Shiroiyuki's Battler Tutorial

[Shiroiyuki]

Note

**This tutorial will be using Photoshop primarily. I have no idea how GIMP works but I’m sure you can follow along if need be. These programs mostly do artists a universal courtesy by naming tools in similar fashion to each other**

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****Shiroiyuki's Battler Tutorial****
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Hi there!

Ever have an idea for a totally awesome-tastical battler but didn't know where to start?

WELL, this tutorial aims to assist you in creating RTP-esque battlers* for your game, as well as to discuss coloring tips, cropping and cutting techniques, finishing touches that set your battler apart, and saving outputs for optimal performance.

Important Note of Totally Useless Information

I can’t teach you how to draw but I can arm you with the tools necessary to expand upon your skills. Practice often, look at other action-type drawings to guide you, watch some old Bruce Lee movies...whatever. Just get a good idea of what you’re heading into before you start.

So how does one actually take what they have floating around their heads and turn it into artwork? Honestly, with practice, but for a more practical answer –

1. You should start with a very firm design in mind.

~Have a concept to work off of, even if that means just a face-set and/or sprite. Knowing the basics – like clothing style, hair length, facial features, etc. – helps a lot.

2. Familiarize yourself with the theme of your game and focus on enhancing it through your artwork – instead of clashing.

~For instance if your game is set in feudal Japan, circa 1400’s, you wouldn’t want characters fresh out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. Research the era and other relevant information so players take your game seriously.

3. Learn to really look at people.

~Sit in a crowded area with a sketch pad and practice drawing ‘gestures’ – quick, 30 second-or-less sketches that showcase the figure’s position and placement ONLY, disregarding details. There will be time for that later.

~Stare at people, pretend you have heat-vision if need be. Yes, this is happening. Learn how different parts of the body move, bend, and look under different lighting, from different angles, etc. If anyone questions you, tell them you don’t speak English. In plain English. Quickly sketch them and ignore.

~Study how clothing moves and how the weight of fabric affects folds. This is important! Silk folds a lot differently than, say, denim. You will increase your skill level tenfold by learning to draw realistic fabric, no pun intended.


Later on in this tutorial for those who do not possess artistic skills but still wish to have original battlers, I will show you how to make isolated color adjustments and easy tweaks to found art. Make sure you ALWAYS HAVE THE ORIGINAL ARTIST’S PERMISSION before even thinking about touching their artwork. It’s just proper and respectful, and will keep you from being bludgeoned by an easel.

After you feel comfortable with your pencil, read on.

Lesson One: Turning that Sprite into Workable Artwork! Part One


We’ll start with this sprite:


As you can see I’ve taken a regular, plain old RTP sprite from the database to work off of. Yes, you can use your own for this example, too.

1) First we want to find out as much as possible from the reference sprite.

Take a good look, note all details for later.



What I can see from looking at this sprite (and yes, I’m deviating from the built-in battler) is:
Pink hair, rather short in length and boxy. Thick bangs.

What looks like a ‘V’-cut orange tunic with red/orange puff sleeves and an open square back, which slits into two sections (front and back) towards the bottom. A silver belt. Grey/silver gloves and boots.



**I’ve just decided she’ll be a Chinese Kung-Fu fighter. Don’t ask me why, just accept it.**




Points of artistic freedom and interpretation (the sprite sheet will be changed later on): [/size]

A skintight dark – most likely dark grey or black – leotard/catsuit will be added underneath with collar exposed. This is due to the questionable dark areas already visible in sprite sheet....

Outfit shall be given oriental design elements to fit character and arm/leg skin will be darkened to show catsuit beneath. Boot details will change shape.



With me so far?

2) Next we will decide what kind of weapon would suit this character.

I’m gonna pretend she’s a minx with a Guan Dao (glaive**) and her history includes such liberties as: extensive training in martial arts, a steady diet of beating the hell out of people, and so on and so forth. Beloved child of a recently-blinded Shaolin Kung-Fu master whose only goal in life was to avenge his wife’s murderer vicariously through the daughter he raised alone.

*Snort*

Pick your own destiny but make sure to get reference pictures of the weapon of choice (including some of the weapon in use).

For completely original weaponry try to find something comparable and scout reference images for that item, tweaking as you go along. This way you can prevent such embarrassing moments as ‘wielding a crossbow like an axe’ and ‘why yes, that is a shotgun in my pocket’.

3) Sketch, sketch, sketch!

Get a pad of paper and a pencil (I use a mechanical one because I’m lazy) and start laying out the basics.

