![]() |
Nice tutorial Chesu, very clean anr organized as well, makes reading so much easier :) |
Yay! I can't wait for the other tutorials to come out!
|
Whoa, nice, nice, Chesu. I might learn off this properly. =D
|
Pokemon Scratch Tutorial #1
Pokemon Scratch Tutorial #1 In this tutorial, I'll be teaching you what I call the circle method,by Chesu or spriting by geometry. First thing's first, open up your favorite image editor. I don't care if you just want to read the tutorial, do it. I prefer MS Paint, as it presentes a single large environment, but you should use whatever you're most comfortable with. The first thing you need to do is decide the size of your sprite. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut1.png This red box represents how big GBA Pokemon battle sprites can be with no problem. So long as the sprite fits within the red box without overlapping the edges, everything should work just fine... I think I'll go with a Pokemon of medium/small size. Before you even start on the sprite, you should have a mental image of what you'll be making. I'm actually going to be winging it, making it up as I go along. The first step in the circle method is to draw some circles with the circle tool. Sure, you could freehand them, but the circle tool is faster and more accurate. The number and size of the circles depends on what you're making... for Geodude, you'd start with a medium circle for the body, and two small ones for the hands. If you wanted to make a Nuzleaf, you would make a medium circle for the head, two small ones for the hips, and maybe an oval or rectangle for the shoulders. I'm going keep it simple and make two circles, for a head and body. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut2.png How many circles did you make? Now, you should consider the pose your sprite will be in, and move your circles to reflect that. I want mine to be facing the opponent head-on, so the smaller head circle should stay on the left side of the body circle. I think I'm going to try for something like a cat or a dog, sitting down, so the head circle will go on top. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut3.png Once you've got your circles situated, you can reshape them. I smoothed out the body a bit, and made the head slightly more... well, head-shaped. Most quadrupedal mammals have a head that gets more narrow under the eyes, so take the jaw line and other facial structures into consideration while doing this. I still don't know what I'm making, but it has a fairly rounded body. From here on out, you'll be experimenting a bit, so you should always make a copy of the most recent revision to the sprite, and work on that. To give it some contrast against the white background, I'm going to color it a little. To ensure that my sprites will blend with everything else in the game, I prefer to use the color palettes of existing Pokemon. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut4.png While looking through Pokemon sprites, Noctowl caught my eye, so I grabbed its palette. I also started to draw some limbs. My original idea was to draw the leg similar to how a cat or dog's leg looks when they're sitting down... there's really no trick to it, just draw how you think it should look. Due to how long I made the foot, it turned out looking more like a rabbit's leg, so I decided that's what I would be making: a rabbity thing. For the forepaws, I just drew some paw shapes, then added little arms. If you are having trouble drawing what you have in mind, look closely at a reference image. I think I'll color the arms and legs now... what kind of limbs did you decide to draw? http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut5.png You probably can't see what the problem is, and I'm not exactly sure that I know either, but I just didn't like how the paws looked. I tried moving them around, but none of my attempts were satisfactory... so, I decided to amputate. What? Don't worry, it'll be fine. If you ever feel like something isn't working out, there's nothing wrong with trying something else. It's been used before (see Klonoa, Terriermon, and Pokota to name a few), but I think I'm going to have my rabbity thing attack with its ears. Don't worry, I'll find a way to sneak a lesson about spriting into it. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut6.png As you can see, the ear on the left is a basic arch shape, while the one on the right looks.. well, better. The ear on the right started out looking about the same as the one on the left, but I added a few little touches to make it look more organic. Let's take a closer look. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut7.png Upon closer inspection, you can see that one of the major differences is that the ear on the right doesn't look as rounded. The ends are very different, of course, but you probably haven't even noticed the most important thing in the image. Actually, that's because I didn't include the "wrong" thing to do it, because I'm so used to doing it the "right" way. So, what am I talking about? Well, let's have another look at the two circles I started with. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut8.png So, which circle looks more round to you. The one on the left? Well, why? The answer is pretty weird; because the circle on the right has a straight line three pixels long connected to diagonal lines. It sounds crazy, I know, but that's really what it is. If you want something to look natural, you should make sure that the ends of diagonal lines are connected to straight lines by smaller straight lines, two pixels long. I don't question it, I just know that it works. You also wants to avoid right angles, unless you're spriting a Pokemon made of minerals or ice. Yes, there are right angles in my sprite's face... I intend to build the nose and whiskers/hair tufts around them. Anyway, lesson learned, right? Right. Onward! http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut9.png The sprite's backside was looking a little flat, so I decided to give it a tail. Rather than a boring old rabbit tail, I gave it something you'd see on a primate or marsupial, with a tuft on the end similar to the ears. There is no universal truth about tails (aside from the fact that no matter what kind of animal it is, there IS bone somewhere in there, so keep that in mind), so it's time to move on to the finer details! Since I don't plan on adding anything else to the outside of the sprite, I'm going to be working on things on the inside. If you're still working on limbs or anything