Where is everybody getting there sprites from
BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Programming/Where is everybody getting there sprites from
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| I just would like to know where everyone get there art and sprites from. I am thinking about hiring someone to make sprites and art for me because I dont have the talent to do it my self. But I am checking here first to see if anyone know any place to get art and spites from. |
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| You can't really seriously come up with a viable game using pre-existing sprites without looking unoriginal. Make your own, I say. |
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| How did you learn to make sprites? |
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| I learned by doing. * Have a concept for what you want to make * Make sure to start simple (like an apple, bullet, flower, grass) * Work on it until youre satisfied then do another I wouldn't mess with animation until you feel comfortable doing static sprites. |
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| World Creator 1.5 is freeware, 2.5 is hugely powerful. |
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| I used to know a few sites where you could freely download all kind of game-resources; sounds, music, sprites etc. But alas, HD-crashes and can't seem to find them no more... Googling finds lots of images and other "free" stuff, but mostly unusable for "simple" game-GFX. @tonyg: Now, that is indeed interesting. |
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| Sprites leak out of the ends of talented arty fingers. Growing talented arty fingers is like growing juicy carrots - it takes practice and a whole lot of time. Using other people's sprites (unless you have exclusive rights to them) is a waste of time. Invest that time in improving your own artistic abilities, you'll be glad you did. |
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| Is World Creator windows only? Can't seem to find that info on their site. (Although it probably is :) Edit: Windows only. Horrible interface. Looks usefull though :) |
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| @JustLuke: If you would stretch that line of thinking, You also have to write and create your own sounds and music. But one can only have that much talents. And if drawing is not one of them, you have to look for the help of others. |
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| If your game is free, do them yourself and get *some* experience or ask a friend or interested forum member. If you are going to sell the game, pay someone who's damn good. |
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| Abomination, I agree, but using the same sprites that a hundred other people have access to is still a bad idea. If you can find talented collaborators who are willing to create exclusive assets for your game then that's great, but it's not likely unless you have some sort of track record (as I've discovered myself). The best approach (and the one that I'm taking) is to do what you can with the skills you have, show off your work, and hope that it will eventually attract the interest of talented individuals. |
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| It's ok to use borrowed sprites during development. That way you can present an artist with a complete game, so they might be more inclined to do it. (Talking about free artists here, otherwise just pay for it. It's also easier to know exactly what you want, when the game is already complete) |
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| As for "learning" sprites, the best recommendation I can give is this: Start Small. ...or rather, work large, and scale down. Your "larger" work may not look that great, but interpolation can be extremely forgiving. Something that looks lousy at 256x256 may look just fine at 24x24... |
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| A very good idea is to get a WACOM Tablet-Monitor, this helps me a lot! While it's impossible to draw something nice with the mouse, with that tablet-monitor it's quite easy and looks good although I also don't have any drawing skills. Ok, that thing costs $1500 to $3000 depending on the size. But: a) you can draw graphics with it like on paper, and b) it also saves a lot of time with normal work - it eliminates the hand-eye-coordination which takes a few millisecs when using the mouse to position the pointer. Sounds little, but adds to a huge amount of time over the day. And makes the workflow better. No, I'm not a Wacom partner ;-) I'm just very happy with that thing! |
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| its impossible to draw something nice with the mouse?.. er..ive been drawing nice things with the mouse since the amiga, and i still do it now...i dont have me one of yer new fangled graphicy tablety thingies ;) still..im probably jst weird :[ |
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| Yeah, definately not impossible to draw something nice with the mouse. For people who are classically trained in freehand drawing, however, I'd say a wacom is a *very* good idea - but many people are capable of drawing very well with the mouse. |
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| I do all my drawing in flash (yeah with a tablet, but a mouse is good too). The great thing is you can easily scale things and it still remains smooth. It is also very good for animation. It exports as PNG which retains the alpha information perfectly for Blitz. Im not entirely sure how much Flash costs, I got it as a student at uni. |
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| Drawing big and scaling down is NOT the best way to do sprites by any stretch of the imagination Infact, Drawing should be the last word on your mind when making sprites, because you arent drawing them, your "Pixeling" them Pixeling (Zooming in really far and controling every pixel of the sprite) is a very different skill from drawing, I can't draw anything half decent to save my life, but my Pixeling is pretty nice There used to be a great website that I visited with some pixel art forums and some great tutorials on it all, but it seems to have been taken over by one of those parasitic search companies that are slowly consuming the whole internet |
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| Mordax_Praetorian has a good point, drawing and making sprites are 2 different things. I can draw but whenever i tried to make sprites in a drawing manner the results have rarely met my expectations. Flash is vector based so you can have smooth graphics even when scaling down. If you have the motivation, i suggest practicing with any software that has drawing tools, find your favorite amongst those you tried and work your own technique ! good luck with your sprites :) |
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| Well, I'm perfectly happy in MS Paint. I usually don't go larger than 128x128. You almost reteach yourself how to draw. summed up 1. Roughly sketch what you need with your mouse. 2. Clean up the uneeded lines and pixels that have clusters of three or more. 3. When you get the outline done and clean, start filling and shading.(gradients are really n00bish, pick a light direction) 4. Print it out and show grandma! Yes I'm a traditional pixel artist. I just like the challange. It's not the only way though you can use all million colors if you want. :) |
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| It can be hard to make your own sprites if you're not artistically inclined, even if like me you are it's still a hassle to spend substantial time doing you're own graphics. That's why I get a friend to do mine! You might not be lucky enough to have a slave though. You’ll just have to bite the bullet and do it yourself then, remember practice can make you very competent indeed at things you've no real aptitude for. You just need to persevere. |
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