Make Pixel Art NOW! (6 Essential Beginner Tips)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
- How do you get started in pixel art?
I worked on pixel art for years as a hobby before I stopped. But now I'm back, and times have changed. There are lots of new tips and tricks for creating stunning pixel art pieces. I want to share with you how to get started.
Pixel art is a unique, video game-based art style, and I hope to share my love of this art with the world and to help you guys dive in.
Opening and ending credits theme:
"Pixelland" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Background music:
"Cloud Dancer " Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Is that a threat…?
yes
Das ist ein befehl!
Correct
You should draw pixel art NOW!
Thats what I thought that title sounded kinda rude
That giraffe blowing fire in the background is amazing. The video was great too. Very helpful.
Thank you so much! I actually did record the process for making the giraffe, so I'll have a video up on it in the not-too-distant future.
I got this video through TH-cam recommendations, and I do have an interest in learning pixel art.
Now's a great time to start!
Honestly, I've only ever done original characters, never Frankensteining, but these methods look really useful for training.
4:40 Some of the best Ace Attorney fan games (GBA/DS-era pixel art) have so much frankensteined characters, it's kinda fun to recognise which part originally belonged to which character
That's so cool!
My comfort zone is 32x32. I can make basic animations. I actually enjoy the process of pixel art. With shortcut mastery, it’s like a productive game in itself.
I'm surprised to learn this is the first video on a new channel. It feels like it's from a much bigger channel. Great quality!
I never really did the recoloring and frankensteining part, i was always headbutting against the wall to create original stuff, and to me it was a gratifying process to see the quality steadly improving, reaching closer and closer to the games i looked up to, the more i learned about it. Of couse my art still isn't the best, but it's at least something i can have fun with and be proud of. Having fun is the most important after all.
Also, for your first video this is really really good! Gives me "i've been on this plataform for 5 years now" vibes, very well made!
Thank you! I absolutely agree that having fun is the most important aspect. I also really admire people who can skip recoloring and Frankensteining; to me, that's like learning how to paint without trying out a coloring book first. It's doable, but boy is it intimidating.
Cool video! I was actually shocked when I saw how small your channel is for such good content, I'm your 100th subscriber now and I'm gonna watch more of your videos now ^^
Thank you so much! So far it's just this and Shorts while I figure out what I'm doing. I'm hoping to have the next full video up by Friday! (Maybe, we'll see if I can learn to edit more quickly 😊)
This is genuinely the most helpful video for starting pixel art I’ve ever come across. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful! Thank you for the feedback!
That's ironic and interesting that lately I've been considering zooming in and studying classic video game pixel art to really try to understand what it was they were doing especially with the color choices and shading so your idea of doing a recolor sounds like a great idea. Sometimes doing pixel art from scratch can be such a pain especially when you're working with onions or animations because it's like if you don't have the proportions and shading right from the very beginning then everything else eventually falls apart. Very few people mention this which I think is important especially if you're going for the classic pixel art look is to view the art you're working on through a traditional computer VGA monitor or CRT TV if you still got one or even through a program like ShaderGlass that lets you load CRT shader simulations. I will take my character and side-by-side compare it to say a Megaman X sprite on a CRT to see if my color choices still pop and stand out. I feel like if you can make it look good on a CRT then your art will look good everywhere else and I think that consideration is what's missing with a lot of modern pixel art imo especially if you want to match the work and technique from the past.
Very good points! We don't usually think about how pixel art was originally specifically built for CRT screens. A lot of shading decisions were specifically made based on how it would look blurred together. I've never actually seen my own work through a CRT filter before. It'd be interesting to try it out!
@@RobinsonPixels Do it bro when you get the chance! You owe it to yourself to see your fantastic art from that perspective. ShaderGlass is free and easy to use where once you open it, the window is see-through and you can drag it on top any image currently on screen quickly for comparison or go all the way with fullscreen. 😃
@@thedrunkmonkshow Neat! I just added that into my idea bank so I won't forget.
I ended up here because of youtube recommendation somehow, and I just realized I've already done all of those steps without any guide xD.. And I've made games and is making another one right now
Super cool! I have *started* a lot of game projects, but none ever made it to completion
Oooo, very simple and right to the point. As someone who also started just editing sprites, fun to finally see someone recommend it.
Using spriter's resource, replicated different styles, and just drawing, even if you can, all great tips! A lot of pixel art is being able to use space effectively, and making good readable shapes, looking at how others doing it and copying can really help out.
