Others How to start making 2D art for games

[DirtyPants]

I am planning to make a renpy VN game and the thing I need the most is art. I am really just a newbie to making games and art for the said games.
I tried using Daz to make some 3D characters and all but I soon realized that my PC is not made for that. So now I want to work on 2D art and design.
Also tried using Blender but it was intimidating.

So my question is, How should I start making 2D characters?
What software should I use?
Is there any library-like thing where you can get premade characters and just edit a bit to make what you need? like Daz content library

For now, that's pretty much it, I hope anyone can help me with this.
Thanks in advance

 

[JoGio]

Daz is quite unique in its ability to give you so much control over characters without any real 3D skills. I'm not sure a 2D equivalent is available.

Some 2D games use "paper doll" systems where you can layer multiple images to create unique characters. This approach is relatively easy to use but has severe limitations in terms of how flexible your character models are. The more poses you support, the more work you have to do to make sure every custom component works with every pose available. It can be quite a nightmare to manage if you don't set reasonable limitations. Characters and animations made using this system can often be awkward and stiff.

The most common approach you see for games on this site is to simply draw art in an illustration program like Krita, Clip Studio Paint, or Photoshop. This takes a lot of practice to be able to do. To make the process of drawing easier, you can use 3D models as references. You can, for example, pose Daz models in the position you want to draw, screenshot it, then trace over it in the drawing program.

Alternatively, you can try experimenting with some of the new AI tools out there. I've seen some good AI art but I'm not sure if AI can produce art in a consistent enough style for a game.

 

[DirtyPants]

To make the process of drawing easier, you can use 3D models as references. You can, for example, pose Daz models in the position you want to draw, screenshot it, then trace over it in the drawing program.

I didn't even think of that, and that's a really good idea. Thanks for the info bro

 

[xsnowx]

Is there any library-like thing where you can get premade characters and just edit a bit to make what you need?

You must be registered to see the links

filter by CC0 for things you can use however you want. with the other licenses you have to look into them, give credits to the authors on CC-BY for example, but they're still free to use

 

[osanaiko]

I didn't even think of that, and that's a really good idea. Thanks for the info bro

An example of a game that does something similar to this is "Good Girl Gone Bad".

Also, a game that I help out on called "Tabletop Bornstar" uses images of real adult actresses and traces those to make the 2d sprites.