Zazz's LF2 Style Spriting Tutorial IN PAINT! Screw Photoshop/GIMP etc

[Reaper]

ah, ok. I somehow looked at the non-rezided image. My fault.
With the contrast... I don't know, maybe its my PC.
@alectric: If you make it in photofiltre, you will have about 5-10 different colours. In paint more than three colours is just too much work. In my opinion.
Of course you don't need so many different colours, Normal LF2-chars also often have 2-3 colours, but I like it to have more. Especially for the hair.
But again, very nice tut.
Just one more thing: His throat is somehow very light. I am not sure but I think its normally darker. But I could be wrong.

[Boop]

The big difference between Paint and other tools like Gimp/Photoshop, is that paint doesn't have "brushes" with anti-aliasing. That is the big difference between your sprite and the lf2 sprites. The sharp lines stick out like a sore thumb when compared side by side with lf2 sprites.

If you're making a full mod it doesn't really matter (like I've always said, the most import thing in a mod is consistency).

[SG2]

I disagree. Sprites like the LF2 sprites look better with anti-aliasing because they're meant to look more 3-D while being 2-D sprites, but most 2-D sprites are done without antialiasing, just pixels, and usually with 3-4 shades per color (base, light, maybe two darks). I personally prefer the 16-bit look ala SNES, GBA, etc. Of course it depends on the look you're going for, but I think showing folks how to do sprites in MS Paint is important. Yes, I realize GIMP is free and extremely powerful (I use it all the time for other projects), but it can be intimidating to newbies. I've always done my spriting in MS Paint, and I actually can't bring myself to sprite in GIMP or any other larger software...even Paint.NET has too much for me. When it comes to sprites, simple is best tools-wise, if you ask me - it's how you use them that matters.

I think this is a great tutorial, and that's a fantastic final result you came up with relatively custom. I wish I could custom that well, but sadly, I'm pretty much an editor through and through. I'm skilled enough at editing to make my finished product very unique from the base aside from the poses, but I have a hard time making customs animate properly. I think I'd probably prefer an anti-aliased style for customs because it would look more like a 'blur' effect when in motion, whereas a pixely sprite that had wonky shading or outline would look bizarre. Still, I've never found a better program for spriting in than Paint. I usually just use GIMP after the fact for effects like partial opacity, transparency, the occasional special effects, etc. But Paint's simple, it's default on every Windows machine, and it takes about 5 seconds to learn how to use it. Much less intimidating for newbies than something like GIMP where it's easy to get lost.

I do know a little trick, though, if you want to make your sprites in Paint and then give them a simple anti-aliased look. Download the IrfanView image viewer (I got it because when I got my Vista machine I discovered Windows Photo Gallery doesn't play animation in animated GIFs, but it's very efficient) and paste your sprites into it. If you press CTRL+R, which is 'image resize', there's an option to scale the image down by a percentage of its original size. If you do this in Paint with CTRL+W it will still retain the pixelated look, but IrfanView antialiases it. So if you scale your sprites down by, say, 90 (or even 95), it will barely shrink in size and it will gain a more blended, anti-aliased look. I think that makes it a little more difficult to make it look nice on transparency, but it definitely improves the otherwise pixely quality on shading and whatnot. Compare for instance:



It's only very slightly smaller, and now it has a more blended look. But like I said, it'll end up giving it that 'white fuzz' halo if you do this, so make sure you choose your background color wisely, like a shade close to but not exact to your outline color. The LF2 sprites have a slightly black halo around them as well as the result of antialiasing, but it's almost unnoticeable unless you're actually zoomed in on them up close editing, because in motion the 'halo' color matches the outline well enough. Not sure if that trick will help anyone, but it's a good way to give your sprites a more LF2 styled look even if you're making them in Paint.

(Oh, as for a Paint equivalent on Linux - I've got Ubuntu on my laptop and I use KolourPaint, which is actually a step up from Paint because you can use transparent backgrounds without having to export your frames to GIMP to make transparent. I don't know about Macs though, I remember having to fire up Photoshop one day in the maclab at school to edit some sprites because I couldn't find a default paint program, much to my dismay)

[zero_legends]

U can't say " Screw Photoshop/GIMP etc ". But u can say " Screw Paint! It sucks!!! ". Coz it has no blur, no brushes, no filters, no-plug-ins, no textures, no nothing!!! It's for basic learners. Photo Filter to tell the truth is my master program for spriting. Only the blur tool does it all for me. I like your effort of teaching newbiew on how to sprite on paint and start, but saying " screw photoshop " was a major disadvantage to your tutorial. So next time, plz watch your language.

Thanx.

[betitngoan]

so cool

[Zazz1]

Alright, that's it, I've had enough. After reading zero_legend's post, the need to argue back is just too compelling. Skip this if you are not retarded like him.

Basic for learners? Almost every 2d game's sprites are made in Paint, rather than Photoshop. You know why? Photoshop is supposed to be used for Special FX, editing photo realistic images, or just random graphics in general. It is not meant for spriting. Here have a look:

I've taken random sprites from a variety of games with different sprite styles. Do you see any blurs, brushes, filters, plug-ins, textures etc being used? These are all from very professionally made games, so why would they not use Photoshop?

