Spriting Tutorials - Pokemon and Trainer

[durenloveanju]

wow.. good tutorial.. keep good work.

 

[Ritchie]

This is my first sprite, tell me waht do you think about it? How can I improve it?

 

[FoggyDoggy]

This is my first sprite, tell me waht do you think about it? How can I improve it?

I know I am not chesu, but I can say, you need a bit more shading, especially on that arm there...

 

[Chesu]

More shading would help, as would smoothing out some of the edges. I like the design!

 

[Ritchie]

I know I am not chesu, but I can say, you need a bit more shading, especially on that arm there...

More shading would help, as would smoothing out some of the edges. I like the design!

Thanks! I added more shading as well as smoothing edges. Take a look:

"image removed"

I made it kinda of big, is it possible to resize it to the size of Nidorino or something else?

 

[Chesu]

Unfortunately, if you resize it, you'll have to redo pretty much everything on it... to the point that it would just be easier to make the smaller sprite from scratch.

What you did is called "pillow shading"... It has its uses, but doesn't really have a place on a Pokemon-style sprite. Take a close look at how Pokemon sprites are shaded.

 

[FoggyDoggy]

How is that?
New trainer I made... comments?

EDIT
Removed Image, Updated Below

 

[Chesu]

The outline looks really sharp on the white side, due to the contrast between black and white... you need to shade it a bit more. Other than that, it's great! The green background is visible between his legs... does the bottom of the coat-thing not wrap all the way around?

 

[FoggyDoggy]

The outline looks really sharp on the white side, due to the contrast between black and white... you need to shade it a bit more. Other than that, it's great! The green background is visible between his legs... does the bottom of the coat-thing not wrap all the way around?

Lol, originally, this was his normal design, but I WAS thinking of doing that yesterday while walking the town.
I updated his clothing's patterns, and upped the shading, and softened the lines on HIS right.
I'll update him in a minute here....
(Leaves window open to go sprite...)
OKAY, back now...
here we go, version 2.

 

[number 2]

my avatar is an amalgamation I made of mew two and pikachu

 

[doesn't matter]

ok guys, this thread is just for comments on the tutorial. If you want to show your work, go to the Spriters Showcase/Discussion thread.

 

[Theonewhoisodd]

Thanks for the tutorial this will make things easier

 

[Chesu]

I really, REALLY need to finish the next tutorial... I planned to have it up, like, two months ago. :/

 

[Cynder The Bloody Angel]

thanks dude ! i hope the backsprite Tutorial will be uploaded soon !

 

[FoggyDoggy]

Where did you go Chesu!? GAH

 

[-Smash]

What you did is called "pillow shading"... It has its uses.

No, no, no.

Pillowshading is a common mistake that gets the better lot newbie spriters. Hell, even if you had the lightsource in front of you intentionally, the style would still look bad and wrong.

You people must be made to understand that pillowshading is not an actual technique, but rather a tendency that leads to failure, one that must be avoided at all times.


..Or not actually, really. It can be used to make bad sprites intentionally, or for pillowshading contest for the lulz. :p

 

[FoggyDoggy]

No, no, no.

Pillowshading is a common mistake that gets the better lot newbie spriters. Hell, even if you had the lightsource in front of you intentionally, the style would still look bad and wrong.

You people must be made to understand that pillowshading is not an actual technique, but rather a tendency that leads to failure, one that must be avoided at all times.


..Or not actually, really. It can be used to make bad sprites intentionally, or for pillowshading contest for the lulz. :p

I actually don't know any of the terms for any sort of art thing, I just do stuff, and it often turns out good.
But what is it called when you shade like it is shaded in my previously posted sprite?

 

[Chesu]

A light-diffused gradient that doesn't make proper use of the light source... ^^;
You goal is, of course, to make your sprite look like... well, what it's supposed to look like. Cloth wouldn't normally look like the left side of your sprite's jacket looks... There's nothing particularly wrong with that, but realistically the shading would be more minimal.

Maybe like the "complex anti-aliasing" shown here.

As for pillow shading being abhorrent as you're making it sound, -Smash... like I said, it has its uses. Here, it's pretty terrible, and makes the portraits look cheap... but some games use it due to the limitations of the platforms their games are developed for, and by using it properly and integrating it into the game's overall art style, they manage to make it look pretty good.

 

[-Smash]

A light-diffused gradient that doesn't make proper use of the light source... ^^;
You goal is, of course, to make your sprite look like... well, what it's supposed to look like. Cloth wouldn't normally look like the left side of your sprite's jacket looks... There's nothing particularly wrong with that, but realistically the shading would be more minimal.

Maybe like the "complex anti-aliasing" shown here.

As for pillow shading being abhorrent as you're making it sound, -Smash... like I said, it has its uses. Here, it's pretty terrible, and makes the portraits look cheap... but some games use it due to the limitations of the platforms their games are developed for, and by using it properly and integrating it into the game's overall art style, they manage to make it look pretty good.

Ah, Chesu, it's pretty abhorrent indeed. I'll explain why.


Pillowshading or pillowing.

Shading style in which there is absolutely NO lightsource established, because the shadows come directly from the outlines and inward into the sprite, even though it may appear that a lightsource is between the object and the viewer. It creates an ugly effect that does not even resemble pillows, and on sprites with line segments in them, the effect magnifies in to the worst. Having black lines inside of the sprite and shadows behind them only by one side can be said as derived from this, I believe.

Common error by young spriters everywhere, and the bane of any spriter hoping to improve. It's something too useless to even be considered a technique.


Now, pillowshading and pillowing are the same thing, but you seem to be mistaking what you call "pillow shading" from what I know as Layered shading.

Layered shading

In this type of shading, there is obviously a light source present, and the shades do not follow the lines as before but stand in a similar manner and are numerous. The layered style might give the impresion of being pillowed in small sprites, and so leads to misconceptions. I find the style to be fine to use, but pretty hard to get it right. The best example of this would be that video you posted before.

Now this is what would be known as proper shading. A good lightsource established, and only a few colors. Fitting for the pokemon style.

And this, regular AAing used properly. Exceeding in AAing might get you that pillowy effect on small sprites, like you mentioned before. It should be used moderately.

And this is selective outlining. Basically have your outlines brighter when circling bright areas and eliminate the ugly black lines all over. It's something most people miss around here, and should be brought to light, but then I might be getting off topic now.

But getting to the point, yes, pillowshading is as bad as it sounds, if not worse. It would be best to argue against it instead of defending it because of mistaken terms.

 

[me2hack]

I tired this tutorial and it's quite helpfull. :D