Pixel Joint Forum: This site needs some tutorials!

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skeddles
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Joined: 08 April 2021
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Posts: 636

Topic: This site needs some tutorials!
Posted: 16 December 2006 at 1:02pm

instead of just having links to other tutorials, i think PJ should have its own set of tutorials.
I was gonna make a couple, but i just cant find the time.

Pre-tutorial knoledge
   Basic MSpaint Knoledge
   Basic Pixel Art Knoledge

Using MSpaint
   The Menu
   The Toolbar
   Top and Bottom

Basic Techniques
   Making Line art
   Getting a pallette
   Picking A lightsource

Advanced Techniques
   Dithering
   Anti-Aliasing
Selective Outlining
    to sum it up

whatdya think? together we can do this easily.

Edited by skeddles - 16 December 2006 at 7:08pm

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Skull
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PJ Pioneer

Joined: 03 August 2019
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Posts: 1521

Posted: 16 December 2006 at 1:34pm

..If you can't master the menu of MSPaint just by looking at it.. what;s the blooming point?

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ceddo
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Joined: 01 June 2020
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 466

Posted: 16 December 2006 at 1:36pm

I can't master it by just looking at it... actually, most of the toolbar options are quite confusing and counter-intuitive.

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Larwick
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Joined: 18 July 2024
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4015

Posted: 16 December 2006 at 2:13pm

MSPAINT BUTTANS:

~Fr33-Furm Seleckt

Good for cutting stuff out that's hard to get to with a square. If you let go without reaching the beginning of the line it'll cut an extra straight line to it. It's 2 pixels thick which is annoying and confusing.
~SELUCT

whatever you select you can move around (with the mouse..), duplicate (ctrl+move), spread (shift+move), delete (delete) and copy paste and all that malarky. I guess you know how to copy and paste ya?
You can select the secondary colour to become transparent when moving around, makes things easier sometimes.

~RUBBA
To be honest you shouldnt really need this. I usually have the background colour as my secondary colour so i can delete as i go and see fit. If i want to delete lots i usually use the select tool or paintbrush (although the largest rubber size is bigger by a few pixels than the largest paintbrush, oohlala).

~Fulling tool

Fills the space you click. Has absolutely no tolerance. Good for filling things in quickly.
~pic culla.

Pick colour. Left click for primary colour, right for secondary. You'll use this lots because the recent MSPaint has lost the save palette and everything things.

~MAGNIFIFER

Goes 2x, 6x and 8x. Before you pick however the default zoom is somewhere between 2x and 6x. You can also do 10x by clicking the minute area between the 8x bit and the bottom of the box. Right click to return to 1x. Fun stuff.

~Pens' ill

Your trusty pencil. Makes 1px dots. Quite restricting, and can make alot of mistakes if you're me, and when drawing lines it'll make some 2px thick. Before releasing the click, tap the other clicky button on your mouse and the stuff you drew will dissapear as if it were never there. incase you make mistakes. Can do that with basically any tool but just thought i'd say now.
~Brush
Like pencil but can be bigger. I only really use the circles. Never use it much anyway, perhaps for sketching out and rubbing out.
~AERBRUCH

Is evil. Never touch.

~Techst
Can only be used at 1x zoom. All the usual fonts are ther. Click the thing to make the secondary colour transparent so that the text box doesnt delete a load of stuff. Dont use it in pixel art, but you can use it to write stuff, notes and shx.
~Lyne

THE TRUSTY LINE TOOL. I used to use this very often. Good cus the pointer is pretty presice and you can do pencil stuff and more when you need it. Don't use bigger thicknesses than 1px, cus they suck.
~Kurv

Ew, confusing and useless. Unless you wanna make big horrible car pics.
~Rectumble
Good for making squares and rectangles. You can select it to only do an outline, do an outline of primary and fill of secondary, or just do a fill of primary, in that ordera. Press shift while doing your business to make a regular square.
~Polygon

Was that a pokemon? um anyway I don't use this so it must be useless unless you wanna make horrid big stuff.
~Ellie ps.

