Game art for developers who have no artistic sense whatsoever?

[heisenbergman]

Besides outsourcing/getting someone else to do it, does anyone know of a way how game developers who have no artistic sense whatsoever can be able to create some decent game art for their games?

Thanks!

[ctomni231]

You might want to check out this topic... (so I don't have to repeat my long walls of text )

Developers & Art

Good luck!

[SHC]

@ctomni,

The link to your message is http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/developpers-art/27098/msg/241621/view.html#msg241621. It's not 609.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[SHC]

I'm not selling any games. I'm making them as a hobby or with interest in leisure. I don't even release it in public. So I just search them in google images. Or you can also use Icon Finders. If you can pay, then the best option is to pay. Here's an example of getting the sprites for a space invaders game.

I went straight into the www.iconfinder.com and set the size to 128x128 px and selected "Free" ones. And here's my search for "spaceship"



And now I searched "alien". Here's so many alien faces.



Now for backgrounds, I went into google and in images, entered "space animated background".



So many sprites enough for making a simple game.

** Don't use them if you are thinking to sell your game.

[JESTERRRRRR]

I begin my game purely with a vision of what the gfx will look like, normally something a bit difference and easy to cope with. Like 16x16 pixel tiles, which the making of has hugely improved my artwork. Or Id go with something like Black Shades (colour filled boxes); just something you can pull off yourself and has a novel look to it. Doesnt have to be amazing

[HeroesGraveDev]

Just learn pixel art.

Look at my game The Gift/Curse of Evolution.
Then Far From Home (incompleted)
Then Guardian, Lord of Corruption and Guardian II.

See how my art improves?

After a while, you will get a certain style. Keep working hard, and that style will get better.

If you don't try to do art, you will never be good at it.

[heisenbergman]

You might want to check out this topic... (so I don't have to repeat my long walls of text )

Developers & Art

Good luck!

Thanks for the link!

Just learn pixel art.

Do you have any particular links/tutorials/resources you personally found to be useful online? Might you share them? Thanks!

I've actually been looking at pixel art... just haven't been able to find the right things to read.

[HeroesGraveDev]

Just learn pixel art.

Do you have any particular links/tutorials/resources you personally found to be useful online? Might you share them? Thanks!

I've actually been looking at pixel art... just haven't been able to find the right things to read.

Don't find tutorials. They'll ruin your potential style.

Create a 16x16 image in Paint.NET/GIMP/Whatever and make a person. If something seems off, fix it.
Do the same again, with a different style.
Repeat until you have something you are satisfied with.
Now try and make a few different characters with that style.

Later you can try animations.

[HeroesGraveDev]

Here is a progression of my pixel art: (the three main stages)



The first one was drawn on paper first, so looks extremely weird when put with a paladin skin.

The second was the first after lots of fixing. It's the style in The Gift/Curse of Evolution and Far From Home.

The third is the 'Guardian' style. It's easier to animate than the second one and allows weapons to be included in the character animations instead of being drawn separately in-game.

[heisenbergman]

Not sure if I can just jump into pixel art just like that. Like I said, unfortunately I don't have any artistic sense, so me jumping into pixel art will be like me jumping into drawing. What I have in my head won't translate into what I'd actually create.

Something like this seems fairly simple when you look at it... but I just don't have the sense of space/color to actually pull it off.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[HeroesGraveDev]

The only way to start art is to jump in.

At first, it will probably suck.

But if you refine it piece by piece, you will get used to it.

[heisenbergman]

The longer I stare at it, I'm liking that little green alien more and more. lol. just sayin'

[BrassApparatus]

I just thought I'd chip in one of my favorite sites. http://www.pixeljoint.com/ Is a fantastic source for cool pixel wallpapers, pics and tutorials on how to do it yourself. Really, if you read all the tuts they make it stupid easy.

[gouessej]

Don't use them if you are thinking to sell your game.

I would have written "Don't use them if you disagree with their licensing terms and/or if you're not allowed to use them".

[sproingie]

Go abstract.  Line art with shader effects.  Complex shapes composed out of primitive ones using generation algorithms.  Basically, if you can't do pretty, do clever.

[NegativeZero]

http://kiwinuptuo.deviantart.com/gallery/27054576
http://makegames.tumblr.com/post/42648699708/pixel-art-tutorial

Just some tuts I found useful. For software, http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/tools/

[heisenbergman]

I made a crate.

uh, yay me

[Oskuro]

Most people tend to think that you need to be "talented" to draw (or write, or compose music, etc...)

That is a misconception. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Talent only gives you a head start (sometimes a massive one, certainly).

Just keep trying, and eventually you'll notice you are improving.

And also keep in mind that a nifty thing about videogames is that no individual part is definitive. If a part is crappy, but the sum of all the parts is a fun game, people will not care (I mean, Minecraft's graphics and character design aren't really that spectacular, are they?)