Making Item Images: a palette and some templates (expanding)

The video quality isn't the best. I'll try to do another one soonish where I increase the capture quality.

 

The vanilla sprites use just 1 color scheme, no random gradients nor those fancy functions to increase gamma and stuff. I think you should actually only use the palette you have. Using only pixel-by-pixel sprites makes any mod look like it's meant to be in the game from the start.

No offense but the sprites are too gradient-fancy-bling-showoff-ish, and the use of shading is just a TAD too extreme.

 

Everyone has their own style. This is what works for me.

 

Not really. While it is true that it is easier to make pixel-by-pixel drawn sprites match the game's general feel, there's nothing saying that using a gradient colouring automatically makes them unfit. It is nothing more than a drawing method; using gradient colouring for shading (for example) is a good way to accentuate colouring of a chosen part of the image without spending too much effort (because sometimes it is counter-productive to do that by hand), and using it on a small area should still generate the "pixelated" feel, without forcing the one drawing it to change their brush's colours every three pixels.
And as an example of a reversal, I once drew a banner that was supposed to look "gradiented" by hand (pixel-by-pixel, if you prefer it), because somebody had the bright idea that "gradient colouring is bad and for losers". The effect was indistinguishable from what you'd get if you used that tool, and yet it was drawn by hand; if whatever tools you used mattered that much and was that easily recognisable for people who aren't privy to the creation process, then I would've had to be a genius to replicate the effect by hand (and I do not consider myself to be on that level).

But I'm digressing, aren't I...

 

Well, my avatar was made pixel-by-pixel, without help of ANY gradient tool stuff, so I consider myself rather experienced. Might be my personal preference but mods should have the same artstyle as the games they were made for.

 

That I totally agree with. It is just that I know using gradient colouring does not make it impossible to do that. Less likely, yes, but nothing more than that (depending on how it is used and what for; myself I try to only use it for shading; and slight corrections in colouring, as a semi-opaque mask), but then again nowadays I mostly draw stuff with a tablet (or at least drew with a tablet; the one's I've been using kind of broke and I've no time to pick a replacement now).

 

Funny, so was mine. I just used the dodge/burn tool on it when I was done.

 

And that's why the cheekbone looks low in resolution, the eyebrow looks blocky, the beard has no actual shading and the lips are rectangles. Also that's why the hair has 1 weird part where everything is black while the rest isn't shaded at all.

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Only using 1 color palette doesn't mean you can't have transitions to other pixel colors.

 

Jesus. Forgive me for learning as I go along.

 

Ignore the haters, FaxCelestis. Your art is awesome, and you should continue to make it. It's so much more than I can do.

If I might be so bold as to make a request, these dungeons are missing some sort of vital... Life. Specifically, they're missing places where the monsters live and lounge about and eat and such when they're NOT being slaughtered by the hero. This is a shame, because it would save those monsters a commute if someone could mod in a place for the monster to sleep and eat and live AND be slaughtered by the hero. (Monsters other than Diggles, I mean. They have nests already.)

I was wondering (Hoping, really,) that you might feel up to some more spriting; perhaps a 1x2 and 2x1 bed that looks like something someone might actually want to sleep in, to start? I can think of uses for so many others - a 2x2 "love bed" for a monster love shack, some 1x2 and/or 2x1 monster bunk beds for the lowlier monsters to sleep in, chairs, more tables, etcetera, but..

Just don't stop spriting. You're awesome.

 

It should always be "ignore the haters", regardless of what you are doing, for as long as your skill is improving as you create (I added this one because there are people who create crud and don't intend to ever become any better, and yet they proclaim their creations as "the best thing ever" - these people ought to listen to haters because they either are too lazy or have too bloated an ego to achieve anything meaningful); whether it's making graphics or whatever sort, creating music of whatever sort, writing of whatever sort, or any other thing (of whatever sort, of course).

That being said, I don't think Alistaire meant to insult Fax in any way. From my point of view, it appears to be more an advice than anything else, even if a blunt (and possibly unpleasant) advice.

And going on to it once again, ShadowDragon8685: while I do agree that your post is not totally meaningless, you just unearthed a five months old corpse.

 

Well, yeah. That was the idea. I reckoned that Fax had suffered a terminal case of the discouragement and had abandoned something he had been good at, and needed to be reminded that not only was it good, but there were people who appreciated it, to get him back into it.

 

Actually, Fax appears to simply be rather busy, as he slowed down with both art and mods. I do see your point, though.