In light of one of my own disinterests, I decided to start a debate on what's the better or worse use for sprites in general, perhaps to get a better understanding as to why so many people use them beyond the "I can't draw!" part, or maybe see what others think of the whole use of sprites. Either way...

Like the title states; sprites can be a lot of things to a lot of people, and even disliked like a lot of things. It doesn't go without saying that sprites are widely used throughout this forum; it's obvious it's the medium of choice compared to old fashioned hand-drawn creations, and they're distributed without much care about the forum for use by anyone able to save an image and add it to their avatar or signature, or even a sprite sheet to be linked to a million places for others to reap from.

But why?
Is it because it's a trend set by forum leaders, a basis created by comic authors, or could it even be a subliminal connection to the well-loved games of our youths?

Has anyone gotten a clear on using such sprites? I mean, is it not a type of plagiarism to take something of someone else's, colour it a little differently, then call it your own? Does that make every sprite on here save for the truly legitimate illegal?


For whatever reason, sprites seem to be a set ideal for appearance inside the TFS walls, often being used for most parts like comics, flashes, pictures, and adverts, within and outside as well.

...I wonder so, and I also wonder if what others think of the spriters Vs. drawing. Well, not exactly versus each other, but you get the general purpose of this, right?

Delete if necessary, as it was more of a curious question set for debate to the masses rather than a real discussion.

Well, there were only a few sprite comics on the net a few years ago. Then came Bob and George with sprites. I think it was the first sprite comic that got really populair, and many people tried sprites. Of course, they all made recolors since that was what the creator of the comic, Dave, does. Heh, Dave still uses recolors. His comic his horribly outdated compared to some other comics.

Forums spread the word of spriting well, also. A lot of people learn spriting from forums. I have, I learned it from here. I knew what sprites were and had read a few comics, but I never actually sprited until I came here.

Hell, I don't think any of us know where it all started. All I know that it starting getting big after all those Megaman comics that were in those days, original.

Yes, it probably is illegal. I haven't heard game companies complain about. So, unless they do something about it, we can just go on with spriting. And I doubt game companies can stop something that has become so big over the years. Imagine them trying to sue every spriter. :P

Personally, I think drawing is better. I can't do it worth for crap, but it's still better. Sprites are limited. Drawings can have a LOT more detail then sprites. But I keep on spriting, since that is what I enjoy doing.

I like drawing better than spriting. I'm not horrible at either one but my drawing skills aren't really good enough for me to go only with drawing so I use sprites.

Sprites are a gateway for those with no talent to allow peurile toilet jokes, inside jokes and stupid quips to come to life.

IX, more then the half of all sprite comics are lame. But keep in mind, there ARE some good ones. It's rare, but they do excist, you know. But I assume you generally hate sprite comics in general, so I won't bother.

And no talent? Sprites are a form of pixel art. So, it is art. Some people say it isn't, but it is. Almost everything created by people is art. And it's hard to make sometimes. We put effort into these things. Some people worked hard to become good at spriting. Those people are talented. You just don't like sprites, fine, I can understand that. But calling certain people not talented is not exactly the right thing to say.

Well, as far as i see it, taking a megaman sprite, a dash of Bass, and adding in some protoman, simmering over a Megaman zero bacground and colouring it pink and orange is more along the lines of soemthing to do when eating those little fudge brownies uncle Nev makes, and everyone pays extortionate amounts to get. I did a course on basic 2D design, and can make such things as shop fronts, and can engrave, using a computer powered CAM machine. Spiriting doesnt even fall into the 2D design part of things, it's more of a.. well, how can i put this.. "cacophany of pschadellic colours with the words "FART LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!" Rising from it".

But then again, I am just a cynical bastard.

Say what you want IX, but I would recommend reading some of the better sprite comics before judging all of them.

I've Read the supposedly good ones. And i am, indeed, entitlted to my opinion.

I have. Bob and George got old years ago, and 8BT is rapidly loosing steam. Chris and Trilby is good, but few people would count it as "great" because they've never heard of Benjamin Croshaw.

Sprite comics, quite frankly, are a bad thing. If you have the ability to write something witty and interesting but lack any ability to draw, focus on writing books and just leave comics alone, or find a friend who has wicked art skillz to tackle the artistic side.

