins. Pick the skin for each limb, or use New mix to deal them again.
• Skin 1 always fills the first piece. Swap moves each skin to the next piece.
• Edge: a straight, jagged or wild cut. New crack cuts along new lines. With spliced limbs, edge and crack don't apply.
• Crack: a dark line, a lava, soul, ender or rainbow glow, or nothing along each crack.
• Arms: re-fits every skin's arms to Steve or Alex.

Mixing 64x64 and HD skins gives an HD skin. Download the result, or use Open in editor to keep painting and save it.

Skin Flipper

The Skin Flipper turns a skin 180 degrees. Upload a skin PNG or Import a player's skin by username. The slot shows the front of the skin before and after, and the 3D preview shows the result. Both layers turn together, so hats, jackets and sleeves stay on the right parts.

• Upside down flips the head, body, arms and legs over. The arms and legs swap sides, so their outer sides stay outside.
• Turned around puts the back of the skin on the front, as if the character faced the other way.
• Head over heels does both: upside down and facing the other way.
• Arms re-fits the skin's arms to Steve or Alex.

Each part turns where it is, so Upside down gives an upside-down face on top, not a character standing on its head. Download the result, or use Open in editor to keep painting and save it.

Image to Skin

Image to Skin turns any picture or photo into a skin. Upload a PNG, JPG, WEBP or GIF, and it covers the front of the model from head to feet, with its edges wrapping round the sides, top and bottom. Add a second picture under Back for the back, or leave it empty to use the front picture on both sides.

• Each picture has a frame the shape of the skin's front, twice as tall as it is wide. Drag it, or use the arrow keys, to choose what goes on the skin. The dashed lines mark where the head ends and the legs start.
• Size: 64x64, or 128x128 HD with twice the detail.
• Smoothing: Smooth colours blends the picture into the skin's pixels, which suits photos. Sharp pixels keeps hard edges, which suits pixel art.
• Arms: Steve or Alex. Alex's narrower arms cut off the picture's outer edges.

The picture only fills the base, so the overlay is free for a hat or jacket. Download the result, or use Open in editor to keep painting and save it.

Java Edition

1. Download the skin PNG from the editor or the Skins page.
2. In the Minecraft Launcher, open Skins and click New skin.
3. Choose the matching model (Classic or Slim), browse to the PNG and click Save & Use.

Bedrock Edition

1. From the main menu, open the Dressing Room and go to Classic Skins.
2. Under Owned, select Import, then Choose New Skin, and pick the PNG.
3. Choose the matching model (Steve or Alex) when asked.

Sharing

Skins are private until you share them. On the Skins page, click a skin's lock button to publish it in the Gallery. The lock turns into a globe. Click it again to make the skin private.