mspaint and pixeling

All development of pixel art, maps and other graphics.


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meway
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mspaint and pixeling

Post by meway »

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In summery of this paragraph It explains about programs you could be using to start pixeling
When you want to pixel you must first get familar with the program you use. Alot of people have Microsoft so it is common they know how to use ms paint. I suggest getting GIMP if you have grown familar with mspaint. Use google to learn things about programs like mspaint, GIMP, and inkscape (there are allot of programs out there).

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 This paragraph explains some things people may not know about mspaint
I myself use Microsoft paint aka mspaint. Not allot of people know of the x9th zoom option. To use this option you click directly between your zoom options menu's bottom edge and the x8 zoom option. The 9th zoom is invisible making it difficult to find. Another trick is using the erase tool to change one color to another without effecting other things on the image. Use the color select tool(the eye drop) to left click and select color 1 ( in this trick color one determines the color you want to change). Use the color select Tools right click to select color 2 (this determines the color you want to change it to)//optionally you can just select color 2 from the colors given in mspaint. Now use your mouses right click to hold hover over the color you want to change in a graphic without effecting the others.
Another nice trick is that you can double click any color on the bottom of the paint window. This gives you a ton more colors to choose from so your not stuck with a 16bit pallet.

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TMW art standards for pixeling
First when you save an image, save it as a .png format (make sure the .png is lowercase some clients have issues reading uppercase)
Than I will start with outline. All objects created for tmw must have a dark outline. The outline being your darkest color;Do not use Pure Black. (the upper left most color block is the color black in ms paint and should never be used for a permanent outline)
When shading an object initially you should be able to limit yourself to 3 colors/shades max per surface area. This includes reflective surfaces. The max on an object hardly ever needs to exceed 7 colors.
A single image can contain several objects. Tile-sets mainly are a good example of this. With the exception of things such as item icons made from two materials. (a staff with a glass ball on top would be a good example of this)
Don't draw an item and expect it to be in the game without a lot of work. Most items need multiple frames. Weapons and clothing mainly. A good thread to read up on is this http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopi ... =4&t=12163
Further more, when you create an object it must be created at a 45 degree angle.

I suggest you begin drawing a cube start with 1 color on each surface area than giving it a reflective surface. Don't be afraid to use lighter colors to highlight edges in darker regions of an object. [this is a good example from enchilado that shows a stone texture *not a reflective one* http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m63 ... iangle.png ]

After you have had enough practice with this begin working on a less geometric shape such as a rock. A good thread to view for that is this http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopi ... =8&t=10166.

Than go to spheres, Len gives good advice on objects like this here http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopi ... l&start=15

After you are sufficient in drawing different surface area's Try to draw with different textures. By now you should be familiar with some basic textures but think of objects that have fur, cloth fabric, leather, gloss, wood, stone ect....
I really want to touch on the different ways light hits an object. A good example between two objects would be my blueberries(witch are not horribly great) Image and lens cherry's Image

This game uses GPL and other compatible license for art and other data.
When posting images from other sites It is necessary to site your source.
That is all I have for now. Enjoy your pixeling. If this does not help use google as a resource and look up images for references. A good thread to follow in general for shading adding reflective surface and drawing small icons is this http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopi ... =8&t=10313.
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meway
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Re: mspaint and pixeling

Post by meway »

http://wiki.themanaworld.org/index.php/Guidelines (thanks jenalya I was looking for this)
This link provides our set guidelines.
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Reid
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Re: mspaint and pixeling

Post by Reid »

quoted from Lesforges.org and translated by opengameart.org :
When selecting software to make pixel-art, people often think: "Choosing software? That's crazy talk! All we need to make pixel-art is paint!" Tragic mistake: I was talking about bad tools, here is one. Paint has one advantage (and only one): you already have it if you're running Windows. On the other hand, it has boatloads of disadvantages. This is a (non-exhaustive) list:

* You can't open more than one file at a time
* No palette management
* No layers or transparency
* No non-rectangular selections
* Few keyboard shortcuts
* Terrible ergonomics

In short, you can forget about Paint. Now we'll look at some real software.
Please, look here http://opengameart.org/content/chapter- ... ight-tools , it's a better tuto than what said Meway, at least, it mades by real pixel artist :) .
I myself use Microsoft paint aka mspaint
"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
-- Ford Prefect
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meway
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Re: mspaint and pixeling

Post by meway »

Reid wrote:quoted from Lesforges.org and translated by opengameart.org :
When selecting software to make pixel-art, people often think: "Choosing software? That's crazy talk! All we need to make pixel-art is paint!" Tragic mistake: I was talking about bad tools, here is one. Paint has one advantage (and only one): you already have it if you're running Windows. On the other hand, it has boatloads of disadvantages. This is a (non-exhaustive) list:

* You can't open more than one file at a time
* No palette management
* No layers or transparency
* No non-rectangular selections
* Few keyboard shortcuts
* Terrible ergonomics

In short, you can forget about Paint. Now we'll look at some real software.
Please, look here http://opengameart.org/content/chapter- ... ight-tools , it's a better tuto than what said Meway, at least, it mades by real pixel artist :) .
I myself use Microsoft paint aka mspaint
This goes without saying that you believe everything you read on the internet and obviously never used paint for more than 5m. 1) you can open more than one file at a time. 2) Double click any color and paint provides you with a ton of colors and palettes to play with.3) heh.. this is true 4) It has 1 5) who needs keyboard shortcuts when you have ctrl+z (undo) ctrl+a(select all) Ctrl+x(cut) ctrl+v(paste) 6) Paint provides the tools you need to simply pixel...
This is a product of paint Image

Admittedly I use gimp to add transparency to some objects, and most always there background, as paint does not support this. Paint also does not support the ability to select an entire section with the ability to cut or remove or even a select all of the same color tool. I am now familiar with paint though and have learned to avoid tools in gimp like blur. I do suggest converting to GIMP as it is a nice tool to use although its not required, its preferred. Also layers are nice.
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Reid
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Re: mspaint and pixeling

Post by Reid »

Well, as begginer in graphics production, I wouldn't recommend what you said for peoples which want to learn how to do pixel art. After, you are free to lose some hours in using mspaint for something which could be done faster on thegimp or graphicsgale.
"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
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meway
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Re: mspaint and pixeling

Post by meway »

I disagree I get things done faster if I start a project in paint and than finish it in gimp.
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Reid
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Re: mspaint and pixeling

Post by Reid »

meway wrote:I disagree I get things done faster if I start a project in paint and than finish it in gimp.
Ok.
"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
-- Ford Prefect
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meway
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Re: mspaint and pixeling

Post by meway »

http://www.natomic.com/hosted/marks/mpat/shading.html

This is a nice tutorial to look at.
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