like that, finish up before you continue reading! http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut10.png You already know that I started on the face, so let's talk about the eyes. I like to start by drawing a ridge where the top of the eyes will be, to make it easier easier to shape them. The eye ridge should be based on the shape of the rest of the head, but you'll have to use your own judgment to determine how it should look. Only part of the eye on the left is visible; there are probably a lot of Pokemon that look like this, due to their heads being oriented on the opponent. You want the sprite look like it's focusing on something about ten feet away. Also, remember that eyes are generally wet-looking, and therefore reflective, which is why you will often see a white pixel or two on the colored part of the eye. I actually intended for the nose to be at the very bottom of the face when I shaped the head, and I may end up changing the sprite's face completely before I'm done. When making the nose and mouth, keep the facial structures you've established so far in mind. Once you've finished the basic layout of your face, we'll move on to shading. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut11.png Most GBA Pokemon and trainer sprites seem to be illuminated by a light source somewhere to the left and above them, so when shading your sprite, make it darker on the right and bottom. If you look closely at the sprite on the right, you'll see that I used lighter colors in some places on the outline. It may seem like a small thing, but you'd be surprised at how big of difference it can make in the overall look of the sprite. The shading has made me realize just how fat the little guy is, so while you're shading your sprite, I'm going to slim it down, maybe add a few finishing touches. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut12.png Lookin' good, bunny-man! When you want to use multiple colors as I did here, just replace the original shades with the new ones in the chosen area. Resist the temptation to draw a dark-colored line between the two different hues! I'm going to do some last minute shading, and add a few more small details. Maybe, with a more slender frame and better shading, I'll be able to get the forelegs to look right. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut13.png Well! I'm surprised, I quite like that. The less noticeable changes I made were to alter the shading a bit, mostly along the back and on the ears, and to add ear canals. I actually planned on adding the ear canals earlier, but forgot until now. If you look closely, you'll see that aside from making it more believable as an animal, they also add a dimension to the ears that wasn't there before, showing the point at which the back side of the ears becomes visible from the front. With that, I think I'm done! http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut14.png Not bad, for two circles put together in MS Paint. It doesn't look a whole lot like a Pokemon, but that's just because I didn't give it the large head and distinctive face normally associated with the creatures. It could also use some markings or tufts of hair on its body, but I'm happy with it as it is. I think I'll call it... Marchare, a Normal/Fighting type. A little bit rabbit, a little bit cat, a little bit kangaroo, and a little bit crazy! So, how did everyone else's turn out? Please, post your own made-from-scratch sprites below! --- If you have any questions or would like to give feedback on the tutorials, click here to leave me a visitor message! |
Thanks for the tutorial it helped me heaps.
Maybe after you finished with the trainer tutorial, you should show us how to make back sprites? |
Thank you for the tutorial it's really helpful. A back sprite tutorial would be nice to have because I can't do them to well.
|
Shading Basics
Shading Basics by Chesu Shading is one of the most important, yet oddly overlooked parts of creating Pokemon sprites. Shading allows you to add dimension to a sprite that would otherwise have looked flat. Take these two shapes, for example. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut25.png With the addition of three well-placed colors, a red circle can become a red sphere. It's hard to explain why, but in short the human brain has perfected the art of pattern recognition. This is why you're able to recognize your friends from behind... and why, if you've ever seen a shiny ball before, the circle on the right will appear to have depth despite being identical in shape to the one on the left. This effect works exactly the same in reverse, as illustrated by these Voltorbs. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut29.png As you can see, with its shading removed Voltorb looks... well, flat. If you look closely, you'll see that both the shaded Voltorb and my sphere have colored outlines, getting darker the farther they are from the light source. This is used to build upon the illusions of depth and light created by the other shading on the sprite. Speaking of light sources, all battle sprites that face you will be lit by something above them and to the left... just imagine that the sun is somewhere around the opponent HP box. A shading technique often used for Pokemon is dithering, which allows you to both soften the boundary between two shades and artificially add shades to your sprite without adding more colors to the palette. This is a throwback to Pokemon Gold and Silver, when dithering was used to shade most sprites. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut26.png http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut27.png So what, exactly, IS dithering? Well, take a look at the two green color palettes above. There's no question which one has a larger range of shades, but how many unique colors does each have? The one on the left very clearly has four, and the one on the right seems to have seven... but they're actually exactly the same. If you look closely at the box on the right, you'll see tiny checker board patterns consisting of two shades of green; this is dithering. Now, you may not recall ever having seen any checker-boarded Pokemon.. but that's probably just because you never noticed it. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut28.png If you would like to see how extensively dithering was used in the GBC games, click here. If you think of any shading tips I forgot, let me know! --- If you have any questions or would like to give feedback on the tutorials, click here to leave me a visitor message! |
Nice tutorial.
