I am tremendously bad with art. Supernaturally so. Regardless of the medium I choose, everything I produce could be outdone by toddlers. There seems to be something wrong with my brain that makes it rather difficult for me to see and reproduce details. I have spent hours upon hours searching through sprite tutorials in a desperate attempt to figure out how to make anything vaguely resembling what is meant to be resembled, and I've seen guide upon guide talking about shading and details and whatnot, but I have been wanting to how much I attempt to apply cold logic and hard rulesets towards art, I find that there is one very particular thing I seem to struggle with more than anything else: I can't draw outlines. How does one do it? Does one sketch out outlines with the pencil tool repeatedly until something vaguely decent appears? Start with the line tool and do a bit of erasing and pixel-by-pixel modifications until organic curves appear? Shrink an image vaguely resembling the subject and trace? What is efficient?

i can't help you too much on that one. However, I'm just as bad with music as you describe your art skills. Someone will come along on this forum soon I hope. I do have a method I use which isn't what a beginner should try, and that is using pixel-per-pixel creations for sprites. I don't even use the line tool.

simply put- learn to draw. lineart for sprites is more or less drawing just at a tiny scale. knowing how to draw is pivotal for getting things looking correct and accurate, and the best way to practice that is to do it on paper, then work digitally. to show it in practice, here's something i was saving for my updated spriting tutorial- [img]https://puu.sh/vvtL3/739c8f092f.png[/img] sketching a sprite then cleaning up and refining the lineart as you go is what i find to be the most efficient and optimal way to work, though once you have it down it boils down to personal preference.

Here's a source of infinite spriting inspiration that has captured my attention recently: https://www.youtube.com/user/ricosushi/videos In general this artist, Luis Zuno, blocks out shapes, then adds value (lighter shades of the initial colour) to bring details forward. It's a common strategy for painters too. After that, as you guessed, you refine the edges until they appear how you want. Outlines don't always need to come first, sometimes they can come last. A problem you might run into if you take an outlines-first (details first) approach is that if you don't like how your outlines look, and it can halt your progress mentally and really slow you down. If you focus on shapes and value and not worry about detail at the start, then you can iterate rapidly, subtly adding detail over time. Like most creative work, rapidly iterating and adjusting is extremely valuable! Even with outlines-first techniques, you'll notice that the first outlines are rough sketches that are gradually become more well defined.

Different methods work for different people. If you're struggling with outlines, try a different approach. If you have a strong foundation in traditional art like Mit, starting with outlines is the best way to go. It's a natural fit for those used to pencil 'n paper. Personally, I hate that method. I tried it for several years and found it awkward. There are no "lines" in pixel art. Every pixel has volume and it's only by grouping pixels that you create forms. Pixel art can look great without outlines. Pure linework will never look as good as a traditional sketch. So I recommend you try [url=http://cyangmou.deviantart.com/art/Pixel-Art-Process-413418385]this method[/url]. Instead of drawing lineart first, sculpt out big blocks of color. Then gradually refine those shapes until you have what you want. Optionally, add lineart at the end. If you're curious, this is the method I used to make your animations. [img]http://orig07.deviantart.net/31e9/f/2013/287/8/a/how_i_sprite_venusaur_by_neoriceisgood-d6qfw67.gif[/img] (example by Neoriceisgood) Bottom line: there are a lot of bad pixel artists out there giving bad advice. Stuff like [url=http://www.deviantart.com/art/Pixel-art-TUTORIAL-264578263]this tutorial[/url]. These people are inexperienced and following their advice will only harm you. And the more of these tutorials you read, the more confused you will become and harder you will find it to begin. So pick [i]one[/i] fantastic pixel artist and stick to [i]their[/i] method until you are more experienced. And it doesn't have to be Cyangmou and the sculpting method. Personally, I started with [url=http://makegames.tumblr.com/post/42648699708/pixel-art-tutorial]Derek Yu's tutorial[/url] which taught me the lineart method. And once you have a strong handle on your method, you can use [url=http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299]The Pixel Joint FAQ[/url] as a reference.

I've done very little spriting in my lifetime. I've tried both methods whenever I have made sprites. I guess it depends what you're making, but I feel that @DragonDePlatino's method has worked better for me. Mit's suggested method is a fine method, I just mean to imply that the other was more comfortable to me in more circumstances.

I apologize for the late response. After looking through all the resources provided here and doing some experimentation, I've found that I do like the 'painting' approach to sprites over outlines-first, but in general spriting takes an enormous amount of practice and effort before one can intuitively understand how shapes and shades work. I do believe I'll try to stick to open game assets for a while and draw stuff to match that-currently that Luis Zuno fellow that Xander suggested, as he has a nice set of examples to follow. ...But while I'm here, actually... [img]http://i.imgur.com/HoUoYYg.png[/img] Trying to put this business into practice, I've started with a witch. Wrangled a palette together by using a shade generator then yellowizing the lights and purplizing the darks, drew a silhouette using a couple of shades, and added some basic shading and a couple of details. Where do I go from here? It doesn't seem finished.