Art Software?

Questions, skill improvement, and respectful critique involving art assets.
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Agent_Creative
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Art Software?

#1 Post by Agent_Creative »

I've been wanting to make my sprites, but I don't know what software would be better for it. I'm asking anyone out there if there is a great software for drawing these things, I hope free! Thanks for anyone who took the time to read this! (I don't know if I posted this in the right place)

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Re: Art Software?

#2 Post by SexBomb »

It really depends on your own personal preferences (and budget). Most folk use Photoshop, SAI, or Corel. I imagine some artists even use GIMP, which is free, to draw their sprites. Personally, I use SAI as I find it to be the easiest and most manageable.

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Re: Art Software?

#3 Post by morinoir »

Most of 'great' software will not be free unfortunately. Paint Tool SAI is not free but many people cracked it and now you can find the cracked version easily through the internet. Gimp is free and has many features although I also read bad reviews about it. Krita is free and powerful, but I heard the installation is hard?? If you want to invest on good art software, try Clip Studio Paint.

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Re: Art Software?

#4 Post by BáiYù »

Scroll down a bit here: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=14980#p195265

Quick links to some of them:
Krita - https://krita.org/en/
Inkscape - https://inkscape.org/en/
FireAlpaca - http://firealpaca.com/en

I hear that FireAlpaca is similar to SAI in terms of UI and brush presets.
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Re: Art Software?

#5 Post by Karl_C »

Artwork made with Krita looks quite impressing. And not to forget that Krita is free and runs on MS-Windows, Mac OS/X and Linux...

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More: Krita Gallery

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Re: Art Software?

#6 Post by morinoir »

Karl_C wrote:Artwork made with Krita looks quite impressing. And not to forget that Krita is free and runs on MS-Windows, Mac OS/X and Linux...
Agree, but remember that tools are just tools. It all depends on the artist's skill in the end. I've seen some artists that can paint beautifully using simple tools as MS Paint.

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Re: Art Software?

#7 Post by Sonomi »

morinoir wrote:
Karl_C wrote:Artwork made with Krita looks quite impressing. And not to forget that Krita is free and runs on MS-Windows, Mac OS/X and Linux...
Agree, but remember that tools are just tools. It all depends on the artist's skill in the end. I've seen some artists that can paint beautifully using simple tools as MS Paint.
This is very much true. When I first started out with digital art I used to obsess over using the right program. It took a little time to realize that I was just terrible at drawing. :)

To answer the OP, Inkscape and GIMP are two good, free options.
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Re: Art Software?

#8 Post by Mammon »

To compare myself to Agent_Creative, I'm either equally skilled in making sprites or less. If you have a tablet to make your art on rather than having to work with mouse you're already having a huge advantage over me. The trick in making decent art, if you don't have the time or funds for experience and good equipment, is patience. Painstaking, mindnumbing patience. You can see het eventual result of it in the CC sprites link below, you be the judge of whether that's worth it.
I used Krita for my sprites and I can recommend it even for beginners. I don't know what Moninoir means with a hard installation, because if anyone should've had problems with software installation issues it's me, but most of the issues with Krita are finding which three brushes you actually need from overload they're offering you and getting used to the shortcuts made by the keys, something they don't have a very good manual for.

And two tips from one rookie to (what I assume is) another:
1) Don't use paint, do not take the comment that people can even make good art with that tool seriously. I used paint with my first sprite only to find out it doesn't feature opacity. So it'll work if your sprites are all rectangles or if your backgrounds are pure white.

2) Layers. You can never work with too much layers. It's better to find out later that two layers are split unneccesary than that you need to work an hour to seperate a layer that should've been two.
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Re: Art Software?

#9 Post by truefaiterman »

Play around with different softwares and slowly discover which one makes you feel more comfortable. And unless you know EXTREMELY WELL what do you want and how, don't ignore any possible tool.

Not even Paint, as I've seen it used not in VNs, but in other kind of games like ActionRPGs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJDZcLr ... =itoaragon
(Yes, this creator used Paint on it's day, I know him)

And don't trust too much on the "look at these cool paintings made with this software" as it really depends on the artist's skills. As an example, very few people would recommend to go for a painterly or realistic look with Sai. Then this guy comes here and proves everyone wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4wyZ0s ... er=fearsAs

Once again, look for tutorials, try a lot of stuff and you'll eventually get used to something. People has recommended you pretty good stuff already so you have quite a few choices, either free or not.
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Re: Art Software?

