Do you have a template or something to use so that other people can make a couple sprites in this style?
I didn't, but being rather flattered by your interest, I've made one. Also it should help keep my own sprites consistent.
A few tips if you're new to this kind of thing:
- With these sprites, I've found it easier to animate them without arms or equipment, then add those later (on a separate layer, if you're using an app. that has such a feature). This template does not include arms. As a general rule, people swing each hand in the opposite direction to the corresponding foot when walking (e.g. left foot goes forward, left hand goes back).
- Don't leave black outlines. Better to use a darker shade of the colour of the thing you're outlining. I try to use pure black sparingly - only on the eyes, mainly.
- The light source is coming from the top left. Shade accordingly. Also note that this means you can't just make the left-hand walk cycle a mirror-image of the right (which is a pain in the arse, I know).
- A tricky aspect of animating side-on walk cycles is differentiating the legs from each other. Make sure you make the far/back leg a darker colour than the nearer.
- Remember that these sprites are intended to be used in a top-down / three-quarter perspective, not viewed straight from the side. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference at this resolution, but keep it in mind.
- This is not a tutorial on how to do pixel art. Derek Yu has one
here.
- The little portraits are not drawn in pixel-art style, but more loosely, using a graphics pad and lots of semi-transparent brush strokes. I do them at double size (128 px
2) and then resample.