How To Pixel Art - Beginner To PRO Tutorial

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Help Support This Channel By Checking Out Reece's New Pixel Art Course for Beginners: www.gamedev.tv/p/pixel-art-fundamentals?affcode=45216_xckdrd_z

[@urenzal3902]

Also subscribe

[@aaronjohnson3652]

I just subscribed to you when I get a tablet i definitely will be doing I wanna keep myself busy on the weekends and learn a new skill!!

[@Kingpix157]

your tutorials are good but tbh Naw I'm not paying sorry (because I'm underage :/)

[@ballman2010]

I know it's just a blink-and-you-miss-it sort of thing, but "find inspiration, not jealousy" really hit me. It's such a useful idea with applications way beyond the topic of the video.

[@mememan5466]

I'm jealous of your way of thinking

[@mojojojo01.]

@@mememan5466 i'm inspired by your jealousy.

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Hope this video is useful! Let's keep learning and progressing our skills...Good luck everyone!

[@rogancliphub]

hahaha. the word talented pixel artist and my name dont work in the same sentence

[@joashendriksen2252]

Can you make a animation tutorial?

[@artsybixch6228]

It is useful

[@betterteen]

What's the ap you're using?!??

[@lizard_man4379]

the edging tip is quite useful

[@somebody31415]

My first actually playable game consists of crudely drawn images that were mostly designed by my son. I’m coming from a much more technical background, so I’m in dire need of all the artistic advice available! This is good stuff! Keep it going

[@micyoz5283]

I needed this, the pixel art of my first game was extremely meh. So hopefully this will help my next one!

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Yay! Glad I could help Micy!

[@_Ezra19_]

what program do you use for pixel art?

[@_Ezra19_]

@@micyoz5283 ty

[@baddogproductions9722]

Whats your first game? Is there a possible way to get it?

[@baddogproductions9722]

@@micyoz5283 nice

[@DrCrazyEvil]

Great tips man, just got into sprite art, trying do be more productive but man school and stuff just feels like I dont have any free time, I wanna learn a lot as I'm 29 before its too late. But so hard managing time.

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Ohhh man. I love this. Don't pressure yourself too much, but it's NEVER too late to pick up new skills. You are still young, so practice with no judgement on yourself when starting a new craft! 💜

[@plague_doctor0237]

People never stop learning, so it's never too late to pick up a skill

[@DrCrazyEvil]

@@plague_doctor0237 appreciate sadly haven't been able keep it up too well, as I took up studies as well. But nice motivational speech bro

[@plague_doctor0237]

@@DrCrazyEvil it's ok, at least you are doing it, even if you take a lot of time you will eventually get the results you wish for

[@garlicclaws]

@@plague_doctor0237 i have never agreed so much with something in my whole life

[@am_grey]

While I don’t really do sprite art or extremely detailed art for indie games (I do commissions for textures for weapons, I even turn them into 3D models if the client requests it) I found this really helpful so thanks!

[@ReeceGeofroy]

No problem! Glad you could get some use out of the video 🙂

[@thomasbrush]

Thanks for the tips! gonna be using them in my next vids

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Thanks Thomas, just hit me up if you ever need any help with pixel art brother 🙂

[@gamedevlooper411]

Two of the youtubers I follow at the same place? This sure motivates me

[@lorddurrosXIIIXXXIII]

3:19 BOULDERDASH!!! With statistics you can find what is objectively more appealing to the eye. Thank you for your pocket of insight on Pixel Art it helped me quite a bit. Great video!

[@jamesmcbride8612]

'Find Inspiration, not jealousy'......INCREDIBLE words to live by! Thank you!

[@conrad762]

"You have to know the rules in order to properly break them" - some smart guy

[@Azaelia0Love]

The whole time I was watching I kept thinking the game you were playing looked really fun, happy to find out it'll be available on steam eventually. Thanks for the tutorial, look forward to playing your game!

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Thanks Ashley!

[@galactikhex]

Made my first 16x pickaxe and I'm really proud of it. Some tips I think are helpful. Establish where your light source is coming from straight away and think about where it should be lighter, Instead of a black outline. Just get the colour next to the edge and darken it. Do the same all the way round but darken it the exact same amount all the way round. That way in lighted areas it doesnt go from yellow to black. But rather from yellow to dark yellow

[@thekingscrown8931]

Hello, I know I'm about a year late to this comment, but I'm going to type this anyway just in case it helps someone else along their pixel art journey. An even better way to kick your shading up a notch would be to actually change the hue slightly as well. A good rule of thumb is to change the hue to a cooler color for shadows and warmer for highlights. For example if you have a red object then you'd want to go from yellow/orange to red to purple, with yellow being your highlights and purple being your shadows. Also never use pure black or pure white.

