Topic: HEALP! I NEED SOME TIPS ON SPRITING!

[Rin]

Yo! Like it says in the title, I need some tips on spriting.

What I'm after, is SCRATCH spriting tips, and considering that many people here play with this stuff, I decided to ask.

And yes, I'm fully aware that unless I try hard, I will not be good at spriting(or at anything else for that matter), but what I'm looking for is some kind of tips that would point me in the right direction. As in:

-What should I consider when making sprites/sprite icons/other shizz?
-What are good methods of making sprites?
-What are good programs to use? Please don't say paint, because I hate this program.
-Maybe some tutorials for newbz?

Anyway, I would appreciate any help.

---------------

Also, the reason because I try to get into spriting is, that I draw stuff for some time now(few years?) yet I still draw no better than CWC(okay, maybe slightly better). So, I want to get into those fancy spritingmajigg.

[Zan]

-What should I consider when making sprites/sprite icons/other shizz?

Never use anything that adds unnecessary colors to an image or does the work for you; as a spriter, you're in control of every single pixel. The goal is to use pixels together to make the intended form. As such, you add pixels and colors only when you want to and where you want it. Essentially, you're building something using the most basic building blocks.

-What are good methods of making sprites?

Start with a blank canvas, put single pixels one by one on said canvas. Make those pixels form the silhouette of your intended shape.

Make multiple adjacent silhouettes of different colors for different parts of an object. Eventually fill in the details, outlines, color, shading and have the three dimensional figure appear from the two dimensional silhouette.

Like so:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHXTKmOpCsE

Another method is to first draw just the outline using black and filling it in afterward:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz7I4sxpLb0

Or you take a pencil sketch, size reduce it, and sprite over it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5rU8xsAUzQ

-What are good programs to use? Please don't say paint, because I hate this program.

Actually. You need do need something that has the same basic functionality as Paint; 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, (10x) zoom. A full range of available colors and the ability to place single pixels. The only essential function that Paint lacks is the ability to save in PNG and GIF format without color corruption. Any other function is needless clutter and using a proper program for GIF animation in combination solves Paint's saving issues. Other programs introduce lots of complicated extra features, some of which aren't useful and/or accepted for spriting.

The list of programs I'm aware of:
-Paint
-Paint.NET
-GraphicsGale
-ProMotion
-Pixen
-GIMP
-Paint Shop Pro
-Photoshop

Maybe some tutorials for newbz?

http://www.zybez.net/community/index.php?showtopic=724901
http://www.derekyu.com/?page_id=218
http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/

[Kieran]

The only essential function that Paint lacks is the ability to save in PNG and GIF format without color corruption.

Paint actually saves fine in PNG, but some browsers don't fully support it and wind up making the colors darker when you view/save the image.  So, you're gonna have that problem with PNG no matter which program you use.

[Sniper X]

I'm not a pixel artist but I found this:


By:Lucas-Irineu
There might be more tutorials out there.

[Flame]

interesting... I should take notes. Id like to sprite too. Im still at frankensprite/edits on existing sprite

[Sniper X]

interesting... I should take notes. Id like to sprite too. Im still at frankensprite/edits on existing sprite

Well, I like sprites but I don't even start yet.

[Alice in Entropy]

I used to dabble in spriting a little, but not so much now. I was never really that good, anyway. This seems useful, thanks~

[Rin]

Ohkay. Thank you, guize. I will keep everything Zan said in mind.
I have GIMP and Photoshop. But I guess I'll try spriting in GIMP, since I heard quite a lot of people use it.

I think this thread should stay open, because maybe someone will want to add something more to it. I dunno.

Anyway, off to sprite I go.

[Acid]

I have a question:

How does one make sprites a la Final Fantasy 6? I'm talking about enemy sprites in particular. They seem to be edited artworks, rather than classical sprites.

[Night]

They are.

Almost all the enemies in the old final fantasy games are usually digitized works of art.

But I'm sure someone's learned how to make custom enemies themselves.

[Zan]

There's no difference between 'edited artwork' and 'classical sprites'. The artwork you've created on paper is reduced in size to resemble the sprite you want to make. That art will simply serve as your guideline for the placement of pixels; it's a base. If you had no artwork at the base and just worked from the blank canvas, it's just a matter of using your mind's image of the same thing as the guideline for pixel placement.

