I didn't thought anyone would ask lmaoo but suree!!
Header Tutorial (most simplest one lol)
It's very basic and simple. First, gather your materials from Google or any other apps you use. I personally use Pinterest for this step.
For the middle, you can choose anything. I mostly use photos that associate with both characters, like Ratio's book or Aventurine's chip coin.
Apps you'll need are the following:-
Pinterest or Google (search for "remove.bg"; it easily removes the background of a photo).
Ibis Paint X
Once you've gathered your materials, open ibis Paint X, tap the "+" icon, and select "Header."
Then adjust your character icons/pfp photos.
Then, press add another layer and do this:
Press the layers button again and choose the blending mode, select overlay and adjust it to your liking.
Add the materials/accessories, press the brush button. Choose filter and find style.
When you've found it, press that and look for the drop shadow(use this for accessories not the chibi stickers)
Add the stickers when you are done with the accessories, choose filter again, choose style and press stroke(outer) and adjust to your liking. When done with that, choose drop shadow and again adjust to your liking.
When you're done with that, go back to the layer you used overlay on and press the brush, frame divider and and adjust to your liking.
Make the blending mode Add and adjust to your liking again and then you're done! :DD
Sorry for the horrible explanation, Tumblr won't let me upload vids đ so I've to resort to pics, I hope this helped, if you have any further inquiries, feel free to ask!
hello! do you have any tips for creating your own psds? right now I'm just sort of throwing things at the wall and hoping it sticks!
Hi hi nonnie! I am NOT the best person for you to ask this (not in a miiile) BUT I tried making this in the most concise way I could and prayed to god it didn't get too confusing since a lot of the times I too just throw things at a wall and call it a day. I'll teach my usual psd making style and a more general one just in case that's what you were looking for! They're under the cut since it probably will get a tiny bit long but I hope it's helpful to you! <3 as always reminder that there is no correct way to make a psd this is just how i do etc etc
This has a lot of text and images so beware of the big scary maica
First of all: While you certainly *can* make a psd based solely out of one image or a compilation of your own edits (as i have done on the past), I'd say in general it's more useful and easier to make something when you have more than a singular image to check and a color spread to use. I made this little template in 5 minutes (which is a lie because my photopea crashed at first and so I had to re-do it) and I'll link it here alongside the psd itself so you can poke around and check how I do things! If you want to do your own template or anything, though, here's the color spread I use! :]
It has a spectrum, a bar line and some skin tones so it should be helpful! You can also use Travi3sapsd swatches if you'd like, since I know some people would prefer having a view of the colors before and after the psd to check!
Talking about skin tones, Amemcth also has a nice collage with characters of varying skin tones so you can check how your psd look on different skin tones. I don't think it's obligatory for all psds to look fine with every skin tone, however, I think if you're not doing it for a singular character and are indeed posting that psd for public use, making it work with darker skin tones is something good and that I encourage. If it doesn't work, remember to always indicate it by adding a "Works fine on most skin tones" or "Doesn't work on poc characters". Those warnings can also be useful for other things, like not indicating the usage of the psd on irl pictures, cartoon pictures etc.
So, final thing before we get into psd making itself (if you are using a image mask template to check colors) is adding the images! I always recommend adding characters from different sources and irl images to be sure, and with either varying colors across the spectrum so you can be certain the psd is working nicely OR images that feel similar enough in vibes so you can be certain the vibes of the psd are going towards where you'd like them to. However, it's also important to consider which colors you will be working with to make the psd, since I think it's easier to make a psd for a character when you have something in mind. For my own psds, I usually limit myself to a maximum of three colors + black and white (which I'll mess with to change their tones), so for this tutorial I'll be using yellow, purple and pink! This is the where we start. (I won't be trying to keep skintones working for this since it's all pale characters, but please have the common sense to make psds that work if you're editing a black character. don't make them white and for the love of god don't make them grayish)
Also reminder before anything that if you're editing a card and that card works weirdly with the psd you can always add adjustment layers to the card itself and mess up with the hues on it hashtag editing some characters just are a pain in the ass to edit because of colors being too similar etc so don't be afraid to fight them
First: Make A Folder for your psd to be built on. It makes things a lot easier to drag around once you have it done and arranged. Name it after the psd name, name it psd folder, whatever, just put your layers under that folder. Onto the layers.
My autistic ass mostly does psds only following one single pattern, but in case you want to mess around and play, feel free to have fun and mess around. A lot of psd making really is just messing around. In my case, these are the main adjustment layers i use: Threshold, Selective Color, Hue/Saturation, Photo Filter, Color Balance, Vibrance and, on occasion, Gradient Map and Curves. You can use others but I am >not< the best person to tell you what they do and how to work with them.
So, you now have your pretty little image layout down and the colors you want to work with in mind (pink purple yellow + bw), so what now? Well, I usually like to think on which direction I want to take this psd towards. People will always have different methods and directions on psd making. Some of them like to make some of the most eyestraining things I've ever seen which somehow work, some of them like to make a pastel so bright I can feel my eyes burning, some of them prefer to make desaturated tones, some of them like to lower the vibrancy of the image so much I almost can't see shit. Everyone has their own preferences and I work w pretty much anything, but for this I'll try to keep a standard bright view, if a little pastel and desaturated, for this.
So now, we have our colors, our images, our color swatches and a direction in mind.
First thing I like to do whenever I'm making psds is to add a threshold layer. However, not in the way I usually see around editblr. When you add a threshold layer, it should look like this
Don't just do that. Go there on that little normal bar and click it. I know people who use others, but I usually settle with either Multiply or Soft Light for it, then lower the opacity down until it's somewhere I'm satisfied with.
So this is where we end up at. I don't let my threshold opacity go any higher than a 30%. threshold basically serves to bring out the shadows on your images and bring out the shapes on them. it helps make the focus on the image clearer yadda yadda yadda. Be careful when using it on darker images, but for brighter ones it sure helps w making everything easier to see.
After adding a threshold, I add my Selective Color layer. With this you'll basically be playing around with the sliders until your colors look the way you want them to. This messes *slightly* with the hue without fully changing them (we'll get there soon), so it gives you some chance to balance out the initial shades of the psd. For the current method i'm teaching (focused colors), i usually recommend you to make the colors you >dont< want on your psd brighter or in a shade that still feels coherent with the colors you dont want in it. we'll be dealing with them soon.
