Help With Custom Sprites

[naohime]

I'm very sorry if I put this in the wrong spot, but here we go.

 

I'm a novice at spriting, like I literally started today, and I'm almost done with the VS sprite, but I just need to add more details to the hair. Unfortunately, I suck at that. Is there anybody willing to give tips or perhaps edit the sprite? All it is is just adding details like shading, which I'm not really sure how to do. Thanks in advance!

 

P.S. please don't judge lol

[Candy]

1 hour ago, naohime said:

I'm very sorry if I put this in the wrong spot, but here we go.

 

I'm a novice at spriting, like I literally started today, and I'm almost done with the VS sprite, but I just need to add more details to the hair. Unfortunately, I suck at that. Is there anybody willing to give tips or perhaps edit the sprite? All it is is just adding details like shading, which I'm not really sure how to do. Thanks in advance!

 

P.S. please don't judge lol

Just checked but I think before starting with anything else, you should follow one basic rule of spriting: you can't mix pixel sizes. Right now you have some 1x1 pixels and 2x2 pixels. Usually people sprite with 2x2 sprites.

For example: you can see that only 2x2 pixels were used for Reborn:

[naohime]

6 minutes ago, Candy said:

Just checked but I think before starting with anything else, you should follow one basic rule of spriting: you can't mix pixel sizes. Right now you have some 1x1 pixels and 2x2 pixels. Usually people sprite with 2x2 sprites.

For example: you can see that only 2x2 pixels were used for Reborn:

Oh, okay! I'm impressed you could see that haha. I did Frankenstein different sprites together (just Candice and Sabrina) so maybe that had something to do with it? Is there a specific area, because I don't really know how to identify that stuff haha

[Candy]

1 minute ago, naohime said:

Oh, okay! I'm impressed you could see that haha. I did Frankenstein different sprites together (just Candice and Sabrina) so maybe that had something to do with it? Is there a specific area, because I don't really know how to identify that stuff haha

yah I think that has something to do with because now that I checked there's also some 3x3 pixels on the eyes as well. Idk I just think the consensus is that sprites with the same size pixels look cleaner. I'm not a good spriter myself, but tried changing a part of your sprite's hair to show you what I mean by using just the same size (in my case 2x2) pixels

[naohime]

45 minutes ago, Candy said:

yah I think that has something to do with because now that I checked there's also some 3x3 pixels on the eyes as well. Idk I just think the consensus is that sprites with the same size pixels look cleaner. I'm not a good spriter myself, but tried changing a part of your sprite's hair to show you what I mean by using just the same size (in my case 2x2) pixels

You say you're not a spriter but you just made a major improvement!! Thank you so much! Is there anything else you notice that is out of place?

[Candy]

2 minutes ago, naohime said:

You say you're not a spriter but you just made a major improvement!! Thank you so much! Is there anything else you notice that is out of place?

Difficult to tell cause of the pixel mix, so I think once that's taken care of, it'll be easier to work on the shading and clearing up the clothing

[naohime]

1 hour ago, Candy said:

Difficult to tell cause of the pixel mix, so I think once that's taken care of, it'll be easier to work on the shading and clearing up the clothing

Okay then! What size of pixels would you recommend?

[Candy]

3 minutes ago, naohime said:

Okay then! What size of pixels would you recommend?

are you planning to use the sprite in a fangame? Reborn, Rejuvenation, Spork, etc they all use 2x2 pixel sprites so your sprite would look more natural in that pixel size.

[naohime]

48 minutes ago, Candy said:

are you planning to use the sprite in a fangame? Reborn, Rejuvenation, Spork, etc they all use 2x2 pixel sprites so your sprite would look more natural in that pixel size.

Yes, this is for a fangame! I'm using GIMP for the pixel art. But I adjusted the pencil to make the pixel size 2x2 and it just seems so big! It makes the lines so large.

[Candy]

18 minutes ago, naohime said:

Yes, this is for a fangame! I'm using GIMP for the pixel art. But I adjusted the pencil to make the pixel size 2x2 and it just seems so big! It makes the lines so large.

are the 2x2 on GIMP the same size as the sprites I drew?