The comparison between the two images here gives you an example:
http://www.derekyu.com/?page_id=222
http://www.derekyu.com/?page_id=223

There are a multitude of ways to create the same thing. Reaching your goal is independant of the method you used to reach it. In this case, you can go with at least these ways:
-Take drawing, scan and size reduce. Use the drawing as a guideline to create the outline, then eliminate the original drawing. One is left with a simple outline that can be colored and shaded.
-Take drawing, scan and size reduce. Turn the drawing into a silhouette and eliminate any leftovers from the original drawing that are unneedd in your sprite. This silhouette can be manipulated into your sprite.
-Look at your drawing and try to mimick it's outline/silhouette on the blank canvas. This outline/silhouette is then used to make your sprite.
-Don't make a drawing and put onto the blank canvas an outline/silhouette of your mind's image. This outline/silhouette is then used to make your sprite.
-Just put pixels on the canvas of a rough concept and see where that leads to.

All of that is identical for every single sprite you're ever going to make. You don't need to 'learn' how to make enemy sprites, you can make every sprite the exact same way. If you can make one, you can make another. The only limiting factor is your own creativity, skill, knowledge and perseverence.

Remember that spriting allows unfinished possibilities of tinkering with what you have. You can endlessly tweak an image to perfection as you make back ups of your work in progress and experiment with different means of changing it. If you don't like how something looks? Just move about a few pixels and it would look totally different, aking to using the eraser to remove a line to draw another.

[Acid]

I tried following Derek's tutorial. This is the result:



Not what I had in mind :/ Then again... I'm not really done yet.

[Zan]

Try doing something 5 times smaller.

[Acid]

I could shrink it!

But that ain't the same :C

[Zan]

I think you should do what you set out to do, make FF6 boss sprites. The process is the same, you just need to go for a different visual result.

I'd say doing something as big as you just did kinda defeats the purpose of spriting; it only serves to show off your drawing skill. The shading there is simplistic yet effective, but in spriting you can easily do much more than that kind of cartoon look.

If you want an over the top example of what can potentially be done, check out this person's work:
http://www.pixeljoint.com/p/6741.htm

[Acid]

Size is always my biggest problem here. Well, I'll just try again!


Zan, any tips on how to approach that FF6 style?

[Zan]

I would collect quite a few sprites from the actual game and really look at them. Try and figure out the appropiate size of your sprite from there. Also try and analyze the way the shading works, and how the colors are chosen and used. Likewise for posing, anatomy and concept. As you're trying to replicate something, it's basicly just mimickry.

[GuardianHX]

I say, ask GuardianHX, I remember he made a sweet ashe sprite from scratch, he might teach you. He's quite good too.

I remember that. Does anyone still have it? I kind of doubt it, though, but my photobucket account no longer exists and that sprite got lost long ago.

Also, sorry for the bump in the topic, but I wanted to ask. I want to find that sprite again.

[Dr. Wily II]

I believe I do:



These right?

[Gaia]

And there's people to help you out, too. Usually from getting tips on improving the sprite itself to actually help improve the sprite's quality during the WIP (work in progress) phase. Layering also helps too. There are also plenty of spriting sites such as Sprites Inc and TSR if you want to sample a style.

However, you might want to avoid pillowshading too. Most of the time, it's rather uneeded unless you are spriting a pillow. But what it really means is that the light source is trapped within the sprite when it has more than one shade. People commonly start out with "the big three styles", Sonic (Sonic Advance and Battle), Mario (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga or in some cases, Super Mario World), and Megaman (Megaman 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32 bit ranks, such as MM7, which is the mostly used style aside from MMZ style), then move on into more, origional styles periodically. Top spriters all have gone through this too.

Although I don't reccomend it, there's also sprite theft. It occurs when someone saves and re-uploads a sprite that wasn't origionally thier's on thier page, bragging about what they made. This action's frowned upon by many spriters.

Though there's many ways to make a sprite, you could make a spriting technique that suits you best, nobody's stopping you. I hope this helps.


I almost forgot, since people showed thier samples, might as well hop on the dern bandwagon:

This is a sample of my works

I like my style because it allows to a certain extent to emulate other styles as well, simplifying them to a certain extent.

[GuardianHX]

I believe I do:
http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=Pq1xFFnr][img]http://s3.postimage.org/1xFFnr.jpg

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=Pq1xFHSA][img]http://s3.postimage.org/1xFHSA.jpg
These right?

Yes, thank you very much.
I had an animated version of the battle stance as well, but these are just fine.

[Dr. Wily II]

I had an animated version of the battle stance as well, but these are just fine.

Oh, I have those too.

[GuardianHX]

Holy cow, man.

Thanks alot, I never expected to find any of these again.

[Acid]

Hey Guardian, you are back?

Since when?

[GuardianHX]

I'm just hanging around out of boredom.

I lost interest in actually staying on any of the forums I was registered on months ago, and now I just lurk when I want to read something interesting. The only websites I ever really log into are MAL since it's useful, and my occasional posts on /v/ and /toy/. (Though under a different name...)