What art style should I use for making 2D game assets if I do not have a drawing tablet

[Deleted User]

I am making my own 2D game assets and I cannot decide on a art style I was going to do pixel art but then I read a article that pixel art is to common and so I decided to try vector art but I do not know if this is a good path to follow I also only have mouse to do art otherwise I would just draw some free hand chibis but free hand with a mouse is like trying to steer a boat with a toothpick any suggestions you wish to provide would be much appreciated thank you

 

[FAST6191]

Articles say many things. Make your art good and nobody will care

Using a mouse takes longer but should still get it done, especially if you just work on a small selection of characters rather than having a whole few hundred of them.

Vector is OK. If doing it with a mouse I might instead try some form of tracing -- shove a bitmap image you like into the editor, find the end points on each curve and draw a line between them, now match the curve of that point, repeat for image, adjust to allow it to perform in whatever style you need (exaggerated poses tend to do a bit better, or see why the animation on the right hand side of http://www.javalemmings.com/DMA/Lem_1.htm works).

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I am making my own 2D game assets and I cannot decide on a art style I was going to do pixel art but then I read a article that pixel art is to common and so I decided to try vector art but I do not know if this is a good path to follow I also only have mouse to do art otherwise I would just draw some free hand chibis but free hand with a mouse is like trying to steer a boat with a toothpick any suggestions you wish to provide would be much appreciated thank you

Pixelart is common, but that's not a bad thing in itself. It's just that a lot of devs use it as an excuse to be lazy and make very simple graphics, lacking in detail and/or shading.
It's possible to make beautiful looking games with pixelart, and that's where pixelart really shines, but you have to put effort in to make that happen.

 

[Deleted User]

Articles say many things. Make your art good and nobody will care

Using a mouse takes longer but should still get it done, especially if you just work on a small selection of characters rather than having a whole few hundred of them.

Vector is OK. If doing it with a mouse I might instead try some form of tracing -- shove a bitmap image you like into the editor, find the end points on each curve and draw a line between them, now match the curve of that point, repeat for image, adjust to allow it to perform in whatever style you need (exaggerated poses tend to do a bit better, or see why the animation on the right hand side of http://www.javalemmings.com/DMA/Lem_1.htm works).

Okay thank you I will have to try this

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Pixelart is common, but that's not a bad thing in itself. It's just that a lot of devs use it as an excuse to be lazy and make very simple graphics, lacking in detail and/or shading.
It's possible to make beautiful looking games with pixelart, and that's where pixelart really shines, but you have to put effort in to make that happen.

Okay I think I may lean towards pixel art I would like to make my characters shaded and to look as good as possible so I will look for some basic tutorials online thank you for the suggestion

 

[JuanMena]

Depends on which look you want to achieve.
It's not like you'll create "better" assets with a drawing tablet.

Here's the thing:

Rasters: You'll need a tablet to really have control on what you want to do. With enough pattience you can do it with a mouse if you're really doing simple stuff such as pixel art.

Vectors: This is the way I WOULD GO WITH. Just download Inkscape (NOTE: DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE v0.92.3 BECAUSE IT'S MISSING ALL IT'S FILTERS)
You can use a mouse to do your art, and it's easier in this way.
Yes, there's a learning curve with Inkscape, but have in mind that it's free and it's very, very powerful for what you want to do.
Working with Vectors is not that hard. It's a bit depending on CPU power though, because you must have in mind that vectors, no matter how small you go with them, they'll always keep a perfect and clean quality, so they use maths to calculate every single bit of your picture.
With Inkscape you can use your mouse or the touchpad if you're on a laptop, and it's as easy as pointing and clicking where you want to draw.
With Inkscape, you can achieve anything you want to. It has many tools on a toolbar. Take a look at this site: CLICK ME!
If you decide to give Inkscape a try, be sure to learn how to modify each tool's properties in order to achieve what you want to achieve.

 

[Deleted User]

Depends on which look you want to achieve.
It's not like you'll create "better" assets with a drawing tablet.

Here's the thing:

Rasters: You'll need a tablet to really have control on what you want to do. With enough pattience you can do it with a mouse if you're really doing simple stuff such as pixel art.

Vectors: This is the way I WOULD GO WITH. Just download Inkscape (NOTE: DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE 0.93v BECAUSE IT'S MISSING ALL IT'S FILTERS)
You can use a mouse to do your art, and it's easier in this way.
Yes, there's a learning curve with Inkscape, but have in mind that it's free and it's very, very powerful for what you want to do.
Working with Vectors is not that hard. It's a bit depending on CPU power though, because you must have in mind that vectors, no matter how small you go with them, they'll always keep a perfect and clean quality, so they use maths to calculate every single bit of your picture.
With Inkscape you can use your mouse or the touchpad if you're on a laptop, and it's as easy as pointing and clicking where you want to draw.
With Inkscape, you can achieve anything you want to. It has many tools on a toolbar. Take a look at this site: CLICK ME!
If you decide to give Inkscape a try, be sure to learn how to modify each tool's properties in order to achieve what you want to achieve.