[naohime]

23 minutes ago, Candy said:

are the 2x2 on GIMP the same size as the sprites I drew?

I really don't know lol. I went over all the outlines with the 2x2 to get rid of 1x1 and 3x3 and this is what I got, so let me know if it's the same

[Candy]

42 minutes ago, naohime said:

I really don't know lol. I went over all the outlines with the 2x2 to get rid of 1x1 and 3x3 and this is what I got, so let me know if it's the same

it appears that your brush is set to 3x3. I recommend Piskel where you can edit sprites online and has lovely features like the ability to change color A to color B every place it finds color A.

[Player_Null_Name]

You can also draw with 1x1 pixels then resize it by 200%

[naohime]

11 hours ago, Candy said:

it appears that your brush is set to 3x3. I recommend Piskel where you can edit sprites online and has lovely features like the ability to change color A to color B every place it finds color A.

Okay, that's odd. I put it to size 2. But I'll go with Piskel! Is there anyway to tell the difference between 2x2 and 3x3 for the future? And also, based on the image, did I at least get rid of the different sized pixels and replace it with only the 3x3?

[naohime]

10 hours ago, Player_Null_Name said:

You can also draw with 1x1 pixels then resize it by 200%

I might try that if I'm still too dumb to figure out how to do 2x2 lol. Thanks!

[Candy]

52 minutes ago, naohime said:

Okay, that's odd. I put it to size 2. But I'll go with Piskel! Is there anyway to tell the difference between 2x2 and 3x3 for the future? And also, based on the image, did I at least get rid of the different sized pixels and replace it with only the 3x3?

on Piskel, if you zoom into the image it shows you grids for 1x1 pixels, so you can tell if it's 2x2 (4 small squares) or 3x3 (9 small squares). Idk about Gimp since I've never used it.

and for the most part you got rid of the different sized pixels, but there's still some, especially on the head:

Spoiler

Also, if you notice that the line I drew (separation between hair and face) is mostly diagonal without overlap of the adjacent squares and rectangles. Idk if it's a rule or not, but that's how most spriters do their outlines, so I'd try sticking to that if you're picky

 

[naohime]

11 minutes ago, Candy said:

on Piskel, if you zoom into the image it shows you grids for 1x1 pixels, so you can tell if it's 2x2 (4 small squares) or 3x3 (9 small squares). Idk about Gimp since I've never used it.

and for the most part you got rid of the different sized pixels, but there's still some, especially on the head:

  Hide contents

Also, if you notice that the line I drew (separation between hair and face) is mostly diagonal without overlap of the adjacent squares and rectangles. Idk if it's a rule or not, but that's how most spriters do their outlines, so I'd try sticking to that if you're picky

 

Ah, thank you so much! Piskel is actually sooo much easier than Gimp so I think I'll stick with it. I went over the thicker outlines and redid some of them.

[Candy]

3 minutes ago, naohime said:

Ah, thank you so much! Piskel is actually sooo much easier than Gimp so I think I'll stick with it. I went over the thicker outlines and redid some of them.

Glad you liked the site  The sprite's looking better now~ continue eliminating the 1x1 and 3x3 pixels, so that we can jump into the hardest part (at least for me), shading

[naohime]

38 minutes ago, Candy said:

Glad you liked the site  The sprite's looking better now~ continue eliminating the 1x1 and 3x3 pixels, so that we can jump into the hardest part (at least for me), shading

I erased the shading on the lower part of the hair, since I figured it would be easier to just add it later on. I think I got everything??? It's really hard to tell since they're so tiny lol.

[Candy]

27 minutes ago, naohime said:

I erased the shading on the lower part of the hair, since I figured it would be easier to just add it later on. I think I got everything??? It's really hard to tell since they're so tiny lol.

