Hello there, I am tetsuya_shino. I've never written a tutorial (or anything close to one) but I thought I'd try to share what I know. Maybe someone might find it useful. The following is by no means the 'right' or 'only' way, just the way I personally do things.

*The colors, man... the colors...*

Your computer can create and display a dizzying amount of colors.This is great news when you're playing the latest First Person Shooter, but when you're first starting out creating pixel art, more isn't always better.That is why it's a good idea to limit the amount of colors you use.

A palette is a select group of a given number of colors. A palette can be made up of as little as 2 colors or as much 16,777,216 colors. I personally use a palette that has 256 colors. How many (or how few) colors you use depends on a number of factors, but basicly it's a matter of personal taste.

However there will be times where you will be limited to a very small number of colors due to the limitations of a program you are working with. You could also create pixel art with a very limited number of colors, even though the program you are using will all allow much more. Again, it's a matter of personal taste.

A person could make one palette and use those colors for all their pixel work, or they could create an all new palette for each different pixel art they make. Also just because you have a given number of colors in your palette, that has no bearing on how many colors you personally use. Case in point, I use a 256 color palette.
That doesn't mean I use all 256 colors at once, rather I have 256 different colors I could pick from at one time.

Now lets say I wanted to make a pixel object that was made up of 18 colors. I could create a custom palette of with the 18 colors I want to use. However, if I already see those 18 colors on my 256 color palette, why waste time making a second smaller palette? Like a kid in a candy store I can pick colors quickly and easily.

Still, we all aren't clones of each other. What works for me, might not work for you. And vice versa. Keep messing with your palette until you are happy with it. Or if you are forced to use a set palette (as I am), learn to work around it. Good luck.

tetsuya_shino

Hello there, I am tetsuya_shino (although I have also been known as kaze neko in the past). I am 27 years old and I have been pixeling ever since Mario Paint came out on Super Nes. (Which I think was in '92)

Although I have PSP5, I only use it to edit my palettes; I do all my sprite are in MS Paint and always in 256 colors. Although I have been pixeling for many many years now, my range is honestly quite limited. The meat of my pixel art are my little super deformed rpg style characters. (Like the one on the left there.)

I have never edited or ripped pixel art, and moreover, I look down on anyone that does. I know it's wrong to think like that, but I can't help it. I might not be the best pixel artist out there, but I got where I am by myself, though years of trial and error. If I can do it, you can do too. No excuses.

Still, all in all, I think I'm a rather nice easy going guy,... just as long as you don't whip out any mega man edits. 

tetsuya_shino

Very impressive. It's really interesting how you can make it look so good with such a small amount of colors.

tetsuya_shino

LuciferianSoul: He doesn't have to post an animated gif. A good pixel artist can look at a sprite sheet and mentally 'see' how it would animate.

Andy Tran: I resently made something like this myself. My advice to you would be to pick one design and stick with it. (From what you posted it doesn't look like one design from different angles, but rather different designs. I say this because none of the pixels line up. ie: the face mask is too high up on the top middle sprite.)

Once you have picked a design to go with, just draw the outlines of it. (You shouldn't even bother with trying to shade it or add detail until you have your design down.) Next try to picture the helmet spinning around. If you have problems 'seeing' it, try playing some 3d video games that have soldiers in them.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

tetsuya_shino