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Pixel Art - A "How To" Tutorial #1

ID:300714

Feb 12 2012, 11:57 am

Keywords: art, how, learn, pixel, to, vixiv

VixiV

Okay I feel byond needs more Pixel Artist out there since there are only a few good ones out there. In this first part of the tutorial I'm going to show you all how to make a Base Character because every game should have it's own unique one.
(I'm going to make a 32x32 One)
First off I like to make my dimensions 32x32( By the way i don't like to use any fancy pixel system so i just use paint but you can use GIMP and all that other stuff if you want.)

Then to start off with the head I make a circle.

add a little curve or oval thing to the bottom.

Okay i don't know about all this human anatomy thingy so the bases may look uneven or whatever. I usually make the shoulders equal to its head.

Bring It down on the side of the arm.

Give him some hands you can make them big, small or what ever its up to you.

now draw a line down from the hand

then make feet

and now draw a line up

and you got some legs.

And there you go you got the first part done. now to do the back i usually just erase the line on the bottom of the head because i'm lazy :P.
but change the feet to face up now.

Now we add a East And West.
and here is what i like to do. i usually make the dimensions bigger for more room
Copy the two Directions and paste them next to each other.

Now take the head and erase a part of it

now give it shape

give it the body shape. pull the body forward and make him look kinda fat lol.

give him legs just like before and there you go you got 4 directions if you just flip it now to color.

Well this seems like a hard part for me since i can't pick skin tones but what ever i'll still try.
Use a color pallete or however you spell that its on the left corner.

Outline it with the darkest color you got in your pallete and throw away the black.(this is optional )
and now color in teh base with one of your lighter color.

Darken the color on the parts like under the neck and stuff.

There you go and now the eyes..(this can change if you are making a chibe like base or somthing)

I usually make them 2x2 eyes..

By the way i kinda changed the head a bit for the hair. And there you go its done.
Ps: I'm not the best pixel artist out there im just putting this out so people can actually learn to pixel art because most people are Really Really Lazy when learning this.
PSS: I'll teach you things like how to make it walk and stuff in teh next tutorial
PSSS: did i post this in the right place ??

Feb 13 2012, 7:05 am
King killer 113711	If this was facebook I'd like this but alas, it is not. So I will comment and say that this is awesome.

Feb 13 2012, 10:23 am
Teka123	Nice job, every little helps, but you got some whacky feet going on ;)

Feb 13 2012, 4:24 pm
Gensho	You just taught people how to almost pillow shade, your about 1 pixel off having a pillow shaded base, no offence, you need to learn, before you teach.

Feb 13 2012, 4:28 pm In response to Gensho
IIShadowI	Kinda insulting but he's good enough to teach. I've seen some of his work and is better than this. So please don't judge based on just one simple example. Get to know the person a bit more. Great job Vix.

Feb 13 2012, 4:44 pm

D4RK3 54B3R

Frankly, I don't think this can be called a tutorial. While you do take us step by step through what you're doing, you don't explain what it is that's happening.
You just say draw this line here, or darken these pixels here, but you don't provide examples or explain ideas that can be taken away from this "tutorial" and applied to other sprites.

A Pixel Art tutorial should encompass and explain techniques. What is the point of line art? How do you add details that contribute to the sprite? How do you go about shading? How do you go about antialiasing? A primer on animating? Texturing? Palette Selection? How to use art references?
Those sort of things would warrant an article, because they are concrete ideas that can be taught.

Feb 13 2012, 5:37 pm
Jmurph	I would agree that a little more explanation would be helpful. For example, the line art steps are fine, but whent you start adding in the palette, maybe take a moment to talk about the four color palette you are working with (outline, shadow, base, highlight). Then, when you start shading, talk a bit about light sourcing and shading and dithering. Nothing too detailed, just some starting points.

Feb 13 2012, 5:41 pm
Liight	Cut him some slack is his first tutorial.

Feb 13 2012, 6:00 pm In response to Liight
Popisfizzy	Liight wrote: Cut him some slack is his first tutorial. It's simply being judged by the same standards as other tutorials. Just because it's a freshman effort doesn't mean it's immune to criticism.

Feb 13 2012, 6:30 pm In response to Popisfizzy
Liight	True.

Feb 15 2012, 2:01 am In response to Gensho
Ill Im	He HARDLY shaded the base at all, in fact all he did was outline the muscles and shapes. Although I agree this base could be better, it's not that bad of a start. Sounds more like you're nitpicking than anything.

Feb 15 2012, 2:04 am In response to Gensho
Ill Im	My only criticism is that most sprites don't have a uniform continuous outline in most contemporary 2D games (If you look at any given NPC or player icon in any GBA game it probably won't have a solid outline)

Feb 16 2012, 11:46 am
VixiV	Lol Not to be a jerk and all but it seems like most the people hating this are the people who actually know how to pixel art. But like i said i ain't the best i'm just showing people how you can Learn to pixel art.(Also I don't seem to be well liked by other Pixel Artist :P)

Feb 16 2012, 12:00 pm In response to VixiV
ImmeasurableHate	VixiV wrote: (Also I don't seem to be well liked by other Pixel Artist :P) Cause you suck. >=[

Feb 16 2012, 1:40 pm

In response to ImmeasurableHate

Kumorii

ImmeasurableHate wrote:

VixiV wrote:

(Also I don't seem to be well liked by other Pixel Artist :P)

Cause you suck. >=[

^ I lol'd.

Regardless, while it's a good start for you first tutorial, it could use a lot of work. You should go further in-depth on what you're doing. Also, as stated, you should've gone into detail on defining muscles/tones which would have gotten you into anti-aliasing, light sources, etc.(granted you know how to do those things). However, this is still a good tutorial for beginner artists. (:

Feb 16 2012, 2:41 pm In response to ImmeasurableHate
VixiV	Haha You just hate me cause i didn't like your idea...so stop hating.

Feb 16 2012, 2:42 pm In response to Kumorii
VixiV	Yeah it's meant to help beginners not to help out the pros make their art look better.

Feb 16 2012, 3:02 pm In response to Ill Im
OrangeWeapons	Ill Im wrote: My only criticism is that most sprites don't have a uniform continuous outline in most contemporary 2D games (If you look at any given NPC or player icon in any GBA game it probably won't have a solid outline) Contemporary games != GBA games

Feb 16 2012, 3:37 pm In response to VixiV
ImmeasurableHate	VixiV wrote: Haha You just hate me cause i didn't like your idea...so stop hating. I was obviously kidding but w.e

Feb 17 2012, 5:25 pm In response to OrangeWeapons
Ill Im	GBA, DS, the art style's aren't much different. The only major difference is that the DS generally mixes 2D and 3D, and uses a lot more particle effects. Other than that, if you break the sprites down it is all the same.