*cries over his ex* Ok well this is ALRIGHT at making circles. By ALRIGHT i mean that once you make one for the love of god edit it so it doesn't look horrible and jaggedy. Does same stuff as rectangle tool.
~Rounded rectangle
What's the point of this? Just make a rectangle and curve the points yourself.

Hope that helps someone. Fufufufu.

Edited by Larwick - 16 December 2006 at 2:16pm

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Pixel_Outlaw
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Joined: 01 September 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3829

Posted: 16 December 2006 at 2:22pm

I like teh "Kurv". Better than doin math for curves. n00b.

Oh and the polyline is good when you want to conncet distant points while zoomed in.

Oh and move this topic lar-lar.

You should write a tutorial for more complex things. The basic interface is very good actually. You can't get much more clear than what MS did here.

Edited by Pixel_Outlaw - 16 December 2006 at 2:28pm

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Skull
Commander

PJ Pioneer

Joined: 03 August 2019
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1521

Posted: 16 December 2006 at 2:41pm

Originally posted by Larwick

Unless you wanna make big horrible car pics.

Ha.. Hahaha!

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skeddles
Commander

Joined: 08 April 2021
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 636

Posted: 16 December 2006 at 5:23pm

Originally posted by Larwick

Unless you wanna make big horrible car pics.

ftw

but im serious. these are tutorials for people...who have never opened mspaint, or any other image program for that matter.

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Pixel_Outlaw
Commander

Joined: 01 September 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3829

Posted: 16 December 2006 at 5:42pm

Do the people in question wear helmits with dinosaur stickers on them when not riding bikes?

If you think you have found an area that is difficult for some people then by all means go ahead. :)

Edited by Pixel_Outlaw - 16 December 2006 at 5:42pm

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leel
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Joined: 29 June 2005
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Posts: 3001

Posted: 16 December 2006 at 5:52pm

this was in the works before.. it's not finished though

*backs away into shadows*

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skeddles
Commander

Joined: 08 April 2021
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 636

Posted: 16 December 2006 at 7:08pm

FINE! ill do all the mspaint ones. you guys focus on the other ones,k?

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Skull
Commander

PJ Pioneer

Joined: 03 August 2019
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1521

Posted: 17 December 2006 at 6:25am

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Ensellitis
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Joined: 19 June 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 10099

Posted: 19 December 2006 at 12:14am

i think dithering shouldnt be considered advanced, they should be in the basic area.

ಠ_ಠ
There's a pubic hair on my keyboard. What the f**k?? I "mow the lawn" so it's not mine. Gross.

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ceddo
Commander

Joined: 01 June 2020
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 466

Posted: 19 December 2006 at 5:22am

Skull, those tuts are awesome! Just a question: how did you make the text? Do you have a pixel font that doesn't auto-antialias? Whenever I click on the text option, my text auto anti-aliases :(

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Monkey 'o Doom
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Joined: 24 September 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2994

Posted: 19 December 2006 at 9:09am

Agreed, ens.

Dithering and AA should be basic, selective outlining and stuff like that advanced, and the lightsource, palette, and lines should be in a 'Fundamentals' section.

RPG is numberwang.

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PixelSnader
Commander

Not a troll!

Joined: 05 June 2014
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3194

Posted: 19 December 2006 at 9:39am

skull you forgot this:

▄▄█ ▄▄█
▄█▄ ▄█▄

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Skull
Commander

PJ Pioneer

Joined: 03 August 2019
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1521

Posted: 19 December 2006 at 12:18pm

Originally posted by snader

skull you forgot this:

My pride and joy..

Ceddo, it was takenfrom some work I did a while ago.. as you can see, it's now in my sig.

