Where is the best place to draw pixel art? Introduction to Pixel Art for Games

Pixel art(Pixel Art) - translated from English as pixel art. A pixel, in turn, is the smallest graphic element of a digital image.

So Pixel Art literally means the art of drawing with pixels.

Just for clarity, let’s look at this example:

Owlboy (pixel art game)

This is what games with Pixel Art style graphics look like.

Very often, such graphics are used in indie games because they have a very recognizable computer gaming style.

However, Pixel Art is not only about graphics, sprites and pictures for games, this is a whole direction of digital and graphic art.

Beautiful pictures can be drawn using pixel art:

Don't confuse this with anything retro style graphics

Some paintings in this style are quite worthy of taking a place on your desktop.

There are also very cool artists who work in this style.

Look at this picture. Each pixel here was drawn separately and manually. It’s like putting together a mosaic as they did before, and they still do it now.

If we enlarge this picture, we can see how everything is done up close:

The unique style of pixel art is that there are fairly clear color transitions and no anti-aliasing. For example, let's take another work in digital graphics of a fairly average level, look at this one drawing of a girl with glasses(18+) on the blog www.econdude.pw.

This is a drawing with a computer mouse in the SAI2.0 program.

However, if you zoom in on this image, you can see the anti-aliasing:

There are no clear transitions of colors and shades, but in pixel art the transitions are clear.

For example, look at how you can make transitions between colors in pixel art:

This is an approximate image; if you look at it from afar with high resolution, the color transition will be quite smooth, but the clarity and consistency of the style is visible here.

Here's another example, this is a pretty classic pickle art style drawing:

http://www.gamer.ru/everything/pixel-art-dlya-nachinayuschih

When you get close, the pictures don't seem very beautiful, but if you look at pixel art from afar, with higher resolution, it can look wonderful.

Can you imagine the great work such artists do?

Sometimes they say that Pixel Art is done this way because it’s cheaper, they say that indie developers simply don’t have the resources to create modern 3D graphics, so they use the simplest thing they can think of, drawing in basic graphic editors pixels.

However, anyone who has drawn anything in the Pixel Art style will tell you that this is almost the most expensive graphics style in terms of resources (time, first of all).

Animation in the Pixel Art style is generally hellish work.

http://www.dinofarmgames.com/a-pixel-artist-renounces-pixel-art/

Therefore, it still needs to be proven that Pixel Art is a “lazy style”; I would even say that, on the contrary, it is not the least lazy graphics style.

However, anyone can learn to draw something simple in the Pixel Art style, and you don’t need any special programs, just a simple graphics editor.

If you want to learn how to draw in this style, you, as in any other case, need a lot of practice, and you can start, for example, with articles on Habré: Pixel art course

There you will also find the basic principles of pixel art.

Here is one example of how to draw pixel art (accelerated video - speed drawing) at the beginner level; you can learn how to draw like this in literally a week:

Pixelart:: drawing a spaceship

Sometimes in this style They make some really crazy drawings, I can’t even believe that a person drew this and I want to know how much time was spent on it. Example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vChMzRnw-Hc

See this picture of Sarah Carrigan from StarCraft? What do you think this is and how is it made?

This man built it from blocks in the game Minecraft, the work took 23 weeks.

Looking closer, you can see that these are all separate blocks.

Formally, this is no longer pixel art, but even “minecraft block art”, but the essence of the style remains the same and this is the most large drawing pixel art and a world record, according to the author.

In fact, if you look closely at any photo or picture, it is obvious that it also consists of pixels, like any image in general. But the whole difference is that pixel art is created by hand, pixel by pixel.

Another example, artists and animators Paul Robertson and Ivan Dixon created this:

SIMPSONS PIXELS

It feels like a huge amount of work, and even if you used some additional tools (there are filters that turn pictures into pixel art), it would take a very long time.

Personally, I think that pictures in the Pixel Art style are the real thing modern Art in the very better sense this word.

Each Pixel Art picture has a very clear value and it is visible and felt.

Even a person who doesn’t understand this well can appreciate this.

However, unfortunately this genre art is not very popular and is now considered outdated, and a return to it in last years in the form of many games from steam in the style of pixel art, people are also starting to get bored. Although I personally think that this retro graphic style is already a classic, and a true classic will never die.