Thanks for making this video, spreading the joys of pixel art 💚
Glad you liked it! Great points. And most importantly: Have fun! 😊
Pixel art is so fun. I've just recently started trying to get into it. Always loved it playing early video games. The whole idea of an art style being born from a technical limitation is so fascinating. Then seeing what incredible stuff people invented in order to convey the most information in the smallest amount of space is mind blowing!
This is a good video, I hope your channel starts growing more. Keep it up!
I’ve spent years learning a very simple semi-pixel-art 2D game engine called RPG Maker, the current version being called MZ. Recently trying to expand my understanding of writing characters and world-building, map design, etc… I do own Aseprite but never used it. I guess this recent ‘learning binge’ led me to this video.
How fun! I hope your game development goes well!
Feeling more confident to try this out myself !!
You got this!
always love finding new pixel art and game dev channels, great content, instant sub
Awesome, thank you!
This is genuinely helpful, I didn't realise I could study pixel art like that, or add a reference photo. Nice video!
Glad it was helpful! Importing reference photos has been a serious game changer for my process
Really good tips for starting pixel art, one of the better videos I have seen on this subject for people getting started.
These are awesome tips! Definitely going to try get into pixel art again soon!
Thank you so much for your tips! Your way of explaining things motivates me to keep going and practicing :)
5:40 that alien certainly has an interesting head shape
For a first video, this looks extremely professional and informative. Bet this channel will grow in no time!
Thank you so much!
That’s such a high quality video! Wow! And I have done a bit of Frankensteining, editing and recoloring with Pokémon trainer sprites, because I like the style, and I also sometimes edit the clothes and fully add stuff myself. The one I‘m working on now has basically just the body as a base left from the original.
this helps so much, thank you, subscribed
please keep the good work! I'm starting to get into pixel art and hope to keep following your tips
Welcome to the pixel club! Have fun with it; that's the most important thing!
You're gonna blow up brow, this video was great. Wish you all the best.
I really appreciate that. Thank you!
Glad to see a new pixelart channel!
Glad you're glad!
Really good video and really good tips! As someone who has been doing pixel art as a hobbie for around 8 years now these steps are both the rough journey I went through and also things I wish I had heard back then so I could start doing them sooner haha. I eventually did figure things out though, and me not knowing what I'm doing at first kinda ended up giving me a distinct artstyle I really enjoy.
Thanks! I really like your lion profile pic, so no matter how you learned pixel art, you really seem to have figured it out!
I used to do recolors, Frankensteins, and edits to Megaman Zero characters years ago. I’ve always wanted to get back into it, so seeing this was a nice “hey, you can still work on those things” type of video. I look forward to seeing future tutorials and pixel art advice!
You should try it out again! Some of my favorite sprites I made back in the day were from the Zero series. I had a comic going for a little while where Axl had been reborn in Cyberspace and had to wage a war against Sigma. Good times.
Nice content. I usually skim over small channels that youtube recommends, but you still caught my attention from the titles/thumbs. Looking forward to what you put out!
Welcome aboard! Glad you gave my channel a chance!
Great first longer video! Your passion for pixel art comes through, and that's very happy. 👾 Also, it was neat seeing all your re-edits and Frankensteins!
Thank you so much! A lot of pixel art advice dives too deep too fast. People need to relax and have some fun! 😊
@@RobinsonPixels You're welcome so much! For sure. Pixels are innately happy, fun things. :)
I've always been interested in pixel art. I know some of the more basic basics but that's about it on my knowledge. Loved the video (thank you for the resources you mentioned and all the tips.)
You should give it a real shot! Pixel art is super fun and cathartic once you get past the initial learning curve.
Yes, yes, yes! Couldn't agree more with these stuffs. Great tips, and great video! Hope you blow up soon :)
Thanks so much!
I've always had an interest in pixel art and seeing as I'll have some free time this summer I decided to try my shot at it :) I'm in the process using a template from pixel art youtuber Brandon James Greer that's basically sprite-editing on steroids, and remaking some original characters from the newest project I'm writing. Amazing first video and best of luck with the channel :D
Awesome! BJG is great. I hope you enjoy your pixel art journey!
Thank you. I’ve been looking for something like procreate but for pixel art.
Thank you for the tips! Really encouraged me to start pixel art.
I am surprised that your video/editing/quality and all that stuff is great but your channel is so small compared to that! Turns out you are new to youtube. Surely you'll grow quickly, keep up the good work!!!
