Here's where neat lessons for everyone from beginner to advanced will eventually go.

If you got anything you wanna share, go ahead.

Some tutorial sites from my pixelart tutorial stash:

SpriteArt.com
Mark's Pixel Art Tutorial
Tsugumo's "So You Want To Be A Pixel Artist" at Zoggles

Derek Yu's Spriting Tutorial

...Would a MMZ style tutorial be welcomed here? XD

If so, I'll finish it. XD

Lets not...

It's actualy how to make customs in MMZ style(shading, and strictly using the game's palette), not how to edit.

But I'll respect your desision, lol

Simple Shading

Link:

So here's some simple shading for you who are starting out and don't know how to shade.


So again, the key points are:

-Determine the light source. It should fit with the rest of the sprite.

-Start with a dark area first, and then imagine the shape!

-The brightest shades only are visible where the light hits directly, so use the arrow idea. Don't be afraid to leave some shades out. If you do it correctly, you'll avoid pillow shading and it will be much more defined.

-Don't make every area bright! Avoid the temptation!

-Light Highlights, DARK shadows! No Contrast means ugly colors!

Cloth Shading v1.0

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Sprites, while not as 'professional' a trade as real media and digital painting for concept still use the laws that apply to art.

For this tutorial we're gonna take a stab at the coloring method for sprites, shading, and its basic rules.

Todays rule is Cloth dynamics. I notice when a lot of you shade you don't ever, EVER, pay attention to this, EVER. I'm going to fix that even if I have to kill one of you, and I will, in order to fix this I have prepared the images below.

You know what I'M tired of seeing?

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Pillow shaded SPANDEX PANTS.
I hate you all whom use this method of shading.
You know why? Do ya? Huh? CUZ IT'S WRONG! Cloth FOLDS! LEATHER FOLDS! EVEN DAT MAGICAL SPANDEX MATERIAL FOLDS! Understaaand? gooooood!
This method of shading does not, EVER, show a fold. Don't use it, ever, I don't care what you're shading, DON'T.

You know what I LIKE seeing?

Direct Link
THIS, this is how you shade. The parts of the pants that are naturally not being hit by light are shadowed so they use a darker color (for instance the right leg is bent and drawn back, so no light will be hitting the shin.) Yet the light leg is getting hit by light all down its frotn so the only shadows shown are at the points where the cloth folds.

But you're probably wonder.
"But how do I know where the cloth folds?!" If you don't know don't ever try to major in art. EVER. Since i'm a kind caring and compassionate person i'm going to give you a brief lesson in how folds work.


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RED are the fold 'anchor points'. (Not the actual term but it's close enough.)
GREEN Are the fold paths

An Anchor Point is where the cloth is held in place, where it's pressed against the skin or is just held taut. Your shoulder for example is an anchor as are your hips and crotch. There are more but you'll have to figure them out on your own.

To show how I SHADED them in this way i'll break each shadw down step by step starting with the darkest shade and working up.

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If you payed any attention you would have noticed I followed the fold paths I illustrated above while shading.

NOTE: Some people also start from the lightest shade and work down to the darkest. Either way works.

Cloth Shading Part 2 v1.0 (See above post for Part 1, stupid image limits.)

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Now that you see how I shade (this is exactly how I work.) i'm going to describe each shade I used.


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The brightest Shade is highlighting. It is obviously used to define light and much like the darkest shade define shape.
Click Me

The 2nd shade is a base, it's the 'inbetween' color that doesn't really do much but make it look nicer, more vibrant and provide a sort of guide for the eye to determine shape.
Click Me

The 3rd shade is Anti-Aliasing, this shade is primarialy used to soften a line, edge or curve and add a smoother shape where it is applied. Usually only one or two pixels of this are applied to the end of a line or in the bends of a curve but this is not set in stone as you can see.
Click Me

The final shade is Shadows and Detail. Its primary function is actually not to be a shadow but to define shape and detail even further, the darkest shade stands out more than even the brightest shade though you might now realise it as you look at the sprite your eyes are actually focusing more on the darkest shade as it melds with the lighter ones.
Click Me

Any questions? Yes? Screw you!

Exercise.:
Here's the deal, if you wanna get better you have to work at it and PRACTICE. If you don't practice you won't get anywhere and your sprites will forever be crap. So heres what I propose to you. I want YOU to make your own HAND MADE sprited pants legs, it's not that hard if you understood everything I explained here and examined every image I put up. try to place your legs in a dynamic pose (Moving, not still or idle.) Like jumping, walking or running, anything that makes the leg bend really


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The pants you're going to make are going to be black, black is the easiest 'color' to define shape with so thats what you're going to be useing.
The TYPE of pants you make is up to you, Jeans, leather chaps, shorts, spandex tights, I don't care just go with it.

DO NOT make a new thread to show off what you made if you try this exercise, Atleast not in the AYB section. If you do the exercise make a thread in Bit by Bit and you'll get evaluated there.

This is a tutorial thread. Might as well contribute to it with something of my own. Obviously this won't apply to a good chunk of the spriters on this forum, but it's still a good read if you're new to scratch sprites.

Scratch sprite tutorial

Meant for those that are just getting into scratch sprites, using my method of going about it to help. Granted, there's most likely easier ways to make scratch sprites, but regardless this tutorial should at least help guide newbie scratch spriters in the right direction.

I have some tips, if it help.

1) PNGs can be just as bad as the old GIFs, though you may not know it. It can be hard to tell when you transfer a PNG to a new window, until it is too late. Best way to avoid that whole problem, though it would made it slightly more complex, is to used the "prt scr," paste the copy into a new window, and copy your work for transfer. Doing so would turn it into a BMP without having your sprite darken by the pain-in-the-neck PNGs, which allows to be turn into another PNG without any changes. It will take longer, but it won't end up darker. This lesson I've learn the hard way after viewing my work repeatly.

2) Tutorial made by Chaindog - This is a great tip for you to get away from even using a base at all. This will teach you all some mighty useful techs, like never use pure black at all, except for transparent color.

3) Practice sprites is great and all, but remember this, backgrounds can get lonely as well. Techniques, like dithering, AA (anti-aliasing), and even cross-hatching can be useful in background. When you get more experience with making custom-background, use those techniques in your sprites and you can see improvement. I'm still learning myself of those high techniques, so you have to research those techniques for yourself.

4) This is part of number 3, so listening up. When making a background, the best technique of all to use is the tile technique. As Beta told me, a 16x16 tile that can be used repeatively would be useful for background. I'm using an unique 20x20 tile in my Desert's project though, but I'm just being strange and unique. It will not work for you, so please try it using Beta's tile technique (he is, afterall, the great expect of spriting and I will kick anyone who said he is not).

If anyone want to improve on my tips, go ahead. It will teach the people here some more.

2/13/2007 Edited: After a lot of heart-ache from PNGs, it may actually be better saving it in GIF...GIF will still kill your color, but not as much as PNG. If you do work with PNG, save a small complete part in BMP (yeah, I said BMP, but I'm not talking about a something that pass the 100x100 mark).

Can anyone please post a tutorial that teaches you to change 16-bit sprites to 32?

Impossible, unless you basically rebuild the entire sprite from it's base, with high amounts of shading and everything.

Ok, then how about a tutorial for Graphics Gale. I can't figure out right from left on it!

...Delayed reaction much, Cador?

...Why is this section even open still with Beta dead?

Despite me being gone, it's still a useful section.

yet you post.
Doesn't seem all that gone to me.