So we get there. HOWEVER! don't think we're done once you mess with the main colors. the 1st selective color white is, what i'd say, one of the most important parts of psd making. you know how most anime characters in gacha games these days look pale white? Yeah. this can change it. What i usually do is bring the black slider on the white layer to the right and then increase a bit of the magenta and yellow. Boom.
It's quite tricky to use on images with heavier shadows, but for the standard pale white anime gacha character? it helps give some life to them. its quite subtle, but can help a lot to make the image get more lively. A counter thing to this is that yeahhh this can mess a lot if you want to make, you know, a >white< psd since it will also mess with the white tones themselves, so there's no 100% settled need to mess with it, just keep it in mind in case you wanna make the character a bit more tan or, you know, have a normal skintone. It also helps a lot with defining shadows, so keep it in mind :]
I usually don't mess with the neutral since it can fuck around a lot w skintones and, if i do, i always make sure to keep them on less than 20% for all levels. be careful when playing w it.
Black is a tricky one. I know a lot of you pastel girlies across editblr and psd making communities like turning it all the way down so theres no black but honestly, contrast is important. I usually make sure to bring the black scale to the right and then mess around w the other three so the black is still visible and bringing contrast to the image, but w the help of the other three, make it so the black looks softer and matches the psd itself. So, here we are!
After the selective color in my psd process, that's where we erase any unwanted color and shift the hues to where we'd like them to be. Make a hue/saturation layer and go to the colors you dont want (in our case, green and cyan) and move that hue slider to a color you want babyyy. I encourage to mess around with the color scale on the specific color so you have more power over what colors change or don't, in case it's messing with colors close to it on the scale (cyan messing with greens, greens messing with yellows etc). Be aware that doing this will fuck uppp certain images with those colors, cry about it for a bit, and go back to making your psd
If you're a picky mf just like me, you WILL add 1 or 2 more hue/saturation layers to fully clean that bar of any color you do not want. If you're normal, you'll be chill with how this looks and call it a day, so onto the next step.
After arranging your colors and possibly finding out how green is an absolute shit color to try and erase traces of, we get to color balance which is, well, where you balance the colors. go around and mess w the scale until your colors lean more towards what you want them to look like. I personally don't mess much here and the difference will be suuubtle subtle, this is more if you're just picky with colors like me and want them to look perfect in the idealized version of the psd you hold in your head.
Photo filter will basically bring the whole thing together. It serves as a filter to bring eeevery tone you have going on into a cohesive line. Always remember to lower down the density of it so the other colors are still noticeable. a lot of the time i will add more than one photo filter and play with it until I'm satisfied with how it looks <3
Then this is the time where I'll usually add ANOTHER selective color layer just to mess more with the tones and finally get them down to where I usually stop playing around.
A few more touches and you should be done! I really don't know how to even explain curves and gradient maps so play around with them for a bit and you should at least understand how they work. One thing I do a lot with my psds is make toggles to make colors darker/bring more focuses etc etc, so if you're someone who struggles to make decisions, toggles might be a good thing to add to your psds!
Now... If you don't want to limit yourself to a set number of colors? Quite simple! Simply skip the hue/saturation layer steps or delete them altogether once you're done with your psd and there, a psd that plays with the tones of the image to make them more harmonious while keeping everything cohesive! You can mess around a bit more on the two selective color layers you have if you do this by deleting the huesat layers, but it should generally look pretty nice still!
This should be it! So, to summarize everything Ive been yapping about so far...
Before diving head in, decide if you want to limit your colors or not. Also decide on a set type of psd (bright, pastel, desaturated, dark...) you want to go towards
Use multiple images to make your psd, either with similar vibes so you can ensure it's becoming something you wanted or with varying colors so you can cover your ground
Use a threshold layer with lowered opacity before anything else so the shadows on your images have more contrast
You can use a selective color layer on the white part to darken pale characters skintone and bring some more life to them, but be careful when doing this because of cards with heavier shadows, if you want to keep white as a color on the psd etc
Don't lighten the black part on the selective layer as that messes with contrast and might make your psd harder to comprehend when looking from afar
Try to still make your colors distinct enough so you're able to tell apart shapes if from afar, it can be a difficult thing to do but it helps a lot with readability
Don't be afraid to go back and forth between layers! If you're on a photo filter layer, you can always go back to make a specific color more prominent if you miss it overall
Use hue/sat as a way to change colors you don't want instead of replace color. It's tricky, but it covers more ground
Use photo filter to bring all colors more cohesion and make it so they look more harmonious
Have a headache trying to work around cards with harsher shadows
DO NOT make poc characters gray or straight up orange/red for the love of god
Feel free to make different toggles for your psds if you can't decide on which path to go towards, you can always duplicate layers and make different paths depending on what you want!
If a specific image you're using has difficult shadows or different tones to work around with the overall set, you can always just mess with that image alone and make adjustments to make it work out with the rest of the set
Remember that psds work differently on photopea and photoshop, so make sure to check that out if making them/using them/posting them anywhere and make it clear for which app they were made for!
Good luck with psd making and have fun overall! <3
Here's my psd test yet again if you'd like to mess around with it! Just don't repost and it should be fine ^^
So a couple days back, I said I wanted to make a post about editing photos when you don't use reshade. I used to be a MAC Sims 4 player, so I totally understand the FOMO of not being able to use reshade. With the rise of AI and people using GenAI to enhance their gameplay photos & even CC thumbnail previews, I'm glad there are a lot of simmers who have been sharing tons of resources & tutorials on how to make your gameplay screenies pretty with & without reshade AND WITHOUT AI <3
I'm basing this off how I used to edit my screenies back in the day. Nothing too crazy & keeping it more on the simple side for the sake of the tutorial.
