Some questions about pixel art character anatomy.

[JustPlay]

I'm quite new at pixel art and I've been trying to learn and practice character anatomy and having some trouble while doing it so. I tried to do shape of character with silhouette first but I don't think it helps much espacially on small sized characters.

So I felt like to start a discussion and ask some questions.

1. Do I need to learn about some human, animal anatomy first or I need to mess with pixels until shape of character feels right?

2. How you guys start out drawing shapes of character when you first open a new sprite file?

3. Is there anything you recommend me to do something else before anatomy?


These are the questions for now, thank you and have fun pixelling.

[prpl_mage]

1. yes if you are going for a realistic style. But mostly just the lenght and shape of things.

2. Depends on what style i am going for but for more realistic ones I tend to just doodle out the basic forms like head, torso, hips, arms and legs. Up with a layer above it and start forming the actual character using the doodle as a template of sorts.

3. I'd say look up how sprites look like, find a game or site where people have made realistic styled sprties and look how they look and are animated.

[JustPlay]

prpl_mage の投稿を引用：

1. yes if you are going for a realistic style. But mostly just the lenght and shape of things.

2. Depends on what style i am going for but for more realistic ones I tend to just doodle out the basic forms like head, torso, hips, arms and legs. Up with a layer above it and start forming the actual character using the doodle as a template of sorts.

3. I'd say look up how sprites look like, find a game or site where people have made realistic styled sprties and look how they look and are animated.

That was a quick answer. Thank you for advice.

[SolarLune]

Adding on to Prpl_mage's comments:

1) You can just mess around with the shapes at first. As you go, you'll get better at spotting what makes proportions work, especially in video games. For example, in a lot of top-down games (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger), the heads are rather large, but this allows for greater expression of character and more room for hair. Other games that had good art may also have different proportions; trying to see why certain styles and proportions work well will help you get better, yourself. Of course, practice is the best thing you can do.

2) I usually start with a single color and shape it a bit. After that, I might color and give an outline or shade, but I usually refine as I go along. Other people have other approaches, though; they might start off doing basically line art, and then go over it with color, and then shade and clean up at the end.

3) Practice! Really, that's what'll help you more than anything else. Just practice and try different aspects to spriting (animation, color choosing, proportions, perspective, lighting, etc).

[JustPlay]

SolarLune の投稿を引用：

Adding on to Prpl_mage's comments:

1) You can just mess around with the shapes at first. As you go, you'll get better at spotting what makes proportions work, especially in video games. For example, in a lot of top-down games (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger), the heads are rather large, but this allows for greater expression of character and more room for hair. Other games that had good art may also have different proportions; trying to see why certain styles and proportions work well will help you get better, yourself. Of course, practice is the best thing you can do.

2) I usually start with a single color and shape it a bit. After that, I might color and give an outline or shade, but I usually refine as I go along. Other people have other approaches, though; they might start off doing basically line art, and then go over it with color, and then shade and clean up at the end.

3) Practice! Really, that's what'll help you more than anything else. Just practice and try different aspects to spriting (animation, color choosing, proportions, perspective, lighting, etc).

Thank you for the answer. I think you're the SolarLune on youtube if I'm not mistaken. I remember watching your tutorials before. Again thank you for the help, I'll try my best.

[SolarLune]

Yep, that's me! Glad to see people've watched them. And you're welcome!

[miele dishwasher]

I actually just started and everyone around me is saying, "Wow. Thats really cool." Anyhow, try practicing around with mspaint, which is helpful, but I also have adobe training, and those combined allow aseprite, which is really nice. You'll want to just think about the rough color of that area if you're doing a 16x16 or a 32x32. For example, a knob with white marks and a red knob would just be red.

[HauntedPixel]

You should generally have a good grasp on the rules of anatomy. Once you know the rules, you'll know how to bend or break them and still make something look like you intended.

I usually start off creating a sketch of the character so I have a roadmap of the general look of it. That way I'm focusing more on how to transfer it to pixels instead of trying to design it's look AND transfer it.

[JustPlay]

ccantrell31 の投稿を引用：

You should generally have a good grasp on the rules of anatomy. Once you know the rules, you'll know how to bend or break them and still make something look like you intended.

I usually start off creating a sketch of the character so I have a roadmap of the general look of it. That way I'm focusing more on how to transfer it to pixels instead of trying to design it's look AND transfer it.

Thank you for advice.

[Mr Moopsy]

many things depend on size as well. 16x16 pixel art is vastly differnt from 32x32...32x64....50x100 etc etc etc.

How many pixels you have to work with.

I am new to pixel art myself but this is what I am doing...

First rule:
Scale. Decide a scale for your game. 1px = 1 foot for example. Or 16px = 1 foot.
The point is. Decide on some scale and consistantly use that for all of your pixel art you make(for that project)

Second Rule:
Goes hand in hand with the first rule. But decide on "resolution". How large sprites will be.
If my sacle is 16px per foot. Average person is around 5-6 feet. I probably want a working area of at least 48x96px. 3ftx6ft An idle/arms by side nude drawing should fall in that range on average.

Third Rule:
Colors.
Less is more.
The cleaner the pixel art, the better in my opinion. Each color gets 3 shades. Dark-Normal-Light.
I try to limit myself to as few colors per sprite as possible.

Fourth Rule:
EYES.
Build your sprites around the eyes!
This is the hardest part...if your sprite has eyes, everything else revolves around the size of these eyes. They need to fit on the face...Will there be a mouth?