[@galactikhex]

I did manage to learn this throughout the year after this comment but I appreciate a lot@@thekingscrown8931

[@silverszi6909]

beginner to slightly better beginner

[@fennecfugames]

Nice video, love how you included tips and advice for people at all stages of pixelling 💜

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Thanks Fennec! Glad you liked it :]

[@W4ckyYL]

thank you so much for this, I honestly think this was one of the best and most interesting pixel art tutorials I've seen on the internet. I fell in love with pixel art after joining a Terraria mod server about two years ago and never stopped practicing it every once in a while, so it is always great to find some nice videos on youtube that could help me improve :D

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Appreciate this wacky!! 😁

[@thewizard5291]

6:30 if yall want some tips on animation, look up the 7 principals of animation. They will improve your animation significantly.

[@Goodgis]

Great advice! :D

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Thanks Mahk 😍

[@MariJadeWrites]

Thank you, this is an useful tutorial, I made my first pixel art creation today! :)

[@ReeceGeofroy]

YAYYY! Love that!

[@WhatnotArt]

I’m actually working on a pixel art Mario inspired game, and this is exactly what I needed!! I was really confused, because I didn’t know how to start designing, or how to make a good design for my characters.

[@PLAYER42_ready]

Personally I do my art with flat shading or basically no shading at all with big, black and bold outlines this is definitely gonna help me broaden my horizons thanks!

[@bepositive271]

please tell mr the software

[@imyasuka]

It think the skill in pixelart is not about drawing in high resolution, i think the skill is about placing as much information in as few space as possible.

[@soninhodev7851]

Specialy if you use an 8*8 grid

[@ThePixelExpedition]

Great video! We need as many pixel art reference and tutorial videos out there as possible. I want to see this as a growing community sharing love for this style of art work and game design! Thanks, man! ♥️

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Glad you liked it! I want to try and do 1 every year to see how much I have learnt and what new lessons I can teach! :D Maybe I will do a course in the following year or something..who knows :P

[@ThePixelExpedition]

@@ReeceGeofroy That's all sounds great. Look forward to it!

[@oboethewizard2904]

I love your work and your drive and the way you explain things! I'm trying to get into sprite work and pixel art myself! Love what you do!

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Thank you for your kind words Oboe!!

[@backlog2389]

It's so cool that you've never gone to school and your still holding it down. Slay.

[@Skeffles]

Great video! I definitely agree that you should learn why people are doing particular things, whether it's pixel art or coding.

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Well said!

[@donaldazevedo5554]

Your game honestly looks dope, doing a super awesome job on it!

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Thank you Donald! 😁

[@Richard_dale_11]

I came for a tutorial...I found greatness. . . . Instant subscribe. I love your energy bro. God bless you.

[@SoaringElk123]

So I just started pixel art... yesterday. I did one piece and I really liked it. I've had a lot of problems with being bad at art, which caused a lot of anger at myself and jealousy of my friends throughout my life. But I actually the pixel art I made. But anyway, what app or whatever is good for making pixel art?

[@thekingscrown8931]

For absolute beginner's I'd reccommend piskel, it's interface is insanely simplistic and you won't get bogged down with having to learn how to use it. I haven't tried to animate in the program but for static sprites it works more than well enough.

[@heavensfield494]

If you are a low-budget game maker like me, you can create your character by take a picture of your self in same distance and use some app or program to pixelate the pics, crop it out The quality is not too good, but decent, only requires a few retakes, at least it’s original and useable

[@samuels1123]

A unique concept is resolution, things closer to the screen will usually have more detail than things way in the back, a foreground element pushed into the background unprocessed would seem disproportionately large and out of place next to the smaller low resolution landscape.

[@rodgermccallister1606]

This video will be very useful for me because the next game I'm working on is pixel art :)

[@ReeceGeofroy]

That's awesome Rodger! Hope you find it helpful!!

[@DJGamer_2022]

What is the program?

