Just wondering if there are some good resources out there for learning the finer points of sprite art and creating decent looking tilesets and ground textures? Mostly going for a classic SNES style RPG look (thinking more Secret of Mana 2).

Also what software would you recommend for creating such assets? Preferably free software as I don't have a lot of money.

Piskelapp and theoretically Inkscape should give you the ability to create classic pixel art. They're both free. Although Inkscape is a vector art tool, it can technically be used to make pixel art as well (Although it will probably be more tedious). But Piskelapp doesn't have as many options for importing/exporting spritesheets or as many useful tools as some other programs that cost money. So even you don't have much, I'd still highly recommend Aseprite ($14.99) because it'll really give you everything you need for a relatively cheap price.

I highly recommend reading Niklas Jansson's pixel art tutorial.

(For software, I've always used Photoshop even when I was near-broke. For what it's worth, the monthly payment option is much more reasonable than the all-upfront used to be. But whatever you can make work will work!)

Thanks, all good bits of advice

One thing I am having a lot of trouble with is colour palettes and shading, specifically which colours to use and how many colours to use for shading effects and in general?

Also anything specifically on tilesets and creating nice terrain tiles? I mean I can study different tilesets from different games however I am finding it hard to create something that doesn't look like it was ripped straight from another game.

Although there's quite a bit of good info on pixel-art specifically on the internet, truth is that making pixel-art is not fundamentally different from doing any other picture-based art. If you're having trouble with palettes and shading you probably don't need help with pixel-art but with color theory in general. For an artist, pixel-art is just like painting but with a fat, square brush that you have to place on a grid-layout, comparable maybe to making mosaics. I'd suggest investing in some books rather than looking for quick breakdowns. Palettes are usually made from mood-setting artworks that were painted beforehand.

Don't forget that, altough SNES graphics contain little information and may look simple, they were made by professional artists.

Well I am more specifically talking about the number of colours used, for instance I know that most 16 bit sprites use 15 colours (plus one extra for the transparency layer) however do these rules also apply to tilesets and tilesheets as well? I also know that when it comes to shading they generally only use 3 shades of a colour to achieve the effect however I was wondering if there were any traditional SNES colour palettes that sprite artists usually work from? When it comes to selecting colours I always get lost in the big colour wheel and find myself wondering if the colour I have chosen would be one that accurately represents something that would be found in a retro style game? I also find myself wondering if I am using too many colours or not enough colours to achieve the effect and find myself wondering how much darker or lighter I should make intermediate colours when it comes to shading.

If I could narrow down a smaller more selective colour palette that gives me a more grounded base from where to start but has a nice enough range to give me options then it would be a start

I'd feel more comfortable talking about this stuff if you posted the work you have done so far.

And I would feel more comfortable if I did not but fine I see where you are coming from so here s a pixel art version of Nito from Dark Souls

Ok ok that is not mine but my stuff really isn't that good which is why I am asking for advice, currently just playing around in paint just trying to find something that works.

[attachment=34494:examplez.png]

Not trying to do anything incredibly complex just trying to create some basic sprites and assets for a top down RPG.