Just a random poll i thought of
Free feel to vote even if you don’t usually sprite. Pick the one you mainly use if you have multiple
- Aseprite
- MS Paint
- Usenti
- Piskel
- Gimp
- Others (Comment)
0
voters
7 Likes
I use Paint.NET since I’m already familiar with its workflow. Tracking colors can get a bit hectic admittedly, but I’ve gotten better at tracking them over time
7 Likes
I mainly use Usenti since that’s one of the best programs to make sprite art imo, although I also use MS Paint when I either insert a mini mug, make the image more big, or I have to insert parts of images (like sketches or splices of other portraits) that have different colors that didn’t appear in the original image, since Usenti gets funky when you try to insert things with colors that weren’t there before, so instead of retaining them it justs gives them the colors your image has (don’t know if I made myself clear there)
Idk if there’s other program that has things of both of these two at once, or even more (maybe Photoshop?), but I just stick with what I use.
4 Likes
that’s really cool, i had no idea usenti does that
i dont think i’ll ever make a minimug the normal way now lol
4 Likes
I technically use libresprite, but picked Aseprite since it’s basically the same thing
2 Likes
usenti + mspaint like a real millennial.
Real ones remember skewing sprites in mspaint to rotate them for sprite comics.
And then usenti has the most similar UI/feel to the mspaint of ages past.
I am not that old though I promise
5 Likes
I use Piskel.
It’s a website that you can download as an application for offline access. Being a website means I don’t need to download any applications if I want.
It does what I want it to do; add frames, layers, copying, pasting, bucket tools, resize, pretty much does what I need. The only issue I’ve found is that trackpads can be a bit of a bother, and moving copied frames by mouse with option (as far as I know) without a keyboard option can be a bit…ehhhhhh, but it’s fine in the end, it’s problems aren’t that bothersome to me.
3 Likes
I use MS Paint for almost everything EXCEPT animations (even though i used to). For battle anims i use Aseprite. It’s extremely useful for importing all frames at once into one project.
I also can necer bring myself to use Usenti. It just looks ugly and hard to use.
I also occasionally use Paint.NET when im making an image with text on it. I got the GBA fonts extracted as actual fonts, and they work best in Paint.NET.
3 Likes
I’ve been using Paint Shop Pro since before I started doing pixel art (specifically Version 7 (release date of 2000/2001)) - at this point, I’m too used to the program’s workflow and shortcuts to comfortably switch to something else (at least until it stops being compatible with a version of Windows).
I’ll use Usenti to requantize a palette if I need to, but god do I wish that Usenti’s palette window could be zoomed in…
5 Likes
I am a wielder of the classic MS Paint from the days of Windows Vista.
I don’t know what Paint is like these days, but I know I’m not going to use it.
When I need to do something real complicated I’ll pull up the trusty /Paint.net, but man does it piss me off sometimes with how it doesn’t save your preferences.
I almost always forget to turn off antialiasing, which is less than helpful with pixel art using limited colors haha
2 Likes
I primarily use Usenti for the main part of the process since it was recommended in Ganzap’s splicing tutorial and I’ve used it ever since, it’s not that hard to use and essentially functions the same as MSPaint but the buttons are put in places you wouldn’t expect them to be. Plus, come on, it’s not that ugly 
However, to put all the pieces I need for a splice onto the canvas, I have to use Gimp to insert it all, merge it, save it, then go into an external website to turn that XCF file into a PNG file so it can be read by Usenti. It’s stupid and not fun, but that’s just how the cookie crumbles sometimes 
And if I need to make a minimug, I just go into MSPaint and do it all there.
Overall, 7.8/10, too much water
3 Likes
I picked ‘Others (Comment)’ because I basically use LibreSprite, Gimp and MS Paint.
Got so used to MS Paint from when I was younger, I still work with it whenever I just need to make simple edits lol. But quite recently, about a year, that I also started working with both LibreSprite and Gimp, to help me with anything that’s more complex and precise.
3 Likes
But I was born in 2003…
4 Likes
I am one of those dinosaurs who still uses Paint. Vista’s version of it to be exact, Windows 7/10 Paint sucks. I wish I could swap and become more ‘modern’, hah.
7 Likes
I use Paint for 99% of the spriting I do, which isn’t much to be fair, but every now and then I feel like making a portrait, battle sprite or map animation. The remaining 1% would probably be 0.8% Paint(dot)net when I need to adjust color counts, and 0.2% Usenti when I need to fix palette orders.
2 Likes
GIMP as a main, and aseprite for animating
1 Like
95% MS paint
5% Gimp
1 Like
In my case, I use several programs in the following order to make my portraits:
- Pixel Studio: I use that for the base and the minimug when I splice, in other programs I have to cumbersomly make use of layers every time I want to splice, whereas there I can simply just drag and connect the parts until they look fine. I still use layers if a portraits face is both in front of and behind clothing or other stuff, but I simply found it the quickest with Pixel Studio.
- Paint.net: I use that to make the talking and blinking frames, inlcuding the color choice, since I find it easier to pick colors there.
- Usenti: Used lastly, and only to requantize the palette down to 16 (paint.net ruins color palette order) in order to make it insertable into FEBuilder and to scrub any other coloring or frame errors I may have missed.
Perhaps 3 Programs are a bit much, but it worked fine for me so far to make 1 decent Splice a day.
1 Like
Good ol’ MS Freakin’ Paint, baby! Only the classics!
…That said, I do supplement it with Paint . NET and Usenti for palette management, which those two programs make a lot easier.
2 Likes
Usenti for sprites/ portraits
Mspaint for everything else
Aseprite for like animation frames. I’m not an artist though so I’ve only had to use it once.
2 Likes