The problem is, whilst there are people out there in such a situation, sprite comics open the floodgates for people who have no talent whatsoever to start making comics. There lies the problem. It's basically a create-a-comic kit that any idiot can use, and often do use. This leads to the problem IX has stated, which is that it lets people create colmics consisting nothing more than toilet humour, in-jokes and inane quotes. This is the majority of spritce comics, and why they are so maligned by the internet at large.

Right. To clarify.

I dont mind sprite comics, as long as they are of decent humour, and not inside joke heavy.

I dont mind spriters, jus' dont expect me to be pinning medals all of for you for your.. work.

Well, sprites I don't hate at all...what I DO hate, is the fact that almost every single person on the internet, is a Sonic character. In fact, I've probably had my fill of that SEGA symbol for the rest of my life by simply coming to this forum. You guys are indeed right about what you've said, however sprites can be good if they're one of two things:

1- they're heavily edited to look like a totally original character. (Alpha, Zetto)

2- they're made from scratch and don't suck. (Creepy, Itachi, OMA)

Also, this is why I make flash movies. Unless sprite comics are funny and professional (Like Author's Space or LoCS) they don't really do to well unless they're put to use for the same reason they were made: Animation. In TTA, while some people say it's mediocre (no Jet I'm not talking about you, you have yet to see my NG reviews...) just because I use sprites and MMBN battle grid, I protray the scenes like that to give it the feel of a GBA game, with an occasional handrawn scene. The again, I also like to just draw stuff normally. All in all, the internet is FULL of n00bs. You can never stop that. Because of the psychotic crazes started through the net, people will continue to make "crappy sprite comics" and if ya don't like em, you simply don't read em and you read very nicely drawn webcomics. I do, there are only a few sprite comics on this forum I actually READ.

P.S. Please none of you lecture me about being a white kirby, I'm one of the rare kirby recolors that exists on the internet.

Sprites can be a good thing or a bad thing. I completely agree. I was first introduced to an example of a "bad thing" with Psy's Thunderpyramind whateverXL joke. THAT was painfull. Now there can be spritecomics, even ones with sonic recolors, however completely overused, that are good, despite them not even looking remotely custom.

The problem here, is CONTENT. Someone could be an amazing artist, and still not have anything funny to say, and could result to toilet humor. Again, someone could have hilarious ideas, and do with completely crap sprites.

Another issue is TIME. I myself, can draw relatively well. I just simply like to use sprites, because making a descent sprite comic can take around 10-20 minutes for me, so I can get out more funny ideas faster. If I were to draw comics, more of them might end up with only half-baked ideas, because by the time the drawing's done, the idea is no longer fresh in my mind.

Another point to consider would be THEME. What is the comic about? Is it serious? If so, then it should probably be drawn, unless you cant draw for beans. If its sprited, please do a DAMN good job at it. We dont want more things along the lines of The Captain N Network do we? If it is funny, it could be either drawn, or sprited, but for some reason, sprites seem so much more funny to me.

Thank you, you may now feel free to mock my ideas
-#49

[/ravings]

Everyone has a different opinion, I think one of the bigest problems about sprite comics are that most of them are either Sonic or Rockman based. I make sprite comics just for fun, no I can't draw. It all depends on the plot, quaility, and humor. If it has all that I don't care if it's drawn or sprited. However I feel that drawn comics do require a lot more skill, but that doesn't mean sprite comics don't require any skill.

What exactly would you call a book like that 'Random crap I think is rather witty'?

Yes sprites are good/bad whatever but that depends on your point of view.

No, if you can't actually write something coherent you should leave the whole business altogether. "Random" comics that are apparently "zany" should be burnt.

Then again you could get some people together and do sketches. That's always a good idea, Monty Python, Little Britain, The fast show, League of gentlemen look at them.

There are real talented spriters out there, Kid Radd is probably the best example of what a truely great sprite comic can be like. Almost everything, from the characters, backgrounds, and items, are all orginal made by the artist. Like everything else a good comic is amde with work and time, if you aren't willing to put effort or time in making the sprites look good or even decent then chances are you are not willing to put up the effort or time in making a full comic either. It shows you have pride in what you do when you create decent sprites.