Thank you so much! You absolutely got this!
Instant sub!
This was an inspiring tutorial! Thank you for making it, getting art for any project is insanely expensive so unfortunately I'll have to do it on my own.
Thank you! If you're working on your project solo, I'd really recommend sticking to 8 bit or less, at least for your first draft. 16 bit and higher takes MUCH more time to develop, and you don't want to get burned out.
The video was great! Super helpful, especially the advice in the final tip. I don't know how I hadn't thought to try something like that yet (I use Gacha Club and Gacha Life 2 for other projects, so I can easily make references for myself in pixel art now).
I'm so glad! Have fun incorporating drawings into your pixel art. It really was a game changer for me
Great video man! It would be cool if you released those comics cause I’d honestly love to read them!
Thank you! I'll take that into consideration!
Krita has a built-in hard pixel brush and when you zoom in far enough, there's a pixel grid, and it's super easy to use once you get the hang of it.
Found it through recommendations, and wanna try doing pixel art, even though my first game will be simple 3D
Good to know! Pixaki also shows the grid once you zoom in very far. Even with 3D as your eventual goal, pixel art is fun to learn! Besides, maybe you could incorporate it into your visuals, like menu items and the sort
Excellent video. You make me want to go back to pixel art.
Last thing I did was my channel's avatar, and it's been a good while.
No time like the present!
Alright it's time
Im glad I ended up here because of the Pixaki recommendation. I want to learn pixel art for one of my many dream games so I've been searching for tutorials.
Cool! Good luck following those dreams!
Awesome, video. Extra good for being new to YT.
Hey, thanks! Glad you think so! 😅
AMAZING VIDEOO
I started a while ago to try and do some pixel art and got totally bummed when I realised I suck 😆even it was an obvious ending for someone that hasn't drawn anything in the last 20 years or so.
Your video gave me some real good pointers and suggestions to not surrender and keep trying 😄. So here's my subscribe good sir, keep up the great work!
Who cares if you suck right now? Future you is gonna be awesome. You got this!
Great video.
very helpful video ^_^ i recently bought myself aesprite to play around (mostly done small neopets gifs) but its nice motivation hearing how your pixel art journey was like! as someone who came from digital art where recolouring is soo shameful and not ok it will be a hurdle to jump for me but i appreciate the video :3
Thanks! As far as I'm concerned, all learning is good learning. There's almost no better way to learn color theory than to actually just mess around with colors on designs that already exist. I hope your neopet designs are giving you a lot of joy!
@@RobinsonPixels yes i agree!! and thank you so much
Nice tips.
Such a cool video
Your channel should be a4 times larger ngl
Thank you! I gotta keep putting in that work to get more eyes here. Just grateful to have already reached so many kind people like yourself
Great video! Thanks for the info. I'm excited to do pixel art. I just reeeally wanna draw tiny pixel food.... lol
That is a solid goal and I highly approve.
I'm trying to get back into pixel art. Thanks for the video.
You got this!
cool!
I had no interest in pixel art prior to watching this. I now want to do pixel art. Thank you for this video and i will definitely keep an eye out for more of your content!
Go for it!
I have made some 16-16 pixel art before, but I really do need inspiration for what to make. Do you have any suggestions?
I ended up here because I want to make my own video game assets!
Wew nvr expect to see this just recently got back to pixel art after 2years tbh which this is helpfull in a way lol
Awesome! It's never too late to get back into the game.
Hey man i like your video. I watched all your shorts too !!! +1 sub
Thanks so much! I really appreciate it 🙏
Been trying to get motivated to make something and I feel I need a lot of guidance to get this project done. Feeling really overwhelmed. Have been for months. Lots of research probably lead the algorithm to you and here I am.😂 earned a subscribe as I’m also using procreate. Though I’m using pixsquare and pixel studio. I haven’t heard of pixaki though I’ll definitely play with it. I’ll be following to learn more. I don’t have any specific questions just yet except about sprites and scale. However I don’t know how to ask without rambling about other things I’m confused about. I just don’t know how to calculate things so that I’m scaling it all correctly. I will make a sprite and I’ll try and confine myself to certain rules and end up needing to break my rules to have it make sense and then I’m out of scale. It’s a bit frustrating.
