I'm already pretty decent at drawing - just never done so digitally and would be interested in getting into it for possibly making a game.
I think of games like the Null Hypothesis for inspiration
My questions are more so on the technical differences vs paper:
- What software is popular for VN's here? Clip Studio? Krita?
- What's better? A drawing tablet (which one?) Or are people recommending something like an iPad Pro
- Are there any tutorials on layer assets (terminology?)
- For example, looks like aren't drawing their characters complete, but in "layers" (?) so games can easily change out character emotions, stances, clothing and outfits, etc
I'm more so interested in learning the layering aspect and where to find tutorials on that.
Premise, despite an interest, I am not a drawing artist myself - but I have done done video editing, photography and photo editing (though I don't usually "photoshop" my photos) graphics, and used various things (hardware and software).
For the software, it depends a lot also on personal preferences, and financial and technical considerations. Most people doing it for real will swear by the software x (or even the hardware y), but it can be in part for objective advantages, but there is always also a component of simple habit, they are used to it and comfortable with it - understandable, the focus should be on the drawing, not learning n tools.
While it's true that also mastering different physical tools and techniques, like pencil vs oil painting, has a learning investment, with computer software and hardware, one can end up spending a lot of time to learn in depth 5 software doing exactly the same thing with all of them, so, better get an idea which tool you feel more comfortable with, and focus on that one.
Ideally being able to use the same for drawing and colouring, but it may well be two different ones, if that is what is the best for you in terms of results and simplicity of use.
For drawing, I will surely irritate people, but while not bad and certainly used by some people, the iPad Pro is just a way to show off that you have an iPad.
If you are used to draw by hand, a drawing tablet is a basic, though be aware despite what some people say, drawing on paper and on a tablet is not identical, on paper you see it immediately and have the "analogue" sensitivity to pressure that comes from the physical interaction.
For this second aspect, look for tablets that have levels of pressure sensitivity, they do not have to be hugely expensive, with offers and the like, you can find decent ones for less than 100 USD, but they should have a decent number of levels of sensitivity. Though of course the size has also to do with cost, in general high quality+big size= more cost, high quality+small size=less cost. Also, to do with portability, all tablets in theory can be moved, but in practical terms, something that fits in a small bag and is USB powered and something big and that needs and external power are not the same.
A possibility to consider is products made for specific use, I know some screens which are also a tablet with a good number sensivity levels and are made on purpose so you can touch the surface with then pen, to basically draw on them like if it was paper having the immediate feedback (since the screen is the tablet).
The same company I have in mind has also directly tablets with that integrated, so you don't need to have a separate computer, but if you have already the computer, it is cheaper to get just the screen (plus, the tablets computers do not have the same power as a desktop) - though if you are willing to spend for a new iPad Pro, that should not be a problem.
For both cases, I have practical experience with something, but I don't want to give company names, unless you want them, because I have experience with those and I think they are good, but my guess is that there are going to be other possibilities/companies equally good or even better (though for me is also a matter of quality/price ratio, given I am not making a living out of it).
The HP Sprout had something similar with its mat, but if I remember correctly did not have that many levels of sensitivity (never tried to draw on it), and anyway I am using the past because it is was discontinued by HP (and if you have a computer already, would make no sense to get one just for drawing).
Notice if you are going to work on images, you may in some cases find useful a screen that can rotate 90 degrees, so you can see the picture and work on it both in landscape and portrait mode.
Though that is not mandatory, it is more for people doing desktop editing, photo editing, portraits drawing, and less, for video editing (though many people doing video editing mostly work with landscape given the 16/9 reference of today, in some case can be useful the rotation, and video people will often have more than one screen anyway), in your case, if it is small drawings for games, there will probably be no real advantage to it.
For the layers, there are two type of layer concepts that could be applicable, one is "layers" when people talk about Photoshop, GIMP, or even the LIE editor in DAZ Studio, and graphical image file format (not all the file formats keep the information about the different layers and allow to modify them independently).
Another, is layer as it belongs to the optimisation of game visualisation.
They are connected as concepts, but they are not the same.
From what you are saying, you are referring to the second, e.g. having the drawing of a character, and then changing the clothes by having the clothes being a layer that is put as foreground on the character drawing layer - a game here on F95 where you can see it done well in terms of effect is "sluted" (even more remarkable because it is an HTML game).
For that, the general concept is simply to decide before what will stay and what will be "dynamic", draw the different part, but to get the practical effect in the game, you have to see for each software/platform if and how they can correctly superimpose the images to create the effect, and that is not something for which you can use a generic tutorial, how to manage to do that is specific to the software/platform you are going to use to create your game.
You should first check what you want to use to make the game, and then see how you can do it, or you could invert, and make one of the parameters to decide the platform the fact it allows you easily to superimpose images like the character and then the different clothes as one.
Notice I am referring always to clothes in may example, because is a typical scenario, but can be also changing the head to show emotions (though remember there is also "body language"), use the same character picture with different backgrounds, etc.
If you like history, we could even mention the concept of "sprites", those could also be superimposed as layers sometimme, but that "prehistory"
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