All language subtitles for [English] The Ultimate Pixel Art Tutorial [DownSub.com]

i'm going to be teaching you everything
you need to know to not only get started

with pixel art but to really kick
start your journey as an artist

to get started with pixel art you'll need a
computer tablet or mobile device to draw the

pixel art you can use a mouse drawing tablet or
your finger whichever you prefer there's a lot of

software options to choose from pixel or specific
ones and more general or based ones i use a sprite

which is pixel art specific and i highly recommend
it but there are plenty of great free options too

use whatever is available to you most art software
use the same tools and workflow so the skills

are transferable anyway if you want to get up to
speed quickly i have this a sprite tutorial series

to help illustrate some of the things in this
video i've created this little pixel art wizard

the process for creating this character was
quite simple start with the silhouette then

define some features cleaning up the line work and
adding color before refining even further shadow

line color refine has a nice ring to it using
a silhouette is my preferred approach because

it allows me to focus on the simple shapes and
readability and the silhouette can't change a lot

throughout as well but the key shapes pretty much
stay the same notice how these little areas add

interest to what is essentially just a triangle
this isn't the only approach to making picks a lot

you can start off with construction lines this is
especially helpful for mapping out the proportions

of the character before adding any detail and
it can save you a lot of headaches later on if

you watch our good friend brandon you'll notice
he likes to use this technique a lot thanks for

the tip another process is to just go wild and
lay down a really rough idea and clean it up as

you go i actually really like this especially
for backgrounds because you can nail the vibe

early on and just relax as you clean it up though
it can be a little bit chaotic especially if you

don't know which direction you're going so you
may feel like it's not coming together for a

while but trust the process you can even design
in 2d if you prefer and then shrink it down

this gives a nice starting point but the
character detail can change a lot depending

on how far you shrink it and these aren't the
only ways to make pixel law everyone's process

is unique i'd recommend watching your favorite
artists to see their process and try out a bunch

of ways to learn what you find the most fun no
matter which way you like to work you can always

arrive at the same end point canvas size is a
tricky one because it really depends on what

you're trying to make the level of detail you
need and the project you're working on a good

exercise for beginners is to try making the same
thing in multiple different sizes like i did here

i probably could have went down at the 16 pixel
size here because the silhouette translates well

and the style is really simple so you don't lose
a lot of detail but this character is part of an

established project where size consistency will
be key to make sure things don't look mismatched

if you're a beginner i would recommend working
small to try and get used to the importance of

a single pixel a single pixel can change the way
something looks entirely and this can easily be

missed if you work in larger sizes i have a
challenge called september which is designed

to help you get used to the small size limits
check out this video if you want to learn more

after i've done a silhouette in the right size
i try and put down some basic line work to map

out the key areas here's some line work specific
techniques one thing to be aware of is doubles

this is where pixels meet and make a right angle
doubles can make the line work thicker and appear

darker or sharper in places for a single pixel
outline removing this corner pixel can lead to

cleaner and more consistent lines you can use
doubles to add shadow and having only doubles

in your outline can be a really bold style choice
juggies are when pixels in lines or curves appear

well jagged this can create unintentional
sharpness which can be fixed by removing

any out of place pixels or by giving more smooth
progressions to lines or curves but jaggies can

be useful too i actually use a jagged line
intentionally here to show off the shape of

the brow in the wizard's face remember this video
is not about good or bad it's about the awareness

and the intentional usage of these techniques to
help you achieve the look that you're going for

art fundamentals is a huge area so here are
just some of the things i wish i knew when i

was starting out let's take a look at a standard
hsv color picker where you select your colors in

most art software so you have your hues which are
basically just your colors a red hue is currently

selected you have your saturation which is the
intensity of the color this is increasing from

left to right from the neutral grays to the
highest saturation and value is how light or

dark something is this is the most important
thing which i'll get onto shortly but value is

generally increasing from bottom to top i say
generally because there's one very important

thing to understand each hue has its own perceived
value if we look at the hues in black and white or

grayscale you'll notice that the yellow has the
lightest value while the blues and the purples

have the darkest value so how does this apply to
the colour picker well we have four examples here

with different hues selected red yellow green and
blue i've selected a colour in the same position

of all of them in the top right hand corner even
though they're in the same position if we convert

