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Elvy's Guide to Pixel Art -- [Updated again!]


Punkage

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Elvy's Guide to Pixel Art

 

 

 

With examples from her own pixels

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I have decided to make a guide to pixel art. I will show the basic principals of both lineart and shading, and also give you a few pointers.. For each step I will try to be as specific as I can be. I will also show screenshots and images, so you can SEE what "you" are doing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm hoping you find my little tutorial/guide useful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember you can put your own little flare and style into your pixel art. You don't have to 100% follow what I display here, you can always add more or remove some. This is just what I do and what I like. I encourage you to try your own thing and not copy me completely. Thank you. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may notice that the table of contents for this guide has [XXX] behind the name. This is a useful feature if there is something specific in this guide you want to see. All you need to do is pull up "Find" (Ctrl + F), and type in or paste the number (example: 010). Then, click OK, and you'll be taken to it. Useful. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I. TIPS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A. Low amount of colors in a large space [010]

 

 

 

B. Borders [011]

 

 

 

2. Color [012]

 

 

 

C. Outlined items [013]

 

 

 

 

 

 

II. SHADING

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A. Source of light? [014]

 

 

 

B. "Three-colored" shading [015]

 

 

 

C. "Four-colored" shading [016]

 

 

 

D. Colored lines [017]

 

 

 

1. What colors? [020]

 

 

 

2. No black! [021]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III. LINEART

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A. Faces

 

 

 

1. Happy faces. ^-^ [0220]

 

 

 

2. Angry faces. >_< [0221]

 

 

 

3. Cocky faces v_v [0222]

 

 

 

B. Bodies, legs

 

 

 

1. Platelegs [024]

 

 

 

2. Pants, dragonhide, etc. [025]

 

 

 

C. Feet/gloves

 

 

 

1. Armored boots [026]

 

 

 

2. Normal boots [027]

 

 

 

3. Gloves [028]

 

 

 

4. Platebodies [029]

 

 

 

 

 

 

IV. TEN STEPS TO STALIN PRIME'S SIG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A. One [030]

 

 

 

B. Two [031]

 

 

 

C. Three [032]

 

 

 

D. Four [033]

 

 

 

E. Five [034]

 

 

 

F. Six [035]

 

 

 

G. Seven [036]

 

 

 

H. Eight [037]

 

 

 

I. Nine [038]

 

 

 

J. Ten [039]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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TIPS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THIS GUIDE USES PAINT. IF YOU ARE MAKING PIXELS ON GRAPHICS GALE OR PHOTOSHOP, YOU MIGHT FIND THIS MORE DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND.

 

 

 

 

 

 

010. Low amount of color in a large space

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes, you may notice that while making signatures, you have a bigger "emptier" space to fill. You have no idea what to include. You've added plants, animals, everything you could think of. There's still a large part of your pixels that seems "unfilled". This may even happen throughout the entire sig, even if there are lots of clutter. You may notice that there are a lack of color for this huge space. I was practicing my pixel art on paint one day, and came up with this: air brush. Sure, I probably didn't think of this first, but I sure did think of it and it has helped me a lot. Let's take this for example:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

010pic17hs.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You see the green part? You see three colors of the shading, right? It looks very "empty". What do you do about it? Bring in the air brush. Use the second biggest one, and air brush the darkest color over to the mid color, the mid color over to the light, then backwards, like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

010pic26yc.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It still doesn't look so good, just because it's an example. I just did a quick drawing of grass, though there are better techniques for grass which I may include in a possible second tutorial? I hope this helps you. Here's an example where this technique became VERY useful:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sk8ermaster0rc.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice the walls and the floor in the Kalphite's lair? This technique became almost a necessity here. Without it, it would look particularly empty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

011. Borders

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Borders. They add a very nice, clean end to your signature. It makes them look neater and more "finished". I use borders in almost every single signature that I do. They are also very simple to do, aswell. You only need two colors, the square tool, and the paint bucket tool. They are very simple, but seem "required" to me. ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

012. Colors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picking the colors for your border may be the funnest part. When I make borders, I try to pick a color that is found somewhere in the signature. If you're making a signature and the entire thing is dark grays and blacks, it's probably not a good idea to have a yellow border. Choose your colors wisely, that is very important. For example:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sk8ermaster0rc.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here I chose a red-colored border. Since the dragon chainmail and the kalphite queen are supposed to be the focus of the signature, and they are both red, I chose red. What I did was use my lucky eyedropper tool, chose the lighest color of the dragon chain, and made a five-pixel wide border around the signature (if you do not know how to do this on paint, you can always do it on photoshop). After that, add a one-pixel border to the outtest part of the border, then another one in the "innest" part of the border. The color for this one-pixel line should be about 5-8 shades darker (on paint) then the lighter one you used. Try to choose colors of the focus of the signature, or a smaller part located in the middle or somewhere. This adds a nicer touch to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