See, now, my comic falls into most of the stereotypes posted here. It is a (largely) Sonic comic, and my character a crapy Tails recolor. There are no sprites of any originality. It was inspired by the DPI. And, yeah. In the end, it's pretty much a massive ripoff.

But in my defense.

I drew a comic from third grade to eighth grade. You know how they say your drawing improves if you do it for a long period of time? Mine did NOT. In eighth grade, I decided I would never be an artist, and pretty much decided to give up on humor in any comic form. I injected a little into my writing, but it wasn't quite the same. I missed the comics.

Right about then, I discovered sprites.

Sprites have been a godsend for me. I started as an utter newbie (not a n00b... I've always spoke properly and coherently) with terrible graphics and lame jokes. In this case, though, I DID improve. Sprites were my gateway back into the comicing world. I have a fairly original plot (mass "war" between Sega, Nintendo, and Capcom characters) and my graphics are okay. They're not AS or GBS... but they're okay, I like to think.

And what else? Through running a sprite comic for long enough, I managed to find artists willing to collab on a drawn comic. *happy*

I am 100% in favor of sprites. If you don't like the stupid n00b crappy comics, avoid them. You never know just which of them might evolve into something truly worthwhile.

Grave-digging topics is bad, mmkay? And especially my topics.
Topics a week or more older are dead. Read the rules PoM jus' re-posted.

At least this was barely dead, as opposed to a 6-months-dead topic I had to deal with a short while ago.

My opinion:
I see good sprite comics.
I see more bad ones.

I see good drawn comics.
I see even more poor ones. Up to and including stick figures. And no, not just SGD.

Both types have a few good ones, and metric shitloads of horrible ones that I don't want to look at, much less read. If you're going to hate sprite comics for having lots of crappy comics, you should be consistant and hate drawn comics for having loads of crappy comics too.

Now, onto legalities. Sprite comics are quasi-legal. I mean this: There are laws that could give a thin film of legal protection to sprite comics, but if sprite comics were challenged, the comics would lose and be removed from the 'Net. No doubt about that. However, most companies won't bother. It's free advertising. In fact, I remember seeing a few Worms sprite comics with sizable threads in the Team 17 forums, before they made it so guests couldn't read those sections. Let me repeat that. The forum of the company that puts together Worms had sprite comics, using sprites 'stolen' from their games, in their forums. Unhindered.

I do my own sprites, because I don't like the idea of other folks technically owning my art (Derivative works are the property of the owner of the original work, by law. This applies to both fanfiction and sprite comics). That, and when I picked up the skill, I intended to us it to make games I could sell, which is dangerous territory with edits. But I don't hold it against anyone for using game sprites, either. Except recolors. I DISPISE recolors.

Let's see... My comic was newbie like when I started. It evolved into the AkumaTh's Comics that is today...

My art didn't improve much. When I was very young, I used to make stick drawing comics. When I got older, it was more with circles and squares. When I got a computer, I thought of trying out my ideas first in fan fiction. Let's say it blowed. You know why? I try to make it full of fighting. Describing fights in a fanfic is alot more difficult then drawing them. Then I found sprite comics. My sprites were just a recolor with an eye edit and one custom pose. Now it dwarfs the original Sonic 3 sprite sheet. My drawing did improve, yet drawing the fights with the quality is very hard. Sprite comics lets me express my love for fights better then fanfiction or drawing ever did.

With Drawing, it takes time and a scanner to show it on the internet. Distractions can show up and the hard copy can get damaged. With fanfiction, there maybe some details that are hard to describe. One picture can describe something that a thousand words cannot.

With sprites, we can express ideas and see fights we were dying to see freely with the world!

And it isn't illegal unless we try to sell the images of sprites. Besides, using sprites also means free publicity for the videogame companies. I didn't get interested in the Megaman games until I read Bob and George.

So in conclusion, Sprites good if you don't have time or good describing abilities.

Akuma does raise a good point, sprites are easy to use, but I think that as long as we put hard work and dedication to them they can become better

My spriter character isn't the best either, see my sig (coughMM7editcough)

Well, the legalities can get tricky and none of us are lawyers. I wonder if selling ad space on FB20xl would make a suit justifiable? In a day and age when a woman can sue McDonalds because she spilled coffee on herself...

