The nature of skilled spriting with questions

Seeing as how im always looking to improve my spriting skills, i have a few questions, some for general spriters, and others for advanced. I’d like a better understanding of what makes a sprite good. So with no further adiou (i dont think i spelled that right), here we are.

If it really bothers you that much, only answer the questions you’d like to.

  1. How long have you been spriting?

  2. Do you have art skills, or have you taken an art class?

  3. Do you consider spriting the same as drawing, but only with a mouse?

  4. Do you prefer doing large detailed sprites, or large sprite sheets of small characters?

  5. Do you prefer a realistic or cartoony look?

  6. How many colors would you use per shade in a small, but realistic looking sprite?

  7. Do you subsitute dithering for multiple shades in large sprites?

  8. Do you draw the object, then shade, or shade as you go along?

  9. Does the shading the basis of what makes a sprite good?

  10. Do you enjoy spending large amounts of time doing one sprite?

  11. Do you prefer multiple poses, or only one?

  12. How long do you normally spend on one heavily detailed large sprite?

  13. Do you use a thumbnail in paint for easy viewing of what you are spriting?

  14. Is 3 shades enough for a good sprite (and if not, how many)?

Im sorry for posting all these somewhat noobish questions, but some things just really bug me about my style. I feel that either laziness, or lack of time is causing me not to push the pixels hard enough.

1- 9 months
2- no
3- yes (only i cant draw crap =(
4- small chars, big sheets
5- depends on they style youre going for
6- 4-6 (including background color)
7- yep. dithering saves lives :slight_smile:
8- draw, then shade, usually.
9- although shading is a big part, the overall shape of the sprite must be held into consideration also. the best shaded object with a crappy shape would be terrible.
10- i get bored from time to time, but when i do, i just do something else, like work on my book, until im ready to sprite some more :smiling_imp:
11- multiple. the more flexible the character is, the better.
12- never done a large sprite… lol
13- wtf is thumbnail? do you mean when you view a folder, it shows the image of the file?
14- 3 shades can get you an outstanding sprite, with dithering, but more shades always helps.

Wow, i expected more feedback than this.

But a thumbnail is useful as hell. In paint (if your smart like me, and use it), go to view, and click thumnail. That way, their will be a little window that you can see the whole page in, but most importantly, your reference pics.

  1. Not even close. <_<

Wow. Thanks for your sage advice. :sweat:

  1. Too long.
  2. Never taken art class.
  3. Yes.
  4. Large sprites.
  5. Realistic.
  6. 3-4.
  7. Yes.
  8. First outlines, then shading.
  9. No. An ugly sprite will still be ugly.
  10. Yes.
  11. Multiple.
  12. A month or two.
  13. I use Pixen. And I don’t use the miniature view.
  14. It depends on the size and colors.

im not an experienced spriter but i think my whats in my sprite topic is good…

  1. How long have you been spriting?
    3 months
  2. Do you have art skills, or have you taken an art class?
    im good at drawing anime style pictures
  3. Do you consider spriting the same as drawing, but only with a mouse?
    NO.
  4. Do you prefer doing large detailed sprites, or large sprite sheets of small characters?
    both, large doesnt really do much
  5. Do you prefer a realistic or cartoony look?
    cartoony
  6. How many colors would you use per shade in a small, but realistic looking sprite?
    15?
  7. Do you subsitute dithering for multiple shades in large sprites?
    uhm no?
  8. Do you draw the object, then shade, or shade as you go along?
    nope i shade it last if i do
  9. Does the shading the basis of what makes a sprite good?
    it doesn’t need shading to be good
  10. Do you enjoy spending large amounts of time doing one sprite?
    nah…
  11. Do you prefer multiple poses, or only one?
    both.
  12. How long do you normally spend on one heavily detailed large sprite?
    half hour?
  13. Do you use a thumbnail in paint for easy viewing of what you are spriting?
    yes.
  14. Is 3 shades enough for a good sprite (and if not, how many)?
    i guess depends what your making
  1. 2 years
  2. Yes taking now
  3. Yes
  4. Small
  5. Cartoony/Cell Shaded
  6. 3-4
  7. I only sprite small sprites (after my sucky power bomb guardian >_<)
  8. Draw then Shade
  9. No the overall quality of the sprite is
  10. Depends on the sprite
  11. Multiple
  12. I don’t but i’d say 2 hours
  13. Sometimes
  14. depends on the sprite

Yeah yeah. >_>

  1. 3 years
  2. I have art skills, but I took no classes.
  3. No, drawing and spriting take completely different skills.
  4. Small sprites, sheeted.
  5. Realistic.
  6. You mean that the other way around right? Shades per color? Depends on the sprite, but normally 3-6.
  7. Also depends on the sprite.
  8. I do a basic shading as I go along, and detail it afterward.
  9. In spriting, pretty much.
  10. No, I can only sprite so much at one time.
  11. Multiple.
  12. A couple hours. Maybe 2-4.
  13. No.
  14. Also depends on the sprite. Different material takes different shading.

1. How long have you been spriting?
A while now, I couldn’t rightly say
2. Do you have art skills, or have you taken an art class?
I have taken art class, but I learned to sprite on my own
3. Do you consider spriting the same as drawing, but only with a mouse?
No, I see it as being like 2d lego, I build a sprite pixel by pixel, rather than sketching it
4. Do you prefer doing large detailed sprites, or large sprite sheets of small characters?
Large sprite sheets of smal characters
5. Do you prefer a realistic or cartoony look?
Somewhere in between, but mainly one with a certain style (usually of the game they’re intended for)
6. How many colors would you use per shade in a small, but realistic looking sprite?
3 or 4
7. Do you subsitute dithering for multiple shades in large sprites?
I have started doing so recently, but only to fit with the style of the other sprites
8. Do you draw the object, then shade, or shade as you go along?
I draw, colour, shade then detail
9. Does the shading the basis of what makes a sprite good?
no, a sprite can be good if it’s only one colour, but I prefer to shade nonetheless
10. Do you enjoy spending large amounts of time doing one sprite?
No, I prefer to spend large amounts of time with an animation or whole sheet
11. Do you prefer multiple poses, or only one?
Always, I make sprites for use in games mainly and they make it far more interesting
12. How long do you normally spend on one heavily detailed large sprite?
my largest took an hour altogether
13. Do you use a thumbnail in paint for easy viewing of what you are spriting?
No, I just use 8x zoom and a line tool
14. Is 3 shades enough for a good sprite (and if not, how many)?
Yes, I’ve started using 3 colours + an outline and I like the way many of my sprites have turned out