My First Sprite EVAR! (Help Wanted)

[Drill Master]

If you haven't already seen it, here is Derpfig, literally my first sprite ever created.

 

 

Ok. Ok. Hold the applause.

...

 

Ok. It's bad. So I am here to ask if anyone would care to give me lessons in pixel art/ sprite designing sprites is something I've always wanted to do, but I suck at drawing. If anyone would like to help me, if you have Skype, we could set up something there perhaps? Anyways, yeah.

[Fush]

*A wild SPRITIST appears*

What will you do?

>Fight >Item

>PKMN >Run

Okay so first, everything depends on what your goal is here.

1. What will this be used for, ultimately, and

2. What kind of style are you trying to achieve?

This looks like something out of an old DOS game, and if that was you're goal then you succeeded. However I'm going to guess you're not trying to emulate DOS sprites. Call it a hunch.

I'd say it probably needs to be a bit bigger if you want to get any level of detail in there, unless you're trying to do a 8-bit type of sprite. If that's what you want then the colors are a little bold, 8-bit systems usually have more subdued colors.

Also, as a side note, the NES at least has a 4-color limit on sprites, with transparency taking up a color slot. That puts you one color over the limit if you intend to follow it, you don't have to though.

Other than that I'd need to know a bit more, so if you could at the very least answer the previous two questions I could help you much better.

[Drill Master]

*A wild SPRITIST appears*

What will you do?

>Fight >Item

>PKMN >Run

Okay so first, everything depends on what your goal is here.

1. What will this be used for, ultimately, and

2. What kind of style are you trying to achieve?

This looks like something out of an old DOS game, and if that was you're goal then you succeeded. However I'm going to guess you're not trying to emulate DOS sprites. Call it a hunch.

I'd say it probably needs to be a bit bigger if you want to get any level of detail in there, unless you're trying to do a 8-bit type of sprite. If that's what you want then the colors are a little bold, 8-bit systems usually have more subdued colors.

Also, as a side note, the NES at least has a 4-color limit on sprites, with transparency taking up a color slot. That puts you one color over the limit if you intend to follow it, you don't have to though.

Other than that I'd need to know a bit more, so if you could at the very least answer the previous two questions I could help you much better.

Well...

 

1: I don't know yet.

 

2: Final Fantasy style (ye olde gba style)

 

Something on the lines of that possibly.

[Fush]

Well...

 

1: I don't know yet.

 

2: Final Fantasy style (ye olde gba style)

 

Something on the lines of that possibly.

GBA Final Fantasy... that's good, good.

Thought there are 4 GBA FF games... Dawn of Souls, 4 and 5 all use the same style, but 6's style is drastically different. What you have ATM is closer to the DoS/4/5 style than 6 so I'm guessing you mean that.

All of the sprites (and I mean all of them) in DoS at least all use the same base, if you look at them all the body proportions are the same, only the hair and outfit changes. I'd suggest, for this particular project, to take one of the DoS sprites and edit it instead of stating from scratch. It will be both easier and more true to the style.

[Drill Master]

Well...

 

1: I don't know yet.

 

2: Final Fantasy style (ye olde gba style)

 

Something on the lines of that possibly.

GBA Final Fantasy... that's good, good.

Thought there are 4 GBA FF games... Dawn of Souls, 4 and 5 all use the same style, but 6's style is drastically different. What you have ATM is closer to the DoS/4/5 style than 6 so I'm guessing you mean that.

All of the sprites (and I mean all of them) in DoS at least all use the same base, if you look at them all the body proportions are the same, only the hair and outfit changes. I'd suggest, for this particular project, to take one of the DoS sprites and edit it instead of stating from scratch. It will be both easier and more true to the style.

Hmm. I'll have to find a DoS Rom cause my gba doesn't work.

[Fush]

Hmm. I'll have to find a DoS Rom cause my gba doesn't work.

There's no need to do that.

All of the sprites have been ripped before, you just need to download the images.

[Drill Master]

Hmm. I'll have to find a DoS Rom cause my gba doesn't work.

There's no need to do that.

All of the sprites have been ripped before, you just need to download the images.

Hmm. Well, these could work, but I'd still like to start from scratch.

[Prototyke]

Hmm. Well, these could work, but I'd still like to start from scratch.

Starting from scratch is very good, but it takes some skill. Considering that this is your first sprite and you don't consider yourself an artist, it's not bad, but you need a lot of practice. Using a base or other art, although not good for final pieces, is a good way to learn.