... But I don't think it's gonna happen.

And the topic was precisely seven days old, and didn't deserve to die yet. I don't think I'm in too deep crap. ^^

I love how people mention this but never mention the part where the old lady got third degree burns on her thighs and groin (Links to article with info, but also has other crap too) from said spill.

But yes, the legalities are yicky. They'd be more clear-cut if not for the fact that we're also dealing with Japanese copyright laws, which is different on several ideas, if I've not been misled.

It's not to go without saying that there are, and were, hand drawn comics that looked of utter crap, as we're probably all aware that there are sprite comics of the same category. It's a balance of sorts to know there are the horrible in both halves, as I'm certainly not close-minded in the sense that I would say all hand drawn comics are always great, and all sprite comics are bad.

My questions were more or less directed at the reasons for why sprites were widely used here and other places, sometimes abused by those that have access to them, and perhaps why people persist in using them as avatars and otherwise when other pictures are available and there seem to be so many artists willing to throw a fan art at you here.

We could all go into a long-winded debate on which is better, which is easier, or which one should be used, but that wasn't the purpose here.

I generally dislike the idea of using sprites for an identity as opposed to something drawn, but that could be my perspective, as an artist with her own hand drawn material, looking down on a shortcut to something artists have taken hard work in achieving.

I mean, weren't all of the newspaper comics hand drawn? Weren't all of the comic book comics hand drawn? (Before mass production in ink on print, of course.)

Artists took a lot of time and effort to achieve the ability to draw and then portray a story in images, and now we have a half a million spriters all jumping on the comic-making band-wagon killing the practice.
That's what I see.
Sprites and sprite comics to me seem to hurt the artists that worked hard, not support a talent that's been around for decades.

But, oh well... sprites seem to practically dominate this forum as it is, and it's really none of my concern to which you use or which one takes over the comic field, I jus' had curiosities.

I fail to see how a medium that is confined, and will likely stay confined, to free webcomics can hurt other comics. Because there's lots of them? Dear me, oh my. Again, there's lots of crappy drawn comics, but apparently those somehow have no negative effect, if I'm to believe you.

Do people that read sprite comics ONLY read sprite coimcs, and swear off all other kinds of comics 'til death? Because that's the only way I can think of that it's hurting comics in general. Webcomics, as a whole, are supposedly having a detrimental effect on commercial comics, because it makes idependant comic artists free to do as they please and show their work for free. However, sprite-comics are a small subset of those. On Keenspace alone, there are 20238 comics at the moment. 47 of those are in the Sprite catagory, according to their records.

How can such a small subsection of webcomicing be hurting comics as a whole, at any appreciable level, in a way no other form of comics are doing? Please explain this.

For the tone used in this, I submit no comment.

You and I both know I can't answer that.

It's not volume, no, that's taking what I said out of context.
My questions were based purely for inside TFS and the mass of sprite comics that seem to be in everyone's hands.
I used references to comic books and newspapers as examples, as I've not been given a good example of a hand drawn comic that was made and posted in TFS within the replies to this topic.

Hmmm...sprites....Well,personally, I have many views on it, all mixed really.

First, there's recolors. If you have a recolor in
A: A crappy comic with horrible jokes and looks, they suck.
B: A good comic with special effects, hilarious jokes,etc. then I don't mind them.
However, most recolors would've been avoided if BnG hadn't started. That, is why I rarely read it.

Then, there's that drawn comic VS. sprite comics thing. I truely think both are good. Both make me laugh. Both sometimes dissappoint me. What I mean is, while sprite comics do have lame quality and recolors, so do drawn comics! Drawn comics sometimes are sloppily done in MS paint and their recolors are stickmen! So I think both are equally good.

Finally, there's the "lots of idiots do it...". Well, that I am aware of and I do really hate it. but, there are still good sprite people! That's what I keep telling myself when I see a n00b comic.

Overall, I really have nothing against sprite comics. In fact, most of them, I like.