4.7 (93.8%) 158 votes

Drawings by cells or pixel art are a very popular form of art among schoolchildren and students. During tedious lectures, drawings by squares save you from boredom. The prototype of drawing by squares was cross-stitching, where a cross pattern was drawn on a canvas, a fabric marked with squares. We were all once students and schoolchildren and drew different pictures in boxes out of boredom, imagine my surprise when I learned that this is practically art with its own masterpieces and geniuses. I began to study the issue in more detail and this is what came out of it...

How to draw pictures by cells

This art is accessible to anyone, the main thing is to follow the cells clearly. School notebooks are ideal for drawing images; the size of their squares is 5x5 mm, and the notebook itself is 205 mm by 165 mm. On this moment Spring notebooks with an A4 sheet are gaining popularity among box artists; the size of this notebook is 280mm by 205mm.

Professional artists create their masterpieces on graph paper (drawing paper), that’s where there’s room to roam. The only disadvantage of graph paper is that it is pale green color, which is not noticeable when you sketch with colored pens.
When choosing a notebook for drawing, pay attention to the thickness of the paper; the quality of your drawing in the cells depends on its density, and whether it will appear on the wrong side of the sheet. The ideal sheet density is no less than 50g/sq.m.

How to draw pictures by cells

To color pictures by cells, you don’t need any special tools; any pencils and pens will do. Monochrome paintings are very cool, but I really want to add some color to my life. To make the colors more varied, go to Stationary shop and choose whatever you want, gel pens, oil, ball.

Ballpoint pens for pixel art

Felt pens for drawings by cells

If you like to draw with felt-tip pens, your right, the colors of the felt-tip pens are very rich. It is worth remembering that felt-tip pens are divided into two groups: alcohol and water-based; water-based ones are safer, but they can soak the paper. Alcohol can also soak paper, and the smell is also not for everyone.

Pencils for drawings by cells

Pencils are another type of sketching device. Pencils are no exception in the variety of types; they come in plastic, wax, wood and watercolor. We paint with wood early childhood, and we know that they often break the stylus. Plastic and wax ones break less often, but they are thicker, which will be less convenient for drawing. About watercolor pencils out of the question, since after painting with a pencil you need to cover the drawing with a moistened brush, and this is unacceptable for notebook sheets.

Watch a video about how easy it is to draw pictures in cells and how beautiful the result can be:

A few more drawing schemes that I liked:

Dot graphics - pixel art technology

We figured out what accessories are needed, now let's get acquainted with the technology. Pixel art technology is very simple, it is dot graphics.

Before we begin to consider pixel art methods, let's go back to our childhood in the 80s -90s. Of course, those who grew up in post-Soviet times, remembers 8-bit video games, game graphics, which are built on pixel graphics.

The best way to master anything is practice, let's try to master pixel art:

Let's take a black and red oil pen and a checkered notebook sheet.

First, let's make a simple drawing. Let's count the cells, determine the outline and color it according to the colors.

For example, let's draw a heart:

Take a checkered leaf and a pen with black ink, put 3 dots, as in the picture, the dots mark which cells will be painted black.
Draw lines indicating the contours of the picture.
Mark three points on each side, see figure.
We mark the area of the drawing with two lines.
Let's put one more point on each side and draw boundaries under the top points.
Let's draw 8 points vertically and 4 points on both sides, as shown in the figure below.
By drawing vertical lines, as shown in the figure, we will completely indicate the boundaries of the drawing.
In the same way, mark the lower part of the heart on the left and right.
We outline the cells as in our image.
The next thing we need to do is paint over the inside of the heart with a red pen, leaving the highlight of the light unpainted.
And lastly, use a black pen to shade the cells marked with dots. Now you have learned how to draw eight-bit pictures.

If you think that large and voluminous pictures are not for you, you should try drawing a photo from the Internet. Are you scared? Not worth it.

Take

black pen,
pencils,
squared notebook,
computer,
photograph or picture from the Internet
Photoshop program.

For application volumetric drawings we need to count the number of cells that will be painted. It's quite difficult not to make mistakes with large quantities. Also, be sure to choose shades of colors similar to the original image.
So, let's act:

I’ll give you one piece of advice that helps me a lot: if you have a color printer, print the drawing, if not, no problem. Draw a grid of 10 cells with a thicker outline. On a printed sheet, using a ruler and a contrasting pen, if there is nowhere to print, you can open the image in Paint.
I wish you creative success.