So figuring out how you will draw eyes is one of the most important parts of pixel art...for me it was at least.

-----------------

My workflow goes like this:

Sketch/outline/pose-This gives me a basic guidline of where the body should be. Its usually pretty ugly.

Sketch/outline hair in a different shade/color.

Sketch/outline some clothes on top of that...different shade/color.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT.
Having basic shapes/area you intend to work in helps a ton. Otherwise you will forever be trying to get a few extra pixels...never truely satisfied..always needing just a few more pixels here and there.
Giving yourself some basic guides and restrictions is huge.

Finally, color each of those sections/sketches in! Big areas of color. no shading. Just get the most basic colors and shapes in.

Here are some pics of my work flow a bit.
I use photoshop...am here researching if this software is worth my money.
I go crazy with layers....
10+ layers is pretty common as I create even a simple sprite.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cdfab37tm87ig8t/AADn7gPUpz0Je-Pfr2DZbrGOa?dl=0

[JustPlay]

🆅🅰🅻🆅🅴 Mr Moopsy の投稿を引用：

many things depend on size as well. 16x16 pixel art is vastly differnt from 32x32...32x64....50x100 etc etc etc.

How many pixels you have to work with.

I am new to pixel art myself but this is what I am doing...

First rule:
Scale. Decide a scale for your game. 1px = 1 foot for example. Or 16px = 1 foot.
The point is. Decide on some scale and consistantly use that for all of your pixel art you make(for that project)

Second Rule:
Goes hand in hand with the first rule. But decide on "resolution". How large sprites will be.
If my sacle is 16px per foot. Average person is around 5-6 feet. I probably want a working area of at least 48x96px. 3ftx6ft An idle/arms by side nude drawing should fall in that range on average.

Third Rule:
Colors.
Less is more.
The cleaner the pixel art, the better in my opinion. Each color gets 3 shades. Dark-Normal-Light.
I try to limit myself to as few colors per sprite as possible.

Fourth Rule:
EYES.
Build your sprites around the eyes!
This is the hardest part...if your sprite has eyes, everything else revolves around the size of these eyes. They need to fit on the face...Will there be a mouth?

So figuring out how you will draw eyes is one of the most important parts of pixel art...for me it was at least.

-----------------

My workflow goes like this:

Sketch/outline/pose-This gives me a basic guidline of where the body should be. Its usually pretty ugly.

Sketch/outline hair in a different shade/color.

Sketch/outline some clothes on top of that...different shade/color.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT.
Having basic shapes/area you intend to work in helps a ton. Otherwise you will forever be trying to get a few extra pixels...never truely satisfied..always needing just a few more pixels here and there.
Giving yourself some basic guides and restrictions is huge.

Finally, color each of those sections/sketches in! Big areas of color. no shading. Just get the most basic colors and shapes in.

Here are some pics of my work flow a bit.
I use photoshop...am here researching if this software is worth my money.
I go crazy with layers....
10+ layers is pretty common as I create even a simple sprite.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cdfab37tm87ig8t/AADn7gPUpz0Je-Pfr2DZbrGOa?dl=0

Thank you so much for sharing your technique. I'll give this a try.

[EkisDeh]

prpl_mage の投稿を引用：

1. yes if you are going for a realistic style. But mostly just the lenght and shape of things.

2. Depends on what style i am going for but for more realistic ones I tend to just doodle out the basic forms like head, torso, hips, arms and legs. Up with a layer above it and start forming the actual character using the doodle as a template of sorts.

3. I'd say look up how sprites look like, find a game or site where people have made realistic styled sprties and look how they look and are animated.

For realistic looking sprites i suggest you look for snk sprites they tend to favor that style

[404_Not_Found]

{FD}No$h247{PA} の投稿を引用：

prpl_mage の投稿を引用：

1. yes if you are going for a realistic style. But mostly just the lenght and shape of things.

2. Depends on what style i am going for but for more realistic ones I tend to just doodle out the basic forms like head, torso, hips, arms and legs. Up with a layer above it and start forming the actual character using the doodle as a template of sorts.

3. I'd say look up how sprites look like, find a game or site where people have made realistic styled sprties and look how they look and are animated.

For realistic looking sprites i suggest you look for snk sprites they tend to favor that style

Can confirm

Also it might help to try joining a pixel art forum - they have those, specifically designed for pixel artists. I spent some time on pixelation when I was younger, not sure if it's still around though. That was where I initially learned about this program by the way, back when it was called allegro sprite editor.

It's all fine and good to tell someone to practice and study but it kind of sucks to learn a new skill alone and have nobody to talk about it with. You can get some support on general forums like steam's but networking with other artists is a good motivator too.

[JustPlay]

404_Not_Found の投稿を引用：

{FD}No$h247{PA} の投稿を引用：

For realistic looking sprites i suggest you look for snk sprites they tend to favor that style

Can confirm

Also it might help to try joining a pixel art forum - they have those, specifically designed for pixel artists. I spent some time on pixelation when I was younger, not sure if it's still around though. That was where I initially learned about this program by the way, back when it was called allegro sprite editor.

It's all fine and good to tell someone to practice and study but it kind of sucks to learn a new skill alone and have nobody to talk about it with. You can get some support on general forums like steam's but networking with other artists is a good motivator too.

Yeah you're right, I'm posting to pixel joint forum when I have created a work. But it would be nice to have some friends who also makes pixel art to draw pixel art together. Just a thought.