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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!
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Whoa, nice, nice, Chesu. I might learn off this properly. =D
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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.
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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
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This is great!! I never realized you could sprite with shapes like that. This was really helpful!
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These tutorials seem really helpful, great job. :)
You planning on submitting them to the tutorial thread? |
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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! |
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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 |
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I've been busy but I should have free time tonight to continue my sprite. Once it's all done I'll post it.
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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. |
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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: |
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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.
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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.
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