D
danzibr
Guest
(pun in title intended)
Preliminary note, I use a laptop with Aseprite. No other hardware or software. I've been working on games for a couple years now (in what little spare time I have). I like to do all my own art. Here's how it's progressed over the years:
1) First game, ~5 years ago. Note the video is jumpy in the beginning, then gets better. As far as the art goes, I took a simple pixel art class (learned about like... starting with a color, then changing the huge, saturation, and brightness for darker colors, and likewise for lighter). Very simple, wasn't planned out very well. I ended up with *tons* of frames in my animations, and when I wanted to add like shades and capes and stuff, I had to do a ton of art. I doubt I'll return to this. The main lesson I learned was to keep it simple.
2) Second game, ~4 years ago-present (though I took a huge hiatus in the middle). Art-wise, my intention was to make things much simpler. Like only 2 frames for walking animation, 1 frame for attacking, etc. Every night I'd look up an animal or whatever and do some pixel art on it. As a result I had a *ton* of different colors. The main lesson I learned her was to use a palette.
3) Third game, presentish. I clearly haven't done much with it, just started the platforming engine. I probably won't return to it. I didn't really put in enough time to learn a lesson but... if it would be one, it'd be animating long hair is really hard. In fact, animating people is really hard. I'm tempted for my next game to not have people.
With all that said, any pointers on the art? In another thread I made recently, I was enlightened on 8- v. 16-bit, and how my RPG WIP has a clash of the two.
I'm also considering getting a tablet. I've read a lot on this, people go either way. Currently I have a touchscreen laptop (though I don't really use the touchscreen) and an iPad, but nothing else.
I'm also considering... zooming out. Everything is super zoomed in right now. On the one hand, yeah you get the old school style. On the other hand, sometimes it's super restrictive. Can't quite get the curves I want. Makes things look janky. Or maybe it's just a limitation of my own skill.
I imagine some people will just tell me to practice, but I'm also curious about other pointers (software, hardware, planning things, art techniques, etc.).
Thanks!
Preliminary note, I use a laptop with Aseprite. No other hardware or software. I've been working on games for a couple years now (in what little spare time I have). I like to do all my own art. Here's how it's progressed over the years:
1) First game, ~5 years ago. Note the video is jumpy in the beginning, then gets better. As far as the art goes, I took a simple pixel art class (learned about like... starting with a color, then changing the huge, saturation, and brightness for darker colors, and likewise for lighter). Very simple, wasn't planned out very well. I ended up with *tons* of frames in my animations, and when I wanted to add like shades and capes and stuff, I had to do a ton of art. I doubt I'll return to this. The main lesson I learned was to keep it simple.
2) Second game, ~4 years ago-present (though I took a huge hiatus in the middle). Art-wise, my intention was to make things much simpler. Like only 2 frames for walking animation, 1 frame for attacking, etc. Every night I'd look up an animal or whatever and do some pixel art on it. As a result I had a *ton* of different colors. The main lesson I learned her was to use a palette.
3) Third game, presentish. I clearly haven't done much with it, just started the platforming engine. I probably won't return to it. I didn't really put in enough time to learn a lesson but... if it would be one, it'd be animating long hair is really hard. In fact, animating people is really hard. I'm tempted for my next game to not have people.
With all that said, any pointers on the art? In another thread I made recently, I was enlightened on 8- v. 16-bit, and how my RPG WIP has a clash of the two.
I'm also considering getting a tablet. I've read a lot on this, people go either way. Currently I have a touchscreen laptop (though I don't really use the touchscreen) and an iPad, but nothing else.
I'm also considering... zooming out. Everything is super zoomed in right now. On the one hand, yeah you get the old school style. On the other hand, sometimes it's super restrictive. Can't quite get the curves I want. Makes things look janky. Or maybe it's just a limitation of my own skill.
I imagine some people will just tell me to practice, but I'm also curious about other pointers (software, hardware, planning things, art techniques, etc.).
Thanks!