Please Help!
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: Pixel Art
Forum Name: WIP (Work In Progress)
Forum Discription: Get crits and comments on your pixel WIPs and other art too!
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18950
Printed Date: 28 October 2025 at 8:04am
Topic: Please Help!
Posted By: Kaz
Subject: Please Help!
Date Posted: 25 May 2014 at 4:11am
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Hey, for a while now I've been having artist block when it comes too pixel art for one main reason, I really wanna start a project but i can't i find it near impossible to do so. So i was browsing the forums and i found this on another post:  When i saw this i thought to myself, wow! this is awesome i wish i could have a template (e.g. character sprite) so i could mess around and make awesome scenery. But like everything i have no idea at all how to start or even how to make human sprites. So it would be great if anyone here could help me with how to create a character sprite as I've been struggling with it for a while now. Thanks, Kaz |
Replies:
Posted By: SuperTurnip
Date Posted: 25 May 2014 at 1:08pm
| Well, it makes most sense if you try, and then show us your attempts. The steps to pixel art are: try, fail, try again, fail again, fail better. Experiment, and only then can we give you some direction. Good luck! |
Posted By: Kaz
Date Posted: 27 May 2014 at 2:13am
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Sorry for abandoning this thread for a while bu t i finally got a prototype that i like! Now i haven't bothered shading it or adding detail yet, so far just the frame work but now I'd love some opinions on how to improve!  (the one with the x is the one I'm prototyping the other is just a earlier stage) Now i know this looks pretty bad as keep in mind it is my first time EVER experimenting with human sprites. I'd really appreciate some advice on how to make this better Thanks - Kaz |
Posted By: PixelSnader
Date Posted: 27 May 2014 at 6:59am
Personally, I really dislike line art as a development stage. I find it leads too much to making things smooth instead of giving them proper volume, and you lose some pixels/detail because the lines take up space. So I'm a huge advocate of blobbing in shapes more like this:
You don't have to be as accurate as with lineart; that first silhouette was made with a 3x3 or 4x4 brush. Just painting a few basic strokes in black, then going back over them in white, and then black again until you've got a decent rough shape. This one took a minute or so. It doesn't have to be exact. What working with this silhouette has as a HUGE benefit, is that you can much better get a feel for how big/heavy/volumetric a part is. Lineart feels 'light' in simpler areas like the stomach, but 'heavy' in areas with more detail, because the pixel ratio is higher - and detailed areas tend to actually be small/light in comparison. Think of the hand versus the shoulder; detail versus volume. The second image adds a lot of depth just by adding some highlights. This gives an even stronger sense of volume (wide shadow = thick object) and a sense of light direction (though getting this correct is something you will have to learn over time) for example putting the lower legs in shadow and the upper legs in light makes it look as though the knee is bent a bit, while the silhouette doesn't have a kink in that direction (the opposite, actually). This should only take a few minutes. Third image is about defining areas of materials a bit. This is the point where you really start recognizing the character or person you're making. For example the silhouettes of sonic&knuckles, mario&luigi are pretty similar but their color sets them apart a lot. This is also the point where it becomes useful as a temporary sprite ingame. For a still sprite you don't need to spend too much time on this stage, but if you're animating, you wanna take your time to make sure everything is in the right proportions and you don't have a tshirt that shrinks several pixels while running, or an arm that becomes very short. Last image is refining. A bit stronger shadows. Some more detail. This stage will take a fair amount of time, at least as much as the 3rd stage, but obviously I'm not going to refine this one all the way as it's just a quick example. ------------- ▄▄█ ▄▄█ ▄█▄ ▄█▄ |