Okay I have downloaded inkscape already so I will give this a shot does it have to be inkscape or do you think Gimp would be a valid alternative thanks

 

[Mythical]

I would try making demo characters using various art styles. Think of how many art styles there are for pokemon games and such
Also Aseprite is a great program for making pixel art and it's like 15 bucks on steam, but is on sale for $10.50 (USD) rn. There's also pixelmash if that interests you (usually 25 is 15 rn)
and this includes all future versions
https://store.steampowered.com/app/431730/Aseprite/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/958210/Pixelmash/

 

[Deleted User]

I would try making demo characters using various art styles. Think of how many art styles there are for pokemon games and such
Also Aseprite is a great program for making pixel art and it's like 15 bucks on steam, but is on sale for $10.50 (USD) rn. There's also pixelmash if that interests you (usually 25 is 15 rn)
and this includes all future versions
https://store.steampowered.com/app/431730/Aseprite/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/958210/Pixelmash/

Okay thank you when I draw using paper I do a manga style so I thought I would transfer this style to my game assets

Such as this

 

[JuanMena]

Okay I have downloaded inkscape already so I will give this a shot does it have to be inkscape or do you think Gimp would be a valid alternative thanks

I use both for entirely different reasons.
GIMP sucks ass nowadays.

 

[Deleted User]

I use both for entirely different reasons.
GIMP sucks ass nowadays.

is gimp not a good program ? for pixel art and such

 

[JuanMena]

is gimp not a good program ? for pixel art and such

It used to be an amazing software.
Nowadays it's full of bugs and glitches.

Stick with early 2.10.X or with the last 2.8.22
If you want to suffer less with pixel art, go with 2.8.22

 

[Deleted User]

I use both for entirely different reasons.
GIMP sucks ass nowadays.

Well Regardless I am now using inkscape tonight I will try some vector graphics

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It used to be an amazing software.
Nowadays it's full of bugs and glitches.

Stick with early 2.10.X or with the last 2.8.22
If you want to suffer less with pixel art, go with 2.8.22

After screwing up my window 7 OS I installed Linux Mint OS and gimp is the default program it seems to work okay for me krita is a pile of glitches thank you for the art advice I will try vector graphics as well as pixel graphics

 

[JuanMena]

Well Regardless I am now using inkscape tonight I will try some vector graphics

I know you're not asking for this but I'll say it anyways:

GIMP is useful. But the newest releases from the 2.10.X branch are fucking slow and they'll crash for no reason. No matter how many times you'll report the same bug to the developers they just won't fix things because they do not have Windows developers. So you're out of luck if you use GIMP + WINDOWS
So please, stay with 2.8.22

INKSCAPE: It may seem hard at first. It has this awful bug where it won't save the position of your dockable dialogs (Layers, Text, Paths, etc.) and you'll have to set them up every single f***ing time you launch the software.
It will become easier to use as you use it. What I used to do was to scan my hand drawn drawings and trace them with Inkscape to get nice lines. But it's a bit tedius and slow, specially if you're first learning how to use a Vector software such as Inkscape. Just bear with it, learn, ask if you have troubles and it'll become easy to use with a Mouse. It actually sucks with a Tablet to be honest.

NOW... I own a wacom tablet and I've changed GIMP for Sketchbook.
I still use Inkscape when I'm working on logos or other things that requires precise design (like technical or industrial design) and it's also an amazing software to illustrate. Just do not expect it to be as fluid as butter because it won't be. And you'll end up with HUGE SIZE FILES before you realize it and it'll slow down your machine.

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After screwing up my window 7 OS I installed Linux Mint OS and gimp is the default program it seems to work okay for me krita is a pile of glitches thank you for the art advice I will try vector graphics as well as pixel graphics

Just remember that you can set up a GRID in GIMP, and you can SNAP your mouse to the grid.
That'll make things a little bit easier if you're doing pixel art.

 

[Deleted User]

I know you're not asking for this but I'll say it anyways:

GIMP is useful. But the newest releases from the 2.10.X branch are fucking slow and they'll crash for no reason. No matter how many times you'll report the same bug to the developers they just won't fix things because they do not have Windows developers. So you're out of luck if you use GIMP + WINDOWS
So please, stay with 2.8.22

INKSCAPE: It may seem hard at first. It has this awful bug where it won't save the position of your dockable dialogs (Layers, Text, Paths, etc.) and you'll have to set them up every single f***ing time you launch the software.
It will become easier to use as you use it. What I used to do was to scan my hand drawn drawings and trace them with Inkscape to get nice lines. But it's a bit tedius and slow, specially if you're first learning how to use a Vector software such as Inkscape. Just bear with it, learn, ask if you have troubles and it'll become easy to use with a Mouse. It actually sucks with a Tablet to be honest.

NOW... I own a wacom tablet and I've changed GIMP for Sketchbook.
I still use Inkscape when I'm working on logos or other things that requires precise design (like technical or industrial design) and it's also an amazing software to illustrate. Just do not expect it to be as fluid as butter because it won't be. And you'll end up with HUGE SIZE FILES before you realize it and it'll slow down your machine.

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Just remember that you can set up a GRID in GIMP, and you can SNAP your mouse to the grid.
That'll make things a little bit easier if you're doing pixel art.

Okay thank you for your input I am homeschooled and so I can devote alot of time to figuring out new software so it should be a fun learning experience

 

[JuanMena]

Okay thank you for your input I am homeschooled and so I can devote alot of time to figuring out new software so it should be a fun learning experience

Good luck on your projects.

 

[Deleted User]

Good luck on your projects.

Thank you sensei

 

[JuanMena]

sir

Nooooooo

 

[Deleted User]

Nooooooo

???

 

[Uiaad]

@RyuShinobi500 I believe @Interstella5555 Dislikes being called Sir. Which I completely understand as im the same way.

 

[JuanMena]

@RyuShinobi500 I believe @Interstella5555 Dislikes being called Sir. Which I completely understand as im the same way.

You're very right sir.