I was thinking about starting spriting, it'll be helpful. :cer_smile: |
Trainer Scratch Tutorial #1
Trainer Scratch Tutorial #1 by Chesu In this tutorial, I'll be using the circle method to sprite a Pokemon trainer. The process is generally the same as shown in the Pokemon tutorial above, though the rules are a bit different. First off, you need to decide how big your sprite will be. Remember, battle sprites can't be any taller or wider than the red box shown in the previous tutorial. I recommend finding an existing sprite that's the size you want and using the same proportions. I'm going to be spriting the rival for Pokemon Dissension, so my sprite will be approximately the same size as the GBA protagonists. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut15.png http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut16.png As before, the first step is to make some circles for the major body parts. Feel free to use the ones I've already created, if you want to. Just like last time, position them with the finished product in mind. I actually have concept art to base my sprite on, which I highly recommend. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut17.png Since my sprite will have his back turned to the player, looking over his right shoulder at them, I'm putting his left foot forward. If you're having trouble placing the feet or drawing the legs, look closely at the leg positions of other sprites. Don't forget to shape the feet/shoes to fit the perspective. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut18.png You can start shaping the hips, torso, head... whatever you need to, at this point. I decided to reduce the hips, since my sprite won't be wearing a jacket, or anything else that would need the wide circle I started out with as a reference point. To prevent confusion while drawing on the arms and anything else you want to add, now is a good time to apply some base color to the sprite. I also drew on a jaw line and a simple face, in preparation for the hair. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut19.png http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut20.png armed and dangerous It's easier to draw the arms separately, then to add them to the sprite when you're happy with them. I like to start with the shoulder, a circle about the same size as the shoe. If part of the arm is going to be behind the sprite, like the left shoulder and hand here, draw the arm in its entirety, then position the sprite on top of it. Finish the rough shapes of anything else you want on your sprite (don't worry, you can come back to them later if you want), then move on to the most difficult part of spriting; HAIR! http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut21.png Well, that may have been a little melodramatic, but drawing hair is no easy task. What's more, I can't really give you much advice, as there are no universal laws on hair. What I can tell you, however, is that I like to draw hair directly on the sprite, and that I only worry about the outline at this point. Think of how to make it sit naturally, remember that hair doesn't defy gravity without reason, and try using as many reference images as possible. Once you're happy with your sprite's design, you can begin shading it. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut22.png Shading a only a little different for clothing and hair than explained in the two tutorials above, but it's important to remember what it is you're shading. A leg covered in loose denim for example, is shaded quite differently from a bare leg. The shape and position of things has the biggest impact on how they're shaded, but remember that, even if you can't see it below them, your sprite is casting a shadow. The four protagonist sprites at the top of this tutorial are all casting shadows on their left arms; this usually applies to things in the background, so keep that in mind if you decided to make your sprite stand with one leg forward, the other back. I can offer literally no advice on shading hair, since there are so many variables. Just keep everything I've said about shading in mind, and make sure the style is consistent. If the hair is smooth, make the shading smooth... if the hair is rough, enhance that. The hair on my sprite is shaggy and a little disorganized, so I'm using the shading to make that more recognizable. If you need any advice, feel free to leave a comment below, or send me a private message. After making a few small changes, my sprite is done! http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut23.png In the end, I decided to make him a bit skinnier, and since I wasn't incredibly fond of looking at his butt, covered it with his shirt. Little touches, like the shape of his face and the rolled-up sleeves, give him a distinctive look. The process for making the large sprites used in FireRed and LeafGreen's intro sequence is the same, just on a larger scale and with a larger color palette. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut24.png So, how did your sprite turn out? If you'd like to share, post it below! --- If you have any questions or would like to give feedback on the tutorials, click here to leave me a visitor message! |
nice tutorial bravo! good job
|
This is great!! I never realized you could sprite with shapes like that. This was really helpful!
|
These tutorials seem really helpful, great job. :)
You planning on submitting them to the tutorial thread? |
Quote:
Anyways I like your tutorials they are very well made nice concept too ^^ I really like what you use for the palettes for the sprites also but when making a sprite in a rom hack the trainer should probaly have his/her head facing to the bottom right hand corner but anyway nice tutorials hope you make more |
Pixel-Over Tutorial
Pixel-Over Tutorial by Chesu Tracing over an existing image is probably the easiest way to create a nice-looking sprite. The process is so simple, in fact, that I have no preamble for it that wouldn't just be the first part of the tutorial, so let's just dive in! http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut30.png The first item on the agenda is, as you could have guessed, choosing an image to base the sprite on. Things to look for in prospective images are a dynamic pose, good color depth, and if possible, a head oriented on where the player's party would be standing. If you're basing your sprite on concept art for your own original Pokemon, make sure that you're satisfied with the image before starting. Once the image is ready, it's time to resize. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut31.png Okay, so it's not much right now, but by the time I'm through with him this little guy will look great! If you intend to use the sprite in a ROM hack, make sure that it's no larger than 64x64 pixels, and is the exact size you want it to be. You probably don't want an Umbreon the size of a Rapidash, right? Moving on, you can start the actual tracing! http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut32.png I prefer to use bright colors, as they stand out against the image. I couldn't tell you why, but more often than not I seem to use red and cyan for the outline. Make sure to erase any near-white colors that may surround the image. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut33.png That is one psychedelic Bayleef! Replace every discernible shade in the image with a different bright color, so it will be easy to recolor later. If you look closely, you'll see that I left the eye unaltered; it's easier to change the colors in small areas like that one-by-one. Next is the final step, recoloring. You can use whatever colors you want, but you should definitely use the original image as a reference. If you're making a new sprite of an existing Pokemon, I recommend using the color palette on that Pokemon's sprite. Don't be afraid to alter the sprite's shading, to better fit the guidelines in the shading tutorial above. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut34.png http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut35.png Not too shabby! This sprite wasn't actually made for use in a game, so it's a little sloppy, but you get the idea. However, just because it looks nice, that doesn't mean that it's appropriate. Let's take a look at a few more examples. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut36.png As you can see, again, the resulting sprite isn't bad. It's not really appropriate for a battle sprite, though, since it's not facing the right way. The light source of the original image was also a bit off; if I wanted to use this sprite, I would have altered it. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut37.png The orientation of the head on this one is better, and the colors and details are nice.. but there's a major problem with the size. All three sprites I made were half the size of the original image, which was okay for Bayleef and perfect for Hitmonlee... but the Umbreon sprite is clearly too big. If you intend to use this technique, just remember that the finished product should have proper orientation, size, and shading. If you feel the need to alter any details, feel free to! It's your sprite! --- If you have any questions or would like to give feedback on the tutorials, click here to leave me a visitor message! |
Quote:
but you are right with all the activity in the ROM hacking forum and a new hack made every day I can see why you said that |
Quote:
|
I've been busy but I should have free time tonight to continue my sprite. Once it's all done I'll post it.
|
This is actually very helpful, especially since your a good spriter. It sucks when bad spriters try to make tutorials, even when the don't know what they're doing.