This tutorial is helpful for those who:
Don't use reshade
Use photoshop or photopea
Resources:
these are resources I use/recommend! You do not have to use all of these or at all. There are also some other tutorials I linked as well that I think are helpful and could further your journey of editing your sim screenies to look pretty ~
Hazelmine PS actions
Avonlea smooth actions (mimic topaz clean)
Topaz clean
Simbuh PS actions
Squea PS actions (topaz clean)
Nords PS actions 1 & 2
Elderwisp texture packs 1 & 2
Textures I used in the tutorial
Buglar's editing tutorial
SimminginStars editing tutorial
Awkwardwhims PSD collection
Windslar PSD collection
Luvlian PSD templates
So we are going from this:
Before
To this:
After
I wanted to keep it simple and not too crazy for this tutorial. It is up to you how you want to go about your editing!
So first off, I'm going to make my photo a little brighter. I used Simbuh's Sunday Stroll action:
2. After that, we are going to fake topaz clean with Avonlea's smooth sharp action:
you could skip this step if you use topaz clean.
3. Blurring the background to mimic ADOF!:
4. Adding vignette to add a little shadows to my photo!:
5. Textures & light leaks:
Lastly, I use this action to fix the size of my photo AND ADD NOISE TO MY PHOTO!!
and we get this as the final result!:
add your psd template or in game pop up to your screenshot & you're done. Like I said before, this is just a simple way of editing your photos. You are free to go all out to transform your screenshots and trick ppl into thinking you use reshade >:3
I USE ALIGHT MOTION!! you can actually create icon masks on ibispaint or other app i just use alight motion beacuse thats where im more comfortable in, i havent do icon masks for month so i was curious about making tutorial
Decided to make my own tutorial on how to make gif stamps!! Lmk if any wording needs to be changed/updated or if you have any questions :)
I will be using this stamp template here, but you can use others! You will just have to figure out different resizing for the gifs if so.
Step 1: Go onto ezgif.com and click resizer
Step 2: upload your gif, and resize it to 93 x 48
Step 3: after clicking Resize image, click add image
Step 4: Extend the canvas size 1 time, then insert the overlay (the stamp template at the start of this post) and click upload image
Step 5: Set the location of the frame to 42 x 22.
Step 6: scroll all the way down, and click create animation. Afterwords, click crop.
Step 7: Click autocrop, then crop image.
Step 8: To save the gif stamp, you can hold on it if youâre on mobile, and Iâm assuming you double click if your own computer. You can also click save.
the ultimate beginner metadata tutorial !! by a dummy :3
HEY PALS AND PEOPLE doing some tips and tutorials ,,,, kinda explaining the metadata that people do in rentry
the site already have a "tutorial" on the "how" window, these on the post are the ones who need further explanation
i will put in topics and try to do my best on this, its a long read!
âą the border i will be using for example its by @/suturical on this post
âą now, how to understand this and make the magic happen?
GOTCHA!!!
1. Borders: container adjustements
âą the least important thing is the container width, you can put as you please but i use it on 400px â 610px, its just my recommendation
âą now the padding is important, its basically the distance between the border and the elements of your rentry
âą example: padding on 25px
âą example: padding 20px
2. Borders: slice
âą the image slice is basically how much it will slice your border and repeat it, i recommend using it 20% â 40%, however adjust as you please!
âą example: slice 37%
âą example: slice 23%
big difference isnt it? and i only changed the slice part, nothing else!
3. Borders: width
âą basically the width of the border, adjust as you please but i also recommend to put on 30px as its the maximum size you can put
âą example: width 30px
âą example: 15px width
4. Borders: repeat
âą this is another thing that dont have much secret and explanation about, there are 4 repeating types for borders, they are:
âą stretch: will stretch the original size of the border across the entire container
âą round: most used, 'normal', will make your border get around the container
âą repeat: will repeat a certain part of the graphic image across the sides
âą space: will give space between the repetitions
âą onto the next part, text!
2. Text: font applying
âą ngl its pretty simple, first catch ANY font of the google fonts site and do like the screenshot above, detail, if you font name has a space between the name (example: playfair display) you MUST put the _ to substitute the space, or it won't work
âą but if the font name doesn't have any spaces, write it normally
2. Text: text size
âą also really simple, explore the sizes on the rentry, i use it 10px â 25px, adjust to your liking!
2. Text: coloring
âą tired of coloring all sentences manually? just do the code from screenshot and input your color! it can be written like i did or the hex code/whatever!
âą you can still color things manually even when using this
âą final with all these changes:
SO THATS IT! the most important actually :33
hope it isnt confusing, any questions please send an ask!
tagging oomfie @chokingonchairs bc finally got the courage to make this and yu asked for hehe ^___^
Well, the Princess' methods are very simple! She would be glad to teach you.
A bit long graphic tutorial under cut ^_^ (all art by Iinquint on twitter)
First, we import the frame or mask you will use. You can find these by searching "rentry frame".
Then, we will import our picture and erase any excess outside of the frame.
Then we usually add a chibi, You can do this by finding chibi art and erasing the background.
And now we will add any PNGs to the graphic. We chose circle laces for this.
Now we will duplicate the layer of our chibi.
We then use the Stroke Outer filter to find dots that weren't erased, we will go to the top original later and erase where all the exposed dots are.
After that, we delete the layer & reduplicate it. Then we use stroke outer for a white outline, and then a black one. If the chibi or whatever you are using is white or very light already, feel free to reverse the white & black.
Then we add glow outer (usually around 1-2px)
Continue this process for everything
Save it
And then we will import it into a new canvas through 'import picture' & then use the grayscale.
Now, We do not always use a gradient map. But feel free to try out gradients to see if it looks nice on the graphic. Either of the 2 top sites work.
Find a gradient that looks nice. If none fit your vision, feel free to skip it.
Now, import the new image and then add textures. Play around with blending modes & opacity until it looks right.
Boom! You've made your very own graphic.
Now for animated graphics...
(No visuals) If you'd like one where the small chibi moves, move it to be angle -5, save it, and then angle 5 and save it. (Also adjust angles if the 5 looks weird.)
Import the images into ezgif gif maker and turn on "Don't stack frames" and adjust delay time. (I usually use 80ish)
--
Animated graphics 2
Import your graphic into capcut. Add a green background or whatever color is not present on your graphic at all. Add the gif you want on the graphic. Adjust for all the images to go on for equal times so it works.
Ezgif > Mp4 to gif > Remove Background > Select hex code of background > "Replace hex with transparency" > Adjust Fuzz > Optimize
And voila, your graphic is completed! Feel free to adjust in ezgif effects if needed.
