Tools I Use: Photoshop

Hey there Gamers and Game Makers!

I recently got an email asking about my process when it came to crating the art for The Concierge. So I decided it might be a good idea to start a small series of blog posts where I talk about some of the tools I use when making my games and the process I use with each tool.

So this week, I'm going to talk a bit about the art for The Concierge and what I used to make it. The game is a 2D point and click adventure game and I decided to go  with the pixel art style for two reasons. The first, simply because I'm a big fan of pixel art in games and secondly for the fact that pixel art can be made quickly.

I used photoshop to make my pixel art for the game. I know what you're thinking and yes, photoshop does seem like overkill for doing art as simple as pixel art. However I'm very used to using photoshop for other purposes such as texture art and high res art. So, right off the bat, I was more comfortable using it than some of the other tools I used and while pixel art may appear simplistic in its design, doing really good pixel art requires a few more tricks that photoshop just makes much more easy.

With pixel art you have to work on a very small canvas in photoshop and then upscale once you are ready to use it in engine. The hardest part to making your pixel art look good is getting the color palette right. I spent quite a while playing around with colors until I found a palette that suited the vibe I wanted for the game. As for drawing my pixel art I use a Wacom tablet as it feels more natural for me to draw with a pen. The lighting you see in the game is a combination of some shadow effects applied in photoshop using layers and then the rest by using lighting in engine to get the desired look and feel.

When making pixel art in photoshop it's important to set your image interpolation to nearest neighbor and keep your canvas small (300 x 300 is a good size) and use the pencil tool, not the brush unless needed for a specific reason. Pixel art, like all art takes practice. If you want to get good at it just start playing around with it. You don't need photoshop to get started, that's just my tool of choice. You can use a number of free tools to get started. 

I hope this has been of some help and if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch or leave a comment below.

Until next time!