 

I used the images Fushigisaur showed to make a proper base for you. http://i.imgur.com/ZYnobYy.png  You can use this to practice basic shading of clothing and hair. Don't only use this base though, it takes longer but using a larger base (say, 40x40 or 70x70) can give great practice on the details as Fushigisaur has already mentioned.

 

Although you don't have to know what you are planning to make your art for, if you do, you'll have a goal. Goals are the momentum to keep you going when your art is junk (which it will be sometimes), when you are too lazy to put in the time that this can take (which you will be sometime or another), and it usually means you will end with something nice.

 

Happily for you, this was my first sprite. Your first sprite is much better than mine was, and I have come a long way from that, so you too can undoubtedly get better.  I made this years ago, when I was quite young, so it will still take quite some work for you to get good.

 

And if you need any specific help, you can PM me. I'm not sure if I'm willing to tutor you thoroughly, but I can give you advice or a tip whenever you need one, and I could link you to some very good tutorials.

 

Edit: When you make more, post them here. I'd love to see them.

[Drill Master]

I was busy with other stuff, but I have created a SWORD!!!

 

 

BEHOLD THE SWORDINESS!!

 

Also I was staring at my phone and got this!

 

 

I made a SPRITE of my HTC EVO 4G LTE!

 

And here is a SPACESHIP!!

 

 

Yay space!

[Addictgamer]

 

You've quickly surpassed my spriting skills, and I am jelly

[Prototyke]

I took your sword, DrillMaster, and added a few little changes to it purely in the shading to increase its visual appeal and to make it seem more realistic.

 

 

Here is the new sword as well as your old one. I will list the changes, why I made them, and how to apply them elsewhere.

 

1-a) Metal is very shiny, particularly sharp metal and gold/silver. You have both here but no major highlights. I added a bright white highlight to the bottom ball thing at the end of the hilt, a section on the top of the guard and a large section right at the middle of the sword touching the darker part. Having them touching provides a striking contrasts that implies an edge and makes the other side also seem darker.

 

1-b) Along the blade I also added vertical bands of highlight. I don't know why light reflects like that off of metal sometimes, but it looks nice as long as it is not overdone. The very top band where the sword changes angle is to show another edge. Metal brightly reflects at edges and corners.

 

2) You are using a default palette, but unfortunately they are not usually sophisticated enough to have good colours for gold. Gold turns orangey when it gets darker, not greenish, so I changed that. An eye for colour will come with time. And practice. Always practice.

 

3) Your guard is overhanging the grip but was not casting a shadow, so I added one. Try to visualize how large everything is in each direction to get the shadows right.

 

4) The wood on the handle did not have high enough contrast for the shading to be highly visible, so I darkened the shaded portion. Unlike the metal parts, I did not add a third colour to the red or brown. As the cord and wood are not highly reflective, they do not need a highlight and the colors are simple enough not to need a huge palette variety.

 

5) I added  some shading inside of the guard in the effort to make it look ridged and as if it were coming out and had more shape than just a piece of tubular bent metal. On the brighter side highlights are the highlight colour, on the darker side they are the brighter colour but not a highlight colour even though they are a highlight. That's pretty basic but still worth mentioning.

 

6) Personal preference, but I hate detached pixels. I deleted the very tip pixel on the sword. (That means I lied about changing the shape. Oh well.)

[Drill Master]

Well I must say thank you for the advice.

 

The app that I use does start out with a default palette, but I can change it to any color, any shade.

 

Also when seeing my sword next to your avatar, I can't help but notice that my sprites are a tad fuzzier than your helmet. Lower resolution app probably.

 

Thanks again for the help, and I'll see what I can stir up nextx

 

Oh, also is there anything in particular you would like to say about the other 2 sprites?

[Prototyke]

The default palette on the phone is a bit annoying but no big deal. There isn't really anything wrong with that one, and you can't really shade it unless you made a larger one or one at a different angle.

 

The spaceship is good as well, but there isn't any shading. When I first saw it I thought that there was, I guess the blue at the back causes an optical illusion. Speaking of which, I think it would be a lot cooler if the blue was transparent, slightly for the part around the ship and a bit more for the trail. I'm not sure if your app could do that. Also because of the Fire (fire in space?) the blue behind the ship wouldn't be purely blue, but kind of purple-y around the exhaust, but again, being able to pick good colours comes with time and practice.

 

As to the fuzziness of the sprites, it is probably just size. I work usually around 100px by 100px and my avatar is 200% magnification (as well as the swords I posted) where as your sprites are normal magnification at 48px by 48px. On a small screen they may be shrunk.

 

All in all they are quite nice though.