为什么像素艺术可以成为 2023 年平面设计的完美训练场

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Even if you weren’t around to experience the wonders of classic video games from the 1970s through to the 1990s, it’s never too late to develop an appreciation for the distinct art form that evolved to meet the needs of these games. It’s an art form we know today as pixel art, and it’s one of the best ways to earn your stripe二维计算机辅助图形设计。

The reason for this is that pixel art places heavy demands upon the artist. It requires more discipline and is more rigid than most other art forms. Pixel art forces you to focus and isolate what is most important in an image and use only that, without providing the finer control you could apply in a more detailed drawing style. It’s a “less is more” approach to drawing, and it makes you better at drawing.

Pixel art takes time to master. After all, you are creating your images one pixel at a time, and every image requires careful planning. You’ll need to learn to work with a limited palette, and without the benefit of natural curves. You’ll also be working exclusively in a 2D environment, where if you need a 3D look, you’ll need to create it using tricks such as isometric perspective and parallax scrolling.

Learning to animate sprites and backgrounds is also an excellent way to beef up your programming skills if you’re handling an entire game project by yourself. Now that mobile devices are more connected and still usually lacking the ability for sustained 3D gaming, 2D游戏正在复苏, and you can actually put these skills to work to earn some extra cash when design work isn’t flowing freely to your door.

Pixel art doesn’t require any special software. You can create pixel art in any basic drawing program. Many pixel artists started their craft in simple tools like MS Paint, but it’s better to use more sophisticated software that uses layers and custom grids, so you can really tweak your designs to perfection. Inkscape中 is really good for this purpose. It’s free, has built-in isometric grids, and works perfectly for pixel art.

在硬件方面,您可以使用鼠标,但是我发现使用图形输入板更容易,因为在进行细部图稿时,我倾向于“鼠标动手”,因此,我建议至少使用基本的图形输入板。

为什么像素艺术是理想的

Far too many people use the words illustrator and designer interchangeably. Really an illustrator is far below the level of a designer. Illustrators simply draw things according to the request of their client. Designers design things according to the needs of their client. It’s a massive difference.

Learning to create pixel art means learning how to innovate creative solutions to meet very specific needs. It’s much more than just drawing. The planning, the attention to detail, the ability to work within the limitations of technology, and devising strategy to overcome those limitations, is what makes a great pixel artist also a great designer.

像素艺术的世界

Contrary to what you may expect, the market for pixel art is big and it’s growing. Expectations were generally that pixel art would die out once technology reached the point where it was more practical and feasible to use vector art and 3D CGI. In reality there is still strong demand for pixel art and it has actually gained a wider scope of application. Where once pixel art was mainly confined to gaming, it is now used in a very wide range of practical applications.

像素艺术品销售的一些领域包括:

  • 手机游戏和复古主题游戏
  • 信息图表
  • 网站设计
  • 界面设计
  • 用于服装,钥匙标签等的设计
  • 电视图形(例如:IT人群,好游戏)
  • 像素艺术漫画(例如:Diesel Sweeties,Kid Radd)
  • 电影(例如:Wreck It Ralph,Pixels)
  • 像素艺术展览和私人收藏

There can be other potential markets that arise from time to time. In some ways you can even think of Lego bricks as a kind of pixel art, and it’s actually possible to create 3D pixel art with Lego. But that’s not going to happen unless you first become a master pixel artist, so let’s find out some more about how you do that.

像素艺术设计入门

进入这个世界的最好方法是进入一些 像素艺术比赛 and learn as you go. Of course when talking about competitions, we mean ones that are free to enter and that don’t commercially exploit your work by requiring you to sign over all your rights to the competition organizers.