[@hurtigbane]

Aseprite

[@ayoungartistakajack6799]

​@@hurtigbane pixilart is also good if you don't have 20 bucks

[@dr.toukan-ka-moon9723]

feels good to see ur name in a vid (even if its just the stream chat).

[@ReeceGeofroy]

hahahaha true! Yeah I like use the livestream footage from time to time!

[@EnricoUniverse]

Is there any particular reason why every creature's eyes in your game is just 1 pixel? I feel like this limits your monster designs greatly. There is so much you can do with the eyes.

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Yeah, I'm actually working on some creatures with different styles of eyes, but for the most part it's just a stylistic choice, as it makes the monsters feel more like monsters and not as much like pets

[@westingtyler1]

one funny note is how when LucasFilm Games made Maniac Mansion working with Mark Ferrari for art, that game is remembered as having a unique character style. the heads are big and the bodies are small. But the artist later said it was due to necessity - with all the characters the only way to have detailed and unique faces was to make their heads out of proportion, larger than they should be. it allowed more pixel detail there, and created a unique style.

[@drygordspellweaver8761]

@westingtyler ff6 character faces were 8 by 8 pixels and contained tons of depth. So it can be done but requires real mastery of the art

[@zachcapricorn3512]

Pets would have the white part of eyes replaced with black, LOL.

[@JakubSK]

Pro Tip: When making a game, don't have a girlfriend

[@phoenix-lt6in]

What if she is my artist cough

[@kyleshanahan2274]

@@phoenix-lt6inLike hitting two birds with one stone. Both your dreams die😂

[@JosiahJames-h1c]

WHAT IF SHES HOT

[@JosiahJames-h1c]

What if shes hot

[@JakubSK]

Then you don’t need to make a game. Achievement Unlocked.

[@naydra3635]

Dude this is super helpful. I’ve been into pixel art and animation for a long time now, and recently decided to try it. I came here for shading, and got so much more. Would you be open to giving me some more basic shading tips?

[@rareshika]

A really cool video as always!

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Thanks Dragono!! :]

[@simmzzzz]

excellent video and great advice! thanks!

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Glad you found it helpful! 😍

[@gabe9925]

Environment pixel art is what level of skill? I needed to see this video, cause I'm blinding diving into

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Environmental art is my favourite, but I am unsure where that would fall on the spectrum for other people. I personally found it pretty hard to get into, but once I learnt the basic forms of nature sprites and how to apply textures it came pretty natural and is something I love to do! Good luck and I hope you can find some more resources to help you along the way :)

[@gabe9925]

@@ReeceGeofroy i Tried as a begginer and fail miserably (its okay, we need to fail to learn). I draw other styles, I just got to Pixel Art recently. I loved your explanation in the video, will see how I go (always using refs.). Thanks for taking your time to respond me! Good journey to us bro! see ya

[@shalevforfor5550]

2:00 this is called uv like xyzw it's making a 3D as 2D the you can put on a 3D like Minecraft skins

[@isra9862]

Thank you so much for this video, you might not have thought but it helps with cross-stitch patterns as well. I was trying to make a pattern but it never turned as I wanted, now I can do whatever I want!

[@1s448]

i kinda just accidentally learned these things over the coarse of a year, just without knowing the name of any of these things, and im kinda glad i didnt try to follow tutorials because i instead just learned how to put my heart on the screen, which is a lot more fun than when i was going for some sort of objective perfection in my pixel art

[@tictactoc9311]

3:34 what game is this?

[@kelp-ist3469]

Also another thing that I've learned is that you can input blender renders into aseprite, so if your trying to understand how something would look in 2d you can take the render and see. this is something that I've learned while trying to imitate dead cells fluid and beautiful 2d sprites, it's all 3d just pixelated

[@PolyMars]

what if I'm already a pro

[@PRDGL_WindyBW]

...then you don't need this video...

[@ReeceGeofroy]

If anyone is wondering why this video came out late...just point fingers at PolyMars over here 😍

[@barj]

@@ReeceGeofroy shut

[@chatter_box3049]

Even tho i don't have much of a interest in pixel art I really enjoyed this video and still pulled good tips and information from this, Great video!

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Thanks Chatter Box!

[@1Chitus]

Nice video, love how you included tips and advice for people at all stages of pixelling

[@LOSTnerd815]

I love your animation style, tbfrank.