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ceddo
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Joined: 01 June 2020
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Posts: 466

Posted: 19 December 2006 at 12:30pm

I didn't mean the skull logo, I meant the simple pixel font you used :P

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Pixel_Outlaw
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Joined: 01 September 2005
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Posts: 3829

Posted: 19 December 2006 at 3:27pm

Can i have a tut on how to make "breathing" I'm turning blue and feeling lighthea.......................

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Skull
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Joined: 03 August 2019
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1521

Posted: 20 December 2006 at 4:39am

Originally posted by ceddo

I didn't mean the skull logo, I meant the simple pixel font you used :P

Oh, my mistake.. Yeah, there are loads of pixel fonts out there. If you want, You can PM me your email and I'll send them to you.. seeing as I'm not to sharp on the web-links.

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skeddles
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Joined: 08 April 2021
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 636

Posted: 20 December 2006 at 3:37pm

if you guys are just gonna make of it, and not help, then please post in another topic. this is the final tutorial, after you know all of the basics(and even the advanced techniques are basics of pixel art, the rest you must learn on your own...that sounded good, ill have to add that later...)

Okay here is THE pixel tutorial: Practice, practice, practice. Now, practice doesnt mean make 1 pixel art, then make another in the same style. Let me tell you this: you can keep doing that for months and you wont improve 1 bit. Here's what you need to do: Search through a galley of a bunch of pixel arts by a bunch of different artists(such as pixeljoint.com). Then find a style you like. Examine that style. What makes that style look good? Once you've figured that out, then apply it to your own work. Next step is to post it somewhere on the net, and get people that are more expirienced than you to give you advice. Then you can improve your piece even more. Anothing thing that is very important, is save every single thing you do. Never go through and delete everything. You can always learn from your mistakes. If you keep doing this with all different styles, you will be astonished at how much you improve.
\

i was also thinking, as great as skulls tutorial is, i think we should use text, and diagrams, then it can be easily updated and changed.

Edited by skeddles - 20 December 2006 at 3:38pm

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Collaborations/Challenges
Pixel Joint Forum : Pixel Art : Collaborations/Challenges

Author	Message
skeddles Commander Joined: 08 April 2021 Online Status: Offline Posts: 636	Topic: This site needs some tutorials! Posted: 16 December 2006 at 1:02pm
	instead of just having links to other tutorials, i think PJ should have its own set of tutorials. I was gonna make a couple, but i just cant find the time. Pre-tutorial knoledge Basic MSpaint Knoledge Basic Pixel Art Knoledge Using MSpaint The Menu The Toolbar Top and Bottom Basic Techniques Making Line art Getting a pallette Picking A lightsource Advanced Techniques Dithering Anti-Aliasing Selective Outlining to sum it up whatdya think? together we can do this easily. Edited by skeddles - 16 December 2006 at 7:08pm

	IP Logged

Skull Commander PJ Pioneer Joined: 03 August 2019 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1521	Posted: 16 December 2006 at 1:34pm
	..If you can't master the menu of MSPaint just by looking at it.. what;s the blooming point?

	IP Logged

ceddo Commander Joined: 01 June 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 466	Posted: 16 December 2006 at 1:36pm
	I can't master it by just looking at it... actually, most of the toolbar options are quite confusing and counter-intuitive.
	IP Logged