Sprite or drawn, if it makes me laugh I like it. But on topic of recolors. I have nothing againts sprite recolors seeing as I use a recolor/semi-edit (pants, few custom poses) in my comics.

Yes, there are many bad sprite comics, probably more bad than good but I still read the good ones. Yeah, there are bad drawn comics too, but I've yet to see one.

My point is, if it's funny and doesn't look like a chicken drew it (or the sprites are crap) then it's good to me.

Sprites vs drawn charectors/comics.

some of us have trouble drawing and are just starting spriting (me).
Yes my avitar is a Zero recolor however I spent about 2-3 hrs working on it (removing the helmet, adding more hair, changing the color, tryign to shade it) and trying to get the basics of spriting down.
when I am not bogged down with my school work I intend to Make my own sprites and not use recolored versons of Zero and maby draw a few too.

I have no problem with people who try to do something with all they have and come out with something that is half-baked
what I have a problem with is people who have talent or abulity and they just do a half-a$$ed job because they needed to put something out but didn't feel like puting any effort in

The thing is spriting can give people a way to make comics and games even if they cant draw to save their life. Some of them are very good or original, some of them are total crap.

You get good/original spriters, you get good/original drawers. However if you looked you would find that there are more people who want to do one or both and just suck at it.

(Please. Any one feel free to bash my coment. But I think it is totaly true and fair)

Using sprites as an excuse for being unable to draw is really, REALLY lame to me. All it takes is practice. 9.9 Now, I like my share of sprite comics (the ones on fireball20xl, Captain SNES, and Kidd Radd are examples of my favorites), but they aren't my favorite medium overall. But then, I am quite specific in what I do and don't like as far as medium is concerned (for example I don't like drawn webcomics that use manga-style tones for shading, most of the time. Why do they need little dots to convey value? It's not like they're printing it. x.x).

Overall: Some sprites are good, most are bad. Sprites are generally overused. Sprites shouldn't be used with the excuse that one "can't draw". And that's about it.

Thank you, Pris, for adding an elightening bit on the whole "I can't draw!" portion of this debate.
It's something that certainly needed to be said before my topic died completely, as it somehow feels like progress after what mud has been slung already. o.o

I myself can't draw O.o and that fact doesn't bother me either because I tend to stick to writing.... But I feel no urge to sully my hands with sprites as my brother does... I have no idea what he likes about them at all. I've tried talking to him about it, but its all greek to me.

I can draw, just not that well. I just sprite because it's currently a popular thing. I rip sprites also.

I sprite simply because I don;t have the talent or drive to draw, and if I did draw, then it usually ends up as a monstrosity or a crime agenst nature.

About taking the time to learn how to draw, I have jokes/plots I want to use NOW, not in 5 years, when I can draw.

And I'm lazy, which is the largest (un?)motivating factor for me.

But I have no problem with people who draw, as it provides things that most sprites cannot show, or at least without actual artistic skill. If you don't like sprites, don't read sprite comics. Duh.

I didn't read the whole thing so I don't know if this has been brough up or not.

But this is why I used to make them.

Really easy and really quick to do. Updates a lot more frequently. Same humourish type stuff, but more often. My main problem with it was the lack of expressions and poses etc.

Even though I used my own custom sprites.

I reiterate that I practiced drawing for six years and never improved a bit. My eighth-grade art is identical to my third-grade art, despite turning out about 300-400 drawn comics during that period, as well as dozens of "pictures". I could take the easy route and blame this on my ectrodactyly (the fingers on my writing hand are half-sized), but because my handwriting is fairly legible, such shouldn't be a huge impediment to my hypothetical artistic ability.

I just don't have the right mindset. I can't sculpt, either, or design a graphic. Often when I'm looking for special effects in my comic, I play around with every option until something looks cool. Even if I had artistic ability, I'm not sure I would be able to find the right way to express something in image form.

On the other hand, I take high pride in my writing ability, something at which I have also worked for about the same amount of time.

When I work at two seperate things for the same amount of time, get fairly good at one and still suck horribly at the other, I think I know which is best to pursue. Seriously. If you played soccer and basketball for five years, and at the end couldn't score on an empty net but dunk like LeBron James, (I am not a writing equivilent of LeBron, mind ye,) it'd be fairly obvious where your calling lies.

