I’m always amazed at how every artist here makes wonderful mugs which nearly always keep the style proper to Fire Emblem GBA.
So I would like to try this myself and create some mugs (and maybe icons, it’s maybe easier at first), but I have no experience, and I don’t know which tools I could use.
What tools do you use ? Are they free/easily downloadable ?
Where can I learn ? video/written tutorial ?
What are the max. dimensions for GBA mugs ?
Thanks a lot for your attention. Looking forward to get in touch with nice people here !
Not all sprite artists here commit to the Fire Emblem GBA style but they’re equally wonderful and amazing as well.
To start, the tools used to make sprites are many, to name a few common ones: Ms Paint or paint dot net, Piskel, Usenti, and Aseprite. Theyre all for free excluding aseprite, since its really specialized for pixel art but the tool doesnt matter much as long as you use what feels comfy or groovy for you to use.
The Pixel art medium can be learned in video or written tutorials, though to learn the Fire Emblem GBA style itself is more on written or you can reference the vanilla mugs.
Max dimensions, for the mug only itd be 96x80 but for the whole thing would be 128x112. Heres the format of it!
As a general tip, don’t get too discouraged when your first sprite doesn’t look like the ones you admire, not everyone started as pros so they all started as beginners and practiced til they became better at it.
Happy spriting!
Edit: I forgot to add something about the format:
the bluish area is where the mug should appear in the game, whilst the dark green areas are the cutoffs. the red and dark red areas are for the mouth and eye frames (bottom row mouths and side row eyes). The chibi is where the minimug of the character will be placed and is shown when you hover over them in the game
よろしく。
15 years of practice spriting, more time spent drawing and doing other creative things.
Depressed and frustrated, makes for good art from time to time.
I started with Microsoft Paint but moved completely to Aseprite when paint changed how the selection box works which makes it insanely hard for pixel art. I use Usenti for palette managing after the fact.
Getting started I’d recommend small changes, pull up a sprite-sheet of FE mugs and just dick around for a bit with splicing, put a head on a different body, change noses around etc.
Over time you’ll be able to mix pieces together better and in more interesting ways and then one day you’ll start drawing in your own parts and they may be good or they may be bad but you’ll stick with it and slowly you’ll be drawing your own stuff.
@NICKT@GenericPretsel How long do you think it would take at a minimum to make my own decent entirely custom mugs when I have no experience in drawing or anything else ?
Like what nickt said, it varies from person to person, though for a minimum, I’ve seen someone who improved quickly in less than a year cough Obsidian Daddy cough, but not everyone’s the same so its better to go at it at your own pace
While what Pret’s advice was very very helpful, I think there’s something he forgot to mention. While there aren’t a whole lot of videos or tutorials, a lot of the talented spriters are willing to give critique, advice, references, and explanations for tons and tons of things. I might be biased, but the spriting community might be the most helpful and positive part of the FEHacking community.
But yeah, to echo what NickT and Pret said, people progress at their own pace. Don’t worry too much about it. If it’s something you’re willing to commit to, then you’ll get it down eventually.