Larwick Commander Joined: 18 July 2024 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4015	Posted: 16 December 2006 at 2:13pm
	MSPAINT BUTTANS: ~Fr33-Furm Seleckt Good for cutting stuff out that's hard to get to with a square. If you let go without reaching the beginning of the line it'll cut an extra straight line to it. It's 2 pixels thick which is annoying and confusing. ~SELUCT whatever you select you can move around (with the mouse..), duplicate (ctrl+move), spread (shift+move), delete (delete) and copy paste and all that malarky. I guess you know how to copy and paste ya? You can select the secondary colour to become transparent when moving around, makes things easier sometimes. ~RUBBA To be honest you shouldnt really need this. I usually have the background colour as my secondary colour so i can delete as i go and see fit. If i want to delete lots i usually use the select tool or paintbrush (although the largest rubber size is bigger by a few pixels than the largest paintbrush, oohlala). ~Fulling tool Fills the space you click. Has absolutely no tolerance. Good for filling things in quickly. ~pic culla. Pick colour. Left click for primary colour, right for secondary. You'll use this lots because the recent MSPaint has lost the save palette and everything things. ~MAGNIFIFER Goes 2x, 6x and 8x. Before you pick however the default zoom is somewhere between 2x and 6x. You can also do 10x by clicking the minute area between the 8x bit and the bottom of the box. Right click to return to 1x. Fun stuff. ~Pens' ill Your trusty pencil. Makes 1px dots. Quite restricting, and can make alot of mistakes if you're me, and when drawing lines it'll make some 2px thick. Before releasing the click, tap the other clicky button on your mouse and the stuff you drew will dissapear as if it were never there. incase you make mistakes. Can do that with basically any tool but just thought i'd say now. ~Brush Like pencil but can be bigger. I only really use the circles. Never use it much anyway, perhaps for sketching out and rubbing out. ~AERBRUCH Is evil. Never touch. ~Techst Can only be used at 1x zoom. All the usual fonts are ther. Click the thing to make the secondary colour transparent so that the text box doesnt delete a load of stuff. Dont use it in pixel art, but you can use it to write stuff, notes and shx. ~Lyne THE TRUSTY LINE TOOL. I used to use this very often. Good cus the pointer is pretty presice and you can do pencil stuff and more when you need it. Don't use bigger thicknesses than 1px, cus they suck. ~Kurv Ew, confusing and useless. Unless you wanna make big horrible car pics. ~Rectumble Good for making squares and rectangles. You can select it to only do an outline, do an outline of primary and fill of secondary, or just do a fill of primary, in that ordera. Press shift while doing your business to make a regular square. ~Polygon Was that a pokemon? um anyway I don't use this so it must be useless unless you wanna make horrid big stuff. ~Ellie ps. cries over his ex Ok well this is ALRIGHT at making circles. By ALRIGHT i mean that once you make one for the love of god edit it so it doesn't look horrible and jaggedy. Does same stuff as rectangle tool. ~Rounded rectangle What's the point of this? Just make a rectangle and curve the points yourself. Hope that helps someone. Fufufufu. Edited by Larwick - 16 December 2006 at 2:16pm

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Pixel_Outlaw Commander Joined: 01 September 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3829	Posted: 16 December 2006 at 2:22pm
	I like teh "Kurv". Better than doin math for curves. n00b. Oh and the polyline is good when you want to conncet distant points while zoomed in. Oh and move this topic lar-lar. You should write a tutorial for more complex things. The basic interface is very good actually. You can't get much more clear than what MS did here. Edited by Pixel_Outlaw - 16 December 2006 at 2:28pm

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Skull Commander PJ Pioneer Joined: 03 August 2019 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1521	Posted: 16 December 2006 at 2:41pm
	*Originally posted by Larwick* Unless you wanna make big horrible car pics. Ha.. Hahaha!

	IP Logged

skeddles Commander Joined: 08 April 2021 Online Status: Offline Posts: 636	Posted: 16 December 2006 at 5:23pm
	*Originally posted by Larwick* Unless you wanna make big horrible car pics. ftw but im serious. these are tutorials for people...who have never opened mspaint, or any other image program for that matter.

	IP Logged

Pixel_Outlaw Commander Joined: 01 September 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3829	Posted: 16 December 2006 at 5:42pm
	Do the people in question wear helmits with dinosaur stickers on them when not riding bikes? If you think you have found an area that is difficult for some people then by all means go ahead. :) Edited by Pixel_Outlaw - 16 December 2006 at 5:42pm

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leel Commander Joined: 29 June 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3001	Posted: 16 December 2006 at 5:52pm
	this was in the works before.. it's not finished though backs away into shadows
	IP Logged

skeddles Commander Joined: 08 April 2021 Online Status: Offline Posts: 636	Posted: 16 December 2006 at 7:08pm
	FINE! ill do all the mspaint ones. you guys focus on the other ones,k?

