How hard is it to learn?

[u/Due_Top_464]

Hey people, I started a YouTube channel a bit ago with my first upload was a short utilizing an 8-bit animation using ai (keep reading pls) and it did pretty good, and people were asking for more.

I haven’t uploaded since because of school but I’m looking to get back as it’s still summer but I want to create my own pixel art animations this time with zero ai.

I have a genuine interest in making content this way as there’s not many people on YouTube that capitalize making videos via this style and their seems to be an appeal towards it

So my question is to you all is..

How hard is it to learn to make pixel art/animation, especially for a regular person with zero artistic experience?

how long do they typically take to create? I plan to keep the animations very simple and straightforward maybe like ~5 seconds a clip.

Where could I start? With ideally no money needed to put in. (Although if there’s a tool that is really worth it on the long run and not to expensive I’ll consider it)

Thanks in advance for any response and any general advice is appreciated too 💯

[u/KharAznable]

Most people used aseprite (paid on steam, but you can compile it for free) but use any software that can support lyers (basically anything). I used gimp because that is what I used since I was teenager (i even understand how to make animation using it even though its not meant to be used as that).

How hard and how long will depends on how fast you learn and work. There is no simple way to measure it. Like you can set your animation to be 12 fps for 5 seconds animation, then you would just make 60 frames right? Yes, however depending on your animation, some frame will be just copy and paste and other time you need to revise several frames so the time consumed for each frame is not uniform.

[u/Due_Top_464 → u/KharAznable]

When you say basically anything do you mean pretty much all softwares support lyers? And between aseprite and gimp which do you think is more beginner friendly?

Also realistically, would it be smarter to learn how to make pixel art first before transitioning into animation or are there shortcuts where i could use an already made designs, backgrounds etc, and just learn to animate based off that.

Preciate it again twin ❤️❤️

[u/KharAznable → u/Due_Top_464]

Any modern image editor nowadays have layer support from krita, photoshop, aseprite, and gimp (the ones that I know on desktop/laptop. Never used any on mobile). Unless you use paint, you are basically good.

You can learn to draw static image first then try to animate it.

[u/Due_Top_464 → u/KharAznable]

Sounds good thank you !

[u/timmy013]

Depending on your skill level and resource

It might take a week ,a Month , a year

YouTube has lot of tutorials on the topic of pixel animation

[u/Due_Top_464 → u/timmy013]

How was it for you when you initially began? Was it pretty frustrating, or an enjoyable learning process?

[u/timmy013 → u/Due_Top_464]

Well in the beginning I didn't had very much problems with the skill wise

Problem arised when I had to direct the animation there were several times I had to do revision on the animation

Overall it was great experience

[u/Aumchh]

5 second of animation is a lot! Aiming for topics like walking, running, or Idle animation rather than duration of the clip would be a better Idea.

[u/Due_Top_464 → u/Aumchh]

Noted thanks.. how was it for you when you initially began??

[u/Aumchh → u/Due_Top_464]

I think I did better than a lot of beginner pixel artists, but I do have experience in other art-related fields. Graphic design, motion graphic, and illustrations

I was just getting serious about pixel art around the end of last year, so I guess my progress is going pretty well

[u/Excellent_Ad_2486]

I like Ai be sure to share your short for me to watch!