013. Outlined items

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do this often for special attacks of items, and sometimes just to outline it if I think it looks good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

0118lk.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see here the Abyssal Whip has a two-pixel wide outline on it. This adds a nice little focus to the whip. It's light, while the whip is dark. Another thing you may notice is the Zamorak Staff. If you look closely, it is also in a two-pixel wide outline of red. This part is simple. Make your weapon, or whatever it is you are "glowing", and zoom in. As an example for this, I will be making a 40x40 circle. This circle will be for just an example, so you can see how outlining is done. If you look at this zoomed in copy of the circle, do you can see what I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

013pic16az.th.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course this can also be done on photoshop, but if you don't have that, this is the next best thing. I also like to use this in place of photoshop, sometimes. Take a look at the "circle":

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

013pic20dd.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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SHADING

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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014. Source of light?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something that is required in signatures is to make them look SLIGHTLY probable and AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE realistic. So how do you turn your flat signatures with not so many colors into great signatures? You add shading. Before you add shading, you'll need to know how to shade. The first thing you need to do is know where the source of light is. This source of light can be the sun, the moon, a lamp, anything really. It is best to have your source of light IN A CORNER. Look down here, you see the circle. The source of light is located on the top left corner. Watch the steps!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

light16wf.png

 

 

 

First put your source of light in the corner you want it to and make your object.

 

 

 

light23ya.png

 

 

 

Now add your colors.

 

 

 

light32oc.png

 

 

 

Shade in the darkest color.

 

 

 

light45ok.png

 

 

 

Continue to shade in the other colors.

 

 

 

light55yh.png

 

 

 

The lightest color should not be perfectly on the edge.

 

 

 

finished4ed.png

 

 

 

Now finish it off with a bit of penciling and airbrushing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Complete!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

015. Three-Colored Shading

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue down if you want to know how to pick colors for shading. Okay, back to this. Three colored shading is best used for smaller objects, such as the dragonstone of a glory amulet. Three-colored shading is just as it sounds -- shading with only three colors. Continue down and you will find how to choose colors if you don't know how.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

016. Four-Colored Shading

 

 

 

Four-colored shading is shading, with four colors. Use this for bigger spaces such as the ground and stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The above to are just hints. I suggest how many colors to use for your shading. However, it's always best to use as many colors as you want, but make sure not go over 30kb for tip.it. Now I'll show you how to shade and pick your colors...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

00128ha.png

 

 

 

00134wm.png

 

 

 

00145kk.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I have picked my colors. Watch how I shade this dragon longsword blade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

00152js.png

 

 

 

First make the outline of the item with the darkest color.

 

 

 

00165gc.png

 

 

 

Now take your second darkest color and make the first part of the shading with the line or pencil tool.

 

 

 

00179le.png

 

 

 

Fill it it and make the next line, continue.

 

 

 

00187xl.png

 

 

 

Now use the lightest color and fill that in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tada, you have a dragon long!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LINE ART

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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0220. Happy faces

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may notice that almost every signature I do has a happy face. This is my style and I enjoy it. The happy face is rather easy to do. It's like an upside down V or U, depending on what looks best to you. Here you can see, in this zoomed in picture, how it's done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

0220pic11rc.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

0221. Angry faces

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I call them angry faces, but they're more the "evil" look. The badass [yes, censored] look that's just like "don't mess with me.". I use this pretty often in pixel art. Take a look at this picture and you can see, close up, how the angry look... looks. Hehe. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

0221pic14cs.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It looks like a... I don't know. A triangle? lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

0223. Cocky faces

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You know the look. It's the "pssh, I don't even need to look"... look. Hehe, again, I did it. PMG I KNOW! Gawd! ICHI ICHI (okay, I'm aware only one person understands this. He's even banned from forums atm sadly, so why am I even talking about him. I miss you gk8coe of the cabbage!) Okay. Anyways, the cocky look is used a little less common with me. I think I've only used it once. Here's how I did it, in my "old style":

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

0223pic17dt.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VERY simple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

024. Platelegs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This section will teach you how to do platelegs. I notice that a lot of people are not doing so good on platelegs, so I'll try my hardest to show you how to do it. It's not so hard, but I'm not so pleased with how newer pixel artists do it. They have the "kneepad" thing be there, as if they were robots. I don't want to pick one specific person for this, so I'll do a drawing of how people are doing them...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

