13 replies to this topic

[Bill Fountaine]

Subject, drawing sprites by hand, may be time consuming, but it seems a helluva lot easier than doing it in MS Paint/Photoshop.

[szecs]

Get a drawing tablet.

[Hodgman]

Get a drawing tablet.

and photoshop.

[Andrew Kabakwu]

Get a drawing tablet.

and photoshop.

Any drawing program will do e.g. Gimp, Paint.net etc
You dont have to us photoshop.

[MrDaaark]

You don't have to use photoshop, but photoshop elements comes with a Wacom tablet anyways, along with Corel Painter Essentials. I'm not sure how well Paint.Net supports tablets, it's more than just a mouse shaped like a pen.

[PropheticEdge]

Get a drawing tablet.

and photoshop.

Any drawing program will do e.g. Gimp, Paint.net etc
You dont have to us photoshop.

Careful though! The GIMP has some pretty dodgy tablet support. My Graphire will not work with it, like, at all. Before committing to a tablet + GIMP, do some research to make sure it will work.

Also, for doing old-school sprite art I really like this tiny program called GraphicsGale.

http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/

[mind in a box]

For drawing MyPaint is really good. It's also free, just google it!

[Bill Fountaine]

To make a decent-looking sprite for a fighting game, if I was to draw them by hand, and not have like, 7 frames like Mortal Kombats, how many frames would I need at minimum to make the movement look decent?

[MrDaaark]

To make a decent-looking sprite for a fighting game, if I was to draw them by hand, and not have like, 7 frames like Mortal Kombats, how many frames would I need at minimum to make the movement look decent?

I think that's too broad of a question, and the answer can change on a case by case basis depending on the look and feel of the game. It also comes down to timing more than actual frames. A 30 frame attack doesn't mean 30 unique drawings.

Try this. Read the whole series, but these 3 links are most relevant.
http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/sywtbapa_making_fighting_game_sprite.php
http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/sywtbapa_breathing_life_into_sprites.php
http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/sywtbapa_animating_basic_attack.php

[Bill Fountaine]

Doing pixel drawings is a pain in the ass, it seems like it'd be easier to draw them by hand, and scan them/retrace them.

[prh99]

I found the techniques suggested in Better Programmer Art produce reasonable results. Basically draw your art large then scale it down. As for Mortal Kombat, I believe they actual used video of actors to generate the character sprites. For example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Turk played Sub Zero, Scorpion, and Reptile in MK3.

I've been using Paint Tool SAI which has a nice adjustable line stabilizer for tablets. Which helps a lot until you get comfortable using a tablet.

[Bill Fountaine]

I found the techniques suggested in Better Programmer Art produce reasonable results. Basically draw your art large then scale it down. As for Mortal Kombat, I believe they actual used video of actors to generate the character sprites. For example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Turk played Sub Zero, Scorpion, and Reptile in MK3.

I've been using Paint Tool SAI which has a nice adjustable line stabilizer for tablets. Which helps a lot until you get comfortable using a tablet.

yea, for MK they used motion capture.

[MrDaaark]

yea, for MK they used motion capture.

They didn't use motion capture. They photographed the actors in front of a green screen.

Doing pixel drawings is a pain in the ass, it seems like it'd be easier to draw them by hand, and scan them/retrace them.

Had you bothered to properly read anything, the articles showed you how to do just that. There really isn't an easy shortcut. It's a skill you have to learn.

This thread has been a huge waste of time.

I've been using Paint Tool SAI which has a nice adjustable line stabilizer for tablets. Which helps a lot until you get comfortable using a tablet.

In other software we usually use the shift key for that. Holding shift will lock drawing to a straight line along the current axis.
Shift + Click will draw a line from point to point. Also very useful for custom selections.

How does it work in paint tool sai?

[prh99]

yea, for MK they used motion capture.

They didn't use motion capture. They photographed the actors in front of a green screen.

Doing pixel drawings is a pain in the ass, it seems like it'd be easier to draw them by hand, and scan them/retrace them.

Had you bothered to properly read anything, the articles showed you how to do just that. There really isn't an easy shortcut. It's a skill you have to learn.

This thread has been a huge waste of time.

I've been using Paint Tool SAI which has a nice adjustable line stabilizer for tablets. Which helps a lot until you get comfortable using a tablet.

In other software we usually use the shift key for that. Holding shift will lock drawing to a straight line along the current axis.
Shift + Click will draw a line from point to point. Also very useful for custom selections.

How does it work in paint tool sai?

It stabilizes for curves etc as well, it removes an adjustable about of jitter form your stroke so it's easier to make smooth clean lines and curves.

The first circle is stabilized, second is free hand.