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How do you make graphics?


Evan Burchard
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How does everyone make their artwork? 

 

What are your favorite tools?  Are you more into raster or vector stuff?  Who are your artwork heroes?

 

I use pickle for small sprites, and blow things up with Manga Studio when I need something big or intricate.  Been getting more into inkscape for vector stuff.  As for heroes, I tend to look to old NES games as a model for sprites and flash games or animation like Homestar Runner for vector images.

 

Edit: Forgot to answer my own question :lol:

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Photoshop is the industry standard for image creation, but if you want to use the free alternative, go with GIMP www.gimp.org/ a great open source program that does the job. If you want to create vectors, use‎ Inkscape www.inkscape.org the free alternative to Illustrator.  

 

As far as raster images or vectors, it really depends on the look and art direction that your game is going after. Is also important to consider image size and compression, vector images have a smaller footprint.

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Earlier when was on windows used Illustrator. Then realized various restrictions of game maker... Game Maker was only thing holding me back on windows. I deleted windows partition and from then on I am using PC-BSD (freebsd distro), so Inkscape all the way. Personally I think raster tools are impossible for me. But yes, effective use of layers in photoshop can give good results. But I like vector more. 

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I think you can do nice stuff with any of the softwares listed above, as long as you know how to use them. Yesterday I tried Inkscape to make a logo, but it's too hard because I have no experience with it, so I stuck to Gimp, since I'm very familiar with it, and used a huge resolution, so it's not too pixelated.

 

If I knew how to use Inkscape, I would use it a lot, but unfortunately that's not the case :(

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If I knew how to use Inkscape, I would use it a lot, but unfortunately that's not the case :(

   On inkscape itself go to help>tutorials. Do all of them and do not leave them or skip anything until you can do it all or are decently familiar with it. Then go here.  That is the very first tutorial on october 2011. I am only as far as the second tutorial about rectangles and already updated 2 of my games with excellent results (that's what sponsors are saying with their money). Oh, and I skipped a little to a fonts and icons tutorial because I need those in all of my games.

 

   There is also this page where you can have someone else make it for you from $5(sure). A sponsor told me about it. That's what they use for their art needs.

 

I hope that helps!

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For my mobile games I paint raster graphics in Photoshop. For pixel art I use ProMotion (even though I don't use that for mobile html5 games, in my experience publishers like pixel art a lot less than the typical indie games person).

I messed around with Illustrator/Inkscape, but I found the 2D vector workflow too tedious for my needs. I do see the advantages though.

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Aseprite + Gimp for pixelart

 

3W62JRM.png

 

1) Flash scares you?

2) You can't animate or don't have time to animate pixelart?

3) You just love bones based animation?

 

use Spine

 

If you need lotsa rotating things - consider 3d - we are getting fine results with such easy tool as SketchUp

 

lB8YWaC.gif

 

3D Models + pixelarted textures does miracles

 

ng5Q2Sx.png

 

Go with inkscape (vectors) for any kind of graphics that you will require tons of different sizes (such as logo)

 

1hgz1q3.png

Also vectors + Spine = Flash :)

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I haven't used it for any real production yet, but GraphicsGale looks nice for animating pixel and is free. I haven't tried Aseprite though.

 

Also, people, how do you actually integrate the art in your game once you created and pasteurized it? Since images are drawn on screen using code, I am scared that it would be hard to separate game logic/drawing code from image placement without using some over complicated data structures. How do you deal with that? And with animation?

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Aseprite + Gimp for pixelart

 

3W62JRM.png

 

1) Flash scares you?

2) You can't animate or don't have time to animate pixelart?

3) You just love bones based animation?

 

use Spine

 

If you need lotsa rotating things - consider 3d - we are getting fine results with such easy tool as SketchUp

 

lB8YWaC.gif

 

3D Models + pixelarted textures does miracles

 

ng5Q2Sx.png

 

Go with inkscape (vectors) for any kind of graphics that you will require tons of different sizes (such as logo)

 

1hgz1q3.png

Also vectors + Spine = Flash :)

Awesome art style!

 

I make all my graphics with inkscape :)

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