Creation of 2d tiles and Sprites?

#1 I just spent a week going over all the ways to create 2d art. So I can tell you that basically art goes into 3 categories.

Pixel: Art created using just pixels and no effects. Gives a retro look.

Hand Drawn: Sketch on paper, Scan into photo shop and use effects with a tablet till it looks great.

Other: usually art drawn from scratch in photoshop. Hardest way to do it.

#2 If I were doing the avatar sprites, I might consider making a 3D model, and rendering out images from it for further processing.

#3 Yes I forgot about that method. while purists will tell you its not really 2d, you can always render a 3d model as a 2d image.

#4 Thanks for the input... so Id... take a screen shot of a rendered 3d model and turn that into a bitmap?

#5 Actually, a more accurate way to do it would be to position the camera to get the exact perspective of the model and render it the way you would any 3D animation. Most software can do either a movie file or individual frame as some graphical file that you could then use and image strip program to put back together.

#6 This opens up so many more questions (like building a decent 3d model) but those are questions for different forums I believe... Thanks again for your advice.

#7 Well Axiom if you are not into 3D art then you will likely find it easier to create normal 2D art.

#8 Heh,

Actually I am a very good animator...but now I am working backwards and trying to learn how to model and make sprites (basically making things TO animate) Making the models in 3d inst the bad part...texturing them and rigging them is where the difficulty starts :P

oh and making decent game environments ;)