Hello, my name is Tofu and I'm a professional pixel artist. I have been supporting myself with freelance pixel art since 2020, when I was let go from my job during the pandemic.
My progress, from 2017 to 2024. IMO the only thing that really matters is time and effort, not some kind of natural talent for art.
This guide will not be comprehensive, as nobody should be expected to read allat. Instead I will lean heavily on my own experience, and share what worked for me, so take everything with a grain of salt. This is a guide, not a tutorial. Cheers!
đč Do I need money?
NO!!! Pixel art is one of the most accessible mediums out there.
I still use a mouse because I prefer it to a tablet! You won't be at any disadvantage here if you can't afford the best hardware or software.
Because our canvases are typically very small, you don't need a good PC to run a good brush engine or anything like that.
âšDid you know? One of the most skilled and beloved pixel artists uses MS PAINT! Wow!!
đč What software should I use?
Here are some of the most popular programs I see my friends and peers using.
Stars show how much I recommend the software for beginners! â
đ° Paid options:
âââ Aseprite (for PC) - $19.99
This is what I and many other pixel artists use. You may find when applying to jobs that they require some knowledge of Aseprite. Since it has become so popular, companies like that you can swap raw files between artists.
Aseprite is amazingly customizable, with custom skins, scripts and extensions on Itch.io, both free and paid.
If you have ever used any art software before, it has most of the same features and should feel fairly familiar to use. It features a robust animation suite and a tilemap feature, which have saved me thousands of hours of labour in my work. The software is also being updated all the time, and the developers listen to the users. I really recommend Aseprite!
â Photoshop (for PC) - Monthly $$
A decent option for those who already are used to the PS interface. Requires some setup to get it ready for pixel-perfect art, but there are plenty of tutorials for doing so.
Animation is also much more tedious on PS which you may want to consider before investing time!
ââ ProMotion NG (for PC) - $19.00
An advanced and powerful software which has many features Aseprite does not, including Colour Cycling and animated tiles.
âââ Pixquare (for iOS) - $7.99 - $19.99
Probably the best app available for iPad users, in active development, with new features added all the time.
Look! My buddy Jon recommends it highly, and uses it often.
One cool thing about Pixquare is that it takes Aseprite raw files! Many of my friends use it to work on the same project, both in their office and on the go.
â Procreate (for iOS) - $12.99
If you have access to Procreate already, it's a decent option to get used to doing pixel art. It does however require some setup. Artist Pixebo is famously using Procreate, and they have tutorials of their own if you want to learn.
đ Free options:
âââ Libresprite (for PC)
Libresprite is an alternative to Aseprite. It is very, very similar, to the point where documentation for Aseprite will be helpful to Libresprite users.
ââ Pixilart (for PC and mobile)
A free in-browser app, and also a mobile app! It is tied to the website Pixilart, where artists upload and share their work. A good option for those also looking to get involved in a community.
ââ Dotpict (for mobile)
Dotpict is similar to Pixilart, with a mobile app tied to a website, but it's a Japanese service. Did you know that in Japanese, pixel art is called 'Dot Art'?
Dotpict can be a great way to connect with a different community of pixel artists! They also have prompts and challenges often.
đč So I got my software, now what?
âœNice! Now it's time for the basics of pixel art.
â WAIT â Before this section, I want to add a little disclaimer. All of these rules/guidelines can be broken at will, and some 'no-nos' can look amazing when done intentionally.
The pixel-art fundamentals can be exceedingly helpful to new artists, who may feel lost or overwhelmed by choice. But if you feel they restrict you too harshly, don't force yourself! At the end of the day it's your art, and you shouldn't try to contort yourself into what people think a pixel artist 'should be'. What matters is your own artistic expression. đđ
âœPhew! With that out of the way...
đž"The Rules"
There are few hard 'rules' of pixel art, mostly about scaling and exporting. Some of these things will frequently trip up newbies if they aren't aware, and are easy to overlook.
đčScaling method
There are a couple ways of scaling your art. The default in most art programs, and the entire internet, is Bi-linear scaling, which usually works out fine for most purposes. But as pixel artists, we need a different method.
Both are scaled up x10. See the difference?
On the left is scaled using Bilinear, and on the right is using Nearest-Neighbor. We love seeing those pixels stay crisp and clean, so we use nearest-neighbor.Â
(Most pixel-art programs have nearest-neighbor enabled by default! So this may not apply to you, but it's important to know.)
đčMixels
Mixels are when there are different (mixed) pixel sizes in the same image.
Here I have scaled up my art- the left is 200%, and the right is 150%. Yuck!
As we can see, the "pixel" sizes end up different. We generally try to scale our work by multiples of 100 - 200%, 300% etc. rather than 150%. At larger scales however, the minute differences in pixel sizes are hardly noticeable!
Mixels are also sometimes seen when an artist scales up their work, then continues drawing on it with a 1 pixel brush.
Many would say that this is not great looking! This type of pixels can be indicative of a beginner artist. But there are plenty of creative pixel artists out there who mixels intentionally, making something modern and cool.
đčSaving Your Files
We usually save our still images as .PNGs as they donât create any JPEG artifacts or loss of quality. It's a little hard to see here, but there are some artifacts, and it looks a little blurry. It also makes the art very hard to work with if we are importing a JPEG.
For animations .GIF is good, but be careful of the 256 colour limit. Try to avoid using too many blending mode layers or gradients when working with animations. If you arenât careful, your animation could flash afterwards, as the .GIF tries to reduce colours wherever it can. It doesnât look great!
Here's an old piece from 2021 where I experienced .GIF lossiness, because I used gradients and transparency, resulting in way too many colours.
đčPixel Art Fundamentals - Techniques and Jargon
ââConfused about Jaggies? Anti-Aliasing? Banding? Dithering? THIS THREAD is for youââ
As far as I'm concerned, this is THE tutorial of all time for understanding pixel art. These are techniques created and named by the community of people who actually put the list together, some of the best pixel artists alive currently. Please read it!!
đžHow To Learn
Okay, so you have your software, and you're all ready to start. But maybe you need some more guidance? Try these tutorials and resources! It can be helpful to work along with a tutorial until you build your confidence up.