The LF2 community is delusional about the concept of "spriting." It is thought that "spriting" is just making a couple of blobs, blurring it and burning/dodging it, all in Photoshop/GIMP/whatever. I have no objections to this, I agree that this is a spriting STYLE, but it is not the ONLY way to make sprites. I guess I am just TIRED of people telling other people that Paint sucks and should never be used.

I tried to introduce a new way of spriting for LF2, even finding a way to darn anti-alias the sprites, but the response is still, "Pfft Paint iz sh**** coz it got no blur, no brushes, no filters, no-plug-ins, no textures, no nothing!!!", when really, spriting does not require any of them.

You may argue that LF2 style uses these, but you know what? As a spriter who uses both Paint AND Photoshop quite regularly, I can TELL that LF2's sprites were made in Paint and resized, there MAY have been some slight changes in Photoshop and other GFX needing things such as the burning frames and ice frames, but overall the whole sprite was made in PAINT.


Just to clarify and remind this to any people planning to make some kind of rebutting post, yes I know Photoshop CAN be used to sprite, but it is not the BEST way to make a sprite look good.


Also, think of this as my random rant against everyone who says Paint should not/never be used, not just zero_legends.

[Alectric]

ok, ok, calm down.
i kinda doubt that LF2 sprites were made in paint, because that would have taken marti way longer to do, and i doubt that.
I dont think paint sucks at all. I kind like some of it simplicity. I saw a video of someone draw the mona-lisa in perfect detail in paint. The main problem i have with it is if you wanna make detailed chars, or a sprite sheet, it will take you forever, where as Photoshop/gimp is a quicker alternative.
i like your tutorial, i really do. It is original, but just isnt practical.
so you should stop trying to convince everyone to use paint instead of raving about it.

but zero_legends, srsly...wtf. its not the program that makes the spriter, it is the person. I like to do sprites in paint sometimes.

[Zazz1]

ok, ok, calm down.
i kinda doubt that LF2 sprites were made in paint, because that would have taken marti way longer to do, and i doubt that.
I dont think paint sucks at all. I kind like some of it simplicity. I saw a video of someone draw the mona-lisa in perfect detail in paint. The main problem i have with it is if you wanna make detailed chars, or a sprite sheet, it will take you forever, where as Photoshop/gimp is a quicker alternative.
i like your tutorial, i really do. It is original, but just isnt practical.
so you should stop trying to convince everyone to use paint instead of raving about it.

but zero_legends, srsly...wtf. its not the program that makes the spriter, it is the person. I like to do sprites in paint sometimes.

It doesn't really take that long, at most 5 minutes on each sprite if you used my method o__O

Anyway sorry for getting angry, I can't believe I got pissed at a forum anon

[Siegvar]

Saying either Photoshop or Paint should or should not be used to do sprites is like arguing about whether one should use a mallet or a hammer to pound a nail into a wooden board; i.e. you're missing the damn point.

What you guys are actually arguing about, is the usage of anti-aliasing...

@Zazz:

Just coz a bunch of scrubs(or alot of them) are delusional about the concept of spriting, you label the whole LF2 community as delusional? I get the feeling you're just generalising coz you're pissed... but seriously.. don't do that and end up pissing off other people too.

At least say "most spriters in the lf2 community" or something.

And... don't give me that sh*t about "I can tell it was made in paint"
Oh.. for all you know.. it could've been made in Gimp or Photoshop or Graphics Gale... or some unknown proprietry software. using only the brushes without anti aliasing... etc.
Again you should be more focused on the usage of anti-aliasing methods.

Also, you're being stupidly vague again when saying Photoshop is not the best way to make a sprite look good. Photoshop is a tool, not a method.


If you want to get into an enthusiastic emotionally charged discussion, make sure you be a little more precise.


EDIT: oh boy, ninja'd... kinda.

[no one]

U can't say " Screw Photoshop/GIMP etc ". But u can say " Screw Paint! It sucks!!! ". Coz it has no blur, no brushes, no filters, no-plug-ins, no textures, no nothing!!! It's for basic learners. Photo Filter to tell the truth is my master program for spriting. Only the blur tool does it all for me. I like your effort of teaching newbiew on how to sprite on paint and start, but saying " screw photoshop " was a major disadvantage to your tutorial. So next time, plz watch your language.

It's just a way of expression, not that he's being "program-racist" or something.

The main problem i have with it is if you wanna make detailed chars, or a sprite sheet, it will take you forever, where as Photoshop/gimp is a quicker alternative.

Why is that make any different o.O? Using paint to create a whole sheet can save you from switching back and forth to add effect, redraw a hand, blur it, redraw the head...

its not the program that makes the spriter, it is the person.

Nice philosophy. A bit formula but it's still a good one

I can't believe I got pissed at a forum anon

Zazz start flaming. Heck yeah.