Great work. It helped me a lot. |
Quote:
Eh, I'm an... okay, spriter. I wanted to make tutorials that are easy to understand, and explain everything... I'm not sure if I've managed to do that, but it's certainly better than nothing. |
first time i scratched a trainer :x
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/5277/trainer.png the legs look too short and too thin D: |
Quote:
Yeah... make the legs a bit bigger, put the elbows a little higher on the arms, and shade the skin and hair. That should help a bit. |
That has got to be the most useful trainer tutorial I've ever seen. :3 Trainers had always been such a problem for me before, but with it, I was able to make this. I commend you; you managed to make it straightforward and easy enough for anyone to follow.
I wasn't much of a fan of the fakemon tutorial at first (I don't reccommend using the circle tool) but the end product turned out much better than I thought it would. And the traceovers might come in handy sometime. So, awesome! Keep up the good work! |
I just looked at your trace over tutorial and it seems really easy to follow and the results are great. After my fakemon I'll try that.
|
I wasn't sure weather to sticky this as it;s own thread so you can still update it or if I should merge it with the existing tutorial thread. I'm pretty confident that since you are constantly updating these great guides that it warrants it's own sticky, congrats.
|
You know, I like the way your tutorials are. They have helped with a lot of things. I will post one of my geometry sprites later.
|
Thanks for deciding to sticky the thread... and especially as its own topic! I definitely want to add more content in the future; to illustrate that, I've updated with placeholders for all of the tutorials I currently intend to write. If you're reading this and want me to write a tutorial on a specific topic, let me know!
|
This tutorial is gonna be very helpful, and glad to see it's stickied.
In future please don't refer to newer pixel artists in such derogatory terms, thanks - Fox♠ |
1 Attachment(s)
Hey, here's my Geometry Poke. I sorta stuffed up the leg...
Also, could you do the one for tiles? I sorta fail at tiles... At least tree tiles. |
Actually, I already planned to do a tile tutorial... I have a place set up for it in this thread and everything! It is good to know that there are people who want it, though.
|
Congrats on your thread being stickied. I'm happy to see the new tutorials you're going to add. They've really helped me start to scratch sprite.
|
Pokemon Amalgamation Tutorial
Pokemon Amalgamation Tutorial by Chesu http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut38.png http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut40.png http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut39.png The good, the bad, and the ugly. The most common form of Pokemon spriting is the creation of "Fusions", combinations of the parts of two or more different Pokemon sprites. While Hybrids (i.e. a Gardevoir with a Koffing for a head, a Machop/Houndour centaur) and type-changes are popular, in this tutorial I'll be discussing Amalgamon, original Pokemon created from existing parts. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut47.png As with any other spriting method, you should have a clear idea of what you want to make. If you don't, you could end up with something like Griffody the Flying Goat up there. Ever since Pokemon Gold and Silver came out, introducing Miltank and the concept of baby Pokemon, I've been waiting for a baby cow that evolves into both Tauros and Miltank. Nine years on, I'm kind of getting a little tired of waiting. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut41.png ...Okay, so it doesn't look much like a baby cow yet, but... well, it's a process, y'know? When making Amalgamon, I usually start by assembling parts that I think I'll need, or that just look interesting. There are usually around twenty, and I decide which to use through trial and error; I'm only showing you the ones that I actually ended up using. A good start would be to reduce the number of heads hanging about. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut42.png So, why Wurmple's head? Well, I happened to have a modified Wurmple head sitting between some of my favorite Pokemon beaks and eyes, and I liked how it was shaped. When choosing parts, make sure that their orientation will fit your sprite. I like to go with things that people won't recognize, or that can be modified beyond recognition. With a color change, Pichu eyes, and some ever-so-slightly modified Eevee ears, you would never even guess a Wurmple was involved. When combining parts, make sure the area they meet is smooth and natural-looking. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut43.png Looking a bit more cow-like, right? Well, at least a little. Remember to properly shade the sprite, and make sure that the shading flows well between the different parts. Just because you're working with premade shapes and shading doesn't mean you can't add your own little touches; don't be afraid to draw feet, horns, designs... whatever you feel the sprite needs. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut44.png Not all sprites need to be elaborate. Smaller Pokemon usually have much simpler designs than the big ones, both because their size allows for only so much detail and to make their evolutions look more impressive. Sometimes, you barely even have to edit the parts used; however, it's important to know what to edit and what not to. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut46.png This one could definitely use more editing. While most people wouldn't recognize the Fearow wing, its beak is clearly a Kingler claw. It also uses the same wing, mirrored, for both wings... a big no-no. If you really must mirror a body part, modify it as much as you can to hide the fact. On the positive side of things, the natural coloration of the wing and the marks on Quagsire's back have been expanded upon in a way that fits a common theme. It's been years and year since I threw this together*, so I don't know if I planned for the bottom part of the wing to become a tail or if it just happened, but either way it's an interesting feature. *this sprite, along with a few others in this tutorial, were made for a competition in which you had to guess the Pokemon that went into the creation of the posted Amalgamon. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut45.png While Tsurigu here makes for a good entry in the aforementioned competition, it was a rush job, and is downright bad as far as Amalgamon go. If you look closely, you'll see that the parts (Articuno wings for ears aside) are largely unaltered, and have their original shading intact. Everywhere that one part meets another, they're just kind of placed on top of each other... and worst of all, there is yet again mirroring, this time in the ears. This is made even more apparent by the fact that the shading is relatively unchanged. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut38.png Remember this guy, from the beginning of the tutorial? At the time, compared to the other two, it looked pretty good... but what do you think of it now? It's poorly shaded, the parts are just kind of set on top of each other, and Grovyle's face is pretty recognizable. You're probably wondering if the wings are mirrored or not, since the head obscures your view... If you were to mirror a body part, this is ideally how you would do it, but in this case both of Golbat's wings were used. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut48.png Who remembers these three? PurpleKecleon made them back when rumors of Diamond and Pearl having Fighting/Psychic/Dark starters were circulating. Even nice concept art like this can be recreated with existing parts. The dinosaur could be made with Bayleef's body and Lairon's head; the cat, with Espeon's body and Pichu's ears. The kangaroo? http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut49.png In closing, your ability to create sprites from existing Pokemon parts is only as limited as your ability to imagine them. In fact, there's such a wide array of body parts and different poses that you could probably fill an entire PokeDex with "original" sprites. If you're REALLY good... http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut50.png Oh, I kid, I kid. Nobody would think that Absol is an Amalgamon... right? --- If you have any questions or would like to give feedback on the tutorials, click here to leave me a visitor message! |
1 Attachment(s)
Being a Spriter myself, I've found your tutorials very useful. It's cool to see how other people's ideas about making sprites are actually very similar to my own. I'm sure you'll keep up the great work.
