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Our Guide to Basic Spriting

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Does anyone ever check the sprite practice thread? sad.gif

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What do you guys think about Paint.NET? I generally use it for spriting Super Mario World styled sprites...

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Can you please tell me why the other methods of saving aren't recommended? And how big is the default dragon? Does it have to be in pixels? Do you post your idea and sprite of the forums or the wiki?

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- JPEGs, and essentially every other file type except PNGs and GIFs, blur images, and when the goal of spriting is to make clear, crisp, non-blurred pixel art, things go sour P:

- There isn't really a default size, but 100px in either direction is the recommended maximum.

- Yes, it has to be pixel art.

- The forums is the official place for dragon requests.

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WAIT A MOMENT! ARE YOU SAYING:

Use Microsoft paint OR use paint?

and if you say paint, how do you paint in pixels?

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Uhh, pardon? I'm not sure I get what you mean.

You can use Microsoft paint, yes, but it's not advisable. If you have something like Photoshop or Gimp (or even Paint.NET if you have to) you can use those. Both programs should have a pencil tool, which won't use anti-aliasing whereas the brush tool will.

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Aww shucks, don't get down on li'l ol' MS now! I use MS Paint for everything and it works good for me. At first, yes, my sprites were quite derpy, but like anything, you get better with practice. MS is more often than not readily available and easy to understand, and if you know your way around the internet you can just use external sources like Lunapic to make it transparent or animate a gif. This IMO makes it great for beginners, and, in some cases, experienced spriters too if you've used it enough to know how to make an oiled machine out of scrap metal.

 

That's not to say Gimp or Photoshop are bad, per se. I've tested them and they look usable, and I know quite a few people who use them and are just as good as anyone. But often they require some invested time, and in some cases, money, and are a bit hard to get a grip on until you get the hang of the program. That said, it all comes down to preference. I've been spriting for a while now and I still use MS, while some use Gimp or Photoshop from the get go. I suggest trying various different things and then picking your favorite.

 

As for your second question, zoom in and use the pencil tool, on its smallest setting if it is already thicker than one pixel. Almost all programs require this to make a sprite.

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Uhh, pardon? I'm not sure I get what you mean.

You can use Microsoft paint, yes, but it's not advisable. If you have something like Photoshop or Gimp (or even Paint.NET if you have to) you can use those. Both programs should have a pencil tool, which won't use anti-aliasing whereas the brush tool will.

Many of our in cave artists have done some or all of their art in Paint. Many started out in Paint and Lyz encouraged someone just starting out to do the same as there aren't fancy tools to distract you. Mind expanding on your opinion a bit? =o

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Many of our in cave artists have done some or all of their art in Paint. Many started out in Paint and Lyz encouraged someone just starting out to do the same as there aren't fancy tools to distract you. Mind expanding on your opinion a bit? =o

Personally I would suggest for someone to start in Paint, but move on to a better program like Photoshop, Paint.NET, or GIMP. Yes, they have fancy tools and could distract someone, but that's not the point. The point is, they are much better tools because you are able to make transparent images without needing another program, unlike Paint, and they have layers, which are a godsend in terms of any form of art, but especially spriting.

 

Also, many of those "fancy tools" they have can help greatly with spriting.

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I wasn't saying you can't or shouldn't use Paint, or that you can't make wonderful things with it.

I've found, after trying and failing to use various versions of Paint for most of my life, that other, smarter programs are a big help.

Time and money aren't really a problem, especially with Gimp. I use it because it's free and it's pretty easy to get the hang of. It has a lot of great tools (like Color Cube Analysis, which shows the number of unique colors there are in any given picture. Brightness/Contrast sliders are handy, too). It can export images in a lot of different file types, you can use layers, and most importantly, I like it c:

I can't speak for everyone, but generally if you're determined to make straight-up pixel art, you won't be distracted by fancy tools or weird settings. If you take the time to read up on the program a little, or just experiment and mess around, extra tools won't be a hindrance.

Anyway- I wasn't bashing MS Paint, and I wasn't saying it shouldn't be used, but I certainly don't think it's the best program out there for pixel art.

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What is the max amount of pixels for a dragon sprite? (100x100?)

From the pinned topic "The Ultimate Guide to Spriting" in the Dragon Requests section:

•Preferable size is between 40-100 pixels in both dimensions.

•If the sprite must be larger, it's preferred that it is only larger in one dimension. The absolute max is 120 pixels in one direction.

•Sprites with close to square aspect ratios should be between 60-90 pixels.

 

And then also from this post:

The preferable size for sprites is somewhere between 40-100 pixels in both dimensions. However, it is also preferred that the sprite only be large in one dimension (x or y, but not x and y). Sprites with close to square aspect ratios should be between 60-90 pixels instead.

