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STARTING PIXEL ART?
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KobaBeach
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CloseHi. I've finally got legal versions of RM2k and 2k3 thanks to a friend on Steam, so I'd like to try and use them more "seriously"? (As serious as mostly shitpost games can be)
I'd honestly just like to ask how to get started with pixel art. I've perused some other tutorials, mostly for larger sprites but I'm not really sure how to get started. A friend of mine is a freelance pixel artist, and for MUGEN or fighting game stuff he usually sketches to get a baseline for the artwork and pose.
Though, my usual areas of "expertise" are SMW romhacks and... this? So, I'm wondering where best to start this journey of sorts. I guess I'm also a beginner digital artist, but a lot of my art is mlm gay nonsense, so I can't show it here. I've thought about sketching out a basic drawing and then downscaling it and working off that, but I've also seen people say that Frankenspriting and editing is also a good way to learn how sprites work before making original stuff...
I'm perfectly fine with rips, I really enjoy the jank of clash and copyrighted materials but I also like some consistency in my life. I also appreciate the older RTPs, they're super cute.
I'd honestly just like to ask how to get started with pixel art. I've perused some other tutorials, mostly for larger sprites but I'm not really sure how to get started. A friend of mine is a freelance pixel artist, and for MUGEN or fighting game stuff he usually sketches to get a baseline for the artwork and pose.
Though, my usual areas of "expertise" are SMW romhacks and... this? So, I'm wondering where best to start this journey of sorts. I guess I'm also a beginner digital artist, but a lot of my art is mlm gay nonsense, so I can't show it here. I've thought about sketching out a basic drawing and then downscaling it and working off that, but I've also seen people say that Frankenspriting and editing is also a good way to learn how sprites work before making original stuff...
I'm perfectly fine with rips, I really enjoy the jank of clash and copyrighted materials but I also like some consistency in my life. I also appreciate the older RTPs, they're super cute.
noajang
0
Not sure there's really one right answer since different people learn in vastly different ways, but as a fairly okay pixel artist with no real artistic background outside of pixels, I learned mostly by just picking games from the 16-bit era, looking closely at their graphics, and trying to create something original in their style. I know there are lots of good tutorials out there too, but I found it was a hard thing to grasp without getting my hands dirty, And different games tend to approach things like shading and palette choices in quite different ways, so I found it was beneficial to get that experience of creating art in a wide range of styles before just opening a blank canvas and drawing something totally new.
Probably also worth considering whether you're looking at creating "authentic" 8 / 16-bit pixel art or something more modern, as a lot of modern pixel art and tutorials geared towards creating it don't necessarily adhere to many traditional restrictions that games at the time did, and you also don't see nearly as much of certain techniques like dithering that were geared towards limited hardware and the peculiarities of CRT screens. I remember making a Phantasy Star fan game a few years back in the style of Phantasy Star 4, and while I tried to stay as faithful to the original game's style as possible, in hindsight I'm not sure that its dithering-heavy graphical style was necessarily the best fit for modern screens.
Probably also worth considering whether you're looking at creating "authentic" 8 / 16-bit pixel art or something more modern, as a lot of modern pixel art and tutorials geared towards creating it don't necessarily adhere to many traditional restrictions that games at the time did, and you also don't see nearly as much of certain techniques like dithering that were geared towards limited hardware and the peculiarities of CRT screens. I remember making a Phantasy Star fan game a few years back in the style of Phantasy Star 4, and while I tried to stay as faithful to the original game's style as possible, in hindsight I'm not sure that its dithering-heavy graphical style was necessarily the best fit for modern screens.
Darken
3952
I started out by editing rips a lot. Then when I wanted something that no existing game had I could do an ok job at creating something 'custom' Then it sort of went from there. I'd also pick a very lofi style like Gameboy or NES, even these days I prefer low res and low amount of shades/colors just because it saves so much time getting the actual game done. You'll burn yourself out if you attempt something even half the size of a fighting game sprites especially as a beginner.
I almost never make art outside of projects, so to me a good motivator is just making something that's "good enough" for the project and moving on. Eventually your "good enough" barometer will improve over time. RM2K3 really does force you to use low resolutions and limited frames of animations so it's pretty good about that stuff.
I almost never make art outside of projects, so to me a good motivator is just making something that's "good enough" for the project and moving on. Eventually your "good enough" barometer will improve over time. RM2K3 really does force you to use low resolutions and limited frames of animations so it's pretty good about that stuff.
Fighting game style is definitely hard and not one to start with! You don't have to show them online but it helps to replicate and play around with existing sprites so you get an idea of how they work. Also, learning how to use the grids in the art program you use is good too, helps you align stuff better.
I do agree with Darken, going low color / low res helps and also I feel it helps with thinking about how the forms and everything look. NES and Gameboy / GBC sprites/Tiles are good to learn from!
