Requesting help making art for RPG Maker VX Ace

[DnB ArchangeL]

Hello! 

Before I get into it, I am new to the forum. I've read the rules but if this is not the correct place to post this

then I apologise!! 

As stated in the title I was wondering where an aspiring amateur would go to start creating their own art work for an RMVXA game.

I have been using the program for roughly 2 months now and I've got pretty adept at basic use and I think its time to start

working on a project. I've had a fair amount of experience with game creation in general using other various programs, but coming up with 

my own artwork for them has always been a bit of an issue (outside concept art ) as I have no idea on where to even begin on the subject.

I have done a bit of digging but its a tad overwhelming so I thought I should ask some people directly.

so yeah here are my questions:

What programs should I use?

From my own experience I have used photoshop and paint.net for editing larger pictures but never for creating

pixel art so I have no idea on an ideal program for it.

What dimensions would equal to a single "tile"? 

a stupid question but I have seen a lot of topics about this and could never find a definitive answer.

Should I use RPG Maker VX Ace tilesets etc as a base? or would it be best to start from scratch?

Yeah as I stated before I haven't really done any pixel art outside of my early school years so im unsure on what would be better to learn

What are some recommended tutorials?

I have seen some tutorials on youtube but most of them look like they have no idea themselves..

Anyway thats It, thanks for taking the time to read through this and If anyone has any input that would be hella awesome! 

[edit: Fixed typo]

 

[Alkorri]

I think this post should definitely be in another place but I'm sure a mod will move it

Others with more experience will weigh in more, but here are my answers:

What programs should I use?

Anything you're comfortable with. I personally use GIMP. The first thing you should know is that if you're using RMVX Ace, the tiles are not pixel art. It's a painted style. Lunarea made a series of tutorials which were very useful to me, so you should certainly check that out

What dimensions would equal to a single "tile"? 

A tile is 32 by 32 pixels.

An icon is 24 by 24.

A single face is usually 96 by 96, for your information.

Should I use RPG Maker VX Ace tilesets etc as a base? or would it be best to start from scratch?

Up to you, although beginners like me usually start out editing existing tilesets. Indrah has a tutorial that helped me in this.

What are some recommended tutorials?

Besides the above, I really recommend you check out Andar's guide for beginners, and GrandmaDeb's tutorials, accessible via the links in my signature spoiler  These helped me so much I put them there for my own use and for others.

 

[DnB ArchangeL]

Damn, haha I had a look around for the most relevant section but I had a feeling it was off.

but anyway thanks so much for your answer! This definitely clears up a lot and i'll be sure to check out those links, and with some luck I'll be able to start making some really awesome art in the near future. 

 

[Alkorri]

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with

 

[Andar]

What dimensions would equal to a single "tile"? 


a stupid question but I have seen a lot of topics about this and could never find a definitive answer.

That is because there is no single, definite answer - Alkorri's answer of 32x32 pixels is only partially correct.
Ace works with tilesheets consisting of tiles, and there are six different formats for tilesheets.


The difference between tilesheets is the positioning of the different tiles on them - 32x32 is only the base tile size, the autotiles are NOT 32x32 pixels. There are three different formats for autotiles, 64x96 (regular autotile), 64x64 (wall autotile) and 192x96 pixels (animated autotile).


Use the help file for more information, and the resource manager to export examples of the six different tilesheets - each of the five A#-Sheets (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5) has a different format, and the sixth format is the one used for B to E slots.


If you place a tilesheet in the wrong slot, it will not work correctly.

 

[Juunanagou]

What programs should I use?

Every program that has layers. Of course the ones you feel confident with. If you never use gimp and you are a master in photoshop use photoshop of course. If you are a master in paint try paint.net, should be like paint but improved with layers too. Because not always you can do all on a layer, sometimes you may be need to divide your work in layers to eventually merge them later (if you do some errors, you can delate the layer without having to redraw all. All you need usually is a pencil and the rubber (or the select tool to select the "errors" and delete them)

What dimensions would equal to a single "tile"? 

The others were surely exaustive, but I can recomand you some settings with photoshop. A single tile is always 32x32. The rest is a multiplier of them. So you can go to modify->preferences->guides, grid and sections(sorry I tried to translate it). On grid put Lines on every 32 Pixels (remember to select the pixels) and suddivisions 6. Then display->show->grid to show the grid above your work. So you will know if your tileset is going to "invade" the others. And the suddivisions will help you with autotiles. Consider that the autotile usually repeat in the middle, is 3 squares from the center line on both the side. Example:



With those settings the autotile will be setted automatically to repeat well. The corners too can be placed upleft automatically (they are 3x3 little squares divided by a virtual cross if you notice.

Well, at least it works well for me. But you should study the autotiles by yourself to find your way

Should I use RPG Maker VX Ace tilesets etc as a base? or would it be best to start from scratch?

For autotiles you may use the rtp as "base". At least to know how to do them correctly. But you can always scratch them. I usually get them as base for the size, so I don't do too large tiles (It happened, I did some kitchens that I could use in real life from how big they were XD).

What are some recommended tutorials?

Search for pixelart tutorials in general, you should find some useful tutorial even for gaming and rpg maker too. They are less common. Pinterest should have a nice collection of tutorials: http://www.pinterest.com/gregorytapper/pixel-art-tutorials/ Some are for isometric pixelart, but some can be used for gaming art too.

 

[Evan Finkel]

I'll suggest Paint Tool SAI, try it. It has a free 31 day trial.

 

[_Shadow_]

Maybe Paint.net is what you are looking for. 

GET IT HERE

There is also a tutorial on using Tiled for Parallax mapping somewhere. Pretty neat stuff.... Ah! There it is!

Click me too!

I use Tiled to make variations of tilesets and stuff.

It is also useful for making easily a good base for parallax mapped layers, if only using the tilesets.