alternative to pixel art

[TheNegroShoddy]

Is there a cheaper alternative to pixel art? I'm currently looking around for spriters, but unfortunately I can't afford their high prices on my low budget. At this point in my project I'm only trying to get a few animations done so I can start adjusting the code that I have been using with placeholder sprites. I can't afford anything crazy like $600 for only eight sprite animations. I'm starting to wonder how a lot of people can afford the sprite work they have in their game outside of fundraising.

 

[Lonewolff]

You might want to do an 80's style text adventure.

You are standing in a large room. You see exits to the north and west.
> GO WEST_

 

[TheNegroShoddy]

You might want to do an 80's style text adventure.

lol Really? Nothing I can do?

 

[kburkhart84]

The best solution is to learn how to do it yourself. You can always at least learn enough to make some placeholder art. If your game is really good you might be able to get it done with kickstarter as well. I don't see there being much cheaper forms of art than pixel art though, but maybe you could find a cheaper artist, or if you get some stuff done in your game, you might be able to convince someone to do it for free or for a percentage of future profits...but that option really takes you being able to get enough of your game done to prove you are in it for the long haul.

Besides learning how to do pixel art yourself, there are other art forms. You could learn to draw and do a paper art kinda design. You could learn how to make 3d models and pre-render those into sprites. You could also learn how to do vector graphics and use those for graphics. There are alternatives.

 

[RichHopefulComposer]

All art takes skill and time.
Time = money
Skilled time = lots of money



Learn how to draw, or get ready to spend a significant amount of money to make your game look good. Or just be content with an ugly game, haha! X'D

 

[TheNegroShoddy]

The best solution is to learn how to do it yourself. You can always at least learn enough to make some placeholder art. If your game is really good you might be able to get it done with kickstarter as well. I don't see there being much cheaper forms of art than pixel art though, but maybe you could find a cheaper artist, or if you get some stuff done in your game, you might be able to convince someone to do it for free or for a percentage of future profits...but that option really takes you being able to get enough of your game done to prove you are in it for the long haul.

Besides learning how to do pixel art yourself, there are other art forms. You could learn to draw and do a paper art kinda design. You could learn how to make 3d models and pre-render those into sprites. You could also learn how to do vector graphics and use those for graphics. There are alternatives.

Well, my plan is to get some of the placeholder stuff out now and release a sort of prototype with what I have now and try to get others to donate if they like what they played. The issue is obviously getting the few sprites I need done. Like you said, I could learn myself, but tbh I know I ain't good at pencil drawing so I don't see this being any different for me. I've tried editing sprites before when I was younger and I just don't have the attention span for it really. I know I'd probably get burned out doing it.

I did have someone originally who was going to do my sprites for a relatively low price through digital art, but he just left and hasn't gotten into contact with me in months. Is digital art generally cheaper than pixel art? If you can, could you provide some examples of this being used in a game because I was looking for some examples of this an hour ago and couldn't find any. Also, wouldn't 3D models be more expensive to produce? You mentioning paper art does make me think. What about hand-drawn sprites? But then again, could that be even more expensive than pixel art?

Sorry, I know I'm asking a lot of questions here.

 

[RichHopefulComposer]

Is digital art generally cheaper than pixel art?

I kind of already answered for this for you in my last post: no, lol. Pixel art is probably the cheapest art you'll find, and it's still very expensive. If you want a good looking game, you're going to have to sacrifice a lot of time, or a lot of money. There's no way around this. ;p

...Unless someone miraculously decides to do your art for free or for a reduced price. You might be able to find an artist willing to team up with you if your game is good enough, but that's pretty rare.

If I were you, I'd just work on my game with placeholder art while saving up to pay for an artist. Good luck!

 

[kburkhart84]

I can't really elaborate more about art prices then what you were just told above, we both are basically telling you the same thing.

