How good of an artist do you have to be?

[AsceticMonk2035]

As long as you credit Enterbrain for using the RTP as a base (and if you read the README/EULAs in the store packs or the public resources provided). You're free to use it as you wish as long as it's in RPG Maker, unless you bought a non-RM license. It's not copyright infringement if they give you the RIGHT to edit the artwork for your RM games.

You can't sell the art as is or use it in another game engine e.g. Unity. But if you sold it with RPG Maker as a game, then yes, you're free to do so.

Unless you can highly mimic the RTP without using it as a base, then you can sell them as a graphics pack alone in the web store.

You're repeating what I just said. Lol

The last part of "mimicking" on your own and then selling it alone is to deal with "similarities." That's were they'll stick you in the rear. It also depends on what state you're in that has it's own version of Copyrighting. 

I remember reading a Yahoo News article regarding a lawsuit in California, that a famous rock band was suing another rock band for using their logo as it was altered. California judge threw the case out the window saying it was alright because the other band altered it under their own image.

Other states and countries won't allow for this. I also read something that Russia doesn't recognize Copyright laws.

 

[Sharm]

You're confusing the issue a bit.  It sounded like you were saying "Don't use RTP edits in your commercial game, that would be copyright infringement."  That is not true.  But now it sounds like you're saying "Don't sell RTP edited graphics" then yes, you're absolutely right, but why bring it up in this thread?  The OP was talking about making art for a game not making art to sell.

As for making art that has the same style as the RTP but does not copy or edit it in any way, that's totally allowed.  All you have to do is look at the official store to see that.

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

You're confusing the issue a bit.  It sounded like you were saying "Don't use RTP edits in your commercial game, that would be copyright infringement."  That is not true.  But now it sounds like you're saying "Don't sell RTP edited graphics" then yes, you're absolutely right, but why bring it up in this thread?  The OP was talking about making art for a game not making art to sell.

As for making art that has the same style as the RTP but does not copy or edit it in any way, that's totally allowed.  All you have to do is look at the official store to see that.

Actually.... now that you mention it, I DO plan to sell eventually... I'd test the waters with a demo first though.  Best not to put the cart in front of the horse, as they say!  (But THAT'S another thread... ^-^ )

(EDIT: Off topic:  FYI I'm a dude. Kritter FTW!)

 

[AsceticMonk2035]

You're confusing the issue a bit.  It sounded like you were saying "Don't use RTP edits in your commercial game, that would be copyright infringement."  That is not true.  But now it sounds like you're saying "Don't sell RTP edited graphics" then yes, you're absolutely right, but why bring it up in this thread?  The OP was talking about making art for a game not making art to sell.

As for making art that has the same style as the RTP but does not copy or edit it in any way, that's totally allowed.  All you have to do is look at the official store to see that.

I'm just going about what Enterbrain said. Yeah you're right you can use edits in your game that I already know. I'm talking about sales don't sell Rtp edited graphics.  

I'm talking about similarities not style. Style is great. In context of similarities, I mean as if the person is copycating (mimicking) the other person. That's would be copyright infringement.

When I first spoke about this earlier, I just threw it in as a heads up if the OP was thinking about selling his art. It was in regards to another user when he/she discouraged folks not to do custom art from scratch. I encourage folks to do from scratch. 

Okay Sharm, you're right anyways about this getting a bit off topic. Let's get back on topic shall we? Lol

 

[Sharm]

I love it when things like this get cleared up instead of becoming drama.

@Iron Croc: Yeah, selling a set of artistic assets is a different thing entirely.  A clever aesthetic that works well in one game won't necessarily work in another game or be worthwhile to another game creator.  There is definitely a quality level that you'd need.  A demo or a sample of artwork is a good place to start.

 

[Julien Brightside]

Making art is fun, wish you all sorts of luck with it.

 

[AsceticMonk2035]

When I use Gimp or Adobe I can't stand using the Pencil and Brush tool just for spriting. I usually use the spray brush to quickly draw up furniture or to make an object blur when swinging a sword. The only time I use a pencil or brush is when I have to make a pixel block stand out for the image. 

The spray brush imo, is a great way to start out for good quality.

 

[Sharm]

What are you talking about? It sounds like you replied to a different thread.

 

[AsceticMonk2035]

What are you talking about? It sounds like you replied to a different thread.

I'm talking about quality. Spray brush imo is great for quality.