良好的像素艺术比赛设置了挑战,要求您将自己的技能作为创新设计师来实现目标。 有时这只是设置主题,但它也可能包括限制您可以使用的颜色数量或设置最大像素数等规则。 这些都是游戏设计师曾经不得不工作的约束。 当您学习相同的技术时,在相同的条件下,您正在培养强大的技能,并希望更好地理解整个设计过程。

产品培训

有很多免费的在线教程,你可以购买 关于像素艺术的书籍 or 游戏设计 让你去 有关更深入的介绍,您可以考虑采取 像素艺术的udemy课程。 只需$ 35,由专业游戏艺术家(Marco Vale,现任艺术总监)教授 Indot Studios), it’s very good value.

像素艺术流程

创建像素艺术的任何工作都遵循从概念到完成的线性过程:

  • The idea – you decide what you’re going to create, or obtain instructions
  • Planning – you make choices about how you’re going to create the image
  • 网格选择 - 为要创建的图像选择正确的网格类型
  • 调色板选择 - 您为图像设置调色板
  • 原型设计 - 为大纲提供基本框架工作的可选步骤
  • 概述 - 您可以创建图像主要部分的基本轮廓
  • 平滑–修复任何“锯齿”或不规则现象以创建更好的轮廓
  • 着色 - 使用您设置的调色板为图像添加颜色
  • 着色 - 添加高光和阴影以使图像更逼真
  • 抖动 - 在有限的调色板情况下复制真实复古感觉的可选步骤
  • 选择性轮廓 - 将实线应用于图像的选定部分以给出定义
  • 消除锯齿 - 最后的平滑步骤,您可以使用颜色来增强真实感
  • 设置 - 如果您创建的图像是较大场景的一小部分,则将其设置为其设置

Some steps such as dithering and anti-aliasing may be automatically handled by your drawing software. It depends on what you’re using and what options you select.

概念

Some people regard this as the most difficult step in creating a new work, but actually it probably isn’t. Your goal is to decide what you’re going to create, or in some cases to take instruction from the client pertaining to what they want. Inspiration can come from the real world around you, or from movies, games, books, and anything else that can help you visualize the objects that will appear in your scene. For this example, we’ll create a flower pot that would be a prop in a larger scene.

规划

In this step you already know what you’re going to create, so now you are thinking about how you’re going to create it. The first major decision will be whether you’re going to design a flat image or to give it a 3D perspective. You’ll also decide how detailed or realistic the image should be, whether it needs retro look, and other things like that.

The more realistic you want the image to be, the more pixels and colors you’ll need to use, and the longer it will take to create. If you’re designing for a competition, some of these choices will already have been made for you, but you’ll still need to devise the best way to achieve the result.

A sensible thing to do would be to print out the grid that you’ll be working with and use it to make a paper sketch of the finished computer image. This will serve as a reference for the bitmap you create, to help you keep the perspective and scale consistent.

网格选择

This is determined by the nature of the work you are creating. For flat images, you’ll use a standard grid where all the lines intersect at right angles.

在3D场景中,您可以选择使用等距网格(最常见的选择)还是倾斜网格。 等距网格具有以30度相交的线:

倾斜网格具有以45度相交的线:

Oblique drawings are good when you want to include a lot of fine detail, but in general isometric provides a better view and feels more realistic. It’s the more widely chosen drawing style for good reason.

调色板选择

You could leave this step until you’re ready to color, but actually can help with the rest of the process if you define your colors early on.

模型

示例中的花盆基本上是扭曲的圆锥形状,并且与锥体的所有2D模仿一样,我们通过使用堆叠椭圆来创建基本形状。 这节省了时间并且还展示了使用Inkscape的价值,因为它具有在曲线边缘上产生比许多其他绘图程序更平滑的线的算法。 我们只需要确保椭圆与网格很好地对齐。

然后使用一些直线连接它们(如果你有耐心画出它们,那么轻柔的曲线就更加逼真了)。

大纲

在这一步中,我们绘制了想要像素化的图像轮廓。 如果您制作了图像的原型,这部分很容易。 首先创建一个新的图像层并将其堆叠在另一个图层的顶部(在Inkscape中,新图层自动具有透明背景)。 锁定原型图层,然后选择新图层并使用铅笔工具跟踪原型图层。 跟踪曲线时禁用网格捕捉。

If you have any difficulty seeing your new lines, simply reduce the opacity of the prototype layer until it is easier to see your outline layer lines. Don’t trace all the lines, just the ones that would make sense.