ââ Pixel Logic (A Digital Book) - $10
A very comprehensive visual guide book by a very skilled and established artist in the industry. I own a copy myself.
âââ StudioMiniBoss - free
A collection of visual tutorials, by the artist that worked on Celeste! When starting out, if I got stuck, I would go and scour his tutorials and see how he did it.
â Lospec Tutorials - free
A very large collection of various tutorials from all over the internet. There is a lot to sift through here if you have the time.
âââ Cyangmou's Tutorials - free (tipping optional)
Cyangmou is one of the most respected and accomplished modern pixel artists, and he has amassed a HUGE collection of free and incredibly well-educated visual tutorials.
He also hosts an educational stream every week on Twitch called 'pixelart for beginners'.
âââ Youtube Tutorials - free
There are hundreds, if not thousands of tutorials on YouTube, but it can be tricky to find the good ones.
My personal recommendations are MortMort, Brandon, and AdamCYounis- these guys really know what they're talking about!
đžWhere To Post
Outside of just regular socials, Twitter, Tumblr, Deviantart, Instagram etc, there are a few places that lean more towards pixel art that you might not have heard of.
â Lospec
Lospec is a low-res focused art website. Some pieces get given a 'monthly masterpiece' award. Not incredibly active, but I believe there are more features being added often.
ââ Pixilart
Pixilart is a very popular pixel art community, with an app tied to it. The community tends to lean on the young side, so this is a low-pressure place to post with an relaxed vibe.
ââ Pixeljoint
Pixeljoint is one of the big, old-school pixel art websites. You can only upload your art unscaled (1x) because there is a built-in zoom viewer.
It has a bit of a reputation for being elitist (back in the 00s it was), but in my experience it's not like that any more. This is a fine place for a pixel artist to post if they are really interested in learning, and the history.
The Hall of Fame has some of the most famous / impressive pixel art pieces that paved the way for the work we are doing today.
âââ Cafe Dot
Cafe Dot is my art server so I'm a little biased here. đ”
It was created during the recent social media turbulence. We wanted a place to post art with no algorithms, and no NFT or AI chuds. We have a heavy no-self-promotion rule, and are more interested in community than skill or exclusivity.
The other thing is that we have some kind of verification system- you must apply to be a Creator before you can post in the Art feed, or use voice. This helps combat the people who just want to self-promo and dip, or cause trouble, as well as weed out AI/NFT people.
Until then, you are still welcome to post in any of the threads or channels. There is a lot to do in Cafe Dot. I host events weekly, so check the threads!
ââ/r/pixelart
The pixel art subreddit is pretty active! I've also heard some of my friends found work through posting here, so it's worth a try if you're looking.
However, it is still Reddit- so if you're sensitive to rude people, or criticism you didn't ask for, you may want to avoid this one. Lol
đž Where To Find Work
You need money? I got you! As someone who mostly gets scouted on social media, I can share a few tips with you:
Put your email / portfolio in your bio
Recruiters don't have all that much time to find artists, make it as easy as possible for someone to find your important information!
Clean up your profile
If your profile feed is all full of memes, most people will just tab out rather than sift through. Doesn't apply as much to Tumblr if you have an art tag people can look at.
Post regularly, and repost
Activity beats everything in the social media game. It's like rolling the dice, and the more you post the more chances you have. You have to have no shame, it's all business baby
Outside of just posting regularly and hoping people reach out to you, it can be hard to know where to look. Here are a few places you can sign up to and post around on.
/r/INAT
INAT (I Need A Team) is a subreddit for finding a team to work with. You can post your portfolio here, or browse for people who need artists.
/r/GameDevClassifieds
Same as above, but specifically for game-related projects.
Remote Game Jobs / Work With Indies
Like Indeed but for game jobs. Browse them often, or get email notifications.
VGen
VGen is a website specifically for commissions. You need a code from another verified artist before you can upgrade your account and sell, so ask around on social media or ask your friends.
Once your account is upgraded, you can make a 'menu' of services people can purchase, and they send you an offer which you are able to accept, decline, or counter.
The evil websites of doom: Fiverr and Upwork
I don't recommend them!! They take a big cut of your profit, and the sites are teeming with NFT and AI people hoping to make a quick buck. The site is also extremely oversaturated and competitive, resulting in a race to the bottom (the cheapest, the fastest, doing the most for the least).
Imagine the kind of clients who go to these websites, looking for the cheapest option. But if you're really desperate...
đž Community
I do really recommend getting involved in a community. Finding like-minded friends can help you stay motivated to keep drawing. One day, those friends you met when you were just starting out may become your peers in the industry. Making friends is a game changer!
Discord servers
Nowadays, the forums of old are mostly abandoned, and people split off into many different servers. Cafe Dot, Pixel Art Discord (PAD), and if you can stomach scrolling past all the AI slop, you can browse Discord servers here.
Twitch Streams
Twitch has kind of a bad reputation for being home to some of the more edgy gamers online, but the pixel art community is extremely welcoming and inclusive. Some of the people I met on Twitch are my friends to this day, and we've even worked together on different projects!
Browse pixel art streams here, or follow some I recommend: NickWoz, JDZombi, CupOhJoe, GrayLure, LumpyTouch, FrankiePixelShow, MortMort, Sodor, NateyCakes, NyuraKim, ShinySeabass, I could go on for ever really... There are a lot of good eggs on Pixel Art Twitch.
đž Other Helpful Websites
Palettes
Lospec has a huge collection of user-made palettes, for any artist who has trouble choosing their colours, or just wants to try something fun.
Rejected Palettes is full of palettes that didn't quite make it onto Lospec, ran by people who believe there are no bad colours.
The Spriters Resource
TSR is an incredible website where users can upload spritesheets and tilesets from games. You can browse for your favourite childhood game, and see how they made it! This website has helped me so much in understanding how game assets come together in a scene.
VGMaps
Similar to the above, except there are entire maps laid out how they would be played. This is incredible if you have to do level design, or for mocking up a scene for fun.
Game UI Database
Not pixel-art specific, but UI is a very challenging part of graphics, so this site can be a game-changer for finding good references!
Retronator
A digital newspaper for pixel-art lovers! New game releases, tutorials, and artworks!
