PIXEL ART; THE ART OF RENDERING.

here's how i made a basic Pixel art crab robot lobster thing in steps.

We start by drawing the base shape, just to get the basic idea of what the sprite will look like:




we now add a little more detail, along with big parts e.f another claw and pincers.




We now add lines of detail around the sprite to make it look better:




We now add basic colour, remember to colour parts that are slightly out teh way darker, this makes the end result look better.




Now we render the sprite. This can be done in anyway you want, i have a few here each with a description of what i did.

1. Burning and dodging.




2. Beveling




3. Flat Bevel




4. placing a shadow inside the sprite




5. Ultimate Bevel




6. Shiny Beveling




7. Strong Flat Bevel




As you can see, the final results all look very different, if you have the patience you could go for a pixel render too! it would take longer but it would look better!.
Remember im not a very good spriter, im passing on my very limited knowledge so that anyone can try basic spriting.
Im trying to get you all to realise that you don't learn how to sprite in a sense, you can sprite anyway. you start off bad, but you practice. 4 weeks ago i could barely draw a square, now i can do isometric buildings, stuff like this...

Have a great day!
Michael.

Great Concept Michael Thanks for Sharing. Personally I've been Playing With These Type of Settings for a Long Time. I dont Recommend You Use Any Kind of Beveling on Any Small Sprites Such as This. If you Wish to Make The Image Pop-Up at You, Use The Bump Map Tools Instead They Are A Lot More Pixle Friendly Than Bevel. Beveling Will Make Your Images Too Bulky And Smudge Dark Black Outlines Where You Dont Want Them.

Here Is A Bump Map Example.


Opposed to Beveling.


Notice How You Dont Get Unwanted Black Smudges and Line Damage Cutting Thru The Sprite, And As You Can See It Still Maintains A Bevel Effect But It Is Much Cleaner.

Some of These Methods Could Be Very Simple To Use If You Played With Them Long Enough To Understand Them. I Like To Stay Away From Them Unless They Are Absolutely Necessary, But In The Same Ball Park I Like To Render Them Manually Using Color Blending To Add Lighting and Shadows The Figures Look So Much More Natural This Way.
I Simply Copied the Original Color And Made Them Darker And UnderLined The Colors To Give The Illusion That This Figure Is Sitting Out In The Sunlight.

Here Is An Example Of Lighting a Sprite.


Opposed to Burning and Dodging.


It Is a Lot Sharper, Clean, and Controlled. It Has a More Natural Look, and as RPGJUnkie Would say it has a "Hand Drawn Feel" to it. You Can Clearly See Its a More Polished Approach. Also The Image Is No Longer Flat But Still Has A Softer Feel Than A Bevel Or a Bump Map.

In Addition Beveling, Burning, and The Many Other Rendering Tools Should Not Be Completely Ignored, The Art Great Tools To Use When Dealing With Larger Scale Objects Such as House Sprites, HUDs, and Buttons. All in All Take It From Michael Playing With These Settings Never Hurt Anyone.

Thanks Michael!

Hmmm, i see what you mean! thanks for that!
anyway, i wanted that sprite to be a robotic crab, thats why i used bevel, to try and get it to look shiny!
but thats some great advice there! ill use them in the future.

(maybe this thread should become a post your renders of the crab.)

Oh, My bad you did mention that in the first post. Either way I wouldnt use the bevel. Making shiny metal is a whole different techinique I dont have time now but i can explain later also, if its a mechanical objects you may want to add a few gears and hydrolics to make it look more mechanical.

BTW nice crab.