Rixsch Flare
Myrmidon
Would I rather wield a keyblade or have one last biscuit?...
Posts: 40
Profession: Wandering Swordsman
Affiliation: Heroes (hopefully, eventually)
Guild: Still searching...
Affinity: Fire
OoC Alias: Red
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Post by Rixsch Flare on Sept 24, 2015 0:27:55 GMT -6
I'm unsure which thread to put this in, so I thought this one to be the safest option.
I see that quite a few people on this site have a sort of gba-style pixel art portrait as their avatar, now, obviously, I would love to have one much like that, rather than the crappy if/fates one I have. So, my question is, which program do people use to make 'em? Obviously, Id prefer a free software. And, if its not against the rules, could you possibly post a download link?
Thanks, Rixsch-Nooblet swordsman
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Zacharia
Shaman
Kingmaker
"You fight for the promise of a better tomorrow for this country."
Posts: 172
Bern Fame: 3
Illia Fame: -2
Profession: Advisor
Affiliation: Bernese Senate
Affinity: Thunder
Profile: Link
OoC Alias: Zach
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Post by Zacharia on Sept 24, 2015 14:30:26 GMT -6
Most of us make mugs in MSPaint. There's a couple who use GIMP or Photoshop or Paint.NET, etc, instead. All you need is a program with a pencil tool, eraser tool, and select tool. Would suggest MSPaint; it's got everything you need to make a simple splice or custom.
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Synkkis Kyyneltya
Shaman
"Strange... I had no brace for the aberrant nature of this power."
Posts: 170
Profession: Mercenary Tactician
Affinity: Dark
Profile: Synkkis
OoC Alias: Cyril/Lucien/Landrik/Freya
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Post by Synkkis Kyyneltya on Sept 24, 2015 15:34:36 GMT -6
I second Zacharia. I use MS Paint and then Paint.NET only to add in transparent backgrounds. It's tedious work, takes a lot of time, and plenty of trial and error, but is rewarding once you have the final image.
If you're interested in drawing them yourself, I wish you the best of luck!
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Rixsch Flare
Myrmidon
Would I rather wield a keyblade or have one last biscuit?...
Posts: 40
Profession: Wandering Swordsman
Affiliation: Heroes (hopefully, eventually)
Guild: Still searching...
Affinity: Fire
OoC Alias: Red
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Post by Rixsch Flare on Sept 24, 2015 15:43:53 GMT -6
Oh, I think I get it. I import existing character art from, say, google and possibly add some more pixels or do a palette swap? Would that be acceptable, because I mean WHO DOESN'T HAVE MSPAINT AMIRIGHT? don't you dare mention macs....
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Synkkis Kyyneltya
Shaman
"Strange... I had no brace for the aberrant nature of this power."
Posts: 170
Profession: Mercenary Tactician
Affinity: Dark
Profile: Synkkis
OoC Alias: Cyril/Lucien/Landrik/Freya
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Post by Synkkis Kyyneltya on Sept 24, 2015 16:02:48 GMT -6
There's no shame in tracing, haha. It's time consuming, though.
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Zacharia
Shaman
Kingmaker
"You fight for the promise of a better tomorrow for this country."
Posts: 172
Bern Fame: 3
Illia Fame: -2
Profession: Advisor
Affiliation: Bernese Senate
Affinity: Thunder
Profile: Link
OoC Alias: Zach
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Post by Zacharia on Sept 24, 2015 16:39:44 GMT -6
You're better off using the "allfemugs2.png" sheet instead of using google every time, man. All the GBA mugs are already there and you won't have to worry about accidentally ripping off a custom mug with it. i can't tell if you're just being sarcastic or actually have a mac
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Rixsch Flare
Myrmidon
Would I rather wield a keyblade or have one last biscuit?...
Posts: 40
Profession: Wandering Swordsman
Affiliation: Heroes (hopefully, eventually)
Guild: Still searching...
Affinity: Fire
OoC Alias: Red
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Post by Rixsch Flare on Sept 25, 2015 0:46:35 GMT -6
Ah, I see. Well, thanks all of you, I'll make sure to tell you how it goes!
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Post by Kenshin on Sept 27, 2015 3:34:45 GMT -6
I think I'm the last of the GIMP users here x.xx
Recolors are easy as heck to learn how to do, your best bet is to find a color another character has and pallet swap based from them, so it looks like it would be from in game. At least till you're comfortable with it, from there you may have a better understanding of it. After that you can learn how to splice things together from multiple characters(like hair, face, armor, clothing). That's about as far as I got, I'm bad at art so I can't create something from nothing some of the 'advanced' spriters here can do.
It's all about taking baby steps and learning along the way.
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Rixsch Flare
Myrmidon
Would I rather wield a keyblade or have one last biscuit?...
Posts: 40
Profession: Wandering Swordsman
Affiliation: Heroes (hopefully, eventually)
Guild: Still searching...
Affinity: Fire
OoC Alias: Red
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Post by Rixsch Flare on Oct 4, 2015 4:21:30 GMT -6
Well, as you can see now, I used femugs and managed to create my own sort of pallet swap, as well as adding a bit more hair and a different facial expression. You like?
By the way, I was being sarcastic about macs, as I have used macs previously, and I did NOT like it.
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Zacharia
Shaman
Kingmaker
"You fight for the promise of a better tomorrow for this country."
Posts: 172
Bern Fame: 3
Illia Fame: -2
Profession: Advisor
Affiliation: Bernese Senate
Affinity: Thunder
Profile: Link
OoC Alias: Zach
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Post by Zacharia on Oct 4, 2015 10:27:42 GMT -6
For your first mug ever it's a good try. I'm glad you gave it a shot. There are a few major concerns with it I'd like to address, though.