Itch.io
A website where people can upload, games, assets, tools... An amazing hub for game devs and game fans alike.
A few of my favourite tools: Tiled, PICO-8, Pixel Composer, Juice FX, Magic Pencil for Aseprite
đž The End?
This is just part 1 for now, so please drop me a follow to see any more guides I release in the future. I plan on doing some writeups on how I choose colours, how to practise, and more!
I'm not an expert by any means, but everything I did to get to where I am is outlined in this guide. Pixel art is my passion, my job and my hobby! I want pixel art to be recognized everywhere as an art-form, a medium of its own outside of game-art or computer graphics!
This guide took me a long time, and took a lot of research and experience. Consider following me or supporting me if you are feeling generous.
And good luck to all the fledgling pixel artists, I hope you'll continue and have fun. I hope my guide helped you, and don't hesitate to send me an ask if you have any questions! đ
hello, at the beginning your graphics and gifs are really pretty! can you make a tuto or just explain how you make graphics, plz? â„
Hello, thank you so much for your kind words :â) I made one graphic tutorial before (you can see it here). I will try to explain more about how I make my graphics and give some (hopefully) helpful tips!
hi! iâm user ames tattooine, and iâm gonna go over how to cut footage out of a scene. iâll talk about rotoscopingâwhat it is, its history, and how to mask with the rotobrush successfully. i will also briefly go over how to use the pen tool to mask in after effects.
though this is pretty comprehensive and info-heavy already, there are still things i don't go over! but it should be a guide fit for beginner-intermediate after effects users.
YOU WILL NEED:
adobe after effects (minimum version cs5 / anything released after 2010)
basic knowledge of the interface and workflow, including but not limited to: compositions/precompositions, keyframes, and how to use brush tools
time. a lot of it
patience. more of it
also, before you click "read more," please note that this is about 3000 words long. definitely recommend viewing it in your browser. with housekeeping out of the way, let's go!
WHAT IS ROTOSCOPING?
very simply put, rotoscoping is a tracing technique. physically, itâs a little like using a selection tool on video. conceptually, things are slightly different, and thatâs due to how it was meant to be usedâbut like many artistic tools, rotoscoping was transformed by contemporary artists / editors / animators / etc to become the versatile thing it is today. for mainstream giffing and video editing purposes, it is most often used as a way to mask footage out. see:
UNDERSTANDING ROTOSCOPING
the main thing you need to understand is that rotoscoping was meant for animation. not masking, not giffingâhand-drawn animation. in its early days, animation was clunky and generally unnatural-looking; not due to stylistic decisions about motion, but because artists were mostly guessing at how a movement would be divided into frames between point A and point B of any given movement. then, in 1915, two brothers named max and dave fleischer stuck a projector to a table, attached it to a car light, and beamed that light onto a block with tracing paper attached. theyâd then take the image produced onto the tracing paper, trace out the figure (in the first case, dave dancing on top of a roof in front of a white sheet), and repeat this frame by frame to eventually trace an entire scene. the animated character would be drawn over / match the traced figures, and bam, animators suddenly had a HUGE shortcut to imitating real life movement in drawn scenes. (or, more accurately, only max and dave did, at least until the patent expired lol)
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ME??
well, maybe not much if you donât care to nerd out like i do, but it should absolutely inform the choices you make re: scene selection. dave and max used a white sheet for contrast and added a car light to their apparatus to enhance that contrast when they were tracing. if you try to rotoscope a scene that doesnât have much contrast to it, you may not come out the other end with much success.
but remember: the tool wasnât created so that you could cut your blorbo out of a scene, it was so that artists could trace movement for funky and weird animated characters in the 1920s. over time, and as tech advanced, people realized that if they completed half the rotoscoping process, they would have an isolated scene from the original footage. aka, they could mask out background footage. sprinkle in a little web 2.0, accessibility and increasingly easy use of tools from the mid-90s onwards (and the implementation of the rotobrush tool specifically after 2010), and we have a fascinating study of how tools can be transformed from their original use to do things that are different but equally valid. and yeahâ2010. itâs mind-boggling to think about the leaps and bounds weâve made with editing tech in the last 10-15 years alone. i digress.
ROTOSCOPE =/= ROTOBRUSH
so hereâs where you might be like, jesse what the fuck are you talking about dot jpg. iâll try to be concise: rotoscoping is the method. rotobrush is ONE of the tools you can use to rotoscope. i have a little issue about terminology that i wonât get into, but what people want to do in gifsets and video edits with the rotobrush is MASK. they are using the rotobrush to mask away footage, the same as if they used tape to cover up sections of a canvas. itâs easier, however, to think of it in the inverseâtaking specific footage out, rather than snipping background away. imagine i have gingerbread dough, and i want to cut it into stars or various shapes. one thing i could do is take a knife and a stencil and physically cut out my shapes; another thing i could do is use a cookie cutter. the rotobrush tool is like a cookie cutter if it was driven by machine learning, involved way too much math and programming for personal comfort, and also was incredibly inelegant. the former method can be done using the pen tool, which is more time consuming, perhaps, but it lends itself to accuracy because itâs all done by you, the artist. i will be going over both methods.
THE ROTOBRUSH METHOD
fucking finally! weâre in after effects! first thing of note: my interface looks like this. yours, unless you also went through a sony vegas envy phase in 2015 and then modified your existing cs6 interface to be as inconvenient as possible, does not. donât worry about itâthe tools you need are located in the same place, and if ever i use a panel you canât find, just click âwindowâ at the top (both in mac and windows) and click what you need there.
step 1: select your footage, and be selective. and boy, do i mean be selective, or else you are in for a world of irritation. you want a scene that has naturally high contrast between your subject and your background. you want a scene that doesnât have erratic movement, or if it does, you need to have the frame rate to support that movement. similarly, your background shouldnât have too much movement either.