Pixel graphics (hereinafter simply referred to as pixel art) are becoming more and more popular these days, especially through indie games. This is understandable, because this way artists can fill the game with a great variety of characters and not spend hundreds of hours modeling 3D objects and manually drawing complex objects. If you want to learn pixel art, then first of all you will have to learn how to draw so-called “sprites”. Then, when sprites no longer scare you, you can move on to animation and even selling your work!

Steps

Part 1

We collect everything you need

Download good graphics editors. You can, of course, create masterpieces in Paint, but it’s difficult and not very convenient. It would be much better to work in something like:

Photoshop
Paint.net
Pixen

Buy a graphics tablet. If you don’t like to draw with a mouse, then a tablet and a stylus are what you need. Wacom tablets, by the way, are the most popular.

Enable “grid” in your graphics editor. Actually, if your graphics editor does not support grid display, then you should think about looking for another program. The grid will allow you to clearly see where and how each individual pixel will be located. As a rule, the rosary is turned on through the “View” menu.
- You may need to tweak the display settings a bit to ensure that each grid segment actually renders a pixel. Each program does this differently, so look for tips accordingly.
Draw with a pencil and a 1 pixel brush size. Any graphics editor should have a “Pencil” tool. Select it and set the brush size to 1 pixel. Now you can draw... in pixels.

Part 2
Working on the basics
Create a new image. Since you are learning how to draw in the pixel art style, you shouldn’t aim for epic canvases. If you remember, in the game Super Mario Bros. the entire screen was 256 x 224 pixels, and Mario himself fit into a space of 12 x 16 pixels!
1. Zoom in. Yes, otherwise you simply won’t be able to see individual pixels. Yes, you will have to increase it very much. Let's say 800% is quite normal.
  
  Learn to draw straight lines. It seems simple, but if you suddenly draw a line 2 pixels thick somewhere in the middle with a trembling hand, the difference will hit your eyes. Draw straight lines until you have to activate the straight line tool. You must learn to draw straight lines by hand!
  
  Learn to draw curved lines. In a curved line there should be, let’s say, uniform “line breaks” (which is clearly visible in the figure just above). Let's say, starting to draw a curved line, draw a straight line of 6 pixels, below it a straight line of three, below it a straight line of two, and below it a straight line of one pixel. On the other side, draw the same thing (mirrored, of course). This is the progression that is considered optimal. Curves drawn in the “3-1-3-1-3-1-3” pattern do not meet pixel art standards.
  
  Don't forget to erase mistakes. The “Eraser” tool should be set up similarly to a pencil, making the brush size equal to 1 pixel. The larger the eraser, the more difficult it is not to erase too much, so everything is logical.
  
  Part 3
  Creating the first sprite
  1. Think about what purposes the sprite will serve. Will it be static? Animated? A static sprite can be saturated with details to the fullest, but an animated one is better to make it simpler, so that you don’t spend hours redrawing all the details on all animation frames. By the way, if your sprite is going to be used with others, then they should all be drawn in the same style.
    
