CAN'T DRAW! Any anime character design program?

[Tage]

I think the things that may help you as a beginner is:

• Only draw something if it entertains you. If it drawing is not fun, it's a lot harder to learn.
• Try drawing cartoon characters, and perfect each last picture you drew. This gives you an easy base to start with. You know what it's SUPPOSED to look like. Now can you copy it?
• DON'T TRY TO START OUT WITH CIRCLES AND LINES! I found this too confusing as a beginner, and I lost interest in bettering my drawing. Wait until you are pretty good at drawing without outlines before trying to use them... I know, that sounds unorthodox, but it was a lot better that way for me.
• After you are pretty good without outlines and circles, try following tutorials online.

Here's how I learned to draw...I started off with stick figures...This was when I was in Kindergarten. I then thought, that's so FAKE, so I made the body, limbs, and neck have width. I made each hand have five stubs for fingers. I made a nose with a backwards "c" and a line coming from the top. I unknowingly was working my way up the ladder. Then, I ALWAYS drew Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was entertaining. Then I moved on to just drawing animal profiles. (Of course, they only had TWO legs and feet, lol) Then I realized they needed two more legs...lol. Okay okay, enough reminiscing.

[RedSlash]

I think tracing, copying, etc.. is a good way to start. Anatomy picts can be found all over the net. And importantly, don't worry if it turns out bad! Just make sure you don't give up just because of one failure.

[bluemist]

Another question:

If I include 'original CGs' from commercially available bishoujo games, would I be violating copyright rules? But I was thinking among the lines of 'gray area' just like what anime fansubs are... and since there are oh so numerous sites providing the original CGs... I wouldn't think it'd be illegal...

[papillon]

... and there was a big crackdown a while ago and a lot of those CG sites got shut down because the copyright holders were fed up about it.

Will anyone care too much if you use commercial graphics in your FREE fangame? Probably not, especially if they never know about it. Is it still illegal? YES. *Can* they get mad at you and throw lawyers at you? YES.

[PyTom]

What do you mean by "Original CGs"?

But in general, yes, it would be illegal. Every recent (IIRC, it's now something like 70 years) creative work is covered by copyright automatically. The only time you can legally use it is when the copyright holder gives you permission, either by explicitly telling you it's okay to use it, by using something like the creative commons license, or by placing the work in the public domain.

Now, fansubs are illegal, but in general the creators turn a blind eye to them. Would they turn a similarly blind eye to using their graphics in a game? I have no idea.

[Tage]

bluemist: Yeah, the truth of the matter is... There never was any "grey area" about subbing anime. It has always been illegal. There never was any "grey area" about any other fan-created works either. The only thing no one seems to care about at all is probably just fan artwork. So...what's the reasoning behind this? There are several... The number one answer would be that the copyright holder wants all the money they can get from the work, and creating fan works better (and faster) than them may make it a lot more difficult for them to do that. The number two answer is that they may not like the situations you put their creations in (like an adult game for example). The best thing to do is to avoid using other people's work unless you get their permission. You can use their work behind their back, but they can reprimand you if you rub them the wrong way. Personally, I don't want to take a chance like that...but that's just me maybe, lol. If you do use someone else's work, always credit them for it. It is the least you can do.

PyTom: Python is awesome! n.n I'm having fun programming with it, lol.

[RedSlash]

If I include 'original CGs' from commercially available bishoujo games, would I be violating copyright rules? But I was thinking among the lines of 'gray area' just like what anime fansubs are... and since there are oh so numerous sites providing the original CGs... I wouldn't think it'd be illegal...

Yes, you would be violating copyrights. As mentioned above, there was never any 'gray area' because fansubs are illegal without question. The numerous sites providing original CGs do it because they haven't been sued yet.

If you do use someone else's work, always credit them for it. It is the least you can do.

I would advise against this. Always ask for permission first. Please see http://www3.to/ofp/ on how rude it is to take someones work (even if you give credit).

My advice is to stick with original work. IMO, I think using commercial work just takes away from the quality of your game. Hope that helps!

[Tage]

I agree that you shouldn't use others' work without permission. Although, in my opinion, if someone is going to be rude enough to use someone else's work...the least they could do is tell everyone who they stole it from. That way people know who the original creator is instead of thinking this guy created all of it.

[Nio]

I've had people use my work without permission. When I found out about one guy I asked him to stop and he got all ticked off and actually yelled at me.

Some people.

But yeah, it's not legal and just not a good practice. There are always ways around it. Look at Blue Lemma, he (I assume) took pictures of the woods near him for his backgrounds. etc.

[mikey]

I've had people use my work without permission..

Blah, tell me about it - one guy took my reviews, signed them with his name and gave it to another webmag. It was a LONG talk later...

[bluemist]

About those 'illegal' stuff, point taken, thanks.

But still... I have no problem with background art (yup, digital camera thing), no problems with music either... the real problem is making the characters. I really, really can't draw whether in pencil and paper or mouse and computer screen.

The only way around it is asking a friend to make something for me...

[chronoluminaire]

The real problem is making the characters. I really, really can't draw whether in pencil and paper or mouse and computer screen.

The only way around it is asking a friend to make something for me...

Well, it's like mikey said. If you get the rest of it done, *then* there are many places on the net where you can find artists. Nobody wants to be part of a production that's never going to happen, but if you can *show* them it's going to get finished, there are a number of artists around who'd join if you asked them.

[Tage]

That may be a good idea. It might be hard to visualize everything without images, but it's probably much more efficient to do the story and choices beforehand anyway. So once you get all that done, you can try and find if anyone's interested in drawing stuff for you.

[Nio]

If you're gonna get other artists maybe you can use place holders in the meantime. Like stick men with names. Then potential artists can see what it's all about etc.

[kokoro nut]

Has anyone tried any of these apps?



http://www.japanimation.com/j-store/sho ... 6426.22281

They aren't free, but take a look anyway.