I've been asked a couple of times if I could do a tutorial on scratching sprites, sort of like I've done with splicing. I usually turned those people away, saying "I'm not a good enough spriter to teach scratching yet." Well I don't think I'm all that better yet, but I think I'm good enough that I could make a decent tutorial for it, even if I'm not a pro yet.
I will be doing a Fakemon as the example sprite for it, but hopefully I'll make the tutorial in a way that will apply to most sprite styles. I've written up a sort of rough outline for how I'd do it. It would be multiple videos, all split up into these categories. I know if I make it too long most won't want to follow, but I really want to hit on all points that I can.
Sorry this isn't me posting anything that could be consider true content. I haven't gotten any finished sprites to show since I've been jumping between projects and don't have anything that's ready to show quite yet for that.
Intro
- What is Spriting
- What it can be used for
- Scratching
- Overview of tutorial
- Explain what I'll be doing
- Explain I'll be making a Fakemon, but I'll do my best to explain other styles too as I go along
Concept/Planning
- Start off by explaining people should have a plan
- What will be the purpose of the sprite?
- Go over styles and games that they might choose from
- Show that starting with a hand drawn doodle can be a good way to start off
- Show off doodles and planning stages I have for the example
Basic Form/Line Art
- Introduce them to MS Paint
- Should explain programs like YY-CHR and others for game sprites alterations
- Start by showing two methods of basic form
- Blotchy method
- Doodly method
- Saving as .PNG
- Describe things like how to do curves
- Explain that looking at examples can help
- Fixing up and double checking stuff
Coloring and Shading
- Color choice
- Palettes
- Light sources
- Saving as .PNG
- Textures
- Form through shading
Finishing Touches and Posting
- Check around for errors and fixes that can be done
- Saving as .PNG
- Presentation choices
- Uploading
- Posting
- Dealing with critique and responses
- Closing
Since I am doing this to teach others, I do not mind at all if anyone makes comments on my plan so far for this. If you think there is something else I should include or explain, let me know, and I'll see if I can get it added.