These are some of the sprites I messed with to make some movie monsters, mainly from Toho. Click the thumbnail... There's Gojira/Godzilla 1940, Zilla(American Godzilla), Godzilla 2000, Gigan, 2 Mecha-Gigan, Destoroyah, Anguirus, 2 DesGhidorah, Rodan, King Ghidorah, Biollante, and Clover from Cloverfield. I think it's pretty obvious which pokemon I used for the sprites but I chose them because they shared similarities with the respective monsters. Attachment 46520 |
Your newest tutorial is great. It is really helpful and should be to other spriters who still do fud=sions and such. Absol an Amalgamon? That's pretty clever and well done. Good Job.
http://pldh.net/media/pokemon/gen5/blackwhite_animated_front/175.gif |
Those are pretty good, Thanatos (how was that name not already taken??)... but no Mothra or Gamera? I mean, come on... they're practically already made for you, with Blastoise and Dustox! For shame. ...Seriously, though. Gamera.
Ahem. Thanks for the kind words, BBS! ...BBC? Eh. Absol's tail definitely looks like a Crobat wing, though, doesn't it? |
Yeah, the Gamera, Mothra, Kaiser Ghidorah, Monster X, MechaKing-Ghidorah, MechaGodzilla, SpaceGodzilla, and the monster from "The Host" sprites are in the works.
There's no shame in having patience for one's own work. |
These tutorials are great! I tried doing it and here's my finished project! =D
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd50/CheesePl0x/133.png |
Quote:
Very nice! One thing, though... on the left side of the mane, you have a straight horizontal line, connected to a straight vertical line, connected to a straight diagonal line. It looks a little... inorganic. You may want to round that out a little. |
Wow, awesome. This is by far the most detailed spriting tut I've seen. The shape thing is surprising. Do most people sprite like that? I don't do anything like that..
|
I don't know.. maybe they do. I gave it a try and it worked for me, so I've kept using it.
|
Awesome tutorials! :) They're very easy to understand.
This is what I got from the geometry tutorial: http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff272/legolunatic99/notindexed.png Could you make an overworld tutorial please? I really need one. |
Chesu how did you shrink the sprites for trace overs? I tried in ms paint and it didn't work out so I was wondering if there is a technique that I don't know.
|
I do it in Paint... With the image selected, I go into the Stretch/Skew menu, and resize by percentage. It works best with a nice round number, like twenty-five, fifty, or seventy-five percent.
|
Oh Ok I was just trying to do it in the wrong way. Thank you for the help.
|
1 Attachment(s)
look at this Fakemom I made use the Shading and Pokemon Tutriol
Attachment 46585 I call it Shadowfist Ghost-Fighting plese tell me where I can improve :D |
This is a good tutorial for people who want to learn how to sprite. Keep it up.
|
Quote:
You know how the shading on the ball in the shading tutorial is rounded? You might want to do that on the gray parts of your sprites. You should also try softer shades of gray, that are closer to each other. The outline is kind of stark and jaggy... you should use a shade of gray rather than black on the light-colored areas, and make sure that the outline is only one pixel thick. |
It isn't complete but it looks pretty good I think.
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww151/baseballscooper/jhfjhf-4.gif?t=1242212713 And so everyone knows it isn't a complete scratch. |
Well... Here's my first trainer sprite ever. It looks pretty bad IMO, so please critique me and give me some advice because I spent like 3 hours on this =/ .
(I based it off a bunch of OW sprites from WAH so I included those for reference.) http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9374/firstspriteu.png |
1 Attachment(s)
thanks for the advice Chesu and now look atr Shadowfist although it still might need some work :D
Attachment 46618 |
Looking good, everyone! Sorry that I haven't gotten any tutorials up lately, I've been sick for the last few days... NeoNemesis, you need to work a bit on structure and shading.
|
My goodness man! I gotta say, this is the clearest, easiest to follow tutorial I have ever seen!
+REP for you! I simply can't wait to see the next parts! |
I personally are redirecting many game developers to this tutorial.
Keep it up. |
Nice! I recently discovered traceovers, but haven't tried it yet. The tutorial helps alot, well done!
