Dead-X Sprite Tutorial

[TomBewley]

I thought it about time that I post a tutorial to show how I sprite. Hopefully it is of some use to people. It may not be as in depth as say, Z999's tutorial, but I am showing how I sprite, which like I said, may hopefully be of some use.


Step 1. The base

Choosing the right base, I always find, is the trickiest part. The right pose is essential. I often thought about how suitable Midler is for Poison Ivy and I found something that I really wanted to use.

Step 2. Resizing

Resizing is crucial to ensure that all sprites are the same size. There are two main ways of doing it, dividing and manually resizing like I have done, or using a program to resize the whole sprite for you (make sure to do it to "nearest neighbour" to ensure that the sprite keeps its colour count).

The first method is best if a base is already similar in size to what you are trying to achieve. In this case, Midler is almost the right size, but as she is from Jojo, her legs and arms are a bit too long and she is also too skinny. By manually resizing I can control what I want to resize.

Step 3. Outlining

A lot of people would sprite using the shading that is already on the base. I don't like doing this as I think it can make the sprite shading inconsistent if you are using lots of different bases. It also allows me to ensure that the shape is correct before I proceed, saving time in the future where mistakes might be made.

Step 4. Base colours

I always make sure to go over my outline with the darkest colour of the section. Take the skin, I've used the dark brown to highlight which areas I know to be skin, then filled in using the most predominate colour that will be in that section, which for skin is the lightest. It also allows me to make sure that I know what parts are what which is useful when shading.

Step 5. Anti-aliasing

This is very important in giving a light source on your sprite, as well as softening those harsh line. Using the next darkest colour I go over the outline of areas that would be lighter, and if a line is more than one pixel long, I make sure the dark colour is only at the very edge.

E.g.

The arrow is the light source.

Step 6. Shading

Everybody shades differently, and it will differ depending on what you are spriting. All I can say is take time knowing what you are spriting and ensuring that muscles are right, as is the light direction. Also, make sure there is contrast between the colours. If the colours are too similar the sprite will look too flat.
I say 4 colours at least with each area, otherwise there won't be enough depth. However, more than 5 is not particularly Capcom-y. So I say stick to 4-5 to ensure that your sprite has enough detail to the shading.

Step 7. Smart Palette

This is something I cooked up to allow for more costumes. All it requires is having a different section of a sprite a different colour so that when paletting it is easily changed. In Ivy, her boots and gloves are different colours so when making palettes I have more choice.
This is her palette, split up so that I can easily change what I need to.


Step 8. Details

The details make all the difference in the sprite. Little things that add character, in Ivy's case, the vines on her costume and head. It makes her stand out from her bases and makes her more unique. Something that is always good! The head is often tricky to get right, so use a characters head. I've used Rose and changed it to fit Ivy. Same with hair, I tend to use a variety of bases for the hair so that it is easier to get it to flow, rather than spriting from scratch!

Step 9. Colours

Like I have said, the right contrast in colours is crucial, so play around and see what you can come up with. When spriting Ivy I don't use the colours that she will be, as by using bright colours I can see the shading more clearly. Remember, what colours you use when spriting do not have to be the final colours of the sprite. Experimenting is often a very good way of seeing what works.

I hope that this proves useful. Maybe it will, maybe it wont. But either way, when you sprite, have fun! Explore new bases (and stay far from Psylocke, Rogue, Cyclops and Cap America!!) as they will force you to make your sprite more unique.

[DARKTALBAIN]

What is the actual program that you use to resize the whole sprite for you?

[Vitamin]

I must be old school...because I only use the classic paint program for all of my sprites.  What program(s) do you use?

[ATiC3]

@Vitamin: I usually just use Photoshop CS3 & Paint.NET.

[Spidermew]

I must be old school...because I only use the classic paint program for all of my sprites.  What program(s) do you use?

I use Gimp 2.2

[G.P.O.A - GatlingPunchRalf]

I must be old school...because I only use the classic paint program for all of my sprites.  What program(s) do you use?

Same here!!!!!

[TomBewley]

I use Photoimpact, which is basically a reduced Photoshop, which suits me right down to the ground.
I would think most graphics programmes would have a resize tool. I'm not sure if paint.net and Gimp have one, but I would like to think so.