Pixel Art - A "How To" Tutorial #2

ID:311754
 
Feb 16 2012, 4:05 pm
Okay in this tutorial im going to teach you how to get your characters or mobs to look more alive.
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Okay you see the guy with no colors and the blue
thingy. I don't know how to do that .. i see people use that thing a lot but i don't get it lol...So instead of doing that imma show you my way of how to make a mob move and make it do other stuff.
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Okay now focus on the little one now lols.
if you see the walk cycle here http://cyberdog.wikispaces.com/file/view/WalkCycle_Side.jpg/ 30505746/WalkCycle_Side.jpg there are at least 5 poses or in this instance or whatever we would call them icon states. Most people just do 4 and thats what imma do (do the second pose and the last one.)
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Now if you look at the small one notice how his right arm goes out and his left leg goes in do the same opposite to the other side.But notice how the feet looks funny You Have to change it to make it look more realistic or like you know w/e.
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Now you see his feet and how i change it you must see something like that to make it look like its walking forward and not just his legs sliding down and up.
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Okay see the order it goes in it need to be something like that i was lazy so i just flipped it and in the end it should look like this.
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Well that's and again im just giving some ideas or some..uhh stuff to people who want to learn ...

Next is making the people look more alive then just standing there..with little ones its kinda hard to do so imma show you on the big one.
-Okay so first thing you wanna do it make it look like the character base or mob is actually breathing or alive.
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Here all i did was move the body down a bit lol.. its just as simple as that OR you can make him blink which is a LOT easier.
Well whatever just mess around a bit with it im just here to show you stuff you have to learn your self Like what i told my friends who come to ask me "I can't teach you but you can Learn from me :D"
May 21 2012, 11:47 pm
I wanna Know Which Program you Use, and where i can find it ^^
May 22 2012, 10:29 am
There are many good programs to use, but it really depends on your taste.


Some use MSPaint, which comes pre-installed with Windows.

Some may use Paint.NET ( http://www.getpaint.net/ )

A decent amount use GraphicsGale ( http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/ )

And a very small amount, if any (On BYOND, that is), use grafx2 ( http://code.google.com/p/grafx2/ )


There are some other programs, but these are some of the most common. Hope this helps.

EDIT:
Oh, and don't forget the built-in editor in the Dream Maker. I find it pretty nice, myself.
May 22 2012, 1:02 pm
In response to Grey Dracul
I mainly used MSPaint because its easier to work with in my opinion.
May 22 2012, 1:30 pm
In response to Grey Dracul
Microsoft Paint(MSPaint) is widely seen as one of the best programs for true pixel art. MSPaint is also my personal favorite and it comes pre-installed with any build of the Windows OS that is either Windows '98 or older.

I generally stick with MSPaint for pixel art and any effects like gradients, glows, banners, etc. I will use Paint.NET, which is a great free program for graphic art(note; graphic art != pixel art).

May 23 2012, 12:09 pm
GraphicsGale(pixel art) ,DMI editor(Animations) , Gimp(for effects,Banners,Buttons,Interface,ect)

Thats my combo
Aug 9 2012, 2:17 am
GIMP is an invaluable tool. No matter what program I use to create art or manipulate images I will use GIMP multiple times to scale, turn, flip, make transparent, change file types and myriad other details. The nice thing about GIMP is that you can perform any action without altering the original integrity of the image and you can do it quickly. Paint, Inkscape and others work well for creation but GIMP rules final manipulation techniques. Another nice feature to GIMP is the turn function as you are not limited to 90 and 45 degree turns, you can rotate through an entire 360 degree circle. Just remember to fit canvas to layers though as most images will scale outside the original canvas size at skewed angles.
Aug 9 2012, 5:59 am
Since no one decided to point out anything about the tutorial, I will.
(Yes, I know it's from February.)

This tutorial is lazy. You said it yourself. You aren't explaining very much and every time you try to explain something you can barely get your point across because you aren't using correct sentence structure, spelling and grammar.
What you do on your own time is your problem, but if you want to try to teach others you need to provide good examples (Using that tiny sprite and saying that the person reading it needs to make it better because you were too lazy is not a good example) and make sure you can get your point across with words.
Aug 9 2012, 6:26 am
Not to be rude but you seem to struggle to draw humanoids, your mob looks like an alien. I do not understand the perspective of having little eyes at the bottom of his chin and having an enormous forehead and slender ladylike legs.

On top of this, I second the use of Gimp/Photoshop as a valid and useful graphic art tools. They have a lot of features you don't need for pixel art but then again they have a lot of features that are very helpful for pixel art as well.
Aug 9 2012, 7:30 am
In response to DvK87
It's the perspective he's trying to give. He's not giving a simple front-facing image. Assuming you're talking about the larger image depicted.
Aug 9 2012, 7:45 pm
In response to Albro1
Albro1 wrote:
This tutorial is lazy. You said it yourself. You aren't explaining very much and every time you try to explain something you can barely get your point across because you aren't using correct sentence structure, spelling and grammar.

This is yet another case of the blind leading the blind on this forum. I don't think it's rude to point out that there really needs to be a vetting process for who posts tutorials, and that if you are going to post a tutorial on something, you need to make the effort to ensure that you are displaying some modicum of skill.