Which format/resolution/etc is best to order character sprites from the artist in?

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Elfie
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Which format/resolution/etc is best to order character sprites from the artist in?

#1 Post by Elfie »

Hi, so I want to order characters from an artist for my VN, but not sure about details. I am a lazy person and I don't really use separate expressions, I just use full sprites with different expressions each.

While working with free assets, I noticed that they have a wide variety of formats/aspect ratios/pixels/size etc. It is kinda simple with backgrounds, but with characters...it is a real pain.

E.g. If I order "1920x1080" with character in the middle, it should be ok, however I may still have to resize characters manually to fit the UI.
Also, what's DPI and why is it important? Whats Cel-shaded? I will most likely end up ordering from different artists, so i'd need somehow to keep all characters about the same proportional size.

I do writing and coding but I am completely alien to drawing, design or even Photoshop or anything like that. Sorry if I ask something stupid, but can someone advice me on the best format in which to order characters from artists? Surely there are some standards at this point?

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Re: Which format/resolution/etc is best to order character sprites from the artist in?

#2 Post by puppetbomb »

There are some level of standards to ordering art from artists, though ordering through Lemmasoft seems to have pretty loose standards (I've never had anyone make me sign an NDA or clarify division of rights).

If you want a baseline for what you should prepare when commissioning an artist, you should know or have these things documented:
  • Screen resolution and a rough mockup of GUI layout
  • Samples of media that are closest to the style you're looking for. Limit it to one or two games/movies/comics/etc.
  • Description of each character's personality and references for outfits
  • A comprehensive breakdown of every asset you need (expressions, outfits, poses, and every combination)
While there's more minute details I can get into, these are the broad strokes of what you should have.

Some advice about working with people: it's okay to pop in and ask how things are going, even if the work is pro bono. Be clear and direct about what you want and expect. While rejection can be scary, being mealymouthed about the amount of work you expect will be a surefire way to get people to never work with you again.

Also: DPI means "Dots Per Inch" and is for printing. Monitors and digital media use resolutions, which is based on set number of pixels. Cel-shading is based off of an animation shading technique where shadows are defined with a hard edges (rather than smooth or painted shadows).

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Elfie
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Re: Which format/resolution/etc is best to order character sprites from the artist in?

#3 Post by Elfie »

puppetbomb wrote: Thu Nov 12, 2020 11:35 pm There are some level of standards to ordering art from artists, though ordering through Lemmasoft seems to have pretty loose standards (I've never had anyone make me sign an NDA or clarify division of rights).
If you want a baseline for what you should prepare when commissioning an artist, you should know or have these things documented:
  • Screen resolution and a rough mockup of GUI layout
  • Samples of media that are closest to the style you're looking for. Limit it to one or two games/movies/comics/etc.
  • Description of each character's personality and references for outfits
  • A comprehensive breakdown of every asset you need (expressions, outfits, poses, and every combination)
Hi, thank you for the extended advice, especially for UI mockup - I did not think about that before! Points 3 to 4 I pretty much got covered, however I still not sure about resolution.

To show more specific example, in my case:

Target (main) resolution is 1920x1080. The layout of UI is pretty standard (not that much different from the default RenPy UI). What type of file (size/resolution/etc) should I ask for artist to provide? And in which format? Should it be .psd or .png image is fine too?


Because when working with free assets found on the net, I download characters of different sizes/proportions, in different formats (some kinda professional sprites with separate expressions, others just jpgs, etc).
And then trierd to unify them in PS/Paint 3D/etc and fit with each other into the game, but always mess up with small details( that is so frustrating...since now I pay for character drawings, I want to avoid this hassle by outlining solid tech spec from the start.

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Re: Which format/resolution/etc is best to order character sprites from the artist in?

#4 Post by puppetbomb »

Elfie wrote: Fri Nov 13, 2020 7:31 am Target (main) resolution is 1920x1080. The layout of UI is pretty standard (not that much different from the default RenPy UI). What type of file (size/resolution/etc) should I ask for artist to provide? And in which format? Should it be .psd or .png image is fine too?
If you want to be strict about export sizes, create a 1920x1080 PSD file and give it to the artist to use as a template. You can also add a box to define a crop area too, like this.

I can't really give you an exact pixel size you should ask for in a sprite since there's other variables, like what if the sprite is is cut off at the edges of the screen? Would you need to make it larger to accommodate screen shakes? Where will the anchor point be located, and how will that affect aligning sprites of different sizes, etc etc.

On files: PNG-24 (which saves as PNG) is the only widely used file format that can support different levels of transparency, so any element that's layered on top of a background will need to be in this format. It'll be large in terms of file size, and that's where you'll have to find a way to compress them (search "online PNG compression"). If you want to export the files yourself, ask for a PSD file and export to PNG.

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Re: Which format/resolution/etc is best to order character sprites from the artist in?

#5 Post by Elfie »

puppetbomb wrote: Fri Nov 13, 2020 5:15 pm If you want to be strict about export sizes, create a 1920x1080 PSD file and give it to the artist to use as a template. You can also add a box to define a crop area too, like this.
I can't really give you an exact pixel size you should ask for in a sprite since there's other variables, like what if the sprite is is cut off at the edges of the screen? Would you need to make it larger to accommodate screen shakes? Where will the anchor point be located, and how will that affect aligning sprites of different sizes, etc etc.
On files: PNG-24 (which saves as PNG) is the only widely used file format that can support different levels of transparency, so any element that's layered on top of a background will need to be in this format. It'll be large in terms of file size, and that's where you'll have to find a way to compress them (search "online PNG compression"). If you want to export the files yourself, ask for a PSD file and export to PNG.
Thanks again, that was extra helpful. I think now I got it :)

Template seems to be the thing for the job here. Will see how it will turn out in the end.

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