AuthorTopic: trying to improve using game boy sprites  (Read 2306 times)

Offline jt1241

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trying to improve using game boy sprites

on: April 17, 2017, 06:46:40 pm
he guys I'm trying to limit myself to 32x32 sprites using only the game boy pallet (saw in a video that it helps)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbCw-_iRdc8

so far my attempts have been kinda fruitless I keep starting sprites and then giving up because no matter how many different ways I try going at it I cant seem to get things quite right. a few minutes ago I tried making a kirby sprite (because how could I screw that up)



it looks... ok in my eyes but I don't feel any better about making it. its not complicated or cool. I tried shading it (if that's the right word) but I still think its not really good or helpful.

any advise?

Offline CFKaligula

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Re: trying to improve using game boy sprites

Reply #1 on: April 17, 2017, 07:40:08 pm
Did you use a reference? Like did you have a picture of kirby by your side while making this, because that's very important. I would also say you should look up some videos about basic stuff like shading and drawing easy 3d figures like cubes and cylinders. It seems like you more problems with drawing in general than pixel art specifically. So try learning that first.
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Offline MysteryMeat

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Re: trying to improve using game boy sprites

Reply #2 on: April 17, 2017, 08:23:56 pm
One thing that might help is doing some shading studies. Spheres and squares and the like.
It'll help you get a better grasp on contours and form, which is the big problem I'm noticing here. Mouth doesn't curve with kirb's body well.

Kaligula also posts a salient point, don't fear working from reference!
PSA: use imgur
http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=19838.0 also go suggest on my quest, cmon
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Offline jt1241

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Re: trying to improve using game boy sprites

Reply #3 on: April 17, 2017, 08:55:17 pm
I dident use a reference only because I heard that I will learn more if I don't use them. I keep trying and trying to get this right but I cant, I feel like its impossible I wait to long to start trying to draw and now its going to be literally impossible for me to learn anything. everyone I know can draw all my friends are amazing even my girlfriend can draw even my cousin who is 8 can draw better than me. for everyone it just looks like its just second nature for them. I don't even want to be the best artist ever, all I want is to be able to sit down with an idea and make it not sit down with a perfectly clear idea and try for hours to create something to no avail. I wish I drew when I was younger, and I know drawing takes a while it takes patience hours days or even months working on something and i'm willing to do that if only I could actually make anything to begin with. instead I try to make something fail miserably or have no idea what I want to make and even when I do I still screw it up and waste the rest of my day doing nothing occasionally siting back at my computer feeling like "yeah this will be the one Ill make something great ill finally get some direction on were I should go" only to be sucker punched by the fact that I have no skill and am still years away from making anything. I have so many ideas trapped inside of my mind with no way to let them out. I'm not against criticism I can take criticism but I cant stand the fact that I have the artistic ability of a toddler. and to sit with all of my talented friends and have them jot down what they call garbage and what I call a masterpiece irritates the hell out of me. I feel like i'm tied to a starting line and no matter how much I tug and struggle I cant with only myself to blame. I'm 17 going on 18 and I feel useless I cant express anything I cant draw I cant write I cant do anything. and to think I want to go to college for programming a skill which like everything else in my life I've never cared about until now. throughout my entire childhood I had every chance to learn but instead I did nothing I watched everyone I know grow and develop there own skills and I've learned nothing. sure I passed through everything my entire school life I've gotten nothing but good grades but what use is it. I've almost never studied a day in my life and I've still made it through everything perfectly fine. sure I've passed everything but I never learned anything. throughout my entire life I've looked at the great people who change the world and said "good for them I'll never be that good but eh I don't really care to be as good as them I'll just be normal". I've spent years developing stories and Ideas and thinking"these are fun ideas to think about but making them a reality is to much work I'll just think about stuff yes that's what I'll do I'll think about stuff and never actually do anything Ill think about how successful they could be and how much people would appreciate them and how happy I would be creating those things while never bothering to its safer this way. if all I do is think nothing can go wrong. nobody can criticize me." and that's all I do is do f### all or listen to music and think just wait and think never doing or achieving just thinking. that's why I cant be like the rest of you because I've only ever imagined success and I've never actually felt it. I'm sorry for going off on a tangent and I know i'm going to get negative karma for this I feel like I just had a massive mental release and I've learned a lot from this. I just cant stand that I've wasted all this time, i'm a failure and even if I try now i've wasted to much of my life.

Offline MysteryMeat

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Re: trying to improve using game boy sprites

Reply #4 on: April 17, 2017, 09:35:58 pm
That is just untrue. References are INTEGRAL to learning! Muscle groups? bone structure? character design details? How on earth will you use that without reference!

At later stages it IS good to move off them so you can train yourself in certain poses, but for beginning stuff it's an INTEGRAL part of learning.

as for the frustration, don't let that fuck you up too bad. I admit I kind of skimmed your rant, but the main points of "I'm grinding my gears and nothing happens" is a very relatable problem.
Try new things! Look into everything from character design to animation to 3d modeling, EVERYTHING you can think of! Use references as liberally as you need!
And ESPECIALLY do the basics. It seems like pointless busywork, but draw cones and circles and cubes until you get them down and you'll have a MUCH easier time with 3d visualization later on.
PSA: use imgur
http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=19838.0 also go suggest on my quest, cmon
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Offline eishiya

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Re: trying to improve using game boy sprites

Reply #5 on: April 17, 2017, 11:51:55 pm
Don't confuse using reference with copying. Uncritically copying images isn't very useful, but looking at references and learning how things look/work is critical to growing as an artist.

Offline PixelPiledriver

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Re: trying to improve using game boy sprites

Reply #6 on: April 21, 2017, 12:32:06 pm
Use a larger canvas and draw the same subject many times.
Drawing one thing per file lacks direct comparison and will limit your ability to gauge progression.


And knowing that it is, we seek what it is... ~ Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, Chapter 1