I do agree with Darken, going low color / low res helps and also I feel it helps with thinking about how the forms and everything look. NES and Gameboy / GBC sprites/Tiles are good to learn from!
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
My advice is to start with a premade base and pixel smaller stuff like clothes and hair so you can learn from a solid foundation. If you're learning how to pixel from scratch, your bases will look out of place since you're still figuring out how everything works.
My very first game on this site had me edit the sprites of the main characters using the RTP as reference for shading and color selection so they wouldn't clash too much with the RTP art style:
My latest game used the POP! Horror sprite bodies as a base and I pixeled all the hair and clothes myself. To back up Darken's and Ocean's statements that lower resolution is the way to go when learning, all sprites and tiles for that game were made at half resolution and were upscaled to the proper size before being imported to the project. (hidden for size):
My very first game on this site had me edit the sprites of the main characters using the RTP as reference for shading and color selection so they wouldn't clash too much with the RTP art style:
My latest game used the POP! Horror sprite bodies as a base and I pixeled all the hair and clothes myself. To back up Darken's and Ocean's statements that lower resolution is the way to go when learning, all sprites and tiles for that game were made at half resolution and were upscaled to the proper size before being imported to the project. (hidden for size):
I got my start like many others in this thread: by studying other styles, doing edits and frankensprites, and then slowly moving towards establishing a style and look of my own.
One thing to consider, and a question you should ask yourself sooner rather than later, is what level of fidelity you want your pixel art to be. If you're looking to learn pixel art in the context of making a game, do so with that goal in mind. You may wish to seek our tutorials that are specifically geared towards making pixel art for games, and avoid tutorials that teach you pixel art in the scope of creating static portfolio pieces. You will have to account for your game being made up of many elements, animations, and moving parts. So you have to consider the level of detail that you want to aim for in relation to how long you want your development cycle to be.
Above is a screenshot from my current project. The important goal I set for myself is to keep my pixel art stylized enough to (hopefully) be appealing to players, yet simple enough that I do not need to spend an excessive amount of time creating it since all of my games have to account for having numerous characters, tilesets, monster sprites, etc. This approach is what helps to allow me to release a project every 1-2 years.
If you're aiming to make absolutely gorgeous pixel art, expect your game to be in development for a very long time. You can spend 12 hours on the most gorgeous sprite of a bush that you can imagine, but if every asset in the game takes 12 hours, you can probably imagine that this will add up quickly. Find a style and a level of fidelity that works for you!
Additionally, while it is generally a good idea to set rules for yourself, remember that it is okay to break those rules when you need to! There are a few rules that I set for myself in how I approach pixel art, such as how many colors I allow in each element. In assets such as those seen in the above example, I usually allow two hues of a given color, but there are exceptions such as the main character's sprite being made up of additional colors beyond my normal allowance. I do these kinds of rule breaks because an important asset like the main character's sprite needs to be recognizable and should stand out to the player more than almost anything else.
I'm definitely not an expert pixel artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I hope this insight into how I approach it will help give you some ideas of where to go with it. Best of luck!
One thing to consider, and a question you should ask yourself sooner rather than later, is what level of fidelity you want your pixel art to be. If you're looking to learn pixel art in the context of making a game, do so with that goal in mind. You may wish to seek our tutorials that are specifically geared towards making pixel art for games, and avoid tutorials that teach you pixel art in the scope of creating static portfolio pieces. You will have to account for your game being made up of many elements, animations, and moving parts. So you have to consider the level of detail that you want to aim for in relation to how long you want your development cycle to be.
Above is a screenshot from my current project. The important goal I set for myself is to keep my pixel art stylized enough to (hopefully) be appealing to players, yet simple enough that I do not need to spend an excessive amount of time creating it since all of my games have to account for having numerous characters, tilesets, monster sprites, etc. This approach is what helps to allow me to release a project every 1-2 years.
If you're aiming to make absolutely gorgeous pixel art, expect your game to be in development for a very long time. You can spend 12 hours on the most gorgeous sprite of a bush that you can imagine, but if every asset in the game takes 12 hours, you can probably imagine that this will add up quickly. Find a style and a level of fidelity that works for you!
Additionally, while it is generally a good idea to set rules for yourself, remember that it is okay to break those rules when you need to! There are a few rules that I set for myself in how I approach pixel art, such as how many colors I allow in each element. In assets such as those seen in the above example, I usually allow two hues of a given color, but there are exceptions such as the main character's sprite being made up of additional colors beyond my normal allowance. I do these kinds of rule breaks because an important asset like the main character's sprite needs to be recognizable and should stand out to the player more than almost anything else.
I'm definitely not an expert pixel artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I hope this insight into how I approach it will help give you some ideas of where to go with it. Best of luck!
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