How do I learn to draw better graphics?

Advice from James

How about an art class? You might not think that learning to draw with pen and ink would help you draw better with mouse and pixels, but it really does make a difference.

When drawing small pictures, like sprites, try using the keyboard instead of the mouse. It is much easier once you are used to it.

A good way to practice pixel-drawing is to draw a picture by hand on graph paper, and then fill in the squares that correspond to your lines.

Pick (at least) two shades of each color in the picture, one light and one dark. For example, pick two shades of brown for hair, two pinks for skin, two greens for the shirt, two blues for jeans. Then mix the two colors in the picture. You could use light on one side and dark on the other for a cast-sunlight effect, or you could use light in the center and dark on the edges for a "depth" look.

Reserve one space in your palette for a black, or some really dark color. Lots of pictures look better if you add a black or dark outline around them, or between their parts. Its hard to draw black areas because the transparent color is also black by default, but you can change the transparent color to any other color you want, and it will still be transparent.

Use the whole box! If you look at the graphics in the Final fantasy 1-6 you will see that they had even smaller walkabout pictures than the OHRRPGCE (16x16 and later 16x24) and they filled them all the way to the edges. When you are dealing with small pictures like that, always go for cartoon-like over realism. Go ahead an make peoples heads take up half the space-- it makes them bigger and easier to draw :)

Most importantly, just practice. The more you draw the better you get.

Advice from Anonymous

It would also help if you got many shades (as said before) at least 2. I use 18 different shades for most of my pictures and they turn out great. It also helps if you actually get an idea of what you are drawing. You could use another drawing program to test it first and see how it looks, then you could transfer it, or redraw it on O.H.R.RPG.C.E . Some people just can't draw, that's life, but even if you're not gifted, you can still use the many tools available to you, like the oval tool and the airbrush. With time you will learn to make better pictures just practice.

Advice from NeoTA

All there is in drawing are the fundamentals: there are many fundamental elements, like composition, line and form and rhythm, color, planes and value and lighting, that apply at all levels, from small parts of individual sprites, to individual sprites, to sets of sprites, to entire battle layouts or tilemaps. Flaws arise from either a flaw in your understanding of one or more basic elements, or a flaw in the way you've combined them. Similarly, an outstanding piece can be said to be one in which mistakes are relatively absent, rather than having any particular -element- be overwhelmingly good (although that is often also true). A strong tile or sprite may be made up of only a few strong elements, while a weak image is frequently a large assortment of effects which fail to pull together into a pleasing whole.

In that vein, consider beginning with the most minimalistic approach you can, and refining those simple elements, so that you are focusing on solid foundations rather than merely nice effects. Build your image thoughtfully from the ground up, resisting the temptation to polish anything until it is already basically sound.

IMO the most important point is to think like a concept artist; if you focus on communicating the concept behind what you are drawing strongly, more than anything else, it makes coming back and making improvements infinitely easier. Future you is not in the same mental state as present you; you may as well think of them as a whole separate person; so you need to include strong visual cues and as many cues as possible. You can get to subtlety later. Polish is nice, but clarity is essential.

Feng Zha has a whole YouTube video series covering the most essential elements of concept-design-oriented drawing, ie. most of the above. 99% of the material is applicable to any type of visual art including pixel art, it's extremely focused, practical, and encouraging, and he explains in a wonderfully clear way with lots of concrete examples and plenty of review of concepts. I highly recommend it -- it changed my whole view of art and helped me to put all these separate elements together into a more integrated understanding.

Note: the series linked above is designed to be watched starting from Episode 1 and building on the concepts gradually; you need to click the 'load more' button several times until there are no more videos to list, and Episode 1 can then be found near the end of the list.

For the details of specific aspects of art, I highly recommend Arne's general art tutorial linked below.

See Also

• Gnostic Kathar-sys's Pixel Art Tutorial
• Graphics Utilities
• Graphics Wizardry
• So You Want To Be A Pixel Artist? (hamster republic mirror) (gas13 mirror) (pete's qb site mirror)
• Pixel Tutorials on Deviantart
• Mark's Pixel Art Tutorial
• Cure's Pixel Art tutorial (covers most major concepts)
• RPG Perspective guide. plus plenty of other perspective related goodies. A lot of content and still in progress :)
• Arne's general 'art-ing' guide. Reviews many important general art practices and concepts in a brief, concise, well illustrated way
• Arne's pixel art technique tutorial (Work in Progress!). Covers a lot of common problems relatively specific to pixel art, and ways to solve them. Only 20% complete at time link was added, but still well worth checking out. Comparable to Cure's tutorial, but takes a different approach -- a full tutorial/exploration of the subject, rather than Cure's relatively brief glossary of common errors.