So, yeah. I like being funny, and expressing that through comics. But I really can't draw. I've tried many times; I've tried practicing for long periods of time. It just doesn't work for me.

I really do enjoy most drawn comics more than sprite comics, and I'm not ashamed to say it. The best drawn comics are better than the best sprite comics, for me. There's much more flexibility, and the end result looks vastly better. I actually think that my favorite sites are those with both sprite and drawn comics, why I like FB20xl so much. Several of the authors here work in both mediums: Psy, O.M.A., Wil, Jen (formerly), Scorch... I think the ability to produce both types of comics well is a hallmark of a truly versitile author.

That's my say. I have absolutely nothing against the usage of sprites (obviously), and when used well, they can be a truly excellent medium. People use them for different reasons. Maybe some can't draw because they've never tried. I just know I've tried--a lot--and feel viable in my excuse.

Plus, Rally (my NFR artist) is amazing. Why would I want anyone else drawing my stuff? Especially me? ^^

You sound olde & bitter. :P As such, it's time for a story.

Decades ago, when composing was becoming more commonplace in Europe, people were hired to write music for the enjoyment of the rich. Using the skills he (in that time period, female composers were nigh-non-existant) learned from years of training, he figured out chord sequences, transitions, resolutions, instrumentation, every aspect of the song. If the piece was for one or two instruments, the composer spent anywhere from a week to a month hand-writing notes down on paper. He often had to write out the music multiple times, as many pieces were for multiple instruments. And after that, if he would perform the piece himself, he would spend weeks practicing the song so he would be physically ready; if someone else would perform it, he would spend weeks teaching it to them so they would be physically ready. And finally, it would actually be performed. Once. And forgotten, as he would move right on to his next assignment.

Now, I have a music writing program called Sibelius. Using it, I have written songs in less than a weeke, hell, less than two days. I don't follow all the musical "rules" I've been taught, I don't make a group of appropriate chord sequences, I merely thinke up a musical phrase or concept I like, make it sound with the program's playback feature, and build off of it from there. And I'm sure there's plenty of people out there who would shun this method of writing, because I'm not really writing out the music. I'm taking "a shortcut to something composers have taken hard work in achieving."

But I'm still doing worke, aren't I? As talented as I am, these musical ideas don't just pop up on the screen; I still have to put them there. I still have to make sure notes don't clash, I still have to make sure instruments don't clash with one another, I have to keep it all in rhythm, and at the same time, I have to make it interesting and unique. And in the event that any of my music is published or performed, won't the performers have to work, too? They'll still have to memorize the piece, physically and mentally; they'll still have to figure out what I'm trying to convey in the music. Yet my music is still not as good as someone else's, simply because I wrote it with a computer instead of with my hands?

I have had people listen to my compositions, and they liked them. And I like them, too. Does this mean they're better than other peoples' workes, hell no. I consider myself nowhere near as good as Nobuo Uematsu, Jun Senoue, Martin O'Donnell, Koji Kondo, Howard Shore, or any other of those famous composers. Granted, it would be a dream come true for me to be as semi-well known as they are, but I'm neither olde nor experienced enough to be there yet. That's whye I'm in school. But just because I'm not as famous as they are doesn't make my music any less real, and it sure as hell won't make me stop doing something I enjoy.

Now, drawing comics takes worke, and far more worke than using sprites, I shall grant. But spriting still does take worke, and speaking from experience, better comics take more worke. I'm not going to say my comics are the best out there, but they're certainly better than some others out there. I attribute this to the fact that I have spent anywhere from three to five hours on any one of my D&D DX comics thus far. I also attribute this to my age, but I'll get into that later. My point in this paragraph is, spriting does still take worke. As such, just as my music is still legitimate music, so are sprite comics still legitimate comics.

Consider someone with a drawn comic has created a character. And instead of drawing this character on each individual frame in a different pose, he or she decides to draw this character in numerous poses, with different facial expressions, on a seperate sheet, and then just trace those poses onto their comic frames. The amount of time they save on their subsequent comics is astounding; since they've already drawn their character in the poses they neede, they don't neede to worry about coming up with a unique pose. However, they have limited themselves; because they're constrained to the poses they've already created, they can't put their character in certain situations because they don't have the right looke for it. But hey, if necessary, they can make some new poses, right? This is, in essence, spriting. The only major difference is that it's with pixels, not paper, and that instead of trace, you can copy & paste.

