Looking For Tileset Art Guide/Tutorial

[Dalhan]

Sorry if this isn't in the right section. Since it's half and half I'm taking a gamble posting this in the requests section (since it technically is).

Hi! I'm looking for a guide or tutorial on how to create VXA / MV style pixel art graphics for tiles, auto tiles and props. I've noticed that the way they are designed/created differs significantly from more traditional pixel-art / retro graphics of the 16x16 and 32x32 types. It appears to me that many of these newer assets are larger designs shrunk down to fit the VXA/MV tileset? For example, some wood textures may have over 15 colours where as most traditional art may only have as many as 7, commonly 5. I'm not entirely sure on the techniques use, so a guide would be awesome!

As a of note, I'm after a guide to learn how to create my own artwork. I'm a decent artist and have worked with pixelart for about two years now, so I don't need guides on that. I do remember ages ago seeing a guide on Deviantart but for the life of my can't find it!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Sharm]

Gonna move this to Art Literature and Music for you.

There's an official tutorial series you can find at the bottom of the page here.  It's mostly about how to duplicate VX and Ace's RTP style but it will also be helpful to read if you're making your own style.  Your main problem is that the default artwork for VX/Ace/MV isn't pixel art.  No wonder you're confused!  There are some tiles that have been made that are pixel art, like the default artwork for 2k, 2k3 and XP or some graphics packs available in the store which are built for use in VX and Ace.  Some of those are 16x16 tiles doubled to suit VX and Ace's mapping style, but if you edit them to be triple the size instead they'll work in MV since MV's tiles are 1.5 times larger than VX and Ace.  If you're looking to add more to an existing pixel style (good for you if you are, most people aren't that intelligent about it) then those would be better places to start.

 

[Sennie]

Try YouTube there's bound to be dozens of tutorials for RPG art guides/tutorials

 

[Dalhan]

I read over those tutorials and it mentioned digital painting which reminds me of concept art a bit. But they're so small 

Offhanded, do you know the names of the most popular artists for VXA / MV? I could go through their sites/blogs and see if they've put up any tutorials 

 

[Sharm]

You mean the artists who emulate that style of tiles? Celianna, Archeia, Lunarea, PandaMaru, Candacis, um, gosh I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of people.  Celianna will often do livestreams of her work, and she's got a bunch saved on her channel.  I've found watching her work much more useful than any tutorial.

The actual artwork part isn't really different than drawing things in other situations, there's a lot of crossover in skills.  The most difficult part is understanding the perspective and getting the hang of the way autotiles are set up.  Once you have those two things the rest is just normal art skills.

 

[Dalhan]

Hey thanks for the names. I searched them and their resources and found it heaps helpful. Celianna's streams summed up what I was thinking. It's mostly digital painting on a super small scale. Going to take me ages to get used to :x

Thanks for the help. 

 

[Sharm]

Sure thing.  BTW, if you'd rather do a pixel art style but are feeling pressured to copy the painted, default graphic style, you really shouldn't be.  Pixel art is a very popular style, at least around here.  Play to your strengths.  I still recommend starting from an existing base of artwork though.  For pixels, you've got a lot of options. Not only do you have the pixel RTP's from the previous RM's like XP and DS, there's also POP!, Time Fantasy, Old School Modern, Pixel Myth, LPC, Tiny 16, Crazy Leen's Retro, Inquisitors tiles, and ORTP.  That's just the stuff I know about made specifically for use in RM, there's probably more I haven't heard of, and there's lots more stuff out there that's free to use that hasn't been formatted for RM use.

Oops, spelled Lunarea's name wrong.  Fixed.