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[Despain]

yo. i think this is my first actual post here but i lurk around the art sections and have been in the irc channel for a few months (irc nick = agenda)

so i am working on a massive multi-part pixel art tutorial. i've written a lot of little tutorials and stuff in the past (unfortunately most of them are long lost). the goal here is to cover a shitload of topics, from the most basic to some pretty advanced stuff later on—as well as lots of smaller instructional lessons along the way.

as of now i have the first few sections done. i wasn't originally going to post this but it's probably gonna be a LONG TIME before this thing is actually finished, so i'm going to release the sections in a blog format: they'll be updated whenever I create a new one. i'll update this topic whenever i make a new part, too.

because they're pretty long and have a lot of images i'm going to link to them, but i'll give a description.

• Introduction
  just the introduction to the series: it outlines my goals and philosophies
  

• Thinking in Color
  mostly this article covers some of the very basics: color terms worth knowing. it's sort of introductory into the next section
  

• Read Between the Pixels
  contrast! this section goes into detail explaining how to get the most out of the contrast between your colors
  

​

• Using and Choosing Colors
  this is a big one—it's all about color choice and creating a color palette. this is the tutorial that is most often requested. so hopefully a lot of people will find it useful.
  

• Form and Light
  okay now we actually start making stuff—this one is all about how to build with forms, and at the end we make an rpg object
  

• Creating an RPG Sprite Base
  you asked for it and here it is: how to create your own rpg sprite base from scratch. :-)
  

• Tiling Tiles
  time to create a grass tile! also includes some useful information about clusters and stuff.
  

• Building on a Sprite Base
  now we finally put some clothes on that template and make a character out of it
  

• Basics of Animation
  squash and stretch and anticipation and followthrough we cover the necessary basics so we can dive into real animation soon
  

i'm also using the same site for my writing tutorials if y'all care.

i would appreciate not only feedback on these articles, but also SUGGESTIONS and REQUESTS. i have some very speficic ideas about where I want to go next, but i'm gonna leave you with an important question:

what do you want to see in a pixel tutorial?

[poe]

How to create basic tiles would be good

[Ashkin]

Hey, these are pretty good. Could even become one of the 'essential' pixel tutorials like So You Want to be a Pixel Artist.
An article on dithering might be handy- when and where to use it, what it can do, patterns/textures you can use, etc.

[eigenbom]

These are nice, well done! I'm with @poe about tiles - particularly earth, stone, grass, etc., for a platformer.

[Jace Boechler]

I've found this tutorial very informative and it's nice and concise. Thanks!

[cplhasse]

That was really good, as were the articles on other topics

[Glyph]

This was good! I'm a horrible spriter, so this definitely helped.
Here's what I made by following the tutorials. I was very satisfied with my job on the shoulder region, but faltered a bit on the lower/leg area.

[Despain]

thanks for the replies guys

as for tiles that will definitely come up at some point—I think that making tiles for platform games is really fun (although i hate making tiles for rpgs).

Hey, these are pretty good. Could even become one of the 'essential' pixel tutorials like So You Want to be a Pixel Artist.

that would be a great thing—there are a lot of things with tsugomo's tutorials that i (and my pixelation pals) don't agree with. the goal with these is to get people into good habits from the start—more of a "this is how you should be thinking" than a "follow me step by step".

http://i.imgur.com/Btbe7.png

he's cute :-) what perspective were you going for? if he's meant to be an rpg perspective you might want to give him more of a top to the head.

really really tiny—i don't like working with sprites that small when computers today let us make things with more freedom.

the colors seem strange (contrast is nice though! )—he seems awfully red.

i hope to have the next tutorial done sometime this week.

[Glyph]

I was going for a platformer perspective actually, this was just done facing forward because it seemed easier to practice with. About the size, I've been playing Zelda II recently so I wanted to make something link-sized

Still, this was good practice, and the contrast knowledge really helps - It appears I am a notorious 'flat' scaler

[xerus]

Whoa awesome!  I'll be following along. 

[Alec S.]

Playing around with the RPG base, did male and female:

[Despain]

Alec—

hey that's an awesome start bro. the shoulders seem a bit buff and should probably be rounded out a bit.

it's kind of hard to see the colors objectively when you work on a black background though. your colors will pop more than they will in-game so it can mess up your perspective. i would suggest using something more neutral like a gray. personally i work against a muted green-gray when i'm doing my stuff.

keep going man 

also

new tutorial is up  check it out

• Tiling Tiles
  time to create a grass tile! also includes some useful information about clusters and stuff.
  

[Irock]

This probably stands amongst the best pixel art tutorials I've read. You do a good job at explaining the various concepts and getting people in the right mindset.

I'd love to see you touch on how to actually shape objects. Something I've had a really hard time picking up on is actually creating the shape of the object I want to sprite. If you ask me to sprite a horse, I'll sprite it, but it's going to have some serious physical birth defects. Same with humans and even a lot of inanimate objects that aren't simple geometric shapes. And don't even get me started on animation. Oh god.

Anyway, even if you don't take my suggestion, I look forward to future tutorials.

[TV_Dinnah]

This is great! Keep up the good work   

[etcetera]

This is really helpful !
Good job!