Unity How to start learning unity pixel art?

TYKi

New Member
Jul 13, 2020
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Out of all the different types of games that I have played, I must say that I enjoy pixel art games the most. Though there are lot of games with this kind of art, NTR legend by Golden Boy probably is one of the best and has set the bar for others (atleast for me). I am interested in learning pixel art and if any developer knows of a good starting point then please let me know. I have also watched some youtube videos which are informative but lack the structural way of learning. I do have couple of game ideas which I want to implement in the long run, but for now I am invested in learning pixel art and hopefully reach a level where I can make games as good as NTR legend.

Any resource/experience/guidance is welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Cheers!
 

Saki_Sliz

Well-Known Member
May 3, 2018
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my number 1 for pixel art is this site
for a game like the one you linked, while doing the environment art can be easier compared to character, depending on your skills, here's a about pixel art, time stamped to one major point the guy makes, that you often need good general art skills to make art, learning pixel art alone isn't enough. Similarly, you may have to have character art skill prior to being able to draw characters. The art in your example is fairly 'high res' for pixel art, allowing the artist to get away with some effects (mainly outlines, matching more of a drawn style) that sometimes don't work nicely in pixel art.

Its been a while since I've done pixel art, so I doubt I can give any more suggestions (other than looking at assets in itch.io), and in fact I've only recently started looking into it again now that I need more environment assets and I'm starting to accept that pixel art > drawn when it comes to my willingness to invest time into creating backgrounds and resources.
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What I think is the challenge is, depending on your art style, if you are going for 2.5 d art (fake depth) one of the things I need to figure out is the way to organize rooms and the programing for room zones so that different layers can fade in and out depending on character locations (ie how I have one mock up stall faded out in the example art, or the wall cut-outs like in your linked example)
 
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TYKi

New Member
Jul 13, 2020
7
3
Saki_Sliz Thanks for the valuable info that you have provided. I will refer to them and try to grasp as much as possible. I do have some artistic skills, just have to learn character creation which has so many layers to it (just like you mentioned). But learning it will aid me in making of a character that feels like one XD.

I see that you already have a bit of experience in pixel art and it looks good! Hope you can share some of your work as you go on which could give me valuable insights as well. I will keep you updated on my progress too!
 

Saki_Sliz

Well-Known Member
May 3, 2018
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995
Glad to hear, I look forward to hearing if things work out.

A lot of art and learning art is just looking at how other people things, and learning from that. One of the major things to learn about it tilesets, which you may have already come across. A lot of tile sets are different 'sizes' but you'll find that most are pretty blocky (compared to your linked example). I've struggled designing tile sets simply because I was trying to make a master plan, and trying to make something that didn't match most tile sets. For many scene driven art styles I found I like the 2.5d 'cabinet view' as shown in the preview image, there's hardly no tiles sets, and because I don't make simple tile sets that often, I'm not good at doing cute blocky designs like what a lot of RPG games have. I mention this because now that I decided I want to start making my own tilesets (after buying a bunch), I found that my favorite tile set was , which while still small compared to how large I want to do my character art. But I found that all the ratios were much better, not as blocky or cutesy as RPG maker. Looking into it, its actually a 16x16 size tileset, which is the normal medium size (8x8 is retro or small, and 32x32 is considered HD), but where as most tiles sets only use 1 or 2 tiles at a time for complex art, teh artist uses more tiles (4 tall? 2 wide) for things like doors to get the size/ratio right. With that realization, I've started my own ratios but using 16x16 as the base unit, and it looks like you'll need to do something similar to match the style of your inspiration game.
 
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Aug 28, 2021
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You may find this channel usefull

He's a pixel artist (I'm nor a fan of pixel art, nor against it, but I think his work is awesome) and work on a RPG made in Unity. He mostly do pixel art related tutorials and some which focus more on how to work whith it in Unity.
 
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TYKi

New Member
Jul 13, 2020
7
3
You may find this channel usefull

He's a pixel artist (I'm nor a fan of pixel art, nor against it, but I think his work is awesome) and work on a RPG made in Unity. He mostly do pixel art related tutorials and some which focus more on how to work whith it in Unity.
Ah yes I follow him and have watched some of his tutorials. Thanks for the advice tho!