AuthorTopic: Help on figure drawing (+ 8bit old man npc )  (Read 2980 times)

Offline Catzore

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Help on figure drawing (+ 8bit old man npc )

on: June 13, 2015, 06:42:17 am
Hi its Catzore, Sorry about my previous entry I'm am not exactly the best at pixel art so far. I'm trying to learn it and I'm slowly getting better but I wanted ask the board for some advice. What is the best way to help me learn to draw muscles in the proper places and the correct size and volume of limbs? I know studying it off of actual humans is one way to do it and i've tried, my problem is is that when I draw it freehand, it tends to look wrong or wonky. Is there some kind of technique that allows me to properly draw limbs and features? Perhaps like drawing a line then building around it? I know practice makes perfect and I'm sure Ill get it eventually but I just want to make sure that I am practicing the right way and not just doing the complete opposite of what is effective. So anyway if anybody could point me in the right direction that would mean a lot to me because I really want to get into this and do something great with my passion for video games  ;D

In the meanwhile ill be testing a bit on 8-bit style sprites and maybe learn something useful out of that.



Ill be adding shadows and more animation frames later

Offline pistachio

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Re: Help on figure drawing (+ 8bit old man npc )

Reply #1 on: June 13, 2015, 08:58:21 am
snip

Sounds here like you're drawing the final figure but skipping a few steps...

What you do to fix that is construct.
You say drawing a line and building around it, if you mean this, then yeah that's construction we're talking about.
Learning by tracing the final figure is possible but from my experience it was inefficient and slow as hell compared to using construction.
It also limits your ability to draw from imagination.
So do try out construction. It's helpful stuff.
If you want to take this a step further try posting some of those in the Daily Sketch thread (anatomy thread is dead?!) and we can comment and critique.

Obi-Wan there is a good sprite.
But not really 8-bit.
True 8-bit sprites have 3 colors out of a limited 8-bit palette. Overlays are possible so it looks like it has more colors in areas of the sprite, etc.
These and other specs discussed here.
Tiny resolution and the 3 color rule is most of what makes a sprite look 8-bit, but if you want to learn restrictions then it's a good read.

Keep it up :y:
« Last Edit: June 13, 2015, 09:36:08 am by pistachio »

Offline Ai

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Re: Help on figure drawing (+ 8bit old man npc )

Reply #2 on: June 13, 2015, 10:17:09 am
'Draftsmanship', 'drafting' or 'draughting' is another good key word to look into. Andrew Loomis goes into the subject quite well in his book Successful Drawing (which btw is legally available as a free PDF online.). The term basically relates to constructing objects with accurate proportions in 3d space.
(compare this to 'proportions in 2d space', which is a great start but when you want to draw the object in a different perspective than the reference shows, it is not really enough)

But not really 8-bit.
True 8-bit sprites have 3 colors out of a limited 8-bit palette.
Where do you get that conclusion? 8-bit systems supported a range of color depths, with 2, 3, 4,  and even as high as 15-color sprites.

True *NES* sprites have 3 colors out of a limited 56-color palette. I suspect that's what you were really talking about.

(a 56-color palette, btw, is 6bit, not 8bit. Most 8bit machines had palettes even smaller -- c64 and spectrum, for example, had 16-color (4-bit) palettes)
« Last Edit: June 13, 2015, 10:18:42 am by Ai »
If you insist on being pessimistic about your own abilities, consider also being pessimistic about the accuracy of that pessimistic judgement.

Offline kullenberg

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Re: Help on figure drawing (+ 8bit old man npc )

Reply #3 on: June 13, 2015, 05:57:56 pm
You have to learn construction. Most artists typically start with a mannequin like figure such as in these figure sketches:



This example is from the classic "how to draw the marvel way" book.
Proko has a ton of tutorials on youtube for free. Definately look him up.
The Loomis books are often considered the gold standard - and avaible online if you search a little.

Keep in mind this is a subject that takes years of dedicated study. It would help if you could post some of your attempts at drawing the figure, and I can give you some pointers. Drawing figures from imagination is something I'm pretty decent at.