Spriting: Skill or innate ability?

[Grump]

In making my first RPG with VX Ace, I was hoping to be able to get straight into the game design and not fiddle with things like spriting or making custom music. Unfortunately, the exact image-types I'm looking for aren't in the default database (and I haven't been able to find them on here). In trying to find sprites that have a unified feel, I'm starting to feel like I'll need to make my own.

I tried this, and they look quite silly. I've looked up a few tutorials on the subject but I still can't seem to make decent-quality sprites - making curves and rounded shapes using squares seems to be my downfall (let's not get into picking the right shades to create the illusion of depth). So my question is: Is spriting a skill, in that it can be practiced and noticeable improvements be seen? Or is it just something that some people are good at and others aren't?

 

[Archeia]

It's something you have to learn like any other skill. You can go here: finalbossblues.com

 

[RavenTDA]

It's something you learn, but it helps to have some artistic talent. If you're using the default graphics you don't have to sprite it from scratch. I can sprite (only learned for game making) but more often than not when making custom guys for my game, I just edit all the parts and pieces of existing things. On the default it's more about getting the hair and face right and the clothes you can really fudge. It's so small you can just make it look approximately like it. You're not going to be able to add in a lot of details anyways.

 

[Jawnsunn]

ha, innate ability...

As said by other people, pixel art, or spriting, is just something you learn. Don't expect to learn and master it in 5 days.

 

[Des]

practice practice practice practice

put in the hours, and listen to criticism, and you can be good at anything

 

[Indinera]

Hmmm imo everything is more or less innate. That's what's called "being a natural (at something)". But yeah if you practice, you'll get better, true enough - but you'll still be far from a natural who practices less. With that in mind, I think it's best to focus on what you're a natural at. You'll get better results faster.

 

[Zeramae]

It helps to be able to draw proportions, or at least outlines of people and objects, before you have a good enough foundation to learn spriting. I can shade and put clothing/armor on a base, but my drawing skills prevent me from building a base from scratch, and if that's what you want to do then I'd learn to draw half-way decent before tackling your own sprites. It's as RavenTDA said about having artistic talent helps, but in my opinion it's the one thing I'd need to be able to sprite from scratch.

 

[sabao]

An innate inclination to something only puts you at an advantage. Without actually nurturing the skill through repetition and practice, you're not ever going to get very far.

 

[Indinera]

It's true, but it's also true that if you have zero inclination at something, you won't go far even if you practice a lot. Sometimes it's best to adapt wisely to what nature gave you.

 

[Sage]

You could always partner with a someone who can do the art, if you mainly want to focus on design. You could create mock-ups using placeholder art that looks terrible, but focus on making the gameplay itself fun and then do a pass at the art afterwards. This is how things are typically done in professional game development.

-Sage

 

[sabao]

It's true, but it's also true that if you have zero inclination at something, you won't go far even if you practice a lot. Sometimes it's best to adapt wisely to what nature gave you.

I really don't believe anyone can be 'bad' at something if they'd apply themselves to the task. They're probably not going to approach the quality of those with inborn talent, sure, but with enough effort the outcome should be passable. True, it would be more productive to pass on work to someone with a better affinity to the task, but not everyone can be afforded the luxury.

 

[Elements]

There's no such thing as "Zero" inclination to something in my opinion, I grew up for 20 years thinking I had no ability to draw whatsoever,simply because I couldn't draw anything acceptable in the matter of seconds and without knowing anything about drawing, then I picked up a pencil 3 or 4 months ago and I can do somethign like this nowadays (battler sprites included) http://fc09.devianta...nts-d5bl3pr.png .Granted it is a sketch WIP, no masterpiece,full of mistakes, and lots of issues to be improved,and is also something anyone who has been drawing for a while can easily top, but it is still something I never even Imagined being capable of ever getting close to, due to the belief that people should stick with what they feel they're naturally good with, and hey I'm still practicing,learning basic stuff,etc,not like this is what I do all day lol

Narutal talent is only a variable in the grand scheme of things. "Talent" will help you grasp and learn stuff faster, but that's all it will do for you, don't be disocuraged even if you feel you have no talent whatsoever for whatever activity you're doing, it only means you'll have to work a little bit harder, but nothing impossible. Talent helps, but isn't critically needed, you'll just see results faster.