[@outdatedgear5036]

Always question the artists. I’m a musician and I started learning how to play by learning other peoples songs. Find inspiration not jealousy. Damn dude that’s some real advice.

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Haha thanks man!

[@isto_inc]

Great video :)

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Thanks Stephen! :D

[@AbigaleWalker-h7s]

Thank you! This helped me out so much!

[@slimescm9847]

Uh hi, could you make a tutorial on how to make a simple rpg videogame?? I don't know what platform to use, i don't have any experience but me and my team have worked on storyline and design for quite a while now, we just don't know how to make the actual game

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Hey I actually have a tutorial I made a while back on my channel for creating your first game in GameMaker Studios 2, which is what I use to create my games! Hope this helps 😁

[@ItsRave_n]

Great video! one question what app do you use for pixel drawing?

[@IcaroPhantoka]

Why the forager icons in the thumb? Lol

[@bloxiancoder]

Thank you so much, your a great yt because you interact with your community (in the comments), you inspire me

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Thanks Bloxian! Appreciate the support and I'm glad I can help inspire you to create. Good luck out there!

[@master.9202]

That video is CERTAINELY going to improve my poor pixel art (for your own sake dont play one of my games). Thanks a lot!

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Yayyy!!! Glad you will find it useful! :D

[@guto_4549]

how can i play one of your games?

[@wdrbumk]

I want to play one of your games!

[@master.9202]

@@wdrbumk Do you want to lose your eyes?

[@raoinshishiza152]

this man did not give one actual demonstration of a technique just a bunch of anime advice: dont give up, have goals, have mentors, youll get there.

[@potatom2765]

Thanks i started doing pixal art as hobby and its so fun

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Awesome! Glad I could be a part of the journey haha

[@badfunkyplayer7448]

I think of 2d animation with pixel art as a flip book it may help to watch how to make a flipbook

[@tatupenttonen272]

Good video and i tried monster tribe and woah it was really well made man

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Oh awesome! Thank you :)

[@khiosimaa8852]

what is the game he is showing? at 03:25 right top?

[@Abraham1stcha]

Thanks it was very helpful😁😁👍

[@lullylew9083]

This is so cool. I might have to give it a go. Is there a way we can manipulate our pixel art so that it looks as though we're viewing it on a CRT tv? If we could get that style down then pixel art could go so much further. The natural blending from the CRT tv keeps the pixel art somewhat in tact while adding a tremendous level of depth to the image. God I miss CRTs. Apart from their size and weight they were so much better.

[@AzA609]

#1 Tip: Always keep learning. This one is really important. One video is never enough. Watch other tutorials and don't stop. Especially when it comes to an art based topic like pixel art. The most skilled artists don't stop learning.

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Exactly! Love this. You can never know enough in any skill 😄

[@Dylan-tt3ic]

so cool. im straight up inspired. instant sub to your channel. thanks mate

[@jastonang8425]

thx this really help me alot since i am trying to become an pixel artist

[@ridderu]

Thanks for this insightful video. I just got into this several days ago, trying to replicate some pixel art sample to understand how it works. One thing that I would like to ask, should I purchase pen to start or I can just use mouse and keyboard? Just want to know how much should I invested to get into and be more active in developing my skill. Thank you.

[@Nutellagott]

Thanks for this vid i went from bad art in paint to 16x16 and i am now using 32x32. I also made my first 64x64 background today so thanks man 👍.

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Nice! Good luck 🤞

[@westingtyler1]

this is a great vid. consider getting a pop filter for the mic to prevent plosive sounds, and speaking at a glancing angle to the mic rather than directly into it.

[@brandonsmith1198]

I was doing pixel art on my iPad, but is there a way that you could do a tutorial about pixel art your dining room table or Christmas tree in your next video? I like this one

[@Boyboy-xx3fc]

Ok, but what pixel art software should I use? There's so many and I don't know which of them to pick

[@Boyboy-xx3fc]

Please I need help choosing please I have decision paralysis

[@_Ezra19_]

i need a program for pixel art in my game... recommend one? I haven't watched it yet I will when I get a program tho

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Aseprite, piskel, Libresprite would be my main recommendations!

[@_Ezra19_]

@@ReeceGeofroy ty

[@dorianovic4172]

Why do the logs and the berries look almost exactly why the ones from Forager?

