Hey guys. I''m curious about 2D game art, and I want to know if there are any resources on the web that provide information on the fundamentals; i.e., common file types, sizes, software, and techniques employed by artists, and the like. I''m a producer/designer, and I want to educate myself as to the processes for some projects in the future. Any information you have will be appreciated!

well, the programming side can vary extremely. In the easiest case you have some .bmp derivative, in the worst (best?) case you have an image, as well as an alpha-map (I assume that you are not talking about textures).

Techniques... tough one. If you want to do artwork yourself you should learn to draw. It does not matter on what you draw, the basic skills are the same.

If you just want to look at the techniques, there´s a few (actually lots) of good books around.

One of the best drawing books is "Drawing on the right side of the brain", for oils/ink/charcoal/figures you should just look up your bookstore.

A few good sites that contain some tutorials or work descriptions are:

www.goodbrush.com (Photoshop god)
www.epilogue.net
www.elfwood.com (down at the moment)
www.gameart.com (mostly amateurs, but some good people)


forgot about the software:

Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro
Painter (great with a tablet, looks like oils/watercolors/charcoal...)
ImageReady (comes with Photoshop) for relatively easy 2d animating






Edited by - Hase on September 27, 2001 12:13:51 PM

Guys;

Thanks a lot for all the great info. This will certainly help out my cause, the web site especially.

Hase, an artist friend of mine left Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain here for me, after I laid on him a similar request. I guess your recommendation will serve as a motivation to dig it out (:

Someone I know recommended Deluxe Paint as good for busting out sprites. I know it has a good built-in animation tool, but what else about it makes it stand out?

Again, guys, thanks for the info. Good looking out!

--Miguel