TheInquisitor
Sponsor
I was asked to do a tutorial half way through a pixel art project, so I've turned this sprite into a sort of half-arsed, loosely explain tutorial effort. This tutorial won't suit the absolute beginners, but those with a fair understanding of what they're doing and are ready to move onto slightly more ambitious works. The upper body I did before asked to write this tutorial, so the lower body will be what is explained.
I've gone ahead and done the rest of my Scottishgiant goatman with a mostly step by step procedure for assistance purposes. I reckon I slipped into my usual approach of detailing specific areas in one go though. Here goes:
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress1.png[/img]
A simple template made up of ideally light colours on different sides of the colour tree so that they stand out. Keep the template as easy to understand as possible (eratic can be acceptable for hairy/messy areas or where things may become too confusing for a template - like his helmet in this case).
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress2.png[/img]
Well, I skipped ahead at this point so there isn't much to say for stage 2, but make sure to create a pallete of all of the colours and shades you intend to use. Have a worthwhile amount of contrast between your colours. There's numerous good pallete tutorials about explaining hot and cold colours, brightness, saturation and all that malarky, so it shouldn't be too hard. The biggest problem people have though is that they don't have enough contrast between shades, so keep it in mind.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress3.png[/img]
Basic colours and shades with plenty of significant contrast between them are applied between the black outlines of the template. The shading usually comes from the left on my monster sprites. It just good sense to be consistent.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress4.png[/img]
The black outlines are replaced with suitable coloured lines. Darker for the edges on my work, though this doesn't have to be the case. I like to have my sprites stand out over the backgrounds without going to the extremes of black outlines. One or two of the selected template shades lower than the nearest colour usually does the trick for me.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress5.png[/img]
Finer details without shades are added (on the kilt in this case). The shading in the next step can be assumed by looking at the flow of the shades on the red texture behind the detailed extras.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress6.png[/img]
Finish finer touches by adding the shading. Another shade was also added to the red texture behind. The pattern on the kilt looks less out of place now. I've also added the hairs of his hoofs by having a few streaks of light going futher up his leg. These were then made to look like hairs by giving them a slightly darker outline except at the very tips. A part of the pot has been textured, but at the left side of it, there is a particularly ugly piece of pillow shading going on, which must go as soon as possible. Pillow shading is a definite no-no and, as stated earlier, the lighting is coming from that direction anyway.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress7.png[/img]
The handles of the pot were added (I started to rush ahead again here, sorry) and the pillow shading has been removed. The shine on the pot now goes pretty much all the way to the edge and looks a lot better. The metal end to his weapon has been given an extra amount of contrast and light streaks to give the impression of very smooth, polished steel.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress8.png[/img]
...and then the wood was finally added in the same way as the rest of the piece.
Bingo! That's about all for that sprite. Enjoy.
I've gone ahead and done the rest of my Scottishgiant goatman with a mostly step by step procedure for assistance purposes. I reckon I slipped into my usual approach of detailing specific areas in one go though. Here goes:
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress1.png[/img]
A simple template made up of ideally light colours on different sides of the colour tree so that they stand out. Keep the template as easy to understand as possible (eratic can be acceptable for hairy/messy areas or where things may become too confusing for a template - like his helmet in this case).
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress2.png[/img]
Well, I skipped ahead at this point so there isn't much to say for stage 2, but make sure to create a pallete of all of the colours and shades you intend to use. Have a worthwhile amount of contrast between your colours. There's numerous good pallete tutorials about explaining hot and cold colours, brightness, saturation and all that malarky, so it shouldn't be too hard. The biggest problem people have though is that they don't have enough contrast between shades, so keep it in mind.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress3.png[/img]
Basic colours and shades with plenty of significant contrast between them are applied between the black outlines of the template. The shading usually comes from the left on my monster sprites. It just good sense to be consistent.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress4.png[/img]
The black outlines are replaced with suitable coloured lines. Darker for the edges on my work, though this doesn't have to be the case. I like to have my sprites stand out over the backgrounds without going to the extremes of black outlines. One or two of the selected template shades lower than the nearest colour usually does the trick for me.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress5.png[/img]
Finer details without shades are added (on the kilt in this case). The shading in the next step can be assumed by looking at the flow of the shades on the red texture behind the detailed extras.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress6.png[/img]
Finish finer touches by adding the shading. Another shade was also added to the red texture behind. The pattern on the kilt looks less out of place now. I've also added the hairs of his hoofs by having a few streaks of light going futher up his leg. These were then made to look like hairs by giving them a slightly darker outline except at the very tips. A part of the pot has been textured, but at the left side of it, there is a particularly ugly piece of pillow shading going on, which must go as soon as possible. Pillow shading is a definite no-no and, as stated earlier, the lighting is coming from that direction anyway.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress7.png[/img]
The handles of the pot were added (I started to rush ahead again here, sorry) and the pillow shading has been removed. The shine on the pot now goes pretty much all the way to the edge and looks a lot better. The metal end to his weapon has been given an extra amount of contrast and light streaks to give the impression of very smooth, polished steel.
http://www.rpg-palace.com/inquisitor/Giantprogress8.png[/img]
...and then the wood was finally added in the same way as the rest of the piece.
Bingo! That's about all for that sprite. Enjoy.