#10 Post by Agent_Creative »

Mammon wrote:To compare myself to Agent_Creative, I'm either equally skilled in making sprites or less. If you have a tablet to make your art on rather than having to work with mouse you're already having a huge advantage over me. The trick in making decent art, if you don't have the time or funds for experience and good equipment, is patience. Painstaking, mindnumbing patience. You can see het eventual result of it in the CC sprites link below, you be the judge of whether that's worth it.
I used Krita for my sprites and I can recommend it even for beginners. I don't know what Moninoir means with a hard installation, because if anyone should've had problems with software installation issues it's me, but most of the issues with Krita are finding which three brushes you actually need from overload they're offering you and getting used to the shortcuts made by the keys, something they don't have a very good manual for.

And two tips from one rookie to (what I assume is) another:
1) Don't use paint, do not take the comment that people can even make good art with that tool seriously. I used paint with my first sprite only to find out it doesn't feature opacity. So it'll work if your sprites are all rectangles or if your backgrounds are pure white.

2) Layers. You can never work with too much layers. It's better to find out later that two layers are split unneccesary than that you need to work an hour to seperate a layer that should've been two.
Yes, I do work with a tablet, but I just started drawing on the computer, It's hard, but I'll get used to it. I've been drawing on paper for about 4/5 years. I've got a little experience! :lol:
I do love all the help you guys have given, thank you very much! I went with Krita, it suited me. I thank all of you for the help!
Last edited by Agent_Creative on Sun Feb 05, 2017 7:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Art Software?

#11 Post by LateWhiteRabbit »

Got to recommend Clip Studio Paint. It's my go-to program of choice for digital drawing. It's pencil and brush engine is far beyond anything else I've used, and that includes Photoshop. Plus, Clip Studio Paint is cheap!

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Re: Art Software?

#12 Post by Imperf3kt »

I personally recommend GIMP. Its completely free, you can use your creations however you want, no royalties included, there's a huge catalogue of plugins and filters and it works on Windows, Linux, Mac and Android.

With the setup I'm using, I see no difference (except the ui) between GIMP 2.8 and Photoshop in terms of functionality / output quality.

If you install the GAP plugin, you can even make movies or composite assets for other programs like LightWave or Blender.

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Re: Art Software?

#13 Post by Drew »

Imperf3kt wrote:With the setup I'm using, I see no difference (except the ui) between GIMP 2.8 and Photoshop in terms of functionality / output quality.
I find Gimp is a pain to use if you're used to photoshop. It does a few things 'better' but for a lot of stuff it's just a bit clunky and irritating, that said - if you don't know photoshop you won't notice the difference. Like a lot of people say, so long as it's not the most basic, any software will do the job when you're starting out. Certainly for everything I've tried any experience gained is pretty transferable between packages anyway, skill and experience are the hard part - rather than what you're using.

There can be an advantage to using photoshop if you can afford it so you're working in the same package as tutorials etc but that's a luxury really.

A good tablet is worth getting though, if you know you're serious about digital art then buy the best one you can afford and it should serve you well - I'd spend my pennies there first. I've had mine for 6yr+ and no problems, that includes some commercial visualisation work in there so I've gotten some used out for it. If you aren't sure at all about a tablet try and borrow one first or buy a cheap second hand-one then upgrade, but as I say if you're serious already just go for the best you can and you'll save upgrade costs down the line.
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Re: Art Software?

#14 Post by Attlebridge »

I draw my sprites (and art) by hand, on paper with pencil and ink. ^^;
After scanning in my line work, I use Clip Studio Paint to colour and Photoshop CS4 to finish any special effects and resize the sprite images.

Clip Studio is very affordable. You only need Debut or Pro (under $50) version if you're just using it to make sprites.

I suggest downloading the free trial version and trying it out before you buy, if you're not sure.

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Re: Art Software?

#15 Post by banannasquid »

I like clip studio for its perspective tools and inking, no other software comes close to it in those regards. Plus, its relatively cheap and goes on sale really often. I like to do the coloring/rendering/painting in photoshop mostly for personal reasons, I like the brush engine and its texture brushes are pretty awesome, particularly for environments. I wish I could merge the two programs into a new program called photoshop + perspective and stabilization lol

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