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vanmall β How to start with pixel art
Published: 2009-05-05 12:23:22 +0000 UTC; Views: 276145; Favourites: 2305; Downloads: 3947
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Comments The beginning...
aka how to start with pixel art
After I got a Daily Deviation for How to make a victorian house? I decided to make a tutorial series about pixel art. As always you have to start from the beginning and this is it, tutorial about how to start with pixel art. As some of you don't have a photoshop then I decided to make this tutorial about pixel art and MS Paint. I hope you enjoy it.
Contact If you think that you didn't understand this tutorial fully then you can always send me a note and I will answer to you.
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Vanmall Pixel Art Tutorial Series Guide 
Pixel Art Basics
How to start with pixel art Difference between isometric and non-isometric pixel art How to dither in pixel art How to make shadows and light sources in pixel art How to add textures to pixel art How to make a pixel transparency How to save pixel art How to make round objects in pixel art How to use reference in pixel art How to replace colors easily (MS Paint) Pixel Art Exterior How to make a victorian house? How to make a pixel tree How to make a pixel roof How to make a pixel house 1 How to make a pixel house 2 Pixel Art Interior How to make a pixel bed How to make a pixel chair How to make a pixel table How to make a pixel couch How to make a pixel tile How to make a pixel countertop How to make a pixel refrigerator How to make a pixel bar stool How to make a pixel stove How to make a pixel flowerpot How to make a pixel lamp How to make a pixel nightstand How to make a pixel aquarium How to make a pixel fireplace How to make a pixel cupboard How to make a pixel carpet How to make pixel curtains How to make a pixel kitchen How to make a pixel bedroom How to make a pixel living room Pixel Art Characters How to make a pixel eminem 1 How to make a pixel eminem 2 How to make a small pixel character/sprite Pixel Art Text How to make pixel text Pixel Art Objects How to make a pixel gemstone How to make a pixel flower Pixel Art Premium Basics of Pixel Art Pixel Art Tutorial Series is currently the most popular thing on my page. The idea behind this is to take suggestions from the community and try to make a tutorial out of these things, helping out fellow deviants along the way. You can also find my pixel art tutorials in groups like #TutorialsForYou , #TutorialsClub and #PixelCommunity .
Here is a list of tutorials in my Pixel Art Tutorial Series, tutorials which are underlined and bold are already ready tutorials that you can read, other tutorials without the underline are tutorials that will be posted in deviantART in near future.
You can also suggest new pixel art tutorial series by commenting on my profile page, on these tutorials or by sending me a note.
Enjoy!
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Comments: 482
check out my profile; that is the kind of art i produce.
It ended up like rectangle with a demented side.
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Thanks for the tutorial, helped a lot. I couldn't work out the fifth color, what bits that used for?
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3 sides, dark outline and light outline.
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This tutorial is great! Thankyou
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Thanks for this. I think the hardest part of pixel art is size and and colors.
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For me it's definitely colors.
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Thank you for this basic tutorial. Everyone needs a first step.
Since it's basic there's not a whole lot to show but there are things here that are shown as a given. For example:
- The second line we have to draw has to be a mirror of the other, but how do we do that with accuracy? The green line helps but only on an horizontal axis. How do we know the angle we drew for the first line to do it again? Do we invert it? Do we always use the shortcuts that automatically straighten a line to 0ΒΊ, 45ΒΊ, and 90ΒΊ degrees? And these are possibilities done on something like Gimp while MS Paint probably doesn't have that.
- What's the line size we should generally use for pixel art? Always 1 px? Can we do thicker, what do we lose by that?
Possibly these aren't pixel related issues, but I did think about them while trying this. So I will research how to get the angles right and read your other tutorials even if I'd like at least a link to recommended reading materials on these questions on your description or the tutorial itself just in a "Don't worry, I got you covered later on" feeling of security.
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No, MS Paint doesn't have that. It is all about looking at the pixels. As you can see then this line goes up in a certain pattern. 2 pixels to the side and one pixel up, all the time. And you just have to follow the same pattern to get the same result. It is also the most basic isometric pixel art line, meaning that most stuff is made with lines like these.
Usually people use 1px lines, but you can always make it thicker, it is all up to you. Only thing that you might lose with this is details.
Feel free to ask more questions if you feel like it and sorry for the late reply.
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What version of Paint are you using? :/
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I have actually 4 versions of paint but I mostly use paint that was made for XP or Vista.
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I am just starting to learn pixel art and this tutorial helped me create my very first pixel art! Thank you very much ^_^ If you'd like to check my attempt out, it's here: [link]
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Thanks for this! Pixel art is a completely new frontier for me, and I really want to learn. Cheers!
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I hope it will help you.
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I just love how there are wonderful poeple on the internet ready to share their knowledge to noobs like me ! Thank's Γ lot for sharing, that's a really nice and sweet tutorial !
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As long as it helps you.
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This tutorial should be titled, "How to start Isometric Pixel Art."
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This tutorial is so simple yet so helpful. One of the best Pixel Art tutorial I've seen. Thank you, my cube turned out fabulously
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Will be working on a cube now ;D
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Great tutorial! My cube turned out great!
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YAY! i'm getting there. slowly but surely. The cube took me about 18 mins. to do since i'm always using MS paint to do random things when i'm bored. But thanks for the tutorial. i'm going to apply it to what I already know about lines to try and create new things. But my only problem is that mine doesn't look as clean as yours. It's extremely pixelated but in a cutesy way. lol, I guess i'll work with it.
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It might depend on what colors you use.
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I love your tutorial! I have MS paint, but my lines are pixeled like yours, no matter how much I zoom in. Help?
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You might have a new MS paint, it needs few more settings to do simple lines.
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Thank you very much! I follow your tutorials. ^^
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:icoglompplz: Thank you so much for this!
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OMG thank you sooo much for putting this up! This has changed my Diviant life! 8D :iloveyouplz:
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I was drawing my first Pixel art Cube ever when I get to the colors. I wonder what scales of variation do I need to make shadow effect great (Only for the cube, you're using 5 types of cyan) How do we know if it's too dark or too bright?
Thanks for answering back
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It totally depends. I have always said that I am one of those pixel artists who doesn't want to count colors like many do. And I never have a specific range on colors, I rather just test different variations and pick the one that seems to be the best. So the short answer is, just decide what to you seems like a best option.
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yeah, you're right. Thanks for answering
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Wow, These tutorials looks awesome. I'm glad that you use simpls stuff like paint. It shows that we can make a lot out of very few. I'll start drawing some and I'll send em to you if you want to see em.
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In my opinion paint has everything you need for pixel art. Of course it would be a bit easier with layers but it doesn't really matter, you can make art with everything.
Of course I'm interested, send whatever you come up with.
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when doing pixel art. what size do u recommend. i have seen most of your tutorials but none of them list a resolution.
i.e. 200 by 200 pixels, or 50 by 50 pixels.
if you do not have a recommendation, or you dont think it matters, at least let me know what size you use.
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It all depends on how big I want to make it and what is the object I draw. But usually I try to keep in smaller because otherwise you have to work too hard with details.
When I make some kind of house then its usually about maybe 200 long and 100 wide. To be honest then usually I always start with 600x600 canvas and try to fit my object in there.
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Thank You for commenting back. That demystifies many of my concerns. I will try that. Utilizing separate small sized canvases on files for objects and then putting them together on a larger canvas.
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