	IP Logged

Skull Commander PJ Pioneer Joined: 03 August 2019 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1521	Posted: 17 December 2006 at 6:25am


	IP Logged

Ensellitis Commander Joined: 19 June 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 10099	Posted: 19 December 2006 at 12:14am
	i think dithering shouldnt be considered advanced, they should be in the basic area.
	ಠ_ಠ There's a pubic hair on my keyboard. What the f**k?? I "mow the lawn" so it's not mine. Gross.
	IP Logged

ceddo Commander Joined: 01 June 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 466	Posted: 19 December 2006 at 5:22am
	Skull, those tuts are awesome! Just a question: how did you make the text? Do you have a pixel font that doesn't auto-antialias? Whenever I click on the text option, my text auto anti-aliases :(
	IP Logged

Monkey 'o Doom Commander Joined: 24 September 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2994	Posted: 19 December 2006 at 9:09am
	Agreed, ens. Dithering and AA should be basic, selective outlining and stuff like that advanced, and the lightsource, palette, and lines should be in a 'Fundamentals' section.
	RPG is numberwang.
	IP Logged

PixelSnader Commander Not a troll! Joined: 05 June 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3194	Posted: 19 December 2006 at 9:39am
	skull you forgot this:
	▄▄█ ▄▄█ ▄█▄ ▄█▄
	IP Logged

Skull Commander PJ Pioneer Joined: 03 August 2019 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1521	Posted: 19 December 2006 at 12:18pm
	*Originally posted by snader* skull you forgot this: My pride and joy.. Ceddo, it was takenfrom some work I did a while ago.. as you can see, it's now in my sig.

	IP Logged

ceddo Commander Joined: 01 June 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 466	Posted: 19 December 2006 at 12:30pm
	I didn't mean the skull logo, I meant the simple pixel font you used :P
	IP Logged

Pixel_Outlaw Commander Joined: 01 September 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3829	Posted: 19 December 2006 at 3:27pm
	Can i have a tut on how to make "breathing" I'm turning blue and feeling lighthea.......................

	IP Logged

Skull Commander PJ Pioneer Joined: 03 August 2019 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1521	Posted: 20 December 2006 at 4:39am
	*Originally posted by ceddo* I didn't mean the skull logo, I meant the simple pixel font you used :P Oh, my mistake.. Yeah, there are loads of pixel fonts out there. If you want, You can PM me your email and I'll send them to you.. seeing as I'm not to sharp on the web-links.

	IP Logged

skeddles Commander Joined: 08 April 2021 Online Status: Offline Posts: 636	Posted: 20 December 2006 at 3:37pm
	if you guys are just gonna make of it, and not help, then please post in another topic. this is the final tutorial, after you know all of the basics(and even the advanced techniques are basics of pixel art, the rest you must learn on your own...that sounded good, ill have to add that later...) Okay here is THE pixel tutorial: Practice, practice, practice. Now, practice doesnt mean make 1 pixel art, then make another in the same style. Let me tell you this: you can keep doing that for months and you wont improve 1 bit. Here's what you need to do: Search through a galley of a bunch of pixel arts by a bunch of different artists(such as pixeljoint.com). Then find a style you like. Examine that style. What makes that style look good? Once you've figured that out, then apply it to your own work. Next step is to post it somewhere on the net, and get people that are more expirienced than you to give you advice. Then you can improve your piece even more. Anothing thing that is very important, is save every single thing you do. Never go through and delete everything. You can always learn from your mistakes. If you keep doing this with all different styles, you will be astonished at how much you improve. \ i was also thinking, as great as skulls tutorial is, i think we should use text, and diagrams, then it can be easily updated and changed. Edited by skeddles - 20 December 2006 at 3:38pm

	IP Logged