(Just to let you know, that Meganium looks better than the legitimate one!). Also, thanks for the trainer tutorials, i used to only ever slice different trainers up, paste them together and recolour them. Not that it looked terrible, but i like being able to do my own. Again, great work! |
http://www.iaza.com/work/090520C/complete_latias7586919883-iaza.gif
Here's my first trace over. |
You have a way with tutorials that appeals to me greatly. Hopefully, everyone who's struggling with spriting (like me) can make use of this.
|
I congratulate you and your work. I think you definitely have the right to say you can sprite. Why you would think otherwise, I'll never know.
|
I think it's a matter of perspective... I'm comparing myself to people who do pixel art for a living.
edit: I want to throw together the Perspective tutorial but... I can't really think of any important points to discuss. I have something with a square and a cube, an example using two different Pikachu sprites, and trainer sprites that show how perspective is subjective... but that's all I've been able to come up with. If you have any ideas, PM them to me! |
Trainer Amalgamation Tutorial
Trainer Amalgamation Tutorial by Chesu http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut51.png As this type of sprite is the one that will most often make its way into ROM hacks and independent games, I wanted to make sure that I made everything clear and easy to understand. That's not to say that this is why I haven't created a new tutorial in over two weeks; as I'm typing this, I haven't even started on the resources for this tutorial. I guess what I'm trying to say is, this is going to be a long, very image-heavy tutorial. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut62.png http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut63.png While using concept art helps immensely, and I can't recommend it enough, it isn't necessary so long as you have a clear mental image of what you want the sprite to look like. While the only major deviations from the base sprites in the image above are in the coloring, most people probably wouldn't recognize the Lass' arms, because of context they're used in (aggressive, rather than charming). The Cool Trainer's face, however, is slightly more recognizable. While I don't like leaving faces unchanged, even small changes are all that's needed for a complete makeover. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut64.png The only real change (color aside) in the face is above the eyes, but the expression and perceived shape of the face has definitely been altered. While I prefer to blank out faces and draw in new ones, you can make big changes by altering just a few pixels. Now that I've covered that, I think it's time to start the tutorial proper! I don't actually know what I'll be making, so let's see what I get on impulse. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut52.png Hmm, Sabrina's left arm seems like a good place to start. For the right arm... well, a hand can easily become a glove, and vice-versa, so I'm not even going to worry about that. I should find an arm with sleeves about the same as Sabrina's... http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut53.png Or, practically no sleeves at all. That works too. I honestly just chose this on a whim; "Oh, an Aqua Grunt. Okay, let's see if this pans out"... Now, to find a sleek, attractive female body and a cute head. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut54.png ...Or not. Again, I'm just choosing whatever catches my eye, even if it doesn't make sense. I went with the Bug Catcher's body, and the Tuber's head. His hair is just so goofy! So, now I need to render the parts I'll be using from their bodies. If you're spriting along with this tutorial, collect the parts you'll be using before reading the next paragraph. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut55.png Well that's not hideous or scary at all. You may be wondering, "How is this even going to work?"... well, I couldn't tell you. What I can tell you, though, is that the Bug Catcher's torso needs to be cleaned up a little. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut56.png http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut63.png There we go. It should be a lot easier to affix the arms now. You don't necessarily have to remove the arms to put the new ones on, as demonstrated by this sprite from earlier, but in the Bug Catcher's case it's unavoidable. Since the arms I've chosen are so much larger than you would expect to see on a seven-year-old, I'm going to need to trim them a bit. Even if the limbs you're using are around the same size as the originals from the torso you're attaching them to, don't be afraid to adjust them as necessary. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut57.png Yeah, yeah, I left the hands the same size... The entire point of this is using existing assets, and I'm not great with hands. I guess the kid will be wearing large gloves for some reason. Anyway, it's time to assemble! If you're worried about it not turning out right, work with a copy of your progressing sprite. I'm almost certain that the majority of spriters do it... I do, anyway. In fact, this is what my work area looks like at the moment: http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut58.png When cobbling sprites together like this, I like to keep resources and palettes in the corners of my screen (this image fills the screen in MS Paint with 6x zoom), and an open area in the middle to work freely. Due to the differences in the way they progress, my work area for sprites drawn from scratch tend to become filled with long chains of sprites. Looking at the following image closely is not for the weak of heart, as it's the unedited fallout of my sprite-making process. Spoiler:
You clicked it, didn't you? Well, if you're able to read this, you've clearly managed to recover. My point is, it's okay to leave an "evolution of man"-esque trail of sprites that you can revert back to or reference. Moving right along, I've affixed the arms to the torso, so it's time to homogenize everything. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut59.png I don't think I need to say this, but I will anyway, for the sake of thoroughness: make sure that one part flows seamlessly into the next (unless there's supposed to be a seam there, that is), and replace colors with a similar shade in the hue that you've chosen. If you need to reshade anything, you'll just have to rely on your own judgement. If you're combining parts that show skin, make sure that they're all shaded with the same tone; though my little gloved kid may look like he has a continuous skin color, the Bug Catcher, Tuber, and Aqua Grunt all use different palettes for their skin. I'm not going to bother making the face and legs the same color... he's wearing a long-sleeved shirt and gloves, shorts and sandals with that would look silly. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut60.png Okay, so he's still wearing sandals... I'll worry about that later. Now that I have the basic shape done, it's time to get down to details. You should know what it is you're making by now, if you didn't when you began... I still have no idea. He's a kid... what do kids do? The way he's dressed, he doesn't seem to be on the way home from school, and I'd bet my beard that he isn't ready for a day on the beach... Okay, why do people wear gloves? To protect their hands... but from what? The cold.. he could be a sledder... or hot water, maybe he's a dish washer at a restaurant that's breaking child labor laws. Or, maybe... chemicals? You know, he does look a bit like a mad scientist. I actually kind of like that. Okay! My little gloved kid is hereafter a mad scientist! Most people would depict a mad scientist as wearing a lab coat without a second thought, but my mental image is of Dr. Frankenstein in an old-fashioned surgeon's gown, so that's what I'm going with. It's important to remember that these are supposed to be real people, and that a lot of them dress the way they do for a specific reason. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut61.png Yeah, I know, this tutorial is supposed to be about using parts from existing sprites... but sometimes, you just have to draw things yourself. I use bright red or blue, so that my lines are easy to see and modify. I couldn't tell you why, but I felt the urge to make the gloves and pants purple and black, respectively. Hmm... http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut66.png Ye Olde Surgeon's Gown™ folds over and usually buttons from shoulder to hip, so in my sprite's stance you should be able to see the underlying layer of the gown at the bottom. Small details like that can make more of a difference than you might think. The white palette used on the Bug Catcher's shirt is only three shades, so to shade the sprite a bit more I replaced it with the (four-toned) palette from a Lass' shirt. I also stole the shoes of a Youngster that was in a similar pose, and recolored my little scientist's hair. Why orange? Well, who can say. I could alter the shoes, but I think I'll leave them as they are. The sprite is more or less done now, but... I think I'll add just one more small touch. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Tutorials/tut67.png Oh come on, I had to. Remember, if your sprite is for a ROM hack, you have to limit it to sixteen colors, one of which must be a background color used nowhere else on the sprite. I hope you've learned something, and if you haven't... well, maybe YOU should be writing tutorials! --- If you have any questions or would like to give feedback on the tutorials, click here to leave me a visitor message! |
This is the best spriting tutorial i have ever seen.
Thank you so much you answered a lot of questions i had. |
Your newest tutorial is great! I'm terrible with trainers so I'll try it out. And the Dexter sprite is funny especially because it's on right now!
|
these tutorials were really cool
im gonna start practicing spriteing pokemon the thing is i wanna start making a game and i want to have sprites of people i know and famous people too do you have any advice on how to take a pictur of a real person and make a sprite out of it? |
I would recommend doing it from scratch, but if you have a picture in the pose you want, you could do it as a trace-over and refer to existing trainer sprites for the face and shading.
|
Hmm, after a couple of failures I eventually sprited this:
http://i670.photobucket.com/albums/vv62/sophidius/tugro.png and this: http://i670.photobucket.com/albums/vv62/sophidius/spargas.png I'm sorry if I'm a bad spriter :( |
Heh, you don't need to apologize. The colors and shading aren't quite right... you should refer to Pokemon with short feathers (Taillow, Pidgey), leaves (Oddish, Sunflora), and amorphous bodies (Ditto, Grimer) for shading references. For the colors, I usually stick to those from existing Pokemon sprites.
edit: Here are a few Pokemon with color palettes that fit your sprites. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Misc/182.png http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Misc/386.png http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Misc/442_1.pnghttp://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Misc/245.png http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Misc/298.pnghttp://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Misc/336.pnghttp://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Misc/019.pnghttp://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/Chesu/Misc/168.png |
Ok ok, I followed your tutorial, and made a Grayscale Pixel Over of a Lugia. (That I have permission to use, no worries)
How does this look? http://0m3ga-ars3nal.webs.com/lol.bmp Keep in mind this is my first ever pixel over... What do ya think? This is NOT a battle sprite BTW... it's use is of no concern... >_> |
Heh, the combination of gray and hung head/wings makes it look depressed. It's good! If the dark lines on the "fingers" and leg weren't so apparent, I wouldn't even have realized it was pixel art!
|
Quote:
(LOL, should have added credits to Silverwing in the last post, he owns a site, Lugias-Island.net, He told me to give creds so yeah. |
In this instance, not looking like pixel art is a good thing... the subdued colors look more natural than pixel are usually does... but that doesn't mean that the dark pixels on the leg and wings are a bad thing. It's perfect just the way it is.
...My month-old thread has almost as many views as this board's rules, which have been up for a year and a half... that's just sad. |
Quote:
Thanks for that info man, keep up the great work, the tutorials are really helping. |
1 Attachment(s)
|
Turorial is great however Im waiting for the backsprite one being as that happens to be my area that I stink in. Keep up the nice tutorials though.
|
Tunaboy88, that needs quite a bit of work. You should smooth out the rough shapes you draw before worrying about color.
SytheXP, that's the next major tutorial I intend to do, probably on Wednesday. Are there any particular points you would like me to touch on, outside of the step-by-step? |
My main problem is doing hair on backsprites as for the bodies what I do atm is take one thats already made, white it out change stuff to match my front sprites/ow's then reshade it with pallete from my front sprite. But thank you so very much lol. I look forward to reading that portion and getting your advice. =]
|
Ah... As you may have read in one of my tutorials, it's pretty hard to give advice on hair, as hairstyles vary so much. I guess you should take the head from your front sprite, mirror it, then replace features visible from the front of the head (bangs, forehead) with whatever you think the back of the head should look like. Using that as a reference, draw a larger version on the back sprite.
|
I had a try a couple of days ago at making Fakemon. They are abit.....small.
http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt67/FireySeceria23/Scratches/Lamuffy.png-Lamuffy http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt67/FireySeceria23/Scratches/Dratyion.png-Dratyion |
i guess the last post i put up didnt go thru but....
i tryin to make sprite of reall people like my friends and famous people for example if i were to take a picture of malcom x what would be the best way to do that? |
noz mc spooky, if you would bother to look for your original post (it's ONE PAGE back, and there's only been one post on this page!), you would see that I've already responded.
