Our Guide to Basic Spriting

[Shaddowwarrior]

My suggestion would be to download GIMP, if possible. It if free and can do transparent backgrounds, among other things.

[Renorei]

I use a program called Jasc Paint Shop Pro. It is not a free program. I use a very old version of it that came with my computer in 2004 and I have never found it to be inadequate for anything. I used it to make the sprite you see in my sig below. The sprite still needs work, but that's my fault, not the program's.

[Zovesta]

I use a program called Jasc Paint Shop Pro. It is not a free program. I use a very old version of it that came with my computer in 2004 and I have never found it to be inadequate for anything. I used it to make the sprite you see in my sig below. The sprite still needs work, but that's my fault, not the program's.

I use it, too.

[dasdre]

I would suggest paint.net/photoshop for shading, it has kinda good features for shading

I mean, look at this:

[cmdragonfire]

Thank you for this post! Before I always used to draw my sprite first on the com, now I understand why I failed!THANK YOU SO MUCH

[yarg]

would you have to draw a picture and then scan it to get an outline of a dragon from scratch?

[AruGard]

If you wanted to, Yarg. But you could simply sprite the outline yourself.

 

Also, another tip for Recolors, if it hasn'r been mentioned already:

(this tip may only work on MS Paint)

 

1) Select the colour you want to change using the eyedrop tool and the LEFT mouse button.

2) Now choose the colour you want to change it into using the RIGHT mouse button.

3) Select the eraser tool.

4) Hold the right mouse button in and wave the cursor around over the part you want to change colour. It should change colour if you've done this correctly.

 

I use this method on all my splices and recolors, because it just takes a lot less time.

[Oakash]

Question:

 

How do you re-size your drawing to 80/50?

[Plasmadrago]

I need help with spriting dragons on MSPaint.

 

is there any tutorials/tips to spriting on MSpaint?

How do you sprite scetches/create sprites via MSpaint?

 

Any help will be appriciated.

[blackchimera]

What are the maximum dimensions allowed for an adult pygmy?

Edited July 16, 2011 by blackchimera

[wmldrive]

 

 

Please PM me to help me improve! I used one of the template sprites and this is my first attempt at shading and stuff. I need some criteria.

 

EDIT: instead of wings I put in a sharkfin thingy.

Edited November 20, 2011 by wmldrive

[Tiffashy]

I really need help with my shading, last time it went horriable and I had to delete my dragon DX

[raichuluxray]

I need a bit of help shading.

I try to find referances, but my shading sucks really bad. I don't know what shade goes where, andthe best I can do makes the sprite look like it is made of plastic

 

 

So may I ask for a slightly better tutorial for shades so even dummies can understand?

Edited February 7, 2012 by raichuluxray

[ssombii]

thank you thank you for this guide! Had wanted to get into spriting for a good long time now and could never get the hang of it. thanks for the tips

[urge101]

Thank you for this guide!^^ It gives some real great tips! I actually do more pokemon spriting, but whatevs... Thank you anyway.

[cajunsun]

Ooh I am SO glad I found this thread. I have been wanting to try my hand at spriting for YEARS now... I just never had the time. I do A LOT of drawing in Photoshop and have done dragons and phoenix's.

 

Thank you for putting together this guide!!

[LipizzanerKgirl]

Just wondering, is there a reason the sprites are so small? They're really cute and I like their size on the scrolls, but to be honest, I really can't tell what's what on a lot of them. They're fine on scrolls, but when we actually click on a dragon, we are no longer on a scroll. We're supposed to be actually up close with the dragon. Shouldn't he be more than just a "small sketch?"

 

It might be too expensive to hire someone to do big drawings, but I'm offering to do it for free and I know there are many unnoticed artists on here just waiting to be put to work.

 

 

 

 

I was told that it was against the rules to quote more than one person in a single post.

Edited June 10, 2013 by LipizzanerKgirl

[_Z_]

~Posting multiple times is unnecessary, please use the edit tool.~

[mistycloud123]

This might seem like a stupid question, but...

 

How do you sprite a dragon egg? I've been trying to get the shape right, but...

[yuumei]

This might seem like a stupid question, but...

 

How do you sprite a dragon egg? I've been trying to get the shape right, but...

There are egg templates here: http://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?showt...dpost&p=5036829

[cfmtfm]

Do you mean the DC eggs in particular?

 

'd, but just a note - all eggs can be recoloured. No permission needed.

Edited June 30, 2013 by cfmtfm

[Skellybones]

Just wondering, is there a reason the sprites are so small? They're really cute and I like their size on the scrolls, but to be honest, I really can't tell what's what on a lot of them. They're fine on scrolls, but when we actually click on a dragon, we are no longer on a scroll. We're supposed to be actually up close with the dragon. Shouldn't he be more than just a "small sketch?"

 

It might be too expensive to hire someone to do big drawings, but I'm offering to do it for free and I know there are many unnoticed artists on here just waiting to be put to work.

The sprites are that size because it would be rather awkward to have a load of MASSIVE images dominating your browser. Anyway- these are exactly what you said they are. Small sketches. Your scroll is something you write and draw on, so you wouldn't be spending ages on one massive piece for every single dragon you collect, would you?

[shibathedragon]

Do I have to download MS paint?

[edwardelricfreak]

Do I have to download MS paint?

If you have a Windows Operated System (Windows OS) installed on your computer, you should automatically have MS Paint.

 

It is not compatible with other OSs that I know of.

 

If you have a Macintosh (Mac) OS (which is usually only on Apple computers but can sometimes be installed on others), or a Linux (I don't know much about these) then you'll have to get something else. You could always get Photoshop, but if you want something free/cheap, I think there's stuff like Paint.net, Paint Tool SAI, and GIMP that you can also use.

[Obscure_Trash]

Paintbrush is kind of like Paint for Mac. You do have to download it, but it's free. It's simpler than GIMP and PS are if that's what you prefer. I used it for a bit and liked it okay.