    Find out if there are any special requirements for the sprite. If you're drawing for, say, a project, it's reasonable to expect color or file size requirements. However, this will be more important a little later, when you start working on large projects with many different sprites.
    - Objectively speaking, these days, requirements for the size or palette of sprites are rarely put forward. However, if you are drawing graphics for a game that will be played on older gaming systems, then you will have to take into account all the limitations.
  2. Make a sketch. A sketch on paper is the basis of any sprite, fortunately this way you will be able to understand how everything will look and, if necessary, you can correct something in advance. In addition, you can then trace from a paper sketch (if you still have a tablet).
    - Don't skimp on details for your sketch! Draw everything you want to see in the final drawing.
  3. Transfer the sketch to a graphics editor. You can trace a paper sketch on a tablet, or you can redraw everything manually, pixel by pixel - it doesn’t matter, the choice is yours..
    - When tracing the sketch, use 100% black as the outline color. If anything happens, you can change it manually later, but for now it will be easier for you to work with black.
  4. Refine the outline of the sketch. IN in this context You can, of course, say it differently - erase everything unnecessary. What is the point - the outline should be 1 pixel thick. Accordingly, increase the scale and erase, erase the excess... or fill in what is missing with a pencil.
    - When working on a sketch, do not be distracted by the details - their turn will come.
  Part 4
  Coloring the sprite
  1. Brush up on color theory. Look at the palette to see what colors to use. Everything is simple there: the further the colors are from each other, the more they are different from each other; The closer the colors are to each other, the more similar they are and the better they look next to each other.
    - Choose colors that will make your sprite both beautiful and easy on the eyes. And yes, pastel colors should be avoided (unless your entire project is done in that style).
  2. Choose multiple colors. The more colors you use, the more “distracting” your sprite will be, so to speak. Look at some pixel art classics and try to count how many colors are used there.
    - Mario - only three colors (if we are talking about the classic version), and even those are located almost close to each other on the palette.
    - Sonic - even if Sonic is drawn with big amount details than Mario, it is still based on only 4 colors (and shadows).
    - Ryu is almost a classic of sprites, as they are understood in fighting games, Ryu is large areas painted in simple colors, plus some shadow for delineation. Ryu, however, is a little more complicated than Sonic - there are already five colors and shadows.
  3. Color the sprite. Use the Paint Fill tool to colorize your sprite and don’t worry about everything looking flat and lifeless - at this stage it’s not expected to do otherwise. The principle of the Fill tool is simple - it will fill all pixels of the color you clicked with the color you selected until it reaches the borders.
  Part 5
  Adding shadows
  1. Start applying shadows using colors that are slightly darker than the base. If the light comes from above, where will the shadow be? That's right, where direct light does not fall. Accordingly, to add a shadow, simply add several more layers to the sprite with pixels of the corresponding color above or below the outline.
    - If you lower the Contrast setting base color, slightly increasing the “Brightness” setting, you can get good color to draw shadows.
    - Don't use gradients. Gradients are evil. Gradients look cheap, shoddy and unprofessional. An effect similar to that of gradients is achieved using the “thinning” technique (see below).
  2. Don't forget about partial shade. Choose a color between base color and the color of the shadow. Use it to create another layer - but this time between the layers of these two colors. The result will be the effect of transition from a dark area to a light one.
    
    Draw highlights. The highlight is the place on the sprite where the most light falls. You can draw a highlight if you take a color that is slightly lighter than the base one. The main thing is not to get carried away with glare, it’s distracting.

Adobe Photoshop: Draw and animate a character using Pixel Art technique

In this lesson you will learn how to draw and animate characters using the Pixel Art technique. To do this, you only need Adobe Photoshop. The result will be a GIF with a running astronaut.

Program: Adobe Photoshop Difficulty: beginners, intermediate level Time required: 30 min – hour

I. Setting up the document and tools

Step 1

Select Pencil from the toolbar - this will be the main tool for our lesson. In the settings, select the Hard Round brush type, and set the remaining values as in the picture. Our goal is to make the pencil nib as sharp as possible.

Step 2

In the Eraser Tool (eraser) settings, select Pencil Mode, and set the remaining values as shown in the picture.

Step 3

Turn on Pixel Grid (View > Show > Pixel Grid). If there is no such item in the menu, then go to the settings and enable graphics acceleration Preferences > Performance > Graphic acceleration.

Please note: The grid will only be visible on the newly created canvas when zoomed in at 600% or more.

Step 4

In Preferences > General (Control-K), change the image interpolation mode to Nearest Neighbor mode. This will allow the boundaries of objects to remain as clear as possible.

In the Units & Rulers settings, set the ruler units to pixels Preferences > Units & Rulers > Pixels.

II. Character Creation

Step 1

And now that everything is set up, we can proceed directly to drawing the character.

Sketch your character with clear outline, while trying not to overload it small details. At this stage, the color does not matter at all, the main thing is that the outline is clearly drawn and you understand how the character will look. This sketch was prepared specifically for this lesson.

Step 2

Reduce the scale of the sketch to 60 pixels in height using the keyboard shortcut Control+T, or Edit > Free Transform.

The size of the object is displayed in the information panel. Please note that the interpolation settings are the same as we did in step 4.

Step 3

Zoom in on the sketch by 300-400% to make it easier to work with and reduce the layer's opacity. Then create a new layer and draw the outlines of the sketch using the Pencil Tool. If the character is symmetrical, as in our case, you can outline only half, and then duplicate it and flip it as a mirror (Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal).

Rhythm: To draw complex elements break them into pieces. When the pixels (dots) in a line form a "rhythm" such as 1-2-3, or 1-1-2-2-3-3, the sketch looks smoother for human eye. But, if the form requires it, this rhythm can be disrupted.

Step 4

When the outline is ready, you can choose the main colors and paint the large shapes. Do this on a separate layer below the outline.

Step 5

Smooth out the outline by drawing a shadow along the inner edge.