 

[Indrah]

Innate talent is nice and all, but as far as I'm concerned it's your interest and dedication that make a difference.

I'm not spriter, or a musician, or a scripter, because frankly I don't aim to be one. I could probably learn to be any fo those to a certain degree, but it's not a priority of mine.

Interest seems so much more weighty to me than something like "talent", since it dictates how much time you will invest on it. More so in games, a media where being good in one single aspect will only take you so far (not very far, to tell the truth, which is why full custom games rarely come out).

It is true that due to your natural abilities or background you may be a better artist/musician etc, but I don't feel that should deterr you from going into an area you like more.

 

[Elements]

Innate talent is nice and all, but as far as I'm concerned it's your interest and dedication that make a difference.

I'm not spriter, or a musician, or a scripter, because frankly I don't aim to be one. I could probably learn to be any fo those to a certain degree, but it's not a priority of mine.

Interest seems so much more weighty to me than something like "talent", since it dictates how much time you will invest on it. More so in games, a media where being good in one single aspect will only take you so far (not very far, to tell the truth, which is why full custom games rarely come out).

It is true that due to your natural abilities or background you may be a better artist/musician etc, but I don't feel that should deterr you from going into an area you like more.

yeahh this.

We all have different goals and our needs dictate to what extent we want to learn and start doing something. for me I just want acceptable,functional art for my games. I don't aim to become an artist or something, so that fuels my interest but only to a certain level, which then turns into commitment,etc. if you ask me, I don't think I'm a naturally talented person at anything in particular lol, but I still need to get certain stuff done, so i'd definetly agree interest plays a bigger role.

 

[Monthigos]

You can pick up anything if you have the drive to do it. The best starting point is to read tutorials and examine existing art. I do pixel art for characters like I do regular art - start with the basic shapes of the body and then layer on the different elements. If you're doing the standard Chibi RTP style then you can grab nude templates off the internet or out of the character creator resource directories. Get a paint program that is capable of layers and then start doing 'flats' on seperate layers over top of the template. Flats are basically single color shapes that represent different parts of the sprite--you can do a flat for the pants, the shirt, belts, cloaks, etc, etc.

Once you've got your flats down then you can start adding in details on seperate layers: things like stripes and buckles. These are basically your textures. The next thing is to add in shading layers. Pick a common direction for all your sprites that you think the light is coming from (i.e. upper left). Then add in shadows in the opposite direction in places where you think the light would be obscured. I start with one layer of shading and then add another layer of shading for areas I think need to darken more. Lastly you can add in highlights coming from the direction the light is coming. With sprites being 32x32 it's actually not too hard to pickup and this is a pretty common method for coloring among professional artist.

I base my sprites off of my character portraits so they form a good point of reference for figuring out how everything fits together. Drawing character portraits is pretty much the same method. The real trick, IMO, is learning to draw poses and getting proportions and shapes right. Like I mentioned it really helps to look at a lot of artwork and tutorials to get more experience and exposure. I hope this helps and gives you an idea of where to go from here.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that you should also do outlines around some of your flats. Generally outlines are going to be the same color as the flat, only darker. Not all flats need outlines. Also another method is franken-spriting, which is basically where you take bits and pieces of different sprites and try to piece together something new. Sometimes it just looks better to do things from scratch though.

 

[Espon]

You don't need any kind of innate ability to become good at something. Anything is possible if you put in the time and effort.

Just don't go expecting miracles overnight, it can take a while before you really start to notice improvements. But even still, I've only been working on making my own sprites for about 8 months and I look at what I first made and laugh at how bad it looks compared to now. I didn't even think I had the ability to make sprites until I noticed rpgmakerweb posted a link to despain's site and decided to give it a shot.

If you really what to see art progression, look at some web comics that have been around a while. I find it interesting to see how someone's art has evolved into the years by reading through the archives.

 

[RyanA]

Yep, you don't need innate ability or talent at all! Just practice practice and more practice ;D Sure people with talent for something can get better faster and seem to do better stuff, but you can easily do just as good if you put in enough practice!

There are a few things that can't really be taught by practice though, like imagination and creativity, but everyone has a bit of that ;D