How do you create your 2D art?
Author
I'm just beginning my first 2D game. The idea I had is that basically I would create every 2D graphic in the game by first drawing everything with a pencil and paper, and then scanning them as I go along. Is that really the best way to go about it? Are there other methods? like programs that create 2D graphics easier and faster then with a pencil? ANY suggestions would be appreciated. thanks.
I generate my 2D art programmatically. What I don't generate I order from artists 
That said, there are many possibilities for creating 2D art. It depends on what you want your game to look like. Possibilities are already mentioned pencil-paper-scanner, pixel art, vector graphics (Inkscape), 3D graphics rendered to 2D (Blender), photography etc. I can't say which is easiest or best method. In my opinion it largely depends on what you are most familiar with. You can also use tablets (Wacom tablets are good) when drawing in Gimp or some other raster graphics program. It's easier to use than mouse, if you are good at drawing/painting on paper.
That said, there are many possibilities for creating 2D art. It depends on what you want your game to look like. Possibilities are already mentioned pencil-paper-scanner, pixel art, vector graphics (Inkscape), 3D graphics rendered to 2D (Blender), photography etc. I can't say which is easiest or best method. In my opinion it largely depends on what you are most familiar with. You can also use tablets (Wacom tablets are good) when drawing in Gimp or some other raster graphics program. It's easier to use than mouse, if you are good at drawing/painting on paper.
If you were looking for possibly 2d art in the sense of Pixel art, then i'm pretty sure you just use Paint.net or GIMP. I've been looking into making some myself but it's a rather difficult process if you're not sure how to start. Which I'm not lmao.
I'm just beginning my first 2D game. The idea I had is that basically I would create every 2D graphic in the game by first drawing everything with a pencil and paper, and then scanning them as I go along. Is that really the best way to go about it? Are there other methods? like programs that create 2D graphics easier and faster then with a pencil? ANY suggestions would be appreciated. thanks.
Depends on what kind of art I'm creating. For monsters/NPCs I use scanned pencil drawings drawn by friends and family, which I may eventually hire a professional to color properly. For the game world art, I do the rough draft in MS Paint, and then do the detail work with Paint Shop Pro 11. But it'd depend on the styles of the art.
Hey, as the others already said, there are a lot of methods to create 2D art, I'll try to illustrate a few.
Scanning pencil drawings (the one you suggested):
In my opinion the most complex one and only applicable if you go for a certain art style. If you're good at traditional drawing and don't want to
invest in a graphics tablet, it's still a good option. To get it to look good you'll probably have to add color in a programm like GIMP.
Pixel art
Here you color mostly single pixels with GIMP or a similiar programm. That will result in very low resolution images, which can have their own charm.
Painting with a mouse
If you don't want to buy a graphics tablete, painting the art with your mouse is an option, too. You can create amazing things that way, but it's
a skill on it's own and beeing able to draw doesn't neccessarily mean that you'll be good at drawing with a mouse.
Paiting with a graphics tablet
That's in my opinion the best option if you're serious about going into 2D art. A tablet is basically a device that allows you to draw quite naturally with a pen in your hand and see the results directly on the screen. There are a lot of different tablets out there, but as mrjones said, the ones from Wacom are pretty good. The latest version of GIMP has a really good tablet support as well.
Scanning pencil drawings (the one you suggested):
In my opinion the most complex one and only applicable if you go for a certain art style. If you're good at traditional drawing and don't want to
invest in a graphics tablet, it's still a good option. To get it to look good you'll probably have to add color in a programm like GIMP.
Pixel art
Here you color mostly single pixels with GIMP or a similiar programm. That will result in very low resolution images, which can have their own charm.
Painting with a mouse
If you don't want to buy a graphics tablete, painting the art with your mouse is an option, too. You can create amazing things that way, but it's
a skill on it's own and beeing able to draw doesn't neccessarily mean that you'll be good at drawing with a mouse.
Paiting with a graphics tablet
That's in my opinion the best option if you're serious about going into 2D art. A tablet is basically a device that allows you to draw quite naturally with a pen in your hand and see the results directly on the screen. There are a lot of different tablets out there, but as mrjones said, the ones from Wacom are pretty good. The latest version of GIMP has a really good tablet support as well.
I've done the pencil drawing->scanner->photoshop/gimp/etc. method (for high-res 2D art, never pixel). That works, and you can create some really beautiful art that way if you have the skills, but it takes a lot of time. If you can master the use of a drawing tablet, it is definitely more efficient to draw right into your graphics software of choice.
I made the personal choice that I liked vector programs better than raster programs, so my more recent stuff has all been done in Inkscape. I don't think this is a superior choice to a bitmap program, I think the two both have limitations. Vector stuff is naturally better suited for editing, reusing pieces, and pivot animation, but bitmap stuff is naturally better suited to realism and detail. It's quite challenging to create something with vector graphics that doesn't look at all cartoony or stencil-like.
I made the personal choice that I liked vector programs better than raster programs, so my more recent stuff has all been done in Inkscape. I don't think this is a superior choice to a bitmap program, I think the two both have limitations. Vector stuff is naturally better suited for editing, reusing pieces, and pivot animation, but bitmap stuff is naturally better suited to realism and detail. It's quite challenging to create something with vector graphics that doesn't look at all cartoony or stencil-like.
I did my very simple pixel art by first drawing with a 6...14 pixel diameter soft brush, then on a different layer drawing the outline pixel by pixel. Them refill the image and delete the reference sketch.
Used reference images but just by looking.
It's very-very simple, but I think it can be improved.
Check them out here:
Journal
Used reference images but just by looking.
It's very-very simple, but I think it can be improved.
Check them out here:
Journal
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