(what is erratic movement? well, letâs say your footage is 24 fps, and a character moves their arm between frame 0 and frame 12, or half a second. if the arm is moving incrementally throughout all 12 frames, or every 2 frames, thatâs workable! but if you have a still image for frames 0-3 where the characterâs arm is in one position, then another still image for frames 4-6 where the characterâs arm is in a vastly different positionâthatâs erratic movement. after effects will not process that easily.)
if youâre masking out footage of a human (or humans), then for your own sanity, choose a scene that doesnât have a lot of flyaway hair. finally, you probably donât want a scene thatâs too long! for this tutorial, iâve got this shot of my baby boy.
notice how heâs dressed in dark clothing against a very light background? how his hair is mostly flat to his head, and how thereâs nothing really that could have erratic movement? the background is a little busy, but it doesnât seem like anything thatâll mess up the rotobrushâs calculations. as a bonus, the subject is relatively large and details around the edges arenât too detailed! this is the kind of footage thatâll give you an easier time.
note: when i say âcalculationsâ btw, i really do mean calculations. the algorithm takes the brush tool set to âconstantâ and predicts âedgesâ based on things like contrast between pixels, relative position of where the brush was used, etc. this is why it can be really convenient, but also why it can be prone to error. as i said: inelegant.
step 2: isolate the scene in a separate comp, whether that be through creating a separate composition manually or just precomping your existing one. the key thing is to have workable start and end points that automatically pop up when you enter the layer so that you donât have to wait hours for each unused frame to load. this is what iâve got now:
step 3: enter the layer by double clicking it in your timeline. you should see a separate panel pop up at the top hereâŠ
and what looks like the entirety of your footage here.
fret not! this is simply how layers work in after effects: theyâre non-destructive, so you can add modify it to your heartâs content, and the original footage will not change. kind of like smart objects in photoshop, if you want a comparison. that is to say, yeah, in this layer, you DO have the entirety of your footage; in your composition, however, youâve cut away all but 3 seconds of it. the point of step 2 will be apparent in one second when you do step 5.
step 4: equip the rotobrush tool. thatâs the blue icon here on your tool bar (turns blue when you equip it).
step 5: go to the beginning of your composition and vaguely trace the outline of your subject INSIDE the footage you want by clicking and dragging (like any other brush tool), like so:
the line doesn't have to connect, mine just does. youâll notice that the "rotobrush and refine edge" effect is automatically applied, and if you zoom in on the timeline from step 3, youâll also see that the start and end points of your workspace have been automatically set to fit your composition.
after you release your click-and-drag, you should see a pink outline appear around the selection.
you can change how you view your selection by hitting the buttons down here to toggle different alpha view settings. and if you didnât know this already, alpha means transparency. i personally like switching between the pink outline and the alpha overlay settingâthe former makes it easier to see the smoothness of my selection, and the latter makes it easier to see if iâm missing footage / provides a starker contrast.
step 6: refine the initial selection. if you have experience with tracking, you can think of this as a âmaster frameâ where youâre defining the parameters that will go on to be approximated for the rest of the footage. reminder that you are manipulating an algorithm when you use this tool, so you want to feed it data! this means clicking and dragging to collect any missing footage, or holding option / alt while you click and drag to remove footage. if you see jagged lines (like around his hair here), you can make it smoother by tracing inside the subject around the area and removing footage from the outside around the areaâbasically, telling the algorithm that This Is Where The Edge Is And Iâm Moving Around It.
step 7: click play and let footage propagate. once itâs done, it should preview and look something like this:
if youâve done everything right so far, then your outline shouldnât be jumping wildly around or anythingâfor the most part, it should stick to a good 80-90% of the footage you want! the more solid foundation you have that doesnât need (much) fixing, the smoother the mask is going to be.
step 8: refine the âproblemâ frames. you can click through frame by frame and see where things go off the rails. for me, itâs anakinâs right (so my left) shoulder. basically repeat what you did in step 6 and add / take away footage as necessary to refine the edge. VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE WHEN REFINING: the algorithm calculates edges FORWARDS. that is to say, if you make a change 2 seconds in, that change is only going to make modifications from that 2 second point onwards. it will not make a change backwards, meaning that if a problem starts to show up, you need to fix it from the root onwards and teach the algorithm that This Is Where The Edge Is. if you donât do this, then you will end up going backwards frame by frame fixing the same mistake over and over again, and it will look wonky because you will redraw in different places. i have had students do this and spend hours in misery. be patient: work from the start and fix as you move forward frame by frame! donât jump forwards and backwards if you can help it.
step 9: fiddle with the effect settings. now that youâve basically gotten your mask as neat as possible, you can play with the actual effect itself. just quickly, iâll explain what i think to be the most important things (and the other settings, you can experiment with on your own):
version: 2.0 is their latest and ostensibly âmost improvedâ version from the 2020 update, though if you donât have the hardware that can take it, youâll end up propagating frames for Hours. version 1.0 is perfectly adequate, and at times even more efficient than 2.0. up to you!
invert foreground / background: select the footage around your subject rather than the subject itself. can be very useful!
reduce chatter: chatter is the shakiness of your outline from frame to frame. when things get uglyâsay, when you use the refine edge toolâis when your outline is jerking around every frame, seemingly unable to find an edge, like so (to the extremeâyours will likely be smaller twitches):
(also, this is me warning you right now. if you use the refine edge tool, you will triple your workload trying to actually refine it, and it will still look weird. if you insist on using it, be sure to work with a tiny brush size and stick as close as you can to the edge of your selection. this thing sucks and does not behave like it does in photoshop. LMAO.)
for the luke gifs, i had my feather at 10, my contrast at 90, my shift edge anywhere between 10 and 40%, and reduce chatter set to 100. these will vary greatly depending on the look youâre going for and also how neat your existing selection is. (at vague claims like this, i often hold a blinking neon sign at my students that says "REMEMBER MARSHALL MCLUHAN? THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE? FORM AND CONTENT ARE INEXTRICABLY LINKED? CONSIDER THAT AND BE PURPOSEFUL IN YOUR DESIGN CHOICES PLEASE")
overall, the effects controls you see are very much like the select and mask feature in photoshop! you can play around with it and see what the other settings do, but those under roto brush matte are the main ones imo. and thatâs all there is to it! you can render out your composition, or you can nest it in another composition if youâre working all in after effects, or whatever. for those who are slightly more advanced in ae: i wouldn't recommend using twixtor after masking to slow down the footage (if anything, risk the compression and add twixtor before, then render and import back and mask), but you can definitely adjust the time keyframes without impacting the quality of your selection. or you can sit and admire your genius and the power of c++.
