Programmers learning pixel art
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: The Lounge
Forum Name: Diversions
Forum Discription: Get to know your fellow pixel freaks. Chat about anything to do with video games, comic books, anime, movies, television, books, music, sports or any other off topic bs you can think of.
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=24736
Printed Date: 12 September 2025 at 1:17am
Topic: Programmers learning pixel art
Posted By: CritiqueMyWork
Subject: Programmers learning pixel art
Date Posted: 29 November 2015 at 6:53am
Hello there. I'm myself a programmer with some aspirations to create my own game. I've been browsing pixeljoint since maybe 2012 or so. I wanted someone to make my art, but i didnt think i could persuade anyone to join me for free, and recently started myself to learn. I've always considered myself as a bad drawer, but i think i'm making progress slowly.
I'd like to know if there are people in my situation, what can they suggest me for learning, and how the learning process has treated them. I'm sure there are interesting stories out there.
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Replies:
Posted By: eishiya
Date Posted: 29 November 2015 at 5:47pm
No difference than learning any other skill. Set specific goals and choose your exercises based on those goals.
I highly recommend learning basic drawing skills, which may be easier to practice with pencil and paper - perspective, lighting ("shadows" is a misnomer), construction (how to draw 3D form in 2D). Studying basic anatomy of the relevant species will also help no matter what style you go with.
The reason I recommend pencil and paper (or any other medium you're already familiar with) is because it's much easier to learn and practice one thing at a time. If you're trying to learn perspective while also struggling with pixel line quality or with making detail in a small space, you'll just end up taking longer and getting more frustrated.
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Posted By: CritiqueMyWork
Date Posted: 30 November 2015 at 1:56am
Eventually i'd like to. For now what i do is just draw as much as i can, because i suppose people who liked drawing from an early age didn't care about those things until the grow up.
Which book(s) would you recommend me for learning those skills?
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Posted By: eishiya
Date Posted: 30 November 2015 at 7:36am
Pff, books xP While "Loomis" is a common recommendation and I can't deny you that knowledge (here you go: http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/ - http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/ ), I found other resources to be far more useful:
http://androidarts.com/art_tut.htm - http://androidarts.com/art_tut.htm
http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm - http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm
While "drawing as much as you can" isn't a bad idea, you should try to draw in ways that will allow you to exercise skills you need to learn. You should also try to get feedback on your art (and specifically, your success in the skills you're trying to learn). Doing 10 drawings with a clear aim and with self-critique (and preferably external critique) will teach you far more than 1000 aimless drawings.
Learn to see like an artist, and never stop. I don't just mean the whole "draw what you see, not what you think you see" thing, I mean observation in general. Start looking at the world instead of just seeing it. Think about why things look the way they do. For example, the colour of green leaves on a grey day is different from their colour on a bright day, or from the colour of those leaves if you put them in a bright red box, but your brain automatically tries to do "correct" the colours you see to make the leaves look the same. Try to look past that, and see how the colours mix, and where each of the contributing colours comes from, and how different objects react to similar lighting situations. People who don't do this are the ones who struggle with things like drawing night scenes or whose sunny daytime scenes look overcast no matter what they do xP
Look at how things look and try to understand their general structure (trees, animals, cars, buildings, etc), because it always helps to have an idea of these things when it comes time to draw them. Look for patterns. Do tree branches tend to grow in specific ways or start at certain heights (depending on the type of tree)? Do buildings tend to get built facing a certain way? How tall are various types of vehicles, compared to their riders? Knowing these things will help you draw them in a believable way later, without spending as much time looking at ref and without having to have other artists point out to you that your trees look like brooms and that your cars are oversized xP You may be able to get this understanding from looking at ref photos too, but if you make a lifelong habit of understanding the things you see when you're just out and about, you'll save yourself a lot of time later.
Some people carry around a sketchbook and try to sketch everything they see in it to help them understand the structure, but I personally find that distracting, because it means focusing on the specific objects you see, rather than the patterns between them. Sketching from observation is great, but I find it to be best as a separate exercise from this.
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Posted By: CritiqueMyWork
Date Posted: 30 November 2015 at 10:20am
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Good resources, now i have entertainment for a month. Thank you for all your advices eishiya-sama. You are always helpful toward newcomers, i hope one day i will be able to say "Im master at drawing thanks to eishiya". If you have any problem compiling your programs, don't hesitate in asking me.
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Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 30 November 2015 at 10:51am
I wish to say that I admire that you keep at it and work harder all the time. You may not be the best artist (yet) but your attitude is awesome.
There is nothing more to do but continue practicing and experimenting for us all. Kutgw.
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http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9378&FID=6&PR=3 - PJs FAQ <•> http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=6 - Sticky Reads
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Posted By: CritiqueMyWork
Date Posted: 01 December 2015 at 11:07am
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Originally posted by jalonso
I wish to say that I admire that you keep at it and work harder all the time. You may not be the best artist (yet) but your attitude is awesome.
There is nothing more to do but continue practicing and experimenting for us all. Kutgw.
Thank you, that was very kind of you to say i have the right attitude. I hope i wont run out of steam.
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Posted By: CritiqueMyWork
Date Posted: 01 December 2015 at 11:07am
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By the way, i thought i would find more programmers partners around here. I'm surprised.
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Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 01 December 2015 at 12:02pm
How good a programmer are you?
My Medici project is rotting away.
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http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9378&FID=6&PR=3 - PJs FAQ <•> http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=6 - Sticky Reads
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Posted By: CritiqueMyWork
Date Posted: 01 December 2015 at 12:36pm
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Well, as long as it isn't web related, i have done some things. I have been programming for some years now. What is your medici project about?
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Posted By: eishiya
Date Posted: 01 December 2015 at 6:47pm
This is a pixel art forum, so people talk about pixel art rather than programming xP I do code, but I don't talk about it here because this isn't the place for it.
It would be cool if Jal's Medici project for some new life in it! It's a puzzle RPG with Leonardo da Vinci as the main character, with Jal's awesome art. I think the current incarnation of it is a laggy Flash game because the original programmer only knew ActionScript? And now Flash support is dying :/
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Posted By: CritiqueMyWork
Date Posted: 02 December 2015 at 9:39am
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Ah! i found the topic. I didnt know it was a game, where can i get it?
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Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 03 December 2015 at 8:32am
There is no game.
I seek a programmer that can handle a zelda like game.
All art is done. Just needs programming, music and sound.
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http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9378&FID=6&PR=3 - PJs FAQ <•> http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=6 - Sticky Reads
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Posted By: CritiqueMyWork
Date Posted: 03 December 2015 at 9:33am
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That's fantastic because that's the kind of game i want to make and i'm currently doing. But i barely have time for myself. If i have free time in the future i may contact you. Maybe i cannot do the game, but can give you some engine so you can edit map/add events, etc.
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