 

[Diretooth]

That, in my opinion is debatable. In skilled hands, it can lend some subtlety to a design, but often it's used as a quick way to make something.

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

That, in my opinion is debatable. In skilled hands, it can lend some subtlety to a design, but often it's used as a quick way to make something.

Interesting... I suppose I'll have to experiment and see what works for me!

 

[Jay_NOLA]

If you can't draw you can use a 3D graphics program and make renders of 3D models to make in game movies, battlers, tiles, portraits, etc. for your game.  (Even if you can draw you can use the 3D model for deference and some artists combine a rendered image with hand drawn stuff.

With some adjusting of the shaders and post work you can get a 3D model to look like it was hand drawn.

I recommend you give DAZ3D a try and see if you like it.  It is free and DAZ is having a huge sale this month on various 3D models you can use in it and in other software.

http://www.daz3d.com/

You can also get a bunch of free 3D models online at various sites you can use.

You can also try out Make Human and Blender which are both free..

http://makehuman.org/

http://www.blender.org/

Check out Project Maiko for a good look at using  Make Human & Blender to do cell looking art using those programs.

http://www.aversionofreality.com/blog/2014/1/4/project-maiko-overview

ComiPo! is another option you can look into if you are making modern characters for a game.

 

[whitesphere]

I think a good place to start is look at the existing tilesets and see how they blend and work together.    Learn to use these powerful tools effectively before starting to try your own custom artwork.

If you want to start with custom artwork, I'd start with a title page before doing a tileset.  And I'd use the GIMP, a free graphics editing program which is well suited to making title pages (stylized text is trivial to add and blend with layers, etc).

Personally, I'm so glad these nifty tilesets and such exist, so I can have a shot at making a good RPG even though I'm not very good at making computer graphics or music.  I'm learning to use all of these tools effectively, myself.  In particular, learning the mindset to make effective maps.

 

[vexverbose]

I learned by practice and imitation. I would find images or sprites draw over then in my own style. Change the color get a basic outline proportions... whatever I need help with for my own art.

For example my main character for my game looks like this...

I found my inspiration from Iron Giant. Obviously, I did not trace this image but it did give me a place to start. Patterns are fun too. See a pattern in nature or on a floor. Take a picture with your phone them pixel art it. You have a floor tile! 

Good Luck

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

I learned by practice and imitation. I would find images or sprites draw over then in my own style. Change the color get a basic outline proportions... whatever I need help with for my own art.

For example my main character for my game looks like this...

I found my inspiration from Iron Giant. Obviously, I did not trace this image but it did give me a place to start. Patterns are fun too. See a pattern in nature or on a floor. Take a picture with your phone them pixel art it. You have a floor tile! 

Good Luck

Very cool! Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[Celianna]

As a fellow artist who wanted to do everything custom in her game; don't. Allow yourself to accept work others have made to use in your game, because it is very time consuming to create everything, and I really do mean everything. Even I haven't accomplished this myself, and it took a year alone to create a graphics pack (tileset + sprites + icons), which didn't even include portraits for the characters.


That said; it doesn't matter how bad your art is. If it's bad, at least be consistently bad! No one will care, really. People hate inconsistency more than they are bothered by badly drawn art (unless it truly is horrifying). So go for it, you really can't go wrong - just remember the workload is extreme. Start small.

 

[Lunarea]

I'm going to echo what Celianna said. Even if you're perfectly skilled and capable of making all graphics yourself, remember that the point is to make a game. You can always go back and replace RTP or whatever placeholder you were using with better art. But you can't make up for actual game development with a bunch of pretty pictures.

 

[Sharm]

Hmm, I thought I'd already said the same thing somewhere in this thread, but it must have been a different thread about adding custom art.  I agree with Celianna and Lunarea, making a fully custom game is waaaaay more work than you think it's going to be.  That's now three tileset artists with the same opinion and we're used to doing this sort of work.  I wish more games would come out with custom work, but really you'd need at least one dedicated and passionate artist and a much longer development time.  There's a reason it doesn't happen often, and it's usually just with smaller games.

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

Aha! Thanks for the pep talk you three. ^_^ I'll concentrate on just the characters for now and as you said... I'll worry about the rest later. It truly is all about the game dev

 

[Lars Ulrika]

if you want to work on busts and artworks i advice you to check paint clip studio (or paint studio clip can never remember). It comes along with many useful tools that will help you out to improve (3d models you can use to draw characters , perspective rulers , backgrounds etc etc etc). Really worth the few bucks investment.