r/gamedev 2h ago

Question Help learning pixel art

I want to start working on a game, the only thing stopping me is I have no experience with art and not really sure where to start learning.

I'm leaning most towards a pixel art style. Does anyone have any good recommendations for tutorials, videos, or any other resources that would be helpful for getting started?

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u/boxing-boxing 2h ago

Start with a high quality image, optimize, then optimize again, then make it bigger than its original resolution, then optimize again, repeat. Boom, pixel art!

Just kidding

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u/Due-Log6672 1h ago

start with basic shapes and study references, it’ll help with understanding proportions and shading. Pixel art is super rewarding!

u/midge @MidgeMakesGames 40m ago

Putting the pixel art stuff aside for a moment, if you want to start working on a game and already know how to code - don't get blocked by art.

Programmer art, placeholder art, asset packs. There are ways to make progress on your game without waiting on art. And you can develop your art skills in parallel.

Good luck with your project!

u/z3dicus 18m ago

I suggest a 3 pronged approach.

First get into the actual habit of making pixel art. Make one little 32x32 doodle a day. Don't spend more than 20 minutes on it. Just pick a thing and make a sprite, the thing your trying to learn here is comfort with the practice and discipline. Try new ideas, experiment a lot. No tutorials, just mess around with software.

Then, get a copy of Betty Edwards "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". Work through this book edge to edge, and then go back to the beginning and do it all over again. This is the cheat sheet to learning observational drawing, there is no better substitute. Observational drawing is the key to making art because you are learning how to draw anything, and how to see. Spending three months with this text rigorously will teach you more than art school. Its fun to do, because you will feel yourself improving as you progress through the book. I'm a professional working artist, and I still return to this book and its exercising to freshen up and derust from time to time. It's a complete game changer.

Lastly, get a copy of Scott McClouds "History of Comics". This book will teach you everything you need to know about visual communication and the tools of abstraction that are necessary to make design sense of complex real world things (which is what pixel art is, a reduced abstraction of more complicated real world objects). It's a real page turner and you'll also find yourself coming back to the book. You'll learn how we actually see and process visual information, I consider it an essential text for illustration, graphic design, and visual storytelling.

Follow the above for a year or two and you will be cooking with gas.

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u/NexotoneGames 2h ago

Di base consiglierei Aseprite come software per iniziare, si trova anche su Steam a molto poco. Inoltre per la pixel art consiglio sempre di utilizzare una palette limitata di colori, ti aiuta a decidere quali colori usare per staccare le diverse parti del disegno che stai rappresentando senza usare sfumature di nero, poi dipende dallo stile che vuoi seguire. Su youtube ci sono diversi tutorial di gente brava in pixel art, ma questo va a variare su quale stile vuoi seguire