024pic11hd.png024pic22pq.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The "Right" version still isn't perfect, but I kind of dramatized it so you know what I mean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

025. Dragonhide, pants, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of people have their own style of shading in dragonhide. Me, I try to make it look more like jagex's dragonhide. Dragonhide and pants are just like the platelegs, just without the "kneepad".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

025pic12cs.png025pic20tm.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at the "wrong" picture. C'mon guys, we're not in kindergarden anymore. Try to add a bit more curve to your pants and dragonhide. This will make it appear more realistic, rather then the kindergarden drawing that some people are still doing. Now I will teach you how to do dragonhide, how I do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first step is choosing your color. Let's say I'm doing green dragonhide. Choose three colors for this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, eyedrop your middle color and make diamond-like shapes, like Jagex does.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

025pic39sm.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now choose your lightest color and fill in the diamonds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

025pic42ft.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now fill in the empty area with the darkest color. You still need to shade this in, for there are only three colors, but really only one. The dark part looks a little flat. So just shade it. This will be covered in the shading section of the the tutorial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

025pic55xl.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

026. Armored Boots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may notice that armored boots have that brown on them, the armored part in the middleish part of the boot, then another trim on the top of the boot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's an example:

 

 

 

Feel free to copy this into paint and zoom in so you can see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

026pic12hw.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

027. Normal Boots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Normal boots are well... normal boots. They can be desert boots, wizard boots... leather boots... mime boots... uhhhh... uhhhh... right. Here I will show you how to do "normal boots". I'll show you in this zoomed in picture:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

027pic16gy.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

027pic25pj.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

028. Gloves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two types of gloves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

gloves18zr.pnggloves21wv.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice the first one is the hand without holding anything. The one on the right is the one holding the weapon, or whatever it is. If you're not sure how to make the hands look, you can always put your hand how you invision it and then draw as you see it. I'm sure you know what gloves look like, so I don't need to teach you. If you still don't know, as I said, look at your own hand and draw as you see. Practice away!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

029. Platebodies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

platewrong7hn.pngplateright2xy.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'll start by showing the right version. You should know what is wrong about the WRONG version. First things first. Take a look at the bottom of the platebody. It has a horizontally extended V shape to it. The platebody ends at the top slightly straight. I like to do the rsc female platebody for females, but a little different. Rather than it being all flashy, just add a little bit of curve from the top rather then straight. Always remember that the shoulderpads are not a part of the platebody. The warriors arms do not go INSIDE the shoulderpads. They are attached to the shoulders to add more protection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still working...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[uNDER CONSTRUCTION]

 

 

 

Enjoy what's here. I'll be updating this daily until it is complete.

 

 

 

The final part will show you 10 steps in the making of Stalin's signature.

 

 

 

You'll get to see the process of making a signature. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feel free to add me to your msn messenger list. My list isn't full and I love to meet new people. If you have any questions, suggestions, compliments, flames, abuse reports or fr33 st00f pl0z, don't hesitate to add me. :)

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hates you :lol:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

another pixel tutorial.. arghh im not the only on here anymore :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

anyway .. the last face that is supossed to be cocky.. looks more concentrated

 

 

 

cocky should be looking away a bit of the rolling eye look.. like this is way to easy.

 

 

 

o and a little side note that new technique of yours.. for grounds.. O_O i had the same a few months ago :wink: :shock:

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I learned something new today :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-----

 

 

 

can you add tips on drawing human anatomy or clothing folds?

 

 

 

besides shading, thats a bit of a problem for me....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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nice tips!

The Enrichment Center reminds you that the weighted companion cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak.

 

In the event that the weighted companion cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice.

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Yeah, I know Quer. I couldn't find a good enough example, that was the best I had. I'll change the pic with a newer sig that I make hopefully.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ty for the support everyone. I'm working on the rest now.

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Cool, Peter. Thanks. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Task for tomorrow:

 

 

 

- Gloves

 

 

 

- "Source of Light?"

 

 

 

- "Three-colored shading"

 

 

 

- "Four-colored shading"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the next day:

 

 

 

- Colored outlines (Including "What colors?" and "No black!"

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elv , im making a sig myself now , hopefully it wil turn out great thx to u awsome guide!

 

 

 

edit it totaly ruined the sig ( brushing ) and i dont know wher to download lettertypes

 

 

 

846303tz.png

 

 

 

846fu.png

 

 

 

853nq.png

 

 

 

thx , This is my first sig =)

 

 

 

Rawr ~

 

 

 

updated it a bit

 

 

 

danielrip4uv.png

 

 

 

Scarlet , could u plz post how to make a tree?

 

 

 

edit : also played a bit with the boots

 

 

 

howdy7qs.png

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