Design Challenge #10 - 01 2022

[Skoops]

Well, it's January. With the holidays and all their respective drawing challenges winding down, many of us will have a lot less art on our plates at the start of the new year.

It's a meme that nobody sticks to their New Year's Resolution for a whole year, but I've always made resolutions for just the month, and those tend to go well enough, so I'm gonna drag you all into it with me.

This month's challenge is to Learn a New Technical Skill and to post your progress here, hopefully with a finished piece to show at the end of the month. By "technical skill," I mean the use of a program or standardized method that requires new, specific, operational knowledge. This includes, but isn't limited to:

-3D modelling (low/mid poly)

-3D sculpting (high poly)

-Photobashing

-Shader development

-Brush/plugin development

-Modular assets (2D or 3D)

-Game engine integration

I imagine most folks would be starting from square one on 3D if that's what they choose, so if that's you, here's the famous donut tutorial series that gives you a very concise crash course in the latest version of Blender:

I've been using Blender for the better part of a decade, so I'll be taking things a step further and learning some of its new sculpting and 2.5D functions that snuck up on me while I wasn't looking:

If you have a different idea and aren't sure if it counts as a technical skill, ask here and I'll try to get you pointed in the right direction. Happy learning!

As always, these challenges don’t expire, so you can take your time and submit to any of them at any time.

Previous challenges:

1: Wild West Vampires

2: Space Station Daily Life

3: Matching Weapon/Gear Sets

4: Abstract Shapes

5: OC Alignment Flip

6: Pets!

7: Halloween Costume Party

8: Autumn Landscapes

9: Lights!

[Skoops]

At 1/3/22 01:46 AM, PilotSpikey wrote:
Always wanted to learn the process behind creating pixel art. Let's go.

I'm late to recommend this, but if you don't have Aseprite already, It's well worth the money. I used it a lot during the Egg Jam to downscale and sharpen painted assets into more pixel-y graphics, made a few from scratch in it, and it's been my go-to for pixel work ever since.

[misterbright]

https://medium.com/pixel-grimoire/how-to-start-making-pixel-art-2d1e31a5ceab

[Narratorway]

Well never done my hand at pixel art a'fore. Found out about Piskel with an just figured to make a simple sprite to see if I could only to notice it also allowed for animation. Might dig bigger into this if I get the time...

[Skoops]

At 1/10/22 05:49 PM, Narratorway wrote: Well never done my hand at pixel art a'fore. Found out about Piskel with an just figured to make a simple sprite to see if I could only to notice it also allowed for animation. Might dig bigger into this if I get the time...

If you're looking to try animation with chonky weapons like that, I'd peek the GBA Fire Emblem sprite sheets to get an idea of how to get a LOT of clarity out of some pretty small sprites and only a handful of frames.

[misterbright]

I did a pixel for the first time

[misterbright]

I did a pixel thing for the SECOND time. That's right...TWO WHOLE THINGS for the design challenge.

[Skoops]

I should have expected this month would be busier for me than usual, and it was! The new skills I learned this month were less out of personal choice and more out of necessity. One of the ones I can share is that I learned the ins and outs of setting up "rule tiles" in Unity. When it's set up properly and you make all the right kinds of connecting tiles, it will automatically change all of the connecting tiles to the right type depending on the context. Still getting the kinks out of my first full set, but the payoff is immense already, and the more of these I set up, the more time I'll save in the long run.

[Flikki]

So I'm a little late to the party, but better late than never. I've only ever done pixel art and animations when I was a wee bab, so it's nice to practice these technical skills again.

Here's a pixel piece I made specifically for this:

This is a sprite sheet that I've been working on recently that I think is relevant to the challenge:

I have no idea how these look in motion tbh. I was originally going to try blender but oof, it's a bit too complex for me. Maybe I'll try again someday.

[BargonSpaceman]

I made a pixelated version of my OC Aura for this challenge. It took way longer than I anticipated. But it was still fun.

[Skoops]

At 3/9/23 12:33 PM, BargonSpaceman wrote: I made a pixelated version of my OC Aura for this challenge. It took way longer than I anticipated. But it was still fun.

I'm digging seeing you develop this character over time. Makes me want to do more with my own white-haired, dark elf-lookin' lady character.

[BargonSpaceman]

At 3/9/23 11:51 PM, Skoops wrote:

At 3/9/23 12:33 PM, BargonSpaceman wrote: I made a pixelated version of my OC Aura for this challenge. It took way longer than I anticipated. But it was still fun.

I'm digging seeing you develop this character over time. Makes me want to do more with my own white-haired, dark elf-lookin' lady character.

Thanks! And I would love to see what kind of character you would make.