Now, to your credit, you seem to mostly be targeting those who use unedited or recolored sheets, and put as LITTLE worke into their comics and sprites as is physically possible. In regards to those people, let me ask you this: How many people around here are planning on going professional with their comics? I doubt you'll get a lot of positive answers, and I pretty much guarantee that those who make comics like that won't be among the ranks. I have never seen a sprite comic in a newspaper; I have never seen a sprite comic in a comic book; I have never seen a sprite comic on the news. I've never heard of a sprite comic author getting paid for making their comics; I have, however, heard of sprite comic authors losing money in order to be hosted, and I have heard of them getting money for that purpose. My point is, sprite comics are not something people are planning on making a living off of, and as such, isn't something they're going to put much effort into. It's a hobby, not a lifestyle.

On a practical note, consider availability: Plenty of TFSers are young, ranging from elementary to high school. Hell, plenty of people online are. How many of these people do you thinke have a steady, reasonably large flow of income, that would be substantial enough to allow for the resources good drawings require? From what I've been told by several of my artist friends, good colored pencils don't come cheap. They're also not going to be easily locateable at your local supermarket. To finde sprites, you neede only sit on your rear and clicke a mouse several times. They're free, too.

I write music because that's what I want to do with my life. I write stories to release my creativity dramatically. I make sprite comics to release my creativity humorously, and so I can make people laugh. My comic will never be as impressive as Exterminatus Now or VGCats. And I don't neede it to be; my jokes are more verbal than visual. As such, I can make people laugh with sprites just as easily as I could with drawings, and since sprites take less time, and since I neede my time for other things--my job, my university, my friends, my sanity--it would be just plain foolish for me to spend years of my life learning how to draw when I'll probably never use that skill for anything else. I've got other plans for my life, as do many people on these forums, I'm sure. That's whye a good number of people use sprites instead of drawing; because, as I said before, it's a hobby, not a lifestyle.

EDIT: I sincerely thanke anyone who actually reads this. Patience is a sadly waning virtue nowadays.

Here's my take on it. I am planning on releasing a sprite comic. Several sprites will be my basardizations, and others will be originals. I simply think that sprites are a time saver. I like to be able to use a comic to convey a little humor, not take my six hours of drawing (I'm sort of a perfectionist). I don't get paid for it, I just like to entertain. But there would be some things wrong with me using my sprites to make money.

I am but a poor college student whose advisor happens to be the new art teacher at said college, but I think I might be able to clarify somethings. According to my Art Fundamentals text book art is described as such:

Art - The formal expression of a conceived image or imagined conception in terms of a given medium.

The way one expresses himself/herself is up to that person. I have shown many of the comics I have seen on the net to my teacher. Some are drawn, some are sprited. She told me that art should be perceived by the viewers of it. But the viewers should take into thought that this is how the artist wanted to express their art. Who is to say what is art? I think that it is not the Who, What, When, Where, Why, or the How, but that it just is.

I for one see pixel art, which you all agreed is what sprites are, as another form of art. Yes there is an over abundance of sprite comics, and many do indeed have a large degree of suckage. Mine is no exception. If you do not wish to see crappy sprite comics, don't read them! This isn't the first time something like this has happened! When pop art first appeared, It was looked down on for being plain or mundain! Works of art like Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup cans were too easy to do. Comic book artists also fell into this catagory!

Think of where art has come from, and where it can go to! If you think you can do a better job, or that you can help these poor souls who don't know any better, do it yourself and lend some of your insight to this community! I myself am a fairly decent artist, I even have one of my pieces hanging in a show right now, but due to my lack of a scanner and the fact that I wish to learn more, I had decided to venture into the field of sprite comics. I found help from some, like Creepy, to make my own style and try to see what I can do with what little I had! I think that others can do the same if they try!

I don't think that sprites are better than drawn comics, nor do I think that the opposite is true. People just need to find what they are good at and apply themselves.