Questions about DC

[Milos Gulan]

I am trying to learn to make good designs and I will start with some questions about things I don't know hoping it will save me time, as I am now busy but probably will work and try to make something and learn at the same time.

Now first question of probably more to come: I wanted to make some sprites for my game design, what would be the easiest and best way to do it and what are the tools I could use.

I was thinking about drawing some humanoids on blank paper, then taking a photo of those pics and colour them. I hoped to make a nice profiles that later I could resize and use as a sprites also. I guess that would be something like art I saw in Friedrich Quest and Revenge, but now I don't have time to look at tutorials which I should probably do and that is I guess my next stap to take.
 

[Uatu]

Where is Dinonykos when you need him? 

I think he does draw by hand, scan, and then color on a computer...  but for more specifics, you will have to ask him...

One way I have used in the past (to make cartoon-like pictures) was as follows:
1. Draw picture on paper (pencil or ink)
2. Scan picture
3. Adjust contrast so it is black and white (no gray)
4. Clean up picture (get rid of stray pixels, smooth out lines, etc.)
5. Color in MS Paint (or whatever)

[Milos Gulan]

Cool, thanks, I know how to do it except last part, I have read briefly tutorial on Your webpage and it seems complicated, though I am willing to try and I might have more questions later for now I am thinking of my custom monsters then will probably try working more on art and adventure and tutorials for it

Btw I am installing Daz Studio I might trying making some models of my own too then rendering.

[Dinonykos]

Where is Dinonykos when you need him? 

In his bed, ill, in this case... 

I think he does draw by hand, scan, and then color on a computer...  but for more specifics, you will have to ask him...

One way I have used in the past (to make cartoon-like pictures) was as follows:
1. Draw picture on paper (pencil or ink)
2. Scan picture
3. Adjust contrast so it is black and white (no gray)
4. Clean up picture (get rid of stray pixels, smooth out lines, etc.)
5. Color in MS Paint (or whatever)

Yep, that is more or less the same I do. I use the shading tool or the spray tool afterwards for light effetcs. Here is an example.

I have also experimented with taking fotographs of models/figures lately, which also leads to nice results.

[Uatu]

Doh!  Hope you feel better soon, Dinonykos

My tutorials on my site (they are still up?) are a bit different, as I usually just draw directly with my mouse...  But in any case, I think the most variation can be had in step #5...

Photoshop: A long time ago, I used to use Photoshop - in that case, you can do some interesting things, such as make your drawing transparent, and then color in a different frame underneath, so it is like coloring, without worrying about messing up your drawing.  You can then use smudging tools, spray tools, etc., and then erase any stuff "outside the lines" later on.

Paintbrush + Alpha: Another trick for more poor folks (well, Gimp is free, but) is to simply color a huge picture in Paint first, and then shrink it down with another software (or just even take a screenshot of Windows image previews) so that your pixelly product will magically transform into a dithered picture (that you can use for your small pics, etc.).

I of course like it pixelly, so I prefer not to do the above anymore, but some people like the effect!  (I like Scale2x and RotSprite instead for manipulating sprites.)

I will put up some "anime-style" pictures I did soon (I had them on my old site) as a comparison - but these I drew with a mouse to begin with as well.

[Milos Gulan]

Aersome, thanks a lot for any additional info. Btw now I am thinking of doing some combat icons. I though just using one of already done and pasting my resized pics over it. I hope that will not be a problem I might ask some questions though, for example how to center those figures as I was thinking just to do it by heart I mean as I see them centered.

[Dinonykos]

Hero machine is also an interesting option for creating sprites/portraits (and even icons), several people in the forum have experimented with it:

http://ua.reonis.com/index.php?topic=1878.msg25275#msg25275
http://ua.reonis.com/index.php?topic=1134.msg11950#msg11950
http://ua.reonis.com/index.php?topic=1561.msg22141#msg22141

It's ideal if you like comic-book-like characters.

[Milos Gulan]

True I have seen it already.

[Uatu]

Combat icons I follow a different procedure:

1. Draw filled shapes (like shadows) of what you are drawing first.
2. Make sure it animates OK.
3. Color.
4. Shade.
5. Add shadow.

Centering is part of step #1, but you can adjust at the end, too.

[Milos Gulan]

Thanks for that I was wondering what was the best way to do it and I guess that is what should be done

[manikus]

When doing pixel art icons, I follow the same workflow as Uatu. But when doing 3D, it's completely different - you can test everything in Poser (for example). It's optional to render the shadows on the ground or to draw them in. With 3D, it's all about cleaning things up after the renders have been shrunk down to the appropriate size.

[Milos Gulan]

Right I have experienced it and I hope I will get better.

[manikus]

It's all about practicing to find the workflow that works best for you and that creates the best looking result - a lot trial and error.

[Milos Gulan]

It is, but I think it is worthy of trying as much can be done For now I think I will be able to do nice things depending of my free time, but most important is that I can do nice things in quick time when I need them .

[Milos Gulan]

I want to connect 2 maps and I am not sure how to do it, they are town maps that I inserted as wilderness maps. I thought of connecting them with zones that should be able to teleport but they can't be used for teleporting so now it lefts me with putting teleporting event at the edges that will transport to the other side, meaning I have to add opposite place to teleport, which will probably to take a while.

My question is how is the best and easiest way to do it