 

This range is pretty flexible. Sprites can be smaller than this range as needed, although generally the adult sprite should be larger than the hatchling sprite (most hatchling sprites are around 40x40). Sprites can also be larger, although this is not recommended and may negatively affect the sprite's chances of being used. The absolute max size is 120 pixels in any one dimension.

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Where would you recommend posting a sprite on the forum?

 

 

Leopold2111

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Not sure if it's been posted yet but Griffsnuff on deviantart has a fantastic tutorial on making small pixel icons, as well as a couple other things that helped me.

Pixel Icon Tutorial

A quick walkthrough of her process

Tips on pixel cleanup

 

I've also found good antialiasing tutorials on another user's profile but I've honestly forgotten where, I'll check back and add it when I find it!

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people probably ask this a lot but what are good programs for pixel art.

i have krita and MS paint. i hear ms paint is good but is kritafor pixel art also good?

....umm yeah

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So, someone gave me a bunch of cool sketches for my Stratolisk Wyvern idea. Since it's slow going and I want to actually be recognised as a creator of my work, I decided to attempt spritelining over the sketch. I cropped the bottom-right one and resized it.

 

My question is, what do I do now? I experimented a bit (on the same sketch, resized wrong) but I don't know what bits to draw over, or what to ignore, or anything.

Can someone give me a bit of advice?

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people probably ask this a lot but what are good programs for pixel art.

i have krita and MS paint. i hear ms paint is good but is kritafor pixel art also good?

....umm yeah

This is an old post, but you're still around, so I wanted to throw out an answer...

 

Basically, whatever art program you're comfortable using is fine to use! Differences are mainly in tools that programs offer and ease of use figuring out options for beginners vs experienced users. ^^

 

So, someone gave me a bunch of cool sketches for my Stratolisk Wyvern idea. Since it's slow going and I want to actually be recognised as a creator of my work, I decided to attempt spritelining over the sketch. I cropped the bottom-right one and resized it.

 

My question is, what do I do now? I experimented a bit (on the same sketch, resized wrong) but I don't know what bits to draw over, or what to ignore, or anything.

Can someone give me a bit of advice?

 

(You have permission to sprite their sketch, right?)

 

Have you checked out the spriting tutorial in DR? I know it doesn't answer specifically what you're asking, but the key here is editing.

 

Basically, there is no solid, clear answer to your question. You'll be doing a lot of zooming out (and hiding the background) to make sure it's looking okay. If something looks weird, change your curve or angle or whatever. I'd probably start following basically the middle of the sketch lines. But translating from sketch to sprite isn't 100% clean, and you'll be doing a bit of deviating from sketch lines to make curves look smooth and such, anyway.

 

So, to start: just start! Jump in on a relatively clean area and work from there. Zoom out often to check how things are often. Zooming out will also help check if a line is a stray sketchy line or a part of the anatomy. And just keep practicing. =)

Edited by SockPuppet Strangler

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hey, anyone have good advice or tutorials for stone and rock textures? I've poked around a bit but am struggling to find things that help.

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hey, anyone have good advice or tutorials for stone and rock textures? I've poked around a bit but am struggling to find things that help.

I personally like this one. Although suddenly I can't find the main one I reference. ^^"

(If I do find it, I'll come back later and edit.)

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Hey, uhh, so I have this art program called Krita, and I haven't yet figured out how to get a pencil tool to be able to practice spriting on it. Does anybody here know? Thanks c:

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   (Oh look an Esko! :P)

 

   The pencil brush in Krita is a bit weird, because it's merged with the regular brush tool, so...

   >Select the Freehand Brush Tool Koi96QZ.png

   >Go up to the bottommost toolbar, above the file tabs, and click the button with four small boxes: "Choose brush preset". PeqRt1K.png

   >Go through the presets for "PixelArt_Square". It's about in the middle and has a pencil with a square icon underneath. vewTjLl.png

   That's what I used for spriting, as it's easier than fiddling with the brush settings to try and get the perfect "Pencil Tool" that other programs like Paint and Photoshop have. That preset doesn't start out 1 pixel square, so you'll have to downsize it, but it works. There are also some other pixel brush presets that are nice. Just make sure that when you switch presets that the Opacity bar is 100% and there's no Anti-Aliasing (under "Edit brush settings" next to the presets button), as those will blur the brush for blending.

   VzF2rLgl.png

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I been wanting to learn more about pixel art, I found it very beautiful, what I been using is the program called Aseprite, its sold on steam and I think its like $20
and the tutorials I was checking were here 
So far I been doing only what the tutorial linked is asked and I just wanted to share this info with you guys :)

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firealpaca is a good tool, if anyone is looking for a easy to use one that's free.

Edited by SomeRandomCorviknight

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