Continue adding shadows. As you may have noticed as you draw, some shapes can be corrected.

Step 6

Create a new layer for the highlights.

Select the Overlay blend mode from the drop-down list in the Layers panel. Draw light color over the areas you want to highlight. Then smooth out the highlights using Filter > Blur > Blur.

Complete the picture, then copy and mirror the finished half of the picture, then combine the layers with the halves to make a whole picture.

Step 7

Now the astronaut needs to add contrast. Use the Levels settings (Image > Adjustments > Levels) to make it brighter, and then adjust the hue using the Color Balance option (Image > Adjustments > Color Balance).

The character is now ready for animation.

III. Character Animation

Step 1

Create a copy of the layer (Layer > New > Layer Via Copy) and move it 1 pixel up and 2 pixels to the right. This is a key point in character animation.

Reduce the original layer's opacity by 50% so you can see the previous frame. This is called “Onion Skinning” (plural mode).

Step 2

Now bend your character's arms and legs as if he were running.

● Highlight left hand Lasso tool

● Using the FreeTransformTool (Edit > FreeTransform) and holding down the Control key, move the borders of the container so that the hand moves back.

● Select one leg first and stretch it a little. Then squeeze the other leg on the contrary so that it feels like the character is walking.

● Using a pencil and eraser, adjust the part of your right arm below the elbow.

Step 3

Now you need to completely redraw the new position of the arms and legs as shown in the second section of this lesson. This is necessary to ensure that the image looks clear, because the transformation greatly distorts the pixel lines.

Step 4

Make a copy of the second layer and flip it horizontally. Now you have 1 basic pose and 2 in motion. Restore the opacity of all layers to 100%.

Step 5

Go to Window > Timeline to display the Timeline panel, and click Create Frame Animation.

Pixel-level drawing has its niche in fine arts. With the help of simple pixels, real masterpieces are created. Of course, you can create such drawings on a sheet of paper, but it is much easier and more correct to create pictures using graphic editors. In this article we will analyze in detail each representative of such software.

The world's most popular graphics editor that can work at the pixel level. To create such pictures in this editor, you just need to perform a few preliminary setup steps. Here is everything an artist needs to create art.

But on the other hand, such an abundance of functionality is not needed for drawing pixel art, so there is no point in overpaying for the program if you are going to use it only for a specific function. If you are one of such users, then we advise you to pay attention to other representatives who are focused specifically on pixel graphics.

PyxelEdit

This program has everything you need to create such paintings and is not oversaturated with functions that the artist will never need. Setting up is quite simple; the color palette allows you to change any color to the desired tone, and free movement of windows will help you customize the program for yourself.

PyxelEdit has a feature for setting tiles on the canvas, which can be useful when creating objects with similar content. The trial version is available for download on the official website and has no restrictions on use, so you can try the product before making a purchase.

Pixelformer

In appearance and functionality, this is the most ordinary graphics editor, but it only has several additional capabilities for creating pixel images. This is one of the few programs that are distributed absolutely free.

The developers do not position their product as suitable for creating pixel art, they call it in a great way drawing logos and icons.

GraphicsGale

In almost all such software they try to implement a picture animation system, which most often turns out to be simply unusable due to limited functions and incorrect implementation. GraphicsGale is not so good with this either, but according to at least, this function can work normally.

As for drawing, everything is exactly the same as in the majority of editors: basic functions, a large color palette, the ability to create several layers and nothing extra that could interfere with work.

Charamaker

Character Maker 1999 is one of the oldest such programs. It was created to create individual characters or elements, which would then be used in other animation programs or implemented into computer games. Therefore, it is not very suitable for creating paintings.

The interface is not very good. Almost none of the windows can be moved or resized, and the default layout isn't very good. However, you can get used to it.

Pro Motion NG

This program is ideal in almost everything, starting with a well-thought-out interface, where it is possible to move windows independently of the main one to any point and change their size, and ending with an automatic switch from an eyedropper to a pencil, which is simply an incredibly convenient feature.

Otherwise, Pro Motion NG is just good software for creating pixel graphics of any level. The trial version can be downloaded from the official website and tested to decide whether to further purchase the full version.

Aseprite

Can rightfully be considered the most convenient and beautiful program to create pixel art. The interface design alone is worth it, but that’s not all the advantages of Aseprite. There is the ability to animate a picture, but unlike previous representatives, it is implemented competently and convenient to use. There is everything you need to create beautiful GIF animations.