The reason I mentioned the 3d side of things is that some people(me included) are simply better at getting art out in 3d than 2d. Pixel art should be the easiest, but somehow I can get more "acceptable" results using 3d than trying to do pixel art. I'm just saying that if you personally wish to try to do art yourself, that is an avenue you could look at. There are lots of little tricks you can do to 3d models. I don't know if you know about using Photoshop's filters to get textures out of them, like combining fiber filters with blurs to get a cheap and "good enough" hair texture, or using cloud renders to get space nebulae...well there are lots of things like that that work on 3d models. You can make a sphere, and then use a cloud texture to displace the sphere surface to get a quick-start on a workable asteroid, for example.

That being said, I'd guess that if you were paying for it, 3d is likely more expensive than 2d, and pixel art is likely to be the cheapest if you are paying.

 

[Rayek]

Good custom game art takes time, skill, and effort, just like good game design and good game programming. The higher the quality of the art, the quicker it needs to be delivered, the more expensive it becomes.

The situation is not helped by the fact that the average game player's expectations of game art quality went up dramatically in the past few years, because indie devs have steadfastly increased their game's art quality.

You might be able to find beginning game artists to work with you at very low prices (Newgrounds forum, for example). Or put your job on one of the online job posting sites, and rely on low-income country artists to do the work. Drawbacks may be the reliability, or that they take your money and run. And questionable asset quality, of course. I have seen examples where low-cost assets were sent to developers, only to discover later that the assets were stolen, and they had to take down their game.

Alternatively, shop around for both commercial and free royalty free game art assets which you could use in your game.
A list: https://www.slant.co/topics/1834/~sources-of-royalty-free-game-assets

Other options are looking for open sourced games with an open license to re-use and modify the assets as required, combining several sources of assets to create your own look. Several successful games in the market which were built with pre-built market assets.

 

[Niels]

Just use placeholders (open art or basic shapes) and build your game till you know exactly how much art you need.
Also make sure you gonna finish the project before you spend money.

 

[pagou]

you can use behance or indieDB to spot artist, that want to participate in your game. then make an arragnement

like Seabass (The Human) did:

One of my games was created by myself and a complete stranger I met through a job posting on IndieDB. He lived in Greece and had a thick accent. Despite timezones and his lack of game development experience, we created a massive game together. We both worked for absolutely no money and just a promise of shared revenue between each other. It can happen and you should continue to look around in this community for partners. There are numerous Discord groups and side-communities full of GM users.

https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/alternative-to-pixel-art.42928/

 

[TheNegroShoddy]

Just use placeholders (open art or basic shapes) and build your game till you know exactly how much art you need.
Also make sure you gonna finish the project before you spend money.

I am using placeholders actually. I've done quite a bit of estimating that I know just about how much I would need at least for a demo. Been working on the game for almost two years now and have only spent $60 so far just on concept art, so far, so I haven't "wasted" a lot of money yet.

That being said, I'd guess that if you were paying for it, 3d is likely more expensive than 2d, and pixel art is likely to be the cheapest if you are paying.

That is what I thought.

You might be able to find beginning game artists to work with you at very low prices (Newgrounds forum, for example). Or put your job on one of the online job posting sites, and rely on low-income country artists to do the work. Drawbacks may be the reliability, or that they take your money and run. And questionable asset quality, of course. I have seen examples where low-cost assets were sent to developers, only to discover later that the assets were stolen, and they had to take down their game.

This is something I'm considering at the moment since someone was nice enough last night to point me to fiverr where there are a bunch of freelance pixel artist there looking for work. This is something I'm quite afraid of happening because I've seen games on the app store clearly having sprites taken from games like Super Mario or Kirby. Even when I was still a teen working on fan games, one of the guys working with me stole assets from another game I knew nothing about then I had to apologize for something I was oblivious to. Unfortunately, this might be a risk I have to take at the moment.

We both worked for absolutely no money and just a promise of shared revenue between each other. It can happen and you should continue to look around in this community for partners. There are numerous Discord groups and side-communities full of GM users.

