I've decided to start a video series on tools found in Photoshop for creating pixel art and level graphics. These videos will be similar to the panels I have done on my techniques for creating level tiles at the past few SAGExpos. This new format should allow me to be more concise and hopefully fan gamers will find them more useful. The video series will be specifically aimed at Sonic fan games but general enough that anyone could find use of the videos. Below are the first two videos in the series. I plan on releasing them at a rate of about one per week. My hope is that the videos will help cut down the time it takes to make attractive looking tilesets for all our fan games. Feel free to ask me questions here too if you have them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wYoQzoC9tg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY287jJcgeM
Good to see the site is back. I have released the next video in my level art/pixel art in Photoshop tutorial series. This time I covered grids, measuring pixels, the info panel, settings for pixel art, and the move tool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBoWASqb1Uw
Really nice series. The information in the sloped and curved forground tiles tutorial will be exceptionally helpful information to me in the future.
I second this. I tend to shy away from PS when it comes to pixel art but this series shows just the right tools to work with it.
Thank you WAC and Felik for the support. I expected to have another video out much sooner and thank you then. But here we are two weeks later and I'm just getting around to it. This next video shows you how to take images and turn them into pixel art. This process won't necessarily give you game ready art, but it will get you half way and you can improve the shading to match the style of your particular project from the point where this tutorial ends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcMPkuzZlVw
I like this series. Much of what you've shown are techniques I use already, especially the photo one when I don't have the time for somethings (but I do it a little differently), but its nice to see some one sharing their knowledge and be reminded of things I may have forgot. My only advice is to use and teach more shortcut keys in you vids. So far to me these vids seem a little roundabout from my perspective. Some of the same results can be achieved in faster more direct ways, but most time waster of all is "move mouse here then click" when short cut keys cut down the time significantly. keep up the good work. It helps Inexperienced and refreshes the vets :P
Thanks for the feedback Pulse0, I am really glad you are finding the videos useful. This week I'll be using most of the tools I've covered in previous videos to create a small pixel art scene of a grass trope level. In doing so I cover two shading techniques, using blend mode softlight to add a pattern to our tiles and blend options dropshadow to add a shadow under the grass. I cover a lot of ground in this video so its important that you have watched my previous videos or you may have trouble keeping up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXa0x9no72E
Seems to a nice video series. Tiles is something I still didn't manage to learn in the past months so I'll take a look at it some time later. Keep looking forward!
Thanks for the ice comments guys. I wouldn't consider the art I'm making for these videos top notch, I'm trying to keep the videos short and to the point. Hopefully they'll be enough to inspire further creativity in people that see them though. I've got a new video this week. I am covering making a metal platform, similar to what you might see in a technology/factory/technology based level theme (though at the end it with the existing grass tiles). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK4pLJZfo_E
I have just released my latest video in my pixel art and soon to be spriting video series on youtube. This time I cover how to make Loop de loops. Hopefully it will help fan gamers who want to make their own custom graphics. I remember spending hours attempting to make Loop de loops back in the day, now I can make one in 20 minutes. =) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnfJGeWTyhs Comments, Subs, and shares of course are greatly appreciated.
Every time I see loops that are essentially circles stuck on a flat piece of ground with no clear foreground/background my OCD acts up. Thank you so much for putting this last one video together
Another pixel art or sprite tutorial. This time I cover how you can use Illustrator to make a quick crack animation. This is then ported to Photoshop and overlayed on a lava texture to make it appear the ground is splitting open. The finished effect is show at the end of the video in Sonic Time Twisted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2DbEbGWq_k Its a rather long video as it uses Photoshop and Illustrator. I don't want to make a habit of making long videos but this was fresh on my mind as I just completed the effect for the game and I thought it would make a nice tutorial.
I haven't said it up until now, but your tutorials have been great, man! I'm trying to set up using them for my own fangame!
Thanks Kazeblade. I love doing these video and I don't think I will stop anytime soon with the support I have been getting for them. I got a request to do a video on graphics for a city level. I'm super busy with school and my two jobs right now but I managed to stay up long enough last night to make a new pixel art video on making brick buildings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCoeb5KrCsQ
These tutorials are exactly what I need right now. I'm getting ready to start my own fangame project, though I'm not much of an artist. Do you have any plans to create a badnik or character art tutorial?
Yes, I do plan on making videos for characters and I probably could do one for badniks too. The next video I plan to do is of a city background though to match the brick building made in the last video. All that will have to wait until I release Sonic Time Twisted though. I'm so close to finished with it I want to spend all my spare time finishing it up. Then I'll dive back into making tutorial videos. I'm glad that these videos will help you. I wasn't much of an artist when I started either, but as long as you don't give up I do not believe you will fail.
After an obviously long hiatus I released another tutorial. Its just a quick one I did in one take but hopefully some of you will find it useful still. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRmKViBDe-Y