Seadiga, you should give all of your sprite's body parts a more natural shape before worrying about coloring them... and remember, their heads should be oriented on where the player's character will be, not on the player themselves. |
I believe I could give a little help on hair...
Make sure you draw your hair larger than the head of the sprite... I mean... That would look odd having hair that looks like your head is shrunken on top... |
I was able to make my avatar thanks to your tutorial. Well done!
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
Pokemon tend to have instantly-recognizable faces. Even things that wouldn't normally have faces, like Metapod, Shellder, Clamperl... maybe you could angle the head so that it's looking at where an opponent would be, give it some kind of mouth. I don't know what kind of worm or whatever it's supposed to be, but Caterpie, Weedle, Wurmple, and Burmy all have distinct facial features.
|
for some reason trace-overs are so hard, why?!
|
Probably because the original image contains dozens to hundreds of colors, and you have to judge which will become which shade in the finished sprite. What, specifically, are you having trouble with?
|
Great Tut Man,Very Easy To Read,And Understand :)
|
I have suggestion for a tutorial chesu Tiles!
It would be great for many spriters to try doing tiles and I believe you could be able to make a tutorial like that~ |
Actually, tiles are already on the list of upcoming tutorials.
Quote:
If you happen to think of anything else that you could use a tutorial for, though, let me know! |
Dang your also working on a Calf for Miltank and Tauros :( Here's what i have...(BTW i suck) I saw you made one so decided to screw making my own...
http://i40.*.com/wlre4i.jpg (I was about to add Turtwig's leafs as ears, Meditate's ears made it look like a sheep xD) http://i41.*.com/nboi7a.jpg PS Good Guide, I'm going to need it xD |
Heh... you can still make yours, there have always been conflicting fan-made Pokemon. I call the name Cafickle, though!
|
Very nice. I wish I had some better C&C, but all I can say is that you explain your steps very well/ Plus, you branch out to all the sprites which earns you top points. All that I have to wine about is that they aren't D/P/Pt, but that's just me being a butt-head.
|
Hey, I have a suggestion: why not add a more advanced texture-shading part to your tutorial? Because I see lots of people shading things with complete disregard to texture, when in fact there's lots of different nuances for stuff like fire, ice, fur, scales, etc. that aspiring spriters should know. If you don't feel like it (or you're busy working on the background tiles-- something I'm really looking forward to, btw), I could do it as a guest-tutorial if you wanted. :3
|
GFA, I'm sorry to break it to you, but... I actually hate D/P/Pt's sprites! XD
I mean, they're nice, big, and colorful, but I prefer the GBA color palette and sizing... it has a certain charm, I suppose. The reason for making these tutorials in the first place was to help people working on GBA rom hacks, and it's easy to adjust a sprite to DS-style coloring and shading, so I'm not really worried about it. Zeph, if you would like to make a guest tutorial, that would be fantastic! I'm more or less the sole spriter for Pokemon Dissension, and I have about fifty trainer sprites left to make, along with overworld sprites and background tiles. I'm also writing all of the dialog, and constantly bouncing ideas back and forth with the programmer, so I don't have a great amount of time for writing tutorials. So, if you want to write it, just PM it to me when you're done and I'll put it up. The format I use for the images is cropped as closely as possible, with a transparent background. Also, I couldn't help but notice that you're in my hair... I shave my head, so you must be in my beard. What are you doing in my beard?! >:0 edit: Hey, this was my one hundredth post! I'm so glad that I got to say beard in it! |
Wahahaa! Meany! I guess I didn't realize you were trying to stick to GBA...
|
Well this helped me immensely!! I managed to make my first semi-recognizable fakemon with it! i've been doing fusions and recolors for ages, but this was the major switch for me to continue with Fakemon! I present...
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn141/EosAduro/Fakemon2.png This squidish thing (I hate its feet, but whatever!) |
Ha! Wow, you don't see one of those every day! The back leg seems a bit too far forward, though... it doesn't really look like it can support the creature's weight in that position.
|
Another auggestion how about make a tut on how to pick palettes
Beacause it is hard for most people to pick the right palettes Another auggestion how about make a tut on how to pick palettes Beacause it is hard for most people to pick the right palettes |
1 Attachment(s)
Hi Chesu, it's Hazzamon here. I'm working on a project in the Game-Making thread. I don't want to explaninit all but you play as a meerkat (Don't ask, it's all in this thread) and I'm working on a heavily modified Sentret sprite. I haven't added colou, shading or even facial details so before I do, your opinion on it.
EDIT: Fogot to add sprite :P It's in the attachment. |
Quote:
|
| All times are GMT -8. The time now is 2:39 AM. |
![]()
© 2002 - 2018 The PokéCommunity™, pokecommunity.com.
Pokémon characters and images belong to The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo. This website is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK, The Pokémon Company or The Pokémon Company International. We just love Pokémon.
All forum styles, their images (unless noted otherwise) and site designs are © 2002 - 2016 The PokéCommunity / PokéCommunity.com.
PokéCommunity™ is a trademark of The PokéCommunity. All rights reserved. Sponsor advertisements do not imply our endorsement of that product or service. User generated content remains the property of its creator.
Acknowledgements
Use of PokéCommunity Assets
vB Optimise by DragonByte Technologies Ltd © 2023.