Zinarei's Academy for the Elite Spritists, Professor - Azriel D. Leonce

I am Zinarei, and I am a dedicated scholar. I am also intending on becoming a teacher. I won't let you call me an "expert spritist", but I am more advanced than most. I've established one conclusion: Some people get caught in a creative slump for sometimes years when it comes to any art. In which case we are talking about spriting. It is hard to sprite in the custom sense. You must learn everything from the pallets for the imparticular game to the dimensions, the curves, and the shading style. Now then, during the course of my stay here I shall post up tutorials on usefull things all spritists should know about spriting. You may not know certain shortcuts and such needed to sprites and you may not yet know how to adapt to a certain style. Not only may all this help novices, but it may also help veterans whom need certain help. I'm not a spriting god, but I should be able to help a lot of you.

In this topic I would like you to post any and all questions you have about spriting. I will not be lazy with my answers, nor will I ignore any of you. (Unless ofcourse one of you decides to behave like a fool.)

Some may say "I want to see your work if you claim to be such a good spritist." and I assure you that soon enough I shall post more of my work. I do not work well on pressure so the less you ask, the less you'll wait. I am currently working on a certain sprite sheet.

I will now allow you to ask whatever you wish about spriting. Ask away, don't be shy. If I don't know the answer I'll find out for you. I shall periodically update this topic.

Ok, I'll begin slow with a few basic questions:

1 - pillow shading - what is it, and how can I avoid it best?

2- Ok, I've done recolours but I want to improve more how do I go about this?

3 - Inspiration is the basis for everything, what is the best way to get inspired? (Yes I know this isn't necessarily a spriting question per say... as much as a general arts question, and it would be useful to hear input on it.)

Javiers not gonna be back till very later today but I think I can answer that!

Pillow shadeing- starting with a dark shade on the edges of the sprite and getting lighter as you go inward.

EX:

One Side-Dark Medium Light Medium Dark-Other Side

Thats the only one I really know...I think.

Rest assured, that won't happen, the members here, [albeit, silly sometimes (but seriously, who isn't)] are highly intelligent, respectful, and are very courteous and mature individuals. You'd be hardpressed to find members like them anywhere else, or so I've been told. Those that aren't, [courteous and respectful, that is] as past occurences dictate, are quickly shown the door. We do not take kindly to blatant ignorance, arrogance, and disrespect here. You can ask anybody.

Jus' like I told ya on MSN, Javi-I mean Zin!

No morons here!

My apologies for not being online yesterday. I went out of state and wasn't back until after midnight. Now then, I would like to answer your questions with demonstrations:



The Sonic head to the left is shaded normally for that style, however, the Sonic head to the right is not. This is a shading technique referred to commonly as pillow shading. Seth's explanation was very much correct. It is when the spritist in question is using a darker shade of the same color inside the border of the sprite, and then keeps using lighter colors to trace the next border until the space is full. For newer spriters it does give off a nice effect indeed, however, it's not an effect to be imparticularley proud of. When ever you use these pillow shaded sprites in comics, flashes, or otherwise they end up looking off and they just give a less than professional look. I'd like all who read this to try to stay away from this type of shading and try shading by using a "source of light" in order to determine where the darker and lighter shades of said color should go. I don't always use this method because I often work with what I would like to call "Pitch Dark" shading technique, in which I shade it all dark toned in order to bring out the effect that said character is either in total darkness or dimmed light setting. I do this for the sake of what I might use the sprites for, though. Recently I have been adapting to Seth's style for the reason that we are both working on a certain project.

Now then; you wish to improve your recolors? I must first know what you do to recolor said sprites. Do you do it all by a brush or what?

Now to answer the final question: Inspiration is different for each person, but I can tell you ways I usually get inspired to do something. I usually get inspired to think of story ideas while I'm listening to music of a certain genre that would suit said story or scene. Strolling through Deviant Art would inspire me to draw more. (Though it doesn't last long) My inspiration for spriting is looking through official sprites and trying to adapt to many kinds of techniques in order to find one that suits me the best. Again, it's different for everyone. Basically if you want to get inspired, look through the work of experts.

And yes, BlackAngel, I was just throwing that out in the open. I'm sure all will be just fine indeed.

I'll be back to answer questions at around 11:00 P.M. (Eastern Time)