this to black and white we can see that each of
the values are very different this is important to

keep in mind when selecting your colours value is
the most important thing to consider because it's

how you give your art a sense of 3d form and depth
using light and shadow it really doesn't matter

what colors you choose if your value selections
and value range is incorrect just won't look right

in art software you can quickly check the values
of your piece by placing a layer filled with black

on top and setting that layer mode to color it's
actually not a totally accurate representation

of the values but it's good enough for a quick
reference too many saturated colors in a piece

can make the colors clash be difficult to look
at and burn your eyes and a lot of desaturated

colours can look muted and washed out you can
use saturated colours sparingly and intentionally

to add areas of interest and focal points but
remember value is the most important i wanted

to show you this piece which uses really highly
saturated colours but the value structure is still

on point so it works there lots of different
types of contrast in visual art value hue

shape detail just to name a few high contrast
between things means that there's a large

difference and low contrast means that these
things are more similar you can use high

contrast areas to attract the viewer's eye and low
contrast for areas of rest and repetition contrast

is relative though if everything is low contrast
you get unity and pattern-like visual behavior and

for high contrast areas to stand out you need
those low contrast areas to allow it to do so

if i was to put in a bunch of texture and detail
into the wizard's beard for example the face would

stand out a lot less try and think how you can use
contrast to emphasize important parts of your work

understanding how light and shadow works can
help you shade things properly and use value

to show the 3d form if i shine a light at this
ball we can see factors that make up a basic

light model the ball blocks the light to create
a cast shadow and darken the side of the ball

the darkest part of the shadow is where the ball
makes contact with the surface which is known as

the occlusion shadow on the lit side we have our
mid tones and highlight we have our terminator

where the light transitions to shadow we also
have bounce light which is the light reflecting

from the surroundings and back onto the object
increasing the value of the cold shadow it's not

necessary to draw all of these factors in pixel
art as this might be too complicated depending

on the size you're working in but it's up to
you and the style you're going for one thing to

remember how shadow and light works really depends
on the amount of light sources their strengths and

the surrounding environment if you want to deep
dive into these topics i would highly recommend

james gurney's color and light one thing i see
quite often is if you don't consider the form

and just shade around the outsides of the object
you get this effect known as pillow shading which

doesn't aid in describing the form of the object
making it look flat materials reflect light in

different ways too notice how the matte yellow
ball doesn't have a strong highlight as the light

is diffused across the surface but the glossy
8-ball and metal object have stronger highlights

and reflect surfaces and objects if you want to
portray a particular material like wood or gold

consider how that material reflects light and use
a value structure and range that helps show that

you may hear or see colors being described as
warm and cool if we look at these two colours

the central colour appears cool compared to the
red and in this example the colour appears warm

compared to the blue it's actually the same
neutral gray that appears differently because

of the surrounding colours if we look at the red
and blue together in this example the blue is the

cooler color and the red is the warmer color but
if we take that same red and put it against this

new red our original red on the left is now the
cooler color the thing to take away here is that

colors are relative and will appear differently
depending on the colors surrounding it the colour

of an object is massively influenced by the light
sources and surrounding objects and environment

notice how the yellow balls colour changes as i
change the colour of the light source and it also

takes on the red of my sketchbook because of the
reflected bounce light hue shifting is a technique

i've seen a lot and i think it is a simplification
of this it's also to try and make your colors more

interesting so when you add shadow for example
instead of just shifting the value of the color

to make it darker you can shift the hue as well
towards a different color like i did here when i

shifted the shadows towards purple and the lights
towards yellow notice the difference between

a pure value change and the value and hue change
let me know which style you prefer in the comments

another kind of common beginner thing i see is
the random use of lots of different colours this

can make an image look unintentionally noisy and
you can lose control of your colour palette and

value structure it can help to limit your colour
range to try and get more cohesion in your work

if you struggle with colour selections and want
to make your life a little bit easier you can use

predefined color palettes they're also great for
getting a specific look like the game boy palette

there are lots of pre-made palettes on low spec or
you can just pick colors from your favorite movies

or or whatever and make your own but a palette
doesn't do all the hard work for you you'll

still have to consider the hue saturation value
contrast and style you're going for when you're

creating art dithering is a technique where you
create patterns to blend or give the illusion that