Glad you're here! I'll say while I think it's important to learn rules, I also think it's important to break them when you need to. No one's going to count your colors to make sure you're within your limits, no one is going to count the pixels to make sure your sprite isn't 18 pixels tall when you were aiming for 16. Just focus on getting the vibe across, and make sure you have fun!
I found you after watching some recommended videos about recoloring nes graphics
Pixel art in comics sounds really cool! 😁
It is! I'm planning to explore options for hi-res pixel comics eventually.
bro, we had similar childhoods! Thank you for telling your story!
How cool! Glad I wasn't alone.
I really like that bunny frog. :3
Thank you! I drew it on Leap Day because I couldn't decide between drawing a rabbit or a frog 😅
"This sketch is trash"
*Rendered a perfectly amazing frog jumping
Just got into Pixar art. I got a book, photoshop, and was now looking at videos. I wanted to see if I could make a top down arpg with pixel art.
That is awesome! What book did you get? I got one from a Kickstarter project a while back, Pixels Forever.
@@RobinsonPixels Make Your Own Pixel Art: Create Graphics for Games, Animations, and More. It was off Amazon
amazing keep it up
Thanks!
Sir you had me at the 6 stuffs
i ended up here from hours of PirateSoftware videos and a few Godot tutorials
Lol I'm so glad! 😂
awesome video ^w^
Thank you! 😄
Now I’m curious how to animate the sprites and how to make a video game lol
My friend sent me a link and so I ended up being here 😂 love your content. Really amazing tutorial for beginners looking forward to doing pixel art. Would love to try this technique as soon as I get a new device to draw on!
That's great to hear! If you've even got access to Microsoft Paint or graph paper, you can go ahead and get a head start.
Heeeey i did those without even knowing! XD
Mainly recolors of Mega Man Zero and Zx biometals
I really loved doing it
I used Adobe Fireworks
It's like a photoshop lite for beginners 😂
This was an awesome video so thank you for it, and some of the techniques you shared. When it comes to shading though I still just can’t get that down pat. Any character I make ends up looking like garbage because the shading is wrong. Do you have any techniques for shading?
It'll be a few weeks, but I'm gonna make a more in depth Beginner's guide. For now I'll tell you the two things I think are most important: 1 - Remember the light source for your sprite. For a right-facing sprite, my light source is almost always top right, so my darker shades are usually bottom left of each part of the sprite. 2 - Convert your image to black and white. Most apps have some feature which allows this. It's much easier to spot whether there is enough contrast in your image if you remove color from the equation
@@RobinsonPixels does pixaki have the black and white feature ? I use this when I’m on the go but asperite when I am home. And that’s awesome I’m going to be waiting for this beginners guide !
@@thebutcher1412 I haven't found where it directly has it, BUT I have an easy workaround. I just create a new layer, fill it with black, and change the Blending mode to Hue. The only thing that won't work on is a Reference Layer. Which you shouldn't need, but it still throws me off sometimes.
@@RobinsonPixels very cool, thank you for the tips !
You are only under 200 subscribers ?! I don't draw pixel art but you need to have more subs ! 😮 So I subscribed and like ! ❤
Thanks for subbing! You should try out pixel art sometime. It's a blast!
I think that the whole pixel art scene is a bit stuck in making almost literally the same stuff non-stop. Its low pixel 32x32 sized retro platformer characters, or tilesets. Pixel art can be a great way to do more complex art too or use it as a medium to learn about colors and composition. As a final note I’d say that the most important pre-requisite to pixel art is to learn to draw and paint first. Not at some master level but get the basics down and your pixel art is gonna get so much better.
A lot of pixel art is around that level, but I do think that's because it's such a relatively new medium. All the original pixel artist for the original games moved on to make hi res games as time went on, so now a new generation is learning it from scratch. I agree that there is SO much we can do with this medium as time goes on.
But definitely some art fundamentals help out a lot. Thanks for the comment!
8:01 currently doing pixel art
I've been an off and on pixel artist for some time. That app looks like it was tailor made for me. I think I'm gonna invest in an iPad.
If you enjoy drawing by hand, this is the best way I've found to capture that same feeling.
im a Deltarune fan and ive made a shopkeeper oc that i wanted to draw in the Deltarune style and this video is really helpful!! I know 0 pixel art anything so thanks :D mew subscriber :]
Cool! Deltarune's style looks like a great place to start learning pixel art. Don't forget to have fun!
