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As some of you may have noticed, spriting isn't that easy, actually it is very hard to do. But don't
worry, all you need to is get a good guideline to tell you how to. In fact, this will:
Sophistify Wrote:
What is a Sprite?
-A sprite is an image (usually not too big) made up of many pixels.
-Sprites
are generally used in games. But, sometimes, they're used in comics, hoaxes, animations, or signatures. They can be used for
many things, use your imagination!
-Always save your works as .PNG format if you're using
MS Paint
What is a pixel?
The left one is a pixel at normal size, while the right one is a pixel blown up
to 4 times its size.
-A pixel is what all images on a computer are made of.
How do I shade?
-Pick
a lightsource. The ones generally used are: Top, Top Right, Right, Bottom Right, Bottom, Bottom
Left, Left, Top Left
-Place darker and lighter pixels on the sprite according to where the light would hit it. So, lighter pixels toward
the light, and darker pixels away form the light. Be sure to consider anything that
blocks light.
What are Sprite Styles?
-A sprite style is something
that is found in a game.
-Some exmples of sprite styles are: Sonic Advance 1,2,3
(SAdv 1-3) Sonic Battle (SB), Mario Party Advance (MPA), Fire Emblem (FE), Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (KH:CoM). These
styles are one among many. Just look at your favorite game, see how they sprite, and try to imitate it.
-A custom sprite style is a style that someone made up.
-Some custom sprite styles are: OMGFossil Chibi, RUST, Skylight Style (Don't know the exact name...), and many more. You may
even be able to create your own style when you get good enough at making custom sprites.
-Please Refer to Resources/Tutorials on how to learn a style.
How Do I animate?
-There are many free programs that animate, but they're not too good, but they're decent. Just do a search on Google for Free Animation Programs, and alot will show up.
-Some
of the better Animation Programs tend to cost money. But, most of them offer Free 30 Day Trials, so give them a try.
-Please refer to Resources for links to some Animation Programs.
What is a Pixelart?
-A PA, or PixelArt, is a large
image compused of many more pixels than a sprite.
-PAs are similiar to a sprite,
but much bigger.
-Shade PAs like you would a sprite, but they generally use more
shades, and are shaded more drastically. That's so they look more realistic.
Example: Awesome Vincent by Ryu Keep in mind, this a WIP. (Refer
to Acronyms section)
Tutorials
-Some of these Tutorials
are for Game styles, others are custom style.
-Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (By kybldmstr)
-RUST Style (by Luminous_Reaver)
-Custom Sprites (by kybldmstr)
-Sonic Battle Pixel Art Tutorial (by MystE)
-Sonic Battle Sprite (by Geo The Fox)
-The BEST Isometric Tutorial
-PixelArt and Isometric Tutorials -It's in a different language, but just look at the images.
-SpriteArt They have some of the best tutorials I've ever seen. They cover AA,
dithering and lots more. Use them all.
-Awesome Pixelart (By Ryu)-Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Resources
GraphicsGale - Many advanced options. It's free.
EZToon- A simple animation program that's good for sketching up rough animations.
Has flood fill dithering too. Free.
UnFREEz -It's not the best, but it gets the job done. Must be saved as .gif
format.
Photobucket -Upload Images here.
Imageshack -Upload images here, also.
Gimp -Exactly like photoshop, but free.
Good for transparency.
Microsoft GIF Animator Decent. The files must be saved as .bmp or .gif format, though.
Free.
Acronyms
C+C -Comments and Criticism
PA - Pixelart
AA-
Anti Aliasing
WIP- Work In Progress
Selout- Selective Outlining
SSY's Additions:
What not to do:
-Pillow Shading: Shading a sprite by going
aroung the outline with increasingly lighter colors. This is unrealistic, and can ruin a decent sprite. Try a shading tutorial.
-Gradient shading: Use of the gradient or "3d effect" tools to do a quick shade job. Better than pillow shading, but
horrible and cheap.
-Overuse of Paint Circles. Circles made in MS Paint can look good if edited correctly, but don't
use them for everything. Yoshi heads are a good example: Noses can look good when edited, but cheeks look horrible.
-STEALING
SPRITES. If someone else ripped a sprite you edited, give them credit if they ask. Credit the company that made them aswell,
or mention the game.
-Making something not look like what it is supposed be. This is just a general tip, but I've
seen this loads of times. I've created tons of sprites I haven't shown because they don't look like what they need to be.
If it looks like a Strong Bad doll in a trucker hat, it ain't Mario.
MK's additions:
-Recolor.
A recolor is basically a pallete swap with no new designs/clothes/physical features/whatever. These kind of sprites are usually
frowned upon.
^recolored by Bruno
-Minor Edit. A minor edit is a sprite that's been slightly edited from another sprite in
terms of shape, size or design. These types of sprites are also not usually accepted well by the public.
-Splice.
A splice is when you take two parts from two different sprites and mash them together. This usually looks bad and newbie spriters
should be discouraged from relying on making these.
-Custom. A custom sprite is a sprite made without a base. Usually,
customs are made with the default tools on whatever program you're using.
-Base. Something that belongs to us. No.
A base is a sprite (usually official) that was/is/about to be manipulated into a different sprite. An example of a widely
used base is Sonic or Megaman. They are edited into many wonderous sprites you see today.
-Edit. An edit is a sprite
that was created by manipulating a base sprite. An actual "edit" of a sprite is a change in the base sprite's shape, size,
or color.
I always wanted to do this, but I never had the time.
http://projectsonic.com/pixelt/index.php?showtopic=3931&st=0
^ Original topic.
Will's Additions:
Don't get discourged if this is confusing and/or hard to do, because it is to everyone when they started.
Ripping:
To rip sprites from games you will need an Emulator and ROM. To find these simply google search "Name
of the game"* ROMS. And for Emulators search "Name of game system"** Emulators.
*Place the game's name here
**Place the game system here
But, I sugest you don't even get an emulator, because almost every Sonic sprite has already been ripped.
And it is illegal to keep a ROM for over 24 hours.
Thanks to Sophistify, SuperSonic Yosihi, and Meta Kirby for contributing all the information
on this page.
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