This is actually something I plan on doing with another one of my bigger projects that I know I won't be able tackle by myself both financially and possibly on the programming side as well. Since I'm only experienced in making fan games, I did want to try to tackle this one on the programming side alone and leave the entirety of the profits for myself as this is a first effort for me when it comes to making something I actually what to sell to people. I am willing however to give other incentives to those who would work for free or even on the cheap when it comes to this particular project though.

Thank you all for your responses, I'll keep what your saying in mind.

 

[Smarty]

I love good pixel art, but I think that when it comes to the digital arts required form games, it is likely one of the most fiddly and time-consuming, even with expertise. Besides that a lot of scaling goes on behind the scenes when developing mobile games with GameMaker and that generally has a detrimental effect on pixel art.

A relatively cheap and quicker alternative is vector art, for which robust free tools are already available (Inkscape, for example). Since you mostly draw with shapes, it is not necessary to have a steady hand or to excel at drawing. It's also easy to create additional graphics (variations) by copying around things and making small adjustments. Of course every new craft takes time to learn but you can get good results fairly quickly.

One indispensible blog about it is 2D Art for Programmers (in my book winner of the most appropriate title). Start out with the earliest blog posts and work your way from there if you're not familiar with Inkscape, or jump in to the articles that are relevant for you.

 

[Toque]

Kind of depends too on detail and how fussy you are.

Try the links I sent you but they might not be the style you like.

More detail and lots of revisions will increase your cost. They have in a sense bulk discounts to.

If you want top AAA quality though it will cost you.

If you need more artist links let me know. I’ve used lots of artists.

 

[pagou]

Dont forget Upwork. You can find real professionals to work with you. And the money process is guarantee for both parts, because always there is a great possibility the developer to scam the artist.

I
This is something I'm quite afraid of happening because I've seen games on the app store clearly having sprites taken from games like Super Mario or Kirby. Even when I was still a teen working on fan games, one of the guys working with me stole assets from another game I knew nothing about then I had to apologize for something I was oblivious to. Unfortunately, this might be a risk I have to take at the moment.

This is actually something I plan on doing with another one of my bigger projects that I know I won't be able tackle by myself both financially and possibly on the programming side as well. Since I'm only experienced in making fan games, I did want to try to tackle this one on the programming side alone and leave the entirety of the profits for myself as this is a first effort for me when it comes to making something I actually what to sell to people. I am willing however to give other incentives to those who would work for free or even on the cheap when it comes to this particular project though.

Thank you all for your responses, I'll keep what your saying in mind.

 

[Storyteller]

I 3d render a lot of game sprites from 3d models and props...
post processing can get a nice 'animated' look that isnt too photorealistic

 

[Niels]

Dont forget Upwork. You can find real professionals to work with you. And the money process is guarantee for both parts, because always there is a great possibility the developer to scam the artist.

That's why I don't rev-share... unless you are close friends, most of the time the project gets canceled because the programmer gets bored or moves on to other projects

 

[Widget]

Always keep this in mind: Money goes in, money sometimes comes out. If you aren't willing (or able) to make investments, don't expect a return. The solution I went with was just learn how to create assets in my own time. I started off pretty bad, but eventually I got something I like. Trust me, in the long run you'll wish that you had the ability to do this ASAP. And if you do decide to learn how to draw yourself, it's OKAY to trace when starting off, just don't hold yourself to a high regard, and of course don't put those first drawings in the game.

Okay, so you only need placeholder assets for a prototype-thing without needing to spend money. Now, please, PLEASE don't ever charge money for projects which have things straight up lifted from somewhere else, but I recommend ripping assets from other places and use them as those placeholders. Please, PLEASE be transparent and mention where you got them from (yes, even if they source is famous) and that they are subject to change.

