Pixel Art Sprite Style Discussion (...and compilation of all my sprites!)

I've compiled (mostly!) all of my sprite work from the channel so far, and in this video I discuss some approaches and considerations when designing character sprites - including sprite height, head-to-body-ratio, and outlines!

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0:00 Intro
0:29 Sprite Size with a Purpose
2:20 32px: "The Tipping Point"
3:50 The Outline Continuum
4:51 Finishing Thoughts
5:29 VID OVER

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Check out my art here:

Shop:

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Software used: Adobe Photoshop (CS6)
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Title sequence theme music by Failpositive:

[a_puntato]

i'd been stagnating on improving in pixel art for years, and ever since i've started watching your videos i've improved massively (not just me being an arrogant prick, i've been showing off my art alot recently and people seem to really like it- also i now have the confidence to actually show my art off now thanks to you lmao). your videos are so amazing, i really do hope you don't stop!
also, i couldn't say my favorite character sprite of all time cuz it's just not really something i've thought about, but out of your characters i really like your stone golem that you did recently.

[nittayoshifumi]

Wake up bro, new BJG vid!

Ngl, Hulk feels smaller when you compile him with others

[whiskeyjuliet]

Some of the level decoration sprite work in the original Worms is great, Metal Slug 1 has brill enemy and player sprites and finally Jazz Jackrabbit for DOS reads great with its bright colours and style. Great vid as always!

[gamedevmanti]

It's great to see all your work together like this, it really shows off the breadth of your skills.

My favourite character sprite has always been red from the original pokémon games, because it's the first time I properly realised that game art was just pictures made of tiny squares!
I can vividly remember squinting at my game boy screen, to copy the sprite, pixel by pixel, on to graph paper, and into MSPaint on my computer.

[undercoverduck]

What I love and respect most about your channel is your framing of decisions as stylistic choices rather than right or wrong. After I started pixel art and not-so-coincidentally watching your videos, the algorithm bombarded me with pixel art tutorials veering straight into "NEVER use black outlines! ALWAYS use shadows and highlights!"-territory which... idk man, I don't think any discipline of art works like that. What you do on the other hand – discussing the various effects the different choices can have – is perfect for me. It makes me want to try the things you mentioned out for myself, see the effect for myself, see if I agree, see if I can find an exception. It's just far more engaging.

[genfan]

Clicked as soon as I saw the notification

[kostas]

I'm starting pixel art and these videos help me a whole lot. Thank you. And remember, keep up the good work.

[chimklee]

seeing all of these sprites together is honesty so nostalgic!

Side note: I’ve been doing sprite art for years now and haven’t improved noticeably, until I started to watch your videos… Thanks for everything!

[abzergaming]

I thoroughly love the battle scene sprites from the Shining Force games and would to see you do a battle scene between Link and Dark Beast Ganon from Breath of the Wild in that style. Upon seeing the Alucard sprite, I could see a battle scene between him and Dracula in that style as well.

[flamentnagel]

my favorite sprite atm has gotta be robo-ky from guilty gear, especially Isuka. he can be given the moves of other characters in Isuka, and the sheer variety and creativity in what he can copy and how he pulls it off without the powers and weapons the other fighters have makes him so fun to look at. the overall spritework in SFIII is also really good, the sheer level of detail and smoothness of animation couldn't have been easy to pull off in that era, or even nowadays, really.

[ZandiaConZ]

when you asked our favourite sprites I thought you were talking about the sprites you made, and honestly I love the super famicom control team and the fighter gummies, the idea of creating such interesting and creative characters out of such simple things like candy and buttons on a controller is so amazing for me I wish I could do the same

[saultoons]

Wow it's cool to see all these sprites in one space, what a nice diverse range of styles :D Thanks for the breakdown too :)

[maxf]

I love that you used Endless Duel as an example, I've always thought that game had some of the best pixel art on the SNES (especially that intro)

[staltheclown]

symphony of the night, metal slug, and Wario Land 4 have my favorite sprite art

[Daggerz_And_Ramen]

By far my favourite sprites are the haribo fighters. They just feel retro in that cool nostalgic way (even though I never even grew up with a game boy colour). I can’t wait to see what other sprites we’ll see in the future :)

[wormderful]

Always a delight to see these analysis/discussion videos! I'd say my current favorite sprite works come from Stardew Valley and River City Girls. Can't pick just one sprite though haha

[TheCrawl]

It's hard to pick a favorite! But I'm really fond of just about everything in Mega Man ZX and ZX Advent, and I love the colors and overall vibe of Breath of Fire IV's battle sprites.

[leetri]

Favourite sprites? Basically anything from Jojo Heritage for the Future. The sprites are real clean, the animations are stylish and smooth, and the poses are just *chef's kiss*. There's so much personality and style in each sprite.

[ashpraterpiano]

It's quite hard to just pick a favorite sprite, I'd just say in general, I love the pixel art in Risk of Rain, Stardew Valley, and lot from the GBA era of games. Risk of Rain's pixel art really gives a since of scaled, and is a great example of tiny sprite work, with a lot of the enemies and characters being no more then 10 pixels tall. Stardew valley, just has a great homemade feel to it. With Eric have no prior pixel art experience, he learned as he made the game. And GBA sprites are just awesome with how many different styles there are, from Fire Emblem to Pokemon, to Mario and Luigi. All amazing stuff.

[wherepablo]

great to see your progression so far! been loving all the tutorials and commentary every since the channel came up. thank you for the great content and I hope you keep having fun making all these amazing pixel artworks!