Am I skilled enough to be sprite artist for a game?

[nefferinthia]

Hello there~
Since I've recently obtained a pen tablet I was thinking I might finally be able to contribute to this wonderful community by doing some spritework! However, even though I'm actually pretty good at drawing on paper I've found that it is much, much harder to get used to drawing on my computer. Still, I'd like to work on a small project with someone to practice my tablet skills and have fun~

Please tell me what you think of my pseudo-sprite? (seeing as it's not really for any project) I know I'm bad with colouring, so tips on that would be great! [I use Photoshop, by the way C:]

[night_serenade]

Well, I'm not the best artist, and like you am much more comfortable with pencil and paper, but one thing I think you could improve on is making sure to have shadows on the clothing to make the character seem more real and not flat.

Your colouring of the hair looks nice though!

Overall, I think you did a good job and am sure you'll improve and get the hang of drawing on the computer quickly

[nefferinthia]

Thank you for your comment (:
I agree with you on the shadows, the drawing does look pretty flat but when I tried to change it the shadows looked really out of place. I wonder if there is a way I could study up on those; I'v already looked for tutorials on deviantart but I couldn't really find what I was looking for.

[night_serenade]

No problem at all!
Hm, here's one I've used in the past. There are two parts to it I'm pretty sure (the 2nd can be found in the description of the first) and to see them you need to click the download option in case you didn't know.
Hopefully it'll help a little

http://crysa.deviantart.com/art/Drawing ... s-21994317

[Megumi]

Truthfully, if you feel better on paper, you should draw on paper. Tablet is not the only way to make digital work. Actually, I personally am still working around with my tablet. ^^" Not easy at ALL.

As for your drawing:
- good thing: The hands look good. Your sprite has an endearing cute side that makes it really nice to look at. :3
- small thing to correct: his shoulders are a little too rectangular. The sides of his shirt is pointy but his shoulders are not (I'm not sure if I'm being clear?)

As for coloring, I am personally struggling too. I've been through lots, lots and lots of tutorials. First, you put the basic colors on a layer. Divide different colors on different layers. (Skin, shirt, hair, pants, etc). [I usually color the white background into a pale blue so the uncolored part becomes more obvious.]

Then, you create a new layer and right click on the new layer to select 'Create a Clipping Mask'. That allows you to basically 'attach' the layer on the layer you want so when you brush OUTSIDE of the layer you clipped onto it won't appear. (again, not sure if I'm being clear or not). You make the first shadows. Though I use a brush that has 50% of flow and 75% of opacity, the colors don't come totally smooth. I smuggle and blur the lines to make it a little better.

And finally, you have to add lights. I use the same basic thing as for shadow (clipping mask, new layer, smuggle blur). And... I use the burn tool. But that tool is REALLY dangerous.

At the end, for sprites, you must erase the background and save in a PNG format~ <- not relevant but still important to know

However, there are thousands of techniques for coloring. Mine is still a little 'on progress' so I still hope it helped you a little. :3

Also!

A few tips if you want to draw on paper:
If you're worried about lineart, you can sketch with colored pencil colors such as blue or green for instance. Then, once you have gotten the base you want, you use a black pen to draw out the lines you want. On the scanner, you can remove the green (though it is also possible to do so on photoshop [link]) by setting the scanner on grey and remove the unnecessary colors with leveling. Once it is done, you can lineart more clearly (if you find your lineart unsatisfactory) and color. Tada~

[rioka]

Am I skilled enough to be sprite artist for a game?

Yes, you are. I've seen stick figures used in some VN games so yours is above and beyond that already.

[James]

It depends on what kind game you want to be a sprite artist for. Every game director have a particular art style they want for their game. Some games may want a realistic looking sprite others some may want a cuter looking sprite. There are plenty of game designer who are bad/lazy at drawing who could use your skills.

Suggestions for improvement.

~shadings contrast~
You got the the hair and face shading in but the colors are too similar so you can barely see the difference between the colors. Don't be afraid to use shades that are bigger in contrasts.

~make the clothes pop out more~
Compared to the face, the t-shirt lacks depth which in turn makes his torso look flat like a pancake. A little wrinkle around the chest area (fit guy), belly area (fat guy) will make it better.

Example

[nefferinthia]

Thank you so much for replying everyone! Your advice is really helpful! I guerss next time I'll try drawing on paper first and then scanning it; seems a lot easier. And I'll be sure to use your coloring tips to my advantage. I was afraid to use more drastically different shading colors at first because I thought it would look unnatural but I'll definitely try doing that. One more thing, if you draw on photoshop too; what are your brush settings? Just curious~

[Megumi]

*wonders if she is the one you're talking to*

Well, in my case, I sketch with the default paint brush. The one with 75% opacity and 50% flow (or is it the contrary?). I tried playing around with the setting but truthfully? Too much work for nothing too relevant. I usually draw on a REALLY BIG canvas because what I draw usually is big enough for five computer screen (I am used to draw part by part so usually, I end up with something REALLY big if I don't use a big canvas) then I resize it. So I use a 5 px or 9px paintbrush (because the resizing makes them smaller lol and if I used a 3px, the resize may turn the lines into a 1px and it'd look really pixel-looking) For a normal drawing, I'll say 2 or 3 should be enough. Just avoid the 1px because it makes it look like a... pixel drawing. Avoid using the pencil except for base coloring.

For lineart, I prefer using the pen tool rather than the brushes because I can't make a beautiful line... with my tablet (which destroy the point of having a tablet -.-"" ). Stroke or Fill, depends on how big the zone I want to line is.

Really, if you're having troubles, do look for tutorials. There are tons of them on deviantart and none of them are identical (XD I swear, when you get confused, you try to understand with someone else's and paf, it's not the same). Even youtube has some. It's practical if you want to test different techniques and it gives you tips you can keep. (like the clipping mask. Seriously, it was awful to take the eraser for every shadow you drew.)

I'm still new at digital work ^^" So it's a good source of information.

(AND YOU CAN STALK THE ARTISTS ON DA)

If I'm not clear, feel free to pm me :3