[@blackletterstudios8398]

another banger brother; whats your game called so i can pick up a copy

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Monster Tribe, my man! It's going on kickstarter April 15th and we need all the help we can get 😭😭

[@blackletterstudios8398]

@@ReeceGeofroy join our group man, ill happily tell the ghost army about it too :) facebook.com/groups/722834938407525

[@bryannascott7364]

Thanks for very useful tips and tricks. I will try it out and practice more on the Faketown drawing tool then. I'll make sure to apply these tutorials.

[@who_cares848]

I tend to go for the style shown as "beginner" in the thumbnail because it's more reminiscent of early nes games. Most of the sprites didn't even have an outline.

[@PrivateKero]

What is the name of the game at the bottom right? 3:19

[@gachasomething6043]

i literally just opened up piskel so i can start practicing for when i have free time, but i immediately didn't know what to do lol. (this would be my first time doing pixel art)

[@criminechen]

You should look into color theory

[@astrowyrm6871]

there's a lot of stuff this dude can look into, he has a lot to learn himself

[@escalate1629]

What is the best software to create and edit sprites?

[@shalevforfor5550]

I just pick a outline and stuck with it I'm make a white and black on the outside and it's Depends

[@imnethfaxx]

Idk if its good or not but whenever I wanna add details I take a color and substract or add 1 value out of it 3+ for shading

[@obicannoli5151]

How much money will it take to get an early access version of monster tribe lol !!!

[@ReeceGeofroy]

About $25ishhhh HAHAHAH You will also get private access to a feedback / suggestion chatroom in the discord server / a backer role

[@oneya31g51]

Hm, what better to use while writting pixel art?

[@ethanhunt6731]

Thanks for the tutorial I just started sprite making for my game im making and I was struggling how to make it look good like some of the sprites only had one color with no lighter or darker pixels or if I should add a outline your tutorial made my brain click and now I can remake my sprites with good shading and light reflections I have so much depth to master. I do have a question how do you pace yourself on how far you want to achieve high state perfection? like if you watch tutorials every day and learn new skills how far would you advance at a time from project to project?

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Thank Ethan! Personally I have slowed down my skill progression to focus on consistency. Developing a video game over a couple years means I can't experiment TOO much with new styles, so instead I am continuously drawing to get more consistent and efficient at creating my work to speed up my own progress. I'm sure I'll go back to testing with new styles and higher levels of detail when I'm starting a new project though!

[@Leonardo-G]

Ngl that pixel art on the thumbnail reminds me of Minecraft's Texture Update and how the 1.14+ textures looked a lot more competent.

[@griffinbrooks6748]

6:06 can we get these sprites as well?

[@BlueJayGaming]

sure, play the video frame by frame and draw it yourself

[@fleurenheit329]

im laying off on traditional and digital art rn since my dominant hand's wrist is acting quite weird when i overwork it (i hope not but its probably injured or smth i wrote a lot of essays during the school days) so im trying out other forms of art where id just use my fingers and my phone, and decided that pixel art would be great. hope i wont fuck this up, my traditional and digital skills already deteriorated due to abrupt and lengthened stop in practice and pixel art is my last hope on clinging to my art passion :,D

[@ReeceGeofroy]

I believe in you!!! 🔥

[@Pafkatax]

I wanna make pixel art sooooo bad. i usually nail every art i try,but the problem is i am a daltonist and the colors i pick are inaccurate. i hate my eyes so much..

[@st1ckblaze146]

This is helpful for me since I'm making a minecraft mod, i need to learn pixel art for the textures.

[@chasestewart4225]

I just got accepted to create reskins for this game I play, your vid is helping me learn a lot more lol

[@Palak_-rs4ij]

From where can i start doing this any suggestions pls

[@lnc-to4ku]

This was really great! Thank you!!

[@AwesomeRepix]

Didn't need this, but I still prefer your beginner version compared to the "pro" version in the thumbnail :D

[@Aen0411]

I'm currently looking to learn to improve my pixel art All i can do a smooth GIF but my art skill sucks, I've an animation student grad and has a experience on making game I didn't expect i might use it now or in future

[@thekryptonitesandwich8475]

Thank you very much for that Video, it was very helpful!

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Glad you found it helpful!

[@jaxxi1024]

my advice is you can trace any art or pixel art but dont post it. u can post it if u give credit tracing art can improve your skills ;this vid help me alot btw

[@typhonplume9374]

I'll admit I like the look of the beginner art over the pro stuff in the thumbnail.