Graphics tips?

Gnomer

To be honest, i'm very new at this and was wondering if anyone had any tips that they had picked up from experience about creating graphics? Anything is appreciated (just don't tell me to get an artist :P)

Cheers,

Gnomer.

olster1

Watch tutorials. I also bought a graphics tablet last week. I don't know how I lived without it!

joshcal

hey Gnomer! i dont have the most amazing tips ever.... but for a start create the best you can with the software you've got. but the main tip which i would kinda recommend is to post pictures of your graphics (Watermarked) and get peoples opinions. i recently did this and it helps so much! its unreal
hope you get some other great tips from other players
-josh!

Gnomer

can i see some examples of your work?

old_kipper

1). stay simple to start with

2). stay simple for a long time.

3). Search for tutorials

4). look at game graphics to see if you can find something that you like, is not dissimilar to something you could manage and use your own style, but inspired by what you have found.

5). You do not have to draw. There are things you can do with photographing objects to build environments, and characters. Have fun with it. Anything out of the ordinary might catch the eye and you might just come up with something very cool (a while ago I made sprites by photographing legs wearing baggy socks, in different positions and used them in animations, stuck on found objects from the kitchen. It ain't world of warcraft, but it made me giggle).

6). get a tablet if you can but time will make up for what you can do with one, if you can't afford it.

7). go simple... pixel art can look really really cool. everything from old school to eboy stuff

http://hello.eboy.com/eboy/

8). play and have fun. If you really like it, that is the only level of self editorial you have so best to stick with that. If you don't like it... move on.

Gnomer

Thanks mate, one question - how good are tablets and i don't quite understand how you would use one? (sorry for my amateur-ness)

old_kipper

Tablets are the best. Said it before- you can't sign your name with a bar of soap so don't expect to be able to draw with a mouse. A tablet is not quite a pen. but is close.

Very easy to use. Feel weird for about an hour, until you get used to not looking at your hand while you draw, but you don't do that with a mouse anyway. The area of the tablet is a scale of the screen, so you don't 'roll back' like a mouse. Just go to were you want to draw or touch a control. You can see the cursor move as you get close to the surface, and when you press.. bingo!

Wacom are king in my opinion, and anything from their ranges are very good. for drawing I like bigger, so you have more control, but if you are starting out I would go to a less expensive one of the their ranges and choose something as large as you can afford. Better still try them out at a store.

They are very reliable and Im on my second in 21 years.

Gnomer

Sound nice im assuming you have to be pretty good at drawing?

old_kipper

or learn... or go another route... edit images or think about it as construction

Devils

Try Wacom's Intous4 great piece of equipment but I am also still learning. I have the medium size I believe it set me back $350 or so but it was worth it I do lots of sketches with that I then send out to actual artist that then recreate my work with there styles and talents.

old_kipper

The ipad is pretty good to draw on (not as good as a wacom though) and I've had good success with using Doink for animation. If you went that way you would have a test device as well.

Gnomer

what is doink on?