 

[franswerfer]

Hi i like to offer my services to you I myself have learn some pixel art i can send you some exampeles if you wish? I

 

[TheNegroShoddy]

Hi i like to offer my services to you I myself have learn some pixel art i can send you some exampeles if you wish? I

Sure, message me when you get a chance and I'll take a look.

 

[nlolotte]

You might want to do an 80's style text adventure.

This made me chuckle. Thank you.

 

[rIKmAN]

That's why I don't rev-share... unless you are close friends, most of the time the project gets canceled because the programmer gets bored or moves on to other projects

Speaking from experience, this happens both ways - it's not just programmers who stop working / get bored / disappear and leave projects in limbo.

 

[franswerfer]

Sure, message me when you get a chance and I'll take a look.

here is one i finnish yesterday.

 

[sitebender]

Is there a cheaper alternative to pixel art? I'm currently looking around for spriters, but unfortunately I can't afford their high prices on my low budget. At this point in my project I'm only trying to get a few animations done so I can start adjusting the code that I have been using with placeholder sprites. I can't afford anything crazy like $600 for only eight sprite animations. I'm starting to wonder how a lot of people can afford the sprite work they have in their game outside of fundraising.

When I was pricing pixel artists a lot of people wanted $10 for 32 x 32. Then $1 per animation frame. others wanted $20 - $40 an hour. Some wanted more for a commercial product. Then I discovered different countries have different economies. One artist I hired explained after I hired him he only does environmental art and I'd need to hire someone else to make characters / sprites and an animator.

Once I had a demo on GameJolt, some of the artists with higher prices found out the game was almost done and they magically lowered their price by half to be part of the project. What's the point when the game was 95% done?

As I was making games, I was also getting better at making pixel art. Its a skill, you can get better with practice and time. Not even that much time honestly. I felt decent after a few weeks, I felt good after 3 months even if its still not great.

Since I'm better, I've done revenue share with a few projects where I've been the artist. There's never been any money in it for the time spent. $1 an hour sort of thing. On the plus side its getting paid to practice, but 3 months after the work is done. That's assuming the projects even get done and the developers don't get distracted by the next shinny object.

The real problem is I can't just sit and art for 8 - 12 hours a day like I can with programming. I can do 90 minutes... take a break, come back later do 90 minutes.

 

[sitebender]

Speaking from experience, this happens both ways - it's not just programmers who stop working / get bored / disappear and leave projects in limbo.

This is true. Even paying artists I can't keep them interested. So to solve this I started doing projects the artist wants to do... and even then they drop off after about a month. I have quite a graveyard of great looking projects that will remain incomplete.

 

[Niels]

A my dead game graveyard is quite a thing to behold

 

[franswerfer]

When I was pricing pixel artists a lot of people wanted $10 for 32 x 32. Then $1 per animation frame. others wanted $20 - $40 an hour. Some wanted more for a commercial product. Then I discovered different countries have different economies. One artist I hired explained after I hired him he only does environmental art and I'd need to hire someone else to make characters / sprites and an animator.

Once I had a demo on GameJolt, some of the artists with higher prices found out the game was almost done and they magically lowered their price by half to be part of the project. What's the point when the game was 95% done?

As I was making games, I was also getting better at making pixel art. Its a skill, you can get better with practice and time. Not even that much time honestly. I felt decent after a few weeks, I felt good after 3 months even if its still not great.

Since I'm better, I've done revenue share with a few projects where I've been the artist. There's never been any money in it for the time spent. $1 an hour sort of thing. On the plus side its getting paid to practice, but 3 months after the work is done. That's assuming the projects even get done and the developers don't get distracted by the next shinny object.

The real problem is I can't just sit and art for 8 - 12 hours a day like I can with programming.

well the problem for me is that i cant do so much programing so i do a lot of pixel art. i can offer my skills to you for a small payment so i can have some experince and some income to survive. anyway i understand your situation. hard to too multi tasking

 

[franswerfer]

so s
Sitebender to you want me to do any services for you? if thats the case just send me a message. best regards to you