The hair doesn't make sense, spatially. It's supposed to be flowing to his left side but it ends in a sudden stop, and it's easy to see where it connects to Alan's original hair your custom hair lacks depth. It's a sudden transition from 3D to 2D. And the darkest color of Alan's hair is still there from before you recolored it to be brown. I'd recommend splicing someone else's hair onto Alan to get a good sense of how it would flow and look in a 3D space.
When you recolored the armor to be red, the trim on the armor got all messed up. It may be a stylistic choice in some cases to remove the trim from the armor entirely, but I'd recommend that in this context you should re-do the armor's coloring entirely.
The eye color shouldn't be flat for large, "anime" eyes and doesn't look appealing on Alan's FE6. To make a large, blue eye, it takes a bunch of hues of a particular color, not just one or two colors. I'd recommend you find an eye like Alan's from FE8 and take a look at how the colors work together zoomed out.
With such vibrant colors like your red and blue, they clash with FE6's flat skintones. You should re-color Alan's skintone with a character from FE8 if you want to use colors like that(and keep in mind the armor trim is the same color as the skin, so you'll need to recolor that alongside it).
And lastly(this isn't a big deal don't worry about this one), his lips' shading doesn't move to show that he's smirking and just stays static. That makes it look like less of a smirk and more of a stray pixel next to his mouth.
A couple helpful tips for the future: mug sprites look better when they aren't sized up to fit the profile image like yours; it stretches out the pixels and makes a really weird look. When you're not sure how to create a particular look that can't be spliced together, use other mugs for visual reference.
Lastly, I'm not sure if you know this or not(i didn't figure it out for ages, haha), but you can use the MSPaint eraser tool as a recolor of sorts. By taking the color you want to change, using the dropper tool to select that with the left mouse tool, and then repeat the process with the color you're changing it to but pressing the right mouse button. After that, you turn "Transparent Selection" on in the Select tool window. Finally, you press the Eraser tool and, holding the right mouse button, wave it across your mug and watch as that color is recolored instantly, without the need for constantly using Fill Bucket.
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Rixsch Flare
Myrmidon
Would I rather wield a keyblade or have one last biscuit?...
Posts: 40
Profession: Wandering Swordsman
Affiliation: Heroes (hopefully, eventually)
Guild: Still searching...
Affinity: Fire
OoC Alias: Red
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Post by Rixsch Flare on Oct 4, 2015 13:44:53 GMT -6
Okay... Well, I'm completely stumped, here. How do you "splice", exactly? (This is mspaint you're talking about, right?)
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Zacharia
Shaman
Kingmaker
"You fight for the promise of a better tomorrow for this country."
Posts: 172
Bern Fame: 3
Illia Fame: -2
Profession: Advisor
Affiliation: Bernese Senate
Affinity: Thunder
Profile: Link
OoC Alias: Zach
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Post by Zacharia on Oct 4, 2015 14:17:08 GMT -6
Splicing is when you take the piece of one mug sprite and put it on another mug sprite. Like, say I wanted to take Marcus' head and put it on top of Moulder's body: First, I find the mugs with the pieces I want. Second, I pick out the pieces from the mugs. Third, I remove all the parts I don't need(In this case, Moulder's head and Marcus' body). Fourth, I move them together, putting Moulder's outfit under Marcus' head instead of the other way around for convenience's sake. Fifth, I shade accordingly; There's a line of negative space(background) between Moulder's body and Marcus' head, but squishing them together would make it look like the mug has an un-proportionally small neck. So I add in Marcus' neck shading, and add a few pixels to the outline to make it look like the collar goes around his neck. (Note: For the sake of convenience in making this, I didn't recolor Marcus' skin tones or hair to match FE8's more saturate colors.) That's all there is to it. MSPaint is what I've been using, but most programs have a similar recolor feature, as well as Select tools and "Transparent Selection".
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Rixsch Flare
Myrmidon
Would I rather wield a keyblade or have one last biscuit?...
Posts: 40
Profession: Wandering Swordsman
Affiliation: Heroes (hopefully, eventually)
Guild: Still searching...
Affinity: Fire
OoC Alias: Red
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Post by Rixsch Flare on Oct 9, 2015 13:27:49 GMT -6
'twas a long and arduous process, but I have finally prepared another profile picture, this time using some of the tips you given me? Any ideas for improvement?
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Post by Duma on Oct 9, 2015 18:39:18 GMT -6
'twas a long and arduous process, but I have finally prepared another profile picture, this time using some of the tips you given me? Any ideas for improvement? No offense. But it's kinda creepy... And a bit unsettling. I am not a spriter so my opinion is probably moot. the forehead looks off especially with that shading. In the middle of it. And the way the side hair cuts off the face is a bit weird. How ever it's a step in the right direction compared to the last one.
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Rixsch Flare
Myrmidon
Would I rather wield a keyblade or have one last biscuit?...
Posts: 40
Profession: Wandering Swordsman
Affiliation: Heroes (hopefully, eventually)
Guild: Still searching...
Affinity: Fire
OoC Alias: Red
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Post by Rixsch Flare on Oct 10, 2015 2:24:00 GMT -6
'twas a long and arduous process, but I have finally prepared another profile picture, this time using some of the tips you given me? Any ideas for improvement? No offense. But it's kinda creepy... And a bit unsettling. I am not a spriter so my opinion is probably moot. the forehead looks off especially with that shading. In the middle of it. And the way the side hair cuts off the face is a bit weird. How ever it's a step in the right direction compared to the last one. Well, I guess its fitting for the time of year! XD. Don't worry, I'll try to do another one at some point.
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