@@RobinsonPixels :D I will!
i am so lost but trying to figure it out lol. recolors sound actually feasible might try that
You got this! I doubt da Vinci was great right out of the gate. Be kind to yourself and give yourself time to learn.
what apps on windows would you recommend that has the ability to trace pixel art over a higher resolution image like you are doing at 7:20 ?
Many PC pixel artists use Aseprite, which has that ability (in that app it's called a Reference Layer). The app isn't free, but right now it's $20 USD so it's way cheaper than something like Photoshop. They do currently have a free trial so you could test it out to make sure you like it. You can't save files in the free trial though, so it really is just a test!
@@RobinsonPixels I have aseprite and did find it under layer->new->new reference layer from file. Thanks ! Watched many tutorial on aseprite and no one ever mentioned this opiton.
@@GM-hb1vr Glad to help!
I watch a lot of draw tutorials. I got this from recommendations.
Neat!
omg I haven't made pixel art comics in years.
There's still time for us geezers to keep those pixel comics alive!
Idea for better pixel art
Start Off With A Non Shaded Pixel Art , And Then Shade it
I usually use simple MS Paint to do pixel art, which works fine in most cases, but I've got to find a way to do that resizing trick. It looks way too useful to miss out on.
Let me know if you figure something out. It's been a very long time since I've visited MS Paint, but I've got a lot of fond memories there
So I dived head first into game making not as a new skill just a game idea Im making for fun the style of the game is pixel art my first-pixel art wasn't that bad id say, but I would love some feedback so maybe in like a few days I upload a video and ill showcase my pixel art if you want to judge it or something (please give feedback)
Btw this video is generally awesome keep it up :)
So cool! I've attempted a number of games but I've always fallen off at some point. Really rooting for you!
If you want to reply to this after you've uploaded some of your work, I don't mind taking a look at your channel.
makes me angry that i cant practice programming the way i want to because a premade sprite sheet is always missing something. I gotta learn how to not rely on them
You are a funny guy 😅
Круто, спасибо!
What about converting 3D into 2D pixels?
What are the uses of that? I know games like Dead Cells used sometimes 3D models and converted them into 2D sprites.
Donkey Kong Country did that same thing. I really think it's a time saving technique; animating takes a very long time, with all the individual frames needed for fluid movement. Easier to just move a 3D arm than to draw a new 2D one.
Looking at a bunch of art videos as a animator thats how i got here😅
1:59 Hi New! I'm dad!
Have any advice to make hi res sprites like in Ion Fury?
I did a little bit of digging to see if anyone else has done custom sprites in that style, because it's definitely beyond anything I have personally done before.
I found a user named Yij Art who made a post on Art Station and described his process for building new guns for the game. He actually built the guns as 3D models in Blender, then "painted" over the images of his 3D model with pixel art, similar to how I've traced my drawings for the same effect.
I can't say with certainty that was how the full game was developed, but I do know that even some comic artists also build out scenes in Blender to make it easier to quickly trace out buildings at different angles.
So if that's the style your heart is set on, you may want to start playing around with 3D graphics if you haven't already
@@RobinsonPixels thank you for looking into this. That helps me a lot, only thing I was finding the old doom style way of taking a picture of weapons in my hand. But I felt that couldn’t be only way or the artist are just really great at free hand.
I have GiMP and Asprite, but my god I'm terrified of them both
Ha ha, yeah. Gimp is pretty stacked with features. I always approach a new app on a "need to know" basis, just figuring out the extreme basics before I start messing with any of the bells and whistles
I would like the records to show I have subscribed pre-500 subs. I expect a plaque in the future, thanks in advance.
It's in the mail! 🤣
I wish to start but yet I dont know how- literally I dont have an Ipad or anything to draw pixel art on it but I really wish some day I start pixel art and turn my sketches into pixels
You could even do it in Paint on your PC, pixly on Android is decent too
@@Fliteska by finger and mouse its hard tho- but I'll give it a shot, thanks
You got this! Just practice with whatever you have available. Brandon James Greer exclusively uses his laptop trackpad and he's very talented
where i can resize the image? i try some website but the quality is low :(
What app are you using?
@@RobinsonPixels i use gimp to make pixel art and some onl website to resize the imagine. Do u have any tips to redraw?
More or less a fan of good pixel art.
Saaaame!
I like my pixel art a little more detailed 96x96
It's funny, the more I do this, the more I see unique challenges at every size. At 96x96, you've got a much higher need for traditional anatomy understanding than you would at much smaller sprite sizes.