I can't keep my nose out of people's business even though I know it's annoying sorry, but I tried smoothing out the hair's outline and giving it some (awkward and unfinished) shading:

I think an important part of spriting is trying to make the person "round" since there are no straight lines in a normal human. Agh I'm real bad at explaining stuff in words  I promise I'll stop butting in, but try eliminating the unnatural straight lines on the clothing as well.

[naohime]

23 minutes ago, Candy said:

I can't keep my nose out of people's business even though I know it's annoying sorry, but I tried smoothing out the hair's outline and giving it some (awkward and unfinished) shading:

I think an important part of spriting is trying to make the person "round" since there are no straight lines in a normal human. Agh I'm real bad at explaining stuff in words  I promise I'll stop butting in, but try eliminating the unnatural straight lines on the clothing as well.

No, no, I don't mind! You're helping out a lot haha. The only thing is that her hair is supposed to kind of be pulled to the side? Like not in a ponytailm. But I suppose my spriting didn't really show that lol.

 

I'll try to!! How should I draw them instead, as I kind of struggle with figuring how to draw pixels

[Candy]

38 minutes ago, naohime said:

No, no, I don't mind! You're helping out a lot haha. The only thing is that her hair is supposed to kind of be pulled to the side? Like not in a ponytailm. But I suppose my spriting didn't really show that lol.

 

I'll try to!! How should I draw them instead, as I kind of struggle with figuring how to draw pixels

owo I thought her hair wasn't tied mb

so here's the thing, I don't really know how but I go with the flo on this. Some rules I follow though are summarized below:

(imagine those squares are 2x2 pixels)

on the "not ok" side, you can see on the top one that though both pixels are the right size, they're not offset by the right size invisible pixel (they're off set by 1x1 pixels). On the bottom one, this is more subjective but when you're trying to draw "round" objects, you don't want to have obvious angles, so I avoid them. Just that when it's not round stuff, like the flicks of the hair that I drew on your sprite, then you can use them.

[naohime]

10 minutes ago, Candy said:

owo I thought her hair wasn't tied mb

so here's the thing, I don't really know how but I go with the flo on this. Some rules I follow though are summarized below:

(imagine those squares are 2x2 pixels)

on the "not ok" side, you can see on the top one that though both pixels are the right size, they're not offset by the right size invisible pixel (they're off set by 1x1 pixels). On the bottom one, this is more subjective but when you're trying to draw "round" objects, you don't want to have obvious angles, so I avoid them. Just that when it's not round stuff, like the flicks of the hair that I drew on your sprite, then you can use them.

Ah, I see. Rip I was doing a lot of the top right one, so I'll have to fix those. 

 

I cleaned up the lines, hopefully, and I added some shading on her hair. I also fixed the button on her sleeve because I was tired of it being a square lol. I also changed the outline of her skin, hopefully it looks better. The one "straight" line I'm not really sure how to deal with is the one on her left side of her face, where the hair is kind of behind the face.

[Candy]

5 minutes ago, naohime said:

Ah, I see. Rip I was doing a lot of the top right one, so I'll have to fix those. 

 

I cleaned up the lines, hopefully, and I added some shading on her hair. I also fixed the button on her sleeve because I was tired of it being a square lol. I also changed the outline of her skin, hopefully it looks better. The one "straight" line I'm not really sure how to deal with is the one on her left side of her face, where the hair is kind of behind the face.

Ooo I like the change in the sleeve and also the chest part looks clearer now~

for that part of the face, I'd say draw a slight curve imagining someone's face (like a little cheekbone?). but hey you learn fast

[naohime]

2 hours ago, Candy said:

Ooo I like the change in the sleeve and also the chest part looks clearer now~

for that part of the face, I'd say draw a slight curve imagining someone's face (like a little cheekbone?). but hey you learn fast

I tried using Florinia as a reference for the face, since she has the most similar angle, and I made her face slimmer. I also added shading to the vest, and I tried something with the nose??? Candice had the three squares whereas Ame seems to just use two or none at all. Also, the thumb looks really weird and I don't really know how to fix the lines lol, the lines touching the Pokeball.