So I have really considered attempting to make a retexture of the pig. The dilemma? I can't work in the size restraints I am given. I understand it has to be a certain size to work but zooming in and working with a size 1 paintbrush looks strange to me. I just can't get past how the paintbrush is working in the zoomed in version. (Sorry I am having difficult articulating what I mean textually) I highly considered attempting to make a sprite all on my own then resizing it....then the issue becomes I don't know what size the whole sheet needs to be that I resize it to. I have tried to search for that specific thing (the sheet size I mean), and I seem to find the answer to every question but that one. Am I just out of luck and unable retexture in game animals because I can't function on the size parameters?
what program are you using? a lot of people use free programs. But one I like to use where the zoom is easy and make sense making pixel art is aseprite ((made specifically for that person who doesn't like the zoom taking away from the screen's overall picture/animate sprites for things like this and gifs)) its really, really difficult to get something down to 32x16 from the original size you are working in to maintain the pixel quality intended.
Pixel artistry is a skill of its own, but I can guarantee you that scaling things down is going to be ugly. There is simply no way to scale down to the 16px scale used by the game and keep any detail.
Well poop. I use photoshop and the paint brush just looks weird because in that zoomed in quality the paintbrush is doing this blur thing that makes my eyes go wiggy. *sigh* well thanks anyway, I mean it's unfortunate that this would be the case but asking never hurts either.
I use photoshop too, but why are you using paint brush to draw pixel? use pencil you dummy! edit.. just made an art using photoshop pencil.. and nothing but pencil.
I make all my stuff in photoshop as well, and as sirwoof said you need to be using the pencil tool not the brush.
okay i see a difference yes... I don't do pixel art normally though and actually it has been years since I have done much other then my graphics for my twitch page so ignorance does not equal dumb, just putting that out there
Don't worry about it. I think they were joking. Also it's a learning experience for a lot of us, if you asked me about pixel art a few months ago I would be like MS Paint forever, right? I also use photoshop, but mainly to manipulate colors.
Yeah I'm just crazy frustrated today so I have a bit of a thinner skin then usual right now. I just want to make this cute little anime style piggy and well I just can't work in with the original sprite before me because of size restraints so...yeah again like I said frustrated...
Dude I feel it. I have those days, A LOT. I don't blame you. But yeah, the zoom on photoshop is kinda remedial if you're not used to doing pixel art. If you're willing to spend $15 USD on aseprite it will help out with the size restraints a lot. Not sure how the zoom is in photofiltre, gimp, and paint.net -- but from one artist to another I totes reccommend the purchase [can buy it on steam even].
I don't even think I have two pennies to rub together right now. Well maybe that's a slight exaggeration but I definitely don't have more than a dollar right now. But I will at least look into it. For the time being I have a pig created by another modder that I am at least semi happy with.
As stated above, resizing doesn't work out well. ;.; I've tried (nor rotating under a 90 degree angle) It is a pain trying to make something to only realize you aren't gonna have enough room for it to look right to ya. Your main tool will be the pencil on any sprites of characters or animals. Paint brush is alright to use for larger projects, such as retexturing one of the buildings. It can be tedious. If it's frustrating right now, just try a much simpler project of recoloring or barely increasing it's size by one pixel or so. Or a sprite with more room, such as a horse until you get use to the limitations. There's so many sprites I'd like to make, like m-effing dragons yo, but bah, no room for a cool looking dragon. I use Gimp, it has a relatively easy zoom. You can just hold Ctrl (or Alt or something) and zoom with the wheel of your mouse. Never used Photoshop so I dunno the difference between the two.
i b google queen. http://www.piskelapp.com/ by quick glance it looks like you can upload the sprite sheet and work on that. x__x i also like how it helps you set up the pixel size easier to work specifically for sprites --it was a learning experience trying to set up my grid on photoshop to do all the edits I've done already. Stupid easy mistake like putting something not lined up 16x16/32x16/whatever looks noticeably bad in game. sorry, just trying to help with options! ahh you 2 gewd. gimp can't be that bad then. but i also sit a yard away from my pc when i do this because its a TV set up. @___@
I'm curious how other people approach sprite work. Are you guys making your sprites in a separate document then moving them to the sheet? What I do is open the original sheet, create a bottom layer with bounding boxes(these are the limits for each sprite), then create new layers and groups for each individual sprite. I cut out and hide sprites from the original sheet layer as I'm working my way across. For zooming I either using the navigator tab or ctrl + and ctrl -
Eh, I don't really do anything fancy. My methods are slowly changing as I learn more. When I work on horse, tools, and weapons retextures, I just open the original sheet, use gimp's configurable grid to set the boundaries for the sprites, erase everything but the outline of the existing sprite then work over it so I can picture the placement in-game easier. Erase as I go. A little tedious, but it mostly works out. With buildings and furniture, I open two windows, one containing my custom tiles and random "doodles" that I make to see how it looks before transferring it to original sheet. Can't set a proper grid for furniture, since their boundaries vary, so I usually just put a dot on opposite corners. I may steal your boxes thing for a template for a custom grid for furniture. ^.^
I feel like my method is also kind of tedious. I pretty much create layers for every aspect of a single sprite. I do this in case I need to move or recolor very specific parts. Here is an example.
