Scratch Tutorial

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Scratch Tutorial; by Lord Vic
Topic Started: Jan 18 2009, 08:35 PM (123 Views)
Aviculor	Jan 18 2009, 08:35 PM Post #1
Forum Master Posts: 123 Group: Chief Admin Member #1 Joined: January 18, 2009	11 steps to scratch spriting, with tips and advice. 1. think of a concept. it helps to put thought into your work so you have a focused goal. work with what inspires you, especially animals you like. 2. give yourself plenty of space when you open your paint window, so you aren't obstructed by boundaries. also, magnify it to 8x. you'll get the hand of it eventually and get a sense of proportion through muscle memory. 3. i always make the outline in black first. you shouldn't use the circle or line tool unless you really need to; use the pencil and clean up your lines by right clicking the pixels you want deleted. you won't always get it on your first try. at this stage, your sprite is completely open to alteration. remember, sprites in 3/4 position are easier to shade than side-view ones. also, here's where you can make sure it's in the size limits. 4. now, it's time for the colors and shading. first order is to find a base color. default colors are a big no-no, unless it's like claws or spikes. and even then, you still have to play with the colors for shading. for those in the dark, you open the 'edit colors' by double-clicking any color square. 5. i make the darker shade afterward, making the shading coming from the top-left corner, meaning the dark shade is in the bottom-right corner of the sprite. pay attention to contours and physical features. try not to do too much dithering (checkerboard patterning), as it dulls the shading. it is useful, though, for certain textures in small quantities. don't expect to get the right hue on your first try, experiment and see how it looks from 1x. 6. the lightest shade is next, and the same rules from above apply. if your sprite's head is rounded, remember that ellipse of highlight on the top. if it's flat, like a cube or prism, the surface best facing the light source should be the highlight entirely. deviating from this can be okay depending on the sprite, but i wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you're doing perfectly. shading serpents or detailed appendages in general is pretty tricky. as i said, try things out, experiment. if you need to, refer to official sprites or the sprites of someone with experience. 7. now, the outline color. you need three of these, one for the outline on the normal shade, one for the outline on the dark shade, and one for the outline on the lightest shade. the last of which can be the darkest non-outline shade, but be careful if you do this. i wouldn't even think of using black on the outline if the sprite was extremely light-colored. 8. at this point, you can go back and work with the sprite as a whole, editing features and whatnot, just remember to edit the shading as well after it. try to visualize your creation if you can, it's something that helps me a lot. 9. sometimes, subtle details can make it look even better. and if you cut corners on detail, copy/paste it and then fix up the clone, you'll notice how that one looks better side-by-side. this technique also makes it so that if you make a mistake, you have one you didn't mess up on. 10. be open to suggestion after you've finished, uploaded it and posted it. always go .png or .gif (if you're making it transparent) by the way. after everything you've done, making minor edits here and there is nothing. also, you can go back and modify it yourself if you feel like it, especially after you've developed and improved your skills. 11. no pressure. even i was once a newb to spriting and had an entire army of not-so-good fakes, but i used them as a human ladder to where i got today. but albums of fakémon mean nothing if you don't put effort into them. if you want to improve, you have to actually want to improve. makes sense, no? things take time and you shouldn't expect this or any other tutorial to be some kind of magic key; spriting is an art, not a door. good luck and happy spriting!



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