Isometric Pixel Art (IPA) is a modern form of digital art that only recently
has been accepted as a new art form. I'm sure most of us have seen this
typical type of artwork in old games such as 'X-Com' or the relatively old
'Ultima Online'. The 2-Dimentional (2D) representation of a 3-Dimentional
(3D) object is fascinating to many people. This is possibly because of the
simplicity and amount of small details that can fit into a single IPA piece.
It doesn't need that much brain power to figure out, yet it is pleasing
to the eye. IPA can be compared to cartoons in many ways, as people like
to look (watch) and accept the 2D art form as it is very simplistic and
easy to follow. The main purpose of any art work is that it draws your attention.
In many ways IPA is set out to achieve this, that is, to represent something
that looks like it could come from the real world, yet you know it's just
a computer generated image (CGI).
Each separate IPA image is always going too made up of single computer generated
blocks, known as pixels. Each pixel is the same size as any other pixel,
but it can be any colour you can think of and it can fit together with other
pixels, any way you can think of. You can think of a pixel-based image as
you can a mosaic in real life that is made up of tiles to form an overall
picture. To see an example of a single pixel take a look at this letter
'i', the single pixel is the small dot you see above the long vertical line.
In fact the whole letter is made up of single pixels that have been joined
together to appear as one long stoke or line. The pixel will be explained
further along in this reading when we look into tools used to create IPA.
Basic Knowledge
To even begin to be able to understand Isometric Pixel Art you need to
have a fair understanding about how to work the basics of computers. This
includes operating the mouse, keyboard, loading saving, etc. I know this
may sound silly since you've managed to get yourself to this website, but
constantly I am asked by people if I could teach them how to do this sort
of art, even when they are unable to even do basic operations on a computer.
So please people, before even continuing from this point forward, if you
are lacking in the basic computing skills please go to a course or something.
Then come back when you are ready.
Besides from the basic computing skills you will need a dash of creativity,
a splash of enthusiasm and a pinch of artistic flair (that last point is
merely a rumor.) Also, some basic understanding of paint software such as
MS Paint, (which we will be using primarily) could come in handy.
Tools Required
Right, now that we've flown past the boring stuff we can get on to actually
looking into how to make this 'Isometric Pixel Art'. Before we go anywhere
you need to have access to a small little program that ships with most versions
of Microsoft (MS) Windows, called MSPaint.
To access it on most computers running the Windows Operating System please
follow these simple steps. Click on the Start button, scroll up to the Programs
folder, then up to the Accessories folder, and now once that's open Paint
should be on the list of programs that appear in the Accessories folder.
If not Paint might be under the next folder up the top of the Accessories
folder called Applications. Anyway, once you've found it click on it once
and it should load. Congratulations you've just loaded MSPaint and you are
one step into learning about Isometric Pixel Art.
Apart from PAINT, you can use many other programs to draw IPA. Programs
such as Adobe Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro do the job well (possibly better
than paint according to some people) but are just to darn expensive, hard
to get hold of, and way to complicated for the average beginner to use.
Ok so let's see what we have on our list so far - 1 computer, 1 copy of
MSPaint, 1 mouse, and 1 keyboard. If you've ticked everything off on that
small list then you are ready to create some Isometric Pixel Art.
All is good so far unless of course you want to convert your final product
to an image format that is suitable for the web (please don't use bitmaps
files on your homepages, it's terrible!) I find that GIF files are fine
as far as quality wise is concerned. Also if you are looking for that extra
mile in terms of quality and minimal color loss, use the PNG format. To
convert your final bitmap files into these filetypes please do not save
them as this using MSPaint. Unless you want an extreme loss of color and
overall crappiness for your masterpiece, do not try and save them
as a GIF or PNG using MSPaint. Instead search for a simple BMP to GIF converting
program to save your files. Or if you are a lucky person you will have access
to programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, in which case you
should save your bitmaps as GIF or PNG files using these top quality programs
for a top quality outcome.
*Throughout this tutorial the only program we will be using and discussing
is Microsoft Paintbrush. Please, if you don't have access to this program
anywhere, do not bother continuing the tutorial until you find it.
Ideas/Research
A good way to start any IPA piece is to do some initial research into
any ideas you have about what you are going to draw. Write down any ideas
that come to your head during the day, and when you are ready to create
a new piece simply select an idea from the list. This really does save loads
of time instead of sitting there with MSPaint open, trying to think of something
to draw.
Once you've selected an idea it's always good to research it first before
starting to draw it up. Use a search engine such as Google or Yahoo to search
for your idea. For example, I had an idea awhile ago to draw up a miniature
Roman village. I had an image in my mind about what it was going to look
like but I had no idea as to how they structured their buildings and what
colors I needed to use to make it as realistic and good looking as possible.
I spent about an hour or two searching the Internet, trying to find pictures
of Roman buildings and so on. In the end the research really helped me when
it came to designing buildings and using the right colors in the piece.
Although I never finished the village, I keep using the same process today,
always researching into a topic if I am not sure on how it would look.
graphics gale posted by: Tomsk on:Aug 19, 07 12:57 pm
Graphics Gale looks great and all BUT it has spyware on it which my firewall doesnt like. I'd prefer doing things in paint and then putting the finished paint objects onto a layered Photoshop project.
I can learn pixel art through copy? posted by: Ace on:May 17, 05 7:52 pm
Halo, i'm work as pixel artist, for mobile gaming, actually i never learn pixel art b4 ( i major in 3D animation ), so after i join the company about 3 months, the boss said that i am " doing thing slow and no international level ", so he ask me to copy everthing, dont want me create by myself becuase he think this is very slow, and he said that after copy then i can learn pixel art.
Here is the question, to you think i can learn pixel art through copy but not create by myself?
To u think pixel art need a lot of time to do ?( they always ask for fast way, like one day do the whole game graphic or something.....fast )
To you have any fast way to do pixel art?
To you have any suggestion that i resize my pixel file with better quality without any touch up?
Hope you can reply me as possible as u can, this is very big help to me, Thanks!
