6/10/2014 Les Forges Pixel Art Course | OpenGameArt.

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LES FORGES PIXEL ART COURSE


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TRANSLATOR'S NOTES
This massive pixel art tutorial is written by Fil Razorback from LesForges.org. You can find the
original tutorials here. A big thank you to Fil Razorback for allowing OpenGameArt.org to
translate these tutorials and archive them here!
Preface
There are many definitions of the pixel-art, but here we will just one: an image is pixel-art if it is
created entirely by hand and that he had control of the color and position of each pixel which
composes. Clearly, in pixel-art on or use brushes or tools blurred or degraded machines and
other software options that "modern" put at our disposal. It is limited to tools such as "pencil"
and "paint pot".
However, this isn't to say that pixel-art or non-pixel-art graphics are more or less beautiful. It's
fair to say that pixel-art is different, and it lends itself better to more "retro" style games (in the
vein of Super NES or Game Boy Advance). You can also combine the techniques taught here
with effects of non-pixel-art to create a "hybrid" style.
So here you will learn the technical part of pixel-art. However, under no circumstances I will
make you an artist ... for the simple reason that I am not one. I will teach you nothing about
human anatomy, nothing on the composition of a work of art, and little on perspective. In this
tutorial, you can find a lot of information about pixel-art techniques. In the end, you should be
able to produce characters and scenery for your games, provided you pay attention, practice
regularly, and apply the advice given.
---
I also want to point out that only some of the images used in these tutorials are "zoomed". For
images that aren't zoomed, it would be good if you take the time to copy / paste or save the
images so you can study them in detail. Pixel-art is a matter of pixels, do studying it from far
away is useless.
---
Finally, I must thank all the artists who participated with me in creating this tutorial in one way
or another: Shin for his dirty work and Lineart, Xenodrogen his genius for color, for Lunn his
knowledge of perspective, and Panda, stern Ahruon, Dyo and Kryon for generously lending
their works to illustrate these pages.
So, let's return to the heart of the matter.
Chapter 1: The Right Tools
Chapter 2: Lines and Curves
Chapter 3: Perspectives
Chapter 4: Shadow and light
Chapter 5: Color Palettes
Chapter 6: Anti-aliasing
Chapter 7: Textures and Dithering
Chapter 8: A world of tiles
Chapter 1: The Right Tools
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