there are more colors than there actually are if
we have a limited palette of only black and white

we can create this checkerboard pattern to create
the midtone if we look from far away or blur it

notice how it appears great with varying pattern
complexities we can create a whole value scale

from black to white you can be really creative
with dithering and the patterns that you use

can have different effects this one looks more
noisy and gritty for example you can even use

dithering to create new colours by mixing colours
in patterns which is especially useful if you're

working from a limited palette dithering can look
noisy and add unintentional texture especially in

smaller sprites so be careful with your usage
i really like this little portrait i think it

uses dithering really well even in the smaller
spaces anti-aliasing or a a is a technique used

to soften pixel lock to achieve this we choose
a color with a value which is between the two

immediate colors here we see a circle with no
anti-aliasing so it looks sharp the second has

some anti-aliasing which successfully softens the
shape but the third one has too much which softens

the circle but also alters the shape by adding
these corners you gotta be selective and make

sure it doesn't change the shape in this example
we have internal and external anti-aliasing but

note that if the background changes the effect of
the external anti-aliasing stops working because

of the value change as i've mentioned a lot the
value is the most important so you can be creative

with the hue if you like it can even be used to
alter the appearance of your linework making it

appear thinner in some parts looking at the wizard
here's an example with too much anti-aliasing it's

really not required at all but if i was going to
use any as a style choice i might use it to soften

the beard this is quite an advanced technique
i think and you have to be careful with your

application but as some inspiration this is one
of my favorite examples of using anti-aliasing

really well using shading or anti-aliasing
techniques for the entire length of an outline can

lead to an effect known as banding this can make
your image look immediately flat or noisy instead

of helping to build the form you can kind of see
this with pillow shading which i described earlier

now a bunch of different outline styles here's a
few that i can think of off the top of my head a

single black outline looks graphic or cartoony and
it's great for animation a double outline looks

really thick as we saw earlier when we looked
at doubles you can use a normal outline with a

different color this can reduce the contrast and
sharpness of the outline there's a colored outline

which represents the area that it's outlining we
have a light source outline which represents the

area it's outlining and the direction of a light
source we have selective outline or sellout where

anti-aliasing is used in the linework to help
describe the form we have broken outlines which

is a form of selective outlining where parts
of the outline are left out completely again

to help describe the form you can even use no
outlines if you want for the wizard i've used

a single pixel black outline because it fits into
the style that i'm going for i've also broken the

outline a little in the hat to make that shape
read more clearly doing pixel art with clusters

in mind is the technique of pairing up pixels or
multiple pixels to form chunks to describe areas

generally avoiding single pixels a single pixel
or orphan pixel can introduce noise or look out of

place amongst clusters but they can't be used to
add details highlights especially in small pixel

lot and even introduce a noisy or gritty effect if
that's what you're going for the wizard's eyes are

single pixels which is necessary because of the
size of the sprite and also just because i like

the way it looks i thought this piece was really
interesting because it basically only uses single

pixels while it may look noisy and gritty it
works really well for the style of the piece

one thing to note when taking reference from
retro game pixel art is the fact that some of

these games were being displayed on crt monitors
which put simply blurs pixels if we look at the

raw pixels of rystar an old sega game we see the
pixels very clearly might even be able to spot

some banding and jaggies but none of that matters
if we actually look at how it was displayed on

the clt screens in a 2017 interview the creators
of sonic and tails mentioned that once they were

aware of this they started designing everything
to make use of the blurriness even using it to

create intermediate colors while i can't say
for sure that all retro pixel art games were

designed intentionally for the crt blurriness
it's something to keep in mind when looking for

reference or inspiration because today we mainly
see the raw clean pixels without any filtering

using your knowledge of art fundamentals
and pixelart techniques as well as your own

personal tastes there are an endless amount of
styles you can come up with you might like the

way one thing looks while someone else doesn't
there is no right or wrong style but remember

making informed and consistent style choices
can be helpful to ensure everything you're

making looks intentional and fits into the world
you're building there is a lot of information

in this video that i've been practicing for
years and i am still learning so please don't

be discouraged if it seems like a lot the
most important part is that you're having

fun and enjoying the journey because art is a
lifelong process make sure you subscribe for

more art videos and if you're interested in
supporting the channel further check out the

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i'd really appreciate it thanks for watching