Use what you’ve established so far to pick a fitting pose.

My character is a serious, mildly sexy, no-nonsense chick who’s been bottle-fed Kung-Fu since the womb. She may have pink hair but she definitely isn’t your typical bubbly girl-next-door. She’s ready to battle at any moment, lives to kill bad guys, wastes no time in doing so, and won’t even break a sweat. Her pose is going to reflect that personality.


Side note: I was totally criticized for this piece on another forum this morning and had to LOL. Especially since the one throwing darts was in fact a crappy, crappy artist himself. HAHAHA


You may be asking yourself, ‘is all that detail really freakin’ necessary??!’ No, no it’s not. I just wanted you to see the sketch for what it will be. Simple shapes could be all it takes to get the image cemented in your mind.

As long as you know which lines to keep and which to erase you are GOOD.




Get these steps done and when ready, head to Part Two!

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Part Two will be up shortly; stay tuned ^_^


*At this time I will not be covering animated battlers; reason being they take so much damn time!
**Sort of a glaive, anyway. It’s the Chinese version of a really really pointy polearm with a crescent-shaped blade. Nasty when stabbing you. Don’t use to eat with. Try not to pick babies up with it.

I know...that last one was a tough call.

[Boot]

I haven't picked up a pencil and paper for about two years or so, for me this first part is a given for any budding artist, so I can't wait to see what comes up in part two. :D

Based on your siggie, it should be good. I never could get my colouring technique down, so i'd really like to learn from someone who knows what they're doing.

[Shiroiyuki]

Lesson One: Sprite-to-Battler, PART TWO

1) The Perspective Test

Alright! Now that you have a workable sketch you feel comfortable with....flip it over. Yes, you heard me correctly; turn the paper upside down.

Hold this up to the light and see what it looks like.



Notice anything? What we just thought was perfect now looks...off. This is because our minds work in very one-sided ways. We accept imperfections and problems with perspective because we don’t wish to see them. Flipping the paper over forces our eyes take it all in.

Make sure to fix any problem areas before inking, if possible.

2) INKING!

Yay, fun stuff.

Go over your pencil lines with an ink pen. BUT WAIT! Not just any old ordinary ink pen will do. Well, okay, yeah it probably would....but for nice, crisp, clean lines – you need something better than that old chewed up Officemate you found beneath your couch cushion.

This is the only time I ever splurge on art crap. Seriously. Invest in a nice ballpoint pen (or heck, go for the ink-pot-and-fountain-pen system if you are really serious) with a fine tip on it. I’d say .5 or .7 is best for line work, but it depends on the person’s style. Find one that works for you and go at it.

Always test the pen on another sheet of paper before using it on artwork. That way if there is any built-up gunk you won’t ruin your drawing (says from experience -_-).

Take your time and try to be as neat and ‘flowing’ as possible. Experiment with line thickness. I know it is hard your first time, but you’ll get it eventually.

If you make any mistakes or cross any lines that aren’t supposed to be crossed, don’t sweat it. We can rebuild them, we have the technology.



As you can see I fixed some issues (like hand placement, hair/head shape, thigh muscle, and right foot) in the last step before inking.

Erase all pencil lines OR leave a few in there for that ‘sketchy’ look. Depends on personal taste and style – but keep in mind if you do leave some in on this battler and have others yet to do, you also should leave pencil lines visible on those, too. Why? Because you don’t want several styles running amuck in your game. Stay consistent.

Since I’m lazy I’m going to leave them there for now and instead, cleanup the areas outside the ink lines.


3) Scan your drawing

If you don’t have a scanner available, go down to your nearest Staples and have one of those guys do it for you. Don’t take a picture with your camera phone; that will only give you the blurriest image imaginable to work with and you’ll end up hating this process with a passion.


Try to scan it using a reasonably high resolution. I go for 300 because it produces a LARGE ENOUGH IMAGE to work with and color. For black and white images you can save it as a .tif if you like without losing quality.

Send it to a folder you’ll find easily again. Desktop works, too.



Get these steps done and when ready, head to Part Three (Photoshop)!

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Part Three will be up soon.

You may be asking yourself, 'GEE SHIRO -- THIS STUFF ISN'T EVEN HELPFUL TO ME. BORING! WHY SHOULD I BOTHER READING?!?!!'

Be patient; I'm trying to cater to all sorts of skill levels here so I thought I should make a very in-depth tutorial. The next part of Lesson One will be exclusively Photoshop work so you can just jump right in there if you want to. ^_^ Stay tuned.