How can I learn to make good sprites for my game?

[brogrammerbitz]

Hello, everybody. I have had 9 years of Game Maker experience, primarily with coding, and recently I have wanted to be able to create my own sprites. I try time and time again to produce something worthy of use, but I always end up finding stuff online and changing it in minor ways to call it my own. I have this idea for a game that I want to start making (I already have a partial engine created that I will expand upon) and I want to be able to make sprites for it.

I have watched all sorts of videos and read all sorts of guides on making pixel art for sprites and whatnot, but nothing seems to help me no matter how much I practice. I have had no luck finding people willing to create sprites and whatnot for my project, so I want to be able to take that task into my own hands if I absolutely have to. I will just need to learn to make the pixel art that I want.

This is a sprite strip from a cancelled game of mine. It's about as far as my spriting abilities go:


If anybody could give me some advice/tutorials/guides to help me get started with making pixel art and stuff, please let me know what I can do/look at! It would be really appreciated! Thanks!

-Bitz

 

[gamedev4life]

imo, there NOTHING like having a teacher work with you through the process. as soon as u have a question, the teacher can help u out with exactly what you need instead of having to go online and search and read and do trial and error etc just to get that piece of info u need.

for example, lets say your backgrounds arent looking right and u cant figure out why, you can take days figuring it out, or ask you teacher who can quickly identify your problem and simply tell you "for your backgrounds, use colder colors, less contrast, and less detail, that will give the illusion that they are further back, adding atmosphere to you room, etc"

but teachers cost money...

ill teach you 1 on 1 for a reasonable price, message me if youre interested. i know game maker very well as far as sprites and levels/rooms go (i know almost 0 gml though). check out my signature to see my skill level

good luck!

 

[Jabbers]

I think the mistake people make is assuming sprite work can be reduced to a purely technical process. Although it is true that you must learn how to use graphical editors and you should understand some basic principals and skills regarding drawing and animation, that isn't all there is to it. It is an artistic process and like any creative pursuit, it takes time, practice, and passion. If you approach spriting as just another thing on your "to do list" then you have the wrong mindset. It is rare for an indie game developer to be both a good programmer, artist, and composer, although most people like to believe they are capable of all of these things. Similarly, watching tutorials about how to use FLStudio and videos of people playing the piano isn't going to teach you how to make beautiful music to the style of your game.

The point of this message isn't to discourage you from trying, but you have nine years under your belt and presumably haven't progressed very far with your ability to create art assets, so maybe it isn't your scene. What should you do? Buy some proper software, take an art course, dedicate time to working on concept art and experimenting with art styles... there is no quick fix in my opinion, unless you decide to find someone to work with who has artistic skills (which is what most people do for serious projects). Respectfully, this idea that you "have had no luck finding people willing to create sprites" is tosh, you either aren't looking in the right place or you aren't committing properly to your project. There are people who will give their time to work on even the most amateur projects.

 

[Mylon]

I highly recommend this site: http://www.2dgameartguru.com/

 

[Yal]

I learned both hand-drawing and pixelling by finding graphics in a style I wanted to learn, looking really closely (zoom in etc) and then redrawing it by hand. By doing this, I could discover a lot of practical tricks that carried over to when I drew stuff from scratch. There's also a lot of nifty tutorial images circling around that give you similar hints (check my twitter, I reposted a bunch of nice ones yesterday). Drawing is basically about knowing enough tricks that you can execute your ideas well; almost all techniques you can learn are situational and narrow so a single tech just won't be enough.


EDIT: found some on the GMC: https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/mini-pixel-art-tutorials.9419/

 

[Genetix]

Practice, practice, practice....

I'm serious - I used to really suck at pixel art, over time I have made myself do my own art more and more - and I still suck, but not nearly as bad! It is the best route! Of course I watch videos that explain techniques and do a bit of research, learning lighting and shading is pretty crucial - but ultimately you just have to spent months/years doing it yourself. After awhile you will start to discover your own style, and become more consistent as well as making things that look shiny.