您可以在完成大纲后删除原型层,如果您 wish,或者干脆让它不可见。

平滑

这是困难的一步。 为此,您可以放大图像中的曲线,并尝试校正使图像看起来不太自然的任何锯齿状线。 根据图像的级别,您可能不需要执行此操作(如果图像的大小为32×32像素或更小,则可以通过平滑来改善图像的方法很少。

The way to do your first smoothing run is to zoom in on the image so you can see where the curves aren’t well defined, or where there are breaks (gaps) in the solid lines. Any gaps will cause color bleeding if you use a bucket fill, so it’s a good idea to eliminate gaps. Remember that you’re just doing one pixel at a time, which is where a tablet makes the job a lot easier than a mouse.

染色

This is what you used to do for fun when you were five, except now it’s a lot easier. You can fill large areas of color with a bucket fill, and many drawing programs let you set a gradient that may or may not give you a realistic look. Otherwise it’s the same deal as smoothing: zoom in and set your pixels one at a time. Don’t make a separate color layer, because your software may not recognize boundaries from a different layer when doing a bucket fill.

底纹

Solid colors are easy, but to get a realistic look, you need to use shading. It’s easier to do shading on larger images because they have more pixels for you to work on. The first step in shading is to figure out how the light is hitting your object or scene, and then apply highlights and shadows in a realistic way. At first this will be difficult, but with experience and feedback from fellow artists, you’ll get the hang of it. Here I’m only going to shade the back wall of the pot, but it would be better to apply some highlights on the front wall.

抖动

With a limited palette, you can’t always get every shade and color you’d want, and making subtle changes between contiguous areas is difficult without dithering. It’s not something that’s required on modern hardware, but it’s often applied for situations where you want a retro 90s look or where for various reasons you’re required to work with a limited palette. Some software can handle dithering for you automatically, or you may have to create your own dithering. This image is too simple to need any dithering, but here is a 教程 这解释了如何在Inkscape中创建虚假的抖动效果。

选择性概述

This means replacing black outlines on internal areas with a more natural looking color and only outlining those portions that need outlining for definition. In real life, the veins on a leaf are not black, so they shouldn’t be in your drawing either.

抗锯齿

This is similar to smoothing, except you’re looking more closely that regions of color that may need “bumping” in order to soften the lines a bit so they seem more realistic. Bumping a color just means choosing a color shade for a pixel between the colors of the pixels on either side of it. Intentional blurring makes lines less sharp. As with dithering, your software may automatically apply anti-aliasing for you.

设置

Putting your finished object into a larger scene is called setting. You don’t need to do this with character sprites or objects that are movable. You can do that later with code. Use setting for fixed objects that don’t move. Animated objects should be converted to sprites, which is a topic for another day.

如果您的图像没有足够像素化该怎么办

One of the problems is that Inkscape and similar vector programs just do too good of a job of bucket fills, so colors look really smooth and vectory. If you want a pixelated look, then you need to export the image to png, open it in GIMP, and apply the Pixelize filter, which you’ll find in the Blur section. This will give you a result like this (which you may then need to anti-alias):

结束语

Pixel art is far from dead, and good pixel artists still get a lot of respect in the design community from those who understand the dedication it takes to become a master. Learning to construct images pixel by pixel makes you a better designer, and possibly a better engineer as well. There is still a strong market demand for pixel art and relatively few talented pixel artists on the ground who are serving that need. You can make money in pixel art, or simply use it as a way to beef up your skills. Either way, it’s fun and rewarding, well worth doing.

波格丹兰萨

Bogdan是Inspired Mag的创始成员,在此期间积累了近6年的经验。 在业余时间,他喜欢学习古典音乐和探索视觉艺术。 他也非常着迷于修复工具。 他已拥有5。

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