Cat's Monster Maker Pixel Tutorial! [with many pictures]

[Cat]

_**Welcome to my 1st tutorial! :D**_

_Today I will show you how to create a monster for a 2D MMORPG.
Please notice that I will only show you the front view of this monster but with this tutorial you can easily create the other views of the monster, too. :)_

**Some facts about sprites**

You are able to find the right .bmp file in 'Client -> data files -> graphics -> characters'
There you can see three already made characters (in Eclipse Origins)
Right-click one of it and 'edit' it. If you haven't managed that a .bmp file opens with another program, paint will open.

Now you can see that there are four lines with four same people…
**WRONG:** _They're not same._ Every 'sprite' (sprite = the person that you're going to edit now) does have something different compared to the one before. These four people should make an animation, that's why everyone is different, as I said before.

**Let's create your first monster!**

1)
Use the **size of the made sprite** to have the right size for your own monster.
First, draw with the pencil tool a half of your monster. [use the loup tool to draw better]
I've decided to make a nasty frog :)

[](http://img15.imageshack.us/i/76880861.png/)
You can see half of my frog.

2)
**Copy** your half, **paste** it in the same file and **rotate** it.
Now you should have something like that:

[](http://img694.imageshack.us/i/58607715.png/)
You can see both halfs combined to one.

3)
Now draw some **details**. Use your imagination to make your monster to anything special! :D

[](http://img839.imageshack.us/i/65662272.png/)
You can see a few details.

4)
According to that, draw more and more details. Details are very important for every monster.

[](http://img863.imageshack.us/i/14480794.png/)
You can see more details like the teeth.

5)
Now it's color time! Don't use colors like pink or bright yellow if you don't want a cute monster. Take more **aggressive colors** like dark green, brown or dark blue (dark colors are very aggressive) ;)
Avoid taking more than three colors for one monster in that size.

[](http://img163.imageshack.us/i/26806489.png/)
You can see a dark green frog and grey teeth.

6)
Many people probably think, shading is something very difficult. But **it's not**. You have to choose the right color first, then go to the **color palette**. Choose a bit darker green for the area below and some brighter green for the area above.

[](http://img853.imageshack.us/i/56268421.png/)
You can see the color palette.

That's my result of shading. I haven't used much :)
[](http://img806.imageshack.us/i/54614309.png/)

7)
You probably think now 'oh yeah - this is it!' but unfortunately I must disappoint you :P
There's still much more to do. Your sprite is still waiting for its animation. So you need to draw 15 more of it. Three more from the front, four more from the left side, the right side and from back.
[I'll only attend you till you've finished the front - The rest can be made by yourself after this tutorial]

**Copy and paste** your sprite four times next to each other like this:

[](http://img842.imageshack.us/i/86923499.png/)
You can see four frogs next to each other.

8)
I've decided that the frog **jumps** while moving. So I make the 2nd and the 4th sprite higher. They're the **'movement sprites'** now. The other both are the **'basic sprites'**.

[](http://img849.imageshack.us/i/60120717.png/)
You can see the two **'movement sprites'** and the two **'basic sprites'**

9)
Now use the **circle tool** to make a shade under the 'movement sprites'.
Here's a picture of it:

[](http://img854.imageshack.us/i/40216621.png/)
The **red marked** tool is the circle tool I've used to make a shade under the 'movement sprites'.

10)
After creating the circles, you should change **the feet** to make it more '**alive**'. Now it still looks boring but with a little bit of drawing you can do it. :)

[](http://img43.imageshack.us/i/95207492.png/)
I made it like this. But use **your imagination** to make it even better.

**Now you're finally finished. Your result is great!**

**Animation:**
[](http://picasion.com/)

[RyokuHasu]

Great job ^_^ kudos to you

Personaly i use configure grid, show grid, and snap to grid in GIMP opensource image editor to make the cells all the same size =D

[Grizzy]

I already do pretty much this same process lol, but this is def a good tut for someone new trying to figure out how to make monsters.. its all about imagination. (:

[SawQuart]

Yeah, very good tutorial for beginners! I would suggest adding one more lighter shade of green above the monster's eyes though.

[Cat]

thank you….I think I should change it ;)

[Jeff]

this is an extremely minimal tutorial and doesn't really teach the SECRETS of pixel art.  I'd say for 32x32 sprites you should use 3 shades of the base color.  for 64x64 I think you should use 5 colors.  You skip over Hue-Shifting, which is important, but not neccessary i guess in an extremely basic tutorial.  Also, you use a 12:00 lighting source and you don't mention that they could use any light source they wanted(which I guess is uneccessary).  Lastly, the outline is sloppy.  In my opinion that's the only thing that makes this tutorial actually bad.  You should only use 1 pixel width outline throughout the whole sprite.  I guess it's alright for beginners but it doesn't really teach them much but how to create good habits for themselves or how to use professional techniques.

tl;dr:The tutorial is too brief and uses bad outlining technique.  Make it more extensive and go more indepth.

Oh, and will you add a tutorial for sideview and back view?  I feel that if you add that and fix the outlining it will be alright.

[Cat]

If I have time, I will add it :)
thanks for the constructive critism.

[MrKris]

Nice tutorial. Not much you can improve on, except (I know you said this) you should add in the other side's of the monster. (Left, Right, Back) it would be a lot of help for beginners to know what patterns they go in.