THE PEN TOOL METHOD
this method is less a pain in the ass and more just.. very tedious. also jsyk, it works better with animated content (cartoons, anime, etc) and less so with live action just because of like, hair. i totally recommend being in a discord call with friends while you do this method because it is an absolute vibe and distracts you from how mind-numbing and boring editing actually can be lol
step 1: select your footage, and be selective. maybe not as particular as you had to be for the rotobrush method, but it should still have mostly the same elements. erratic movement isnât so much an issue. iâm using the same scene as above for convenience.
step 2: isolate the scene in a separate comp, whether that be through creating a separate composition manually or just precomping your existing one. this is mostly for workflow reasons, but some people hate working with a lot of compositions, so itâs up to you if you want to work in the original composition with your whole footage.
step 3: duplicate the layer. you should have something like this now:
step 4: equip the pen tool, highlighted in blue here (turns blue when you equip it)!
step 5: on the top layer, create a mask around the very edges of your subject, starting from the beginning of your selected footage. you should end up with something that looks like this. i wouldnât bother with curving your lines, just because it can be harder to move around (especially when youâre making video edits and masking out action sequences and whatnot). if you toggle the visibility off and on your bottom layer, youâll see that youâve masked out the rest of the footage, and everything else is transparent. woo!
NOTE: if you havenât already, go to your preferences and make sure that this is toggled off. you want to be able to add and delete vertices at will without changing the mask path in previous frames!
step 6: hit âMâ on your keyboard, or use the dropdowns on the uppermost layer to reveal the mask 1 dope sheet.
step 7: create a mask path keyframe at the first frame by clicking on the stop watch. your station should look something like this:
step 8: go forward frame by frame until the image changes. this may be by one frame, two, or sometimes three.
step 9: deselect your layer, then select it again. the mask outline should change from square vertices to circular ones.
step 10: click and drag to move the vertices so that they align with the edge of your subject again. feel free to zoom in and out as necessary! youâll notice that keyframes are created automatically when you make changes, so donât worry about manually inputting them.
repeat steps 8 to 10 until youâve finished :) this is why itâs time consuming and annoying :))
bonus options: you can shift the edge of your mask by fiddling with mask expansion. mask feather will feather around your mask, and mask opacity will change the transparency of the footage outlined inside the mask. less sophisticated than the roto brush matte settings, but they work great!
annnd 3000+ words later⊠thatâs it! thatâs how you cut footage from a scene using after effects. i hope this was informative! if you have any questions, feel free to send an ask to usergif.
In this tutorial, I'll be going over how to make a character-centric playlist cover using my template
âš Firstly, thank you so much @withered-rose-with-thorns for your kind words on my edits and interest in learning how to make these! đ
The core of our process is thankfully a simple one. We'll be using the clipping mask function to affix a character cutout and textures to 3 specific primary layers.
Here, I'll walk through remaking a cover similar to that of my Vi playlist.
To begin, download the following:
cover template (mega.nz)
My template is 400x400px in overall size and mainly features 3 named layers.
1.) CUTOUT â With the template ready to rock, we'll start by working on the heart of the edit, which is getting the character cutout for the portrait layer. (As a general rule, always try to use the highest quality images/shots for projects whenever possible.)
In this example, I've used the Pen tool to free Vi from her scene:
For creating precise cutouts I will only ever recommend using the Pen tool, as anchor points allow the most control in achieving the cleanest results. If you're unfamiliar with the Pen tool and its settings, here's a 60-second guide to the basics. (i.e. connecting anchor points all the way around your character from the start to end > Make Selection > set Feather Radius to 0 and have anti-alias checked for smooth edges)
Once you've made your selection, if you need, you can change the cutout size by using the Transform Controls or simply adjusting the overall Image Size.
2.) PORTRAIT LAYER â Back on planet template, we'll focus on the "middle portrait" layer. Above each of the 3 main layers is one titled *top clipping mask*, which we'll keep at the top for all. This is a means of ensuring all new layers created beneath it will stay clipped to the primary layer (as indicated by the little arrow pointing downward to the left of each mini thumbnail image).
You can simply drag your cutout to the template, or just copy & paste it in a new layer, and use the Move tool to position the image how you'd like. (If any layer accidentally unclips, right click it and select Create Clipping Mask or just hit that Alt+Ctrl+G)
With your image now in position, you can then change the portrait background color by creating a new fill layer > Solid Color. Double-click the Solid Color layer to change the color at any time.
Your cutout layer should sit atop the Solid Color layer and beneath the *top clipping mask* layer, as shown above.
3.) BACKGROUND LAYER â The bottom-most layer is our background color layer, which is gray by default. Feel free to adjust this Solid Color layer any time to your preference.
Now with the basics covered (your cutout, middle portrait background color, and background color), let's add a texture or two! Since we're on the background layer now, I've downloaded and resized this unsplash texture and made it a new, clipped layer.
Experimenting with the Blend Modes and Opacity is key (and super fun)! Here, I've set my texture layer to Subtract with a 50% Opacity.
On top of the texture layer, I've added a couple of adjustment layers and color layers using the Brush tool for the sizzle.
4.) PORTRAIT LAYER â Back on the middle portrait layer, we can add a texture layer here a s we've done for the background, though if you prefer you can leave the portrait background as a solid color. For the purpose of the tutorial, I've downloaded this graffiti texture from unsplash and added it as a new layer, changing the Blend Mode and Opacity.
By experimenting with the Blend Mode on your texture layer, adjustment & color layers, you can create all kinds of wild effects to fit your subject and mood of your playlist.
In addition to fiddling with the portrait layer, I've also sharpened my Vi cutout and added adjustment layers above it - such as Vibrance, Color Balance and Curves - to make her shine against the saturation of the colors surrounding her.
When you're all done, save your cover as a .png to retain high-quality compression.
You may have noticed that we didn't make any adjustments to the 3rd "white border" layer after all, which is on purpose! Depending on what look you'd like to create for your cover, and knowing how a clipping mask works from previous steps, the set-up has been prepped to change as you please, if you please.
And if you've read this far, thank you! I appreciate you, and I hope you found some useful information. You're welcome to download the finalized Vi psd cover I made for this tutorial.
Happy Creating! đ§Ą
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