How can I start getting into pixel art/gfx as a complete beginner?

So I am trying to get into graphics right now and I haven't seen a guide I liked yet so I thought if you guys could just answer a few questions that would be great! (I also made shells for the shell remodelling competition Page 10 I think and those were the first graphics I ever made lol). I wanna do things that are graal based too (Heads, Bodies, Shields or maybe other things.)

1. Whats a good free program I can use (Mac and pc)
2. What are the easiest and harder/hardest problems I'm gonna face as a beginner
3. What are a few things I can start making that are easy but will teach me about various things?
4. Are there any good youtube tutorials?
5. Any tips you guys wanna give me or advice?
6. Easiest way to learn to shade or easiest method?

Then thats it! thanks for taking the time to answer if you did!

1-Paint.net
2-Shading is probably the hardest for beginners
3-start off with either sprites, or heads and bodies
4-not that i have seen but i might be wrong
5-If youre making graphics for graal, they should have a black outline and the light source is in the top left. Be creative, dont be afraid to make mistakes. Try new stuff, have fun while doing it.
6-you really just have to learn how to do it by actually doing it. i could tell you how i shade things but it probably wont be the best way for you to do it.

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Originally Posted by yaboilexon

1-Paint.net
2-Shading is probably the hardest for beginners
3-start off with either sprites, or heads and bodies
4-not that i have seen but i might be wrong
5-If youre making graphics for graal, they should have a black outline and the light source is in the top left. Be creative, dont be afraid to make mistakes. Try new stuff, have fun while doing it.
6-you really just have to learn how to do it by actually doing it. i could tell you how i shade things but it probably wont be the best way for you to do it.

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Thanks so much that was really helpful!

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Originally Posted by TheJakeob

So I am trying to get into graphics right now and I haven't seen a guide I liked yet so I thought if you guys could just answer a few questions that would be great! (I also made shells for the shell remodelling competition Page 10 I think and those were the first graphics I ever made lol). I wanna do things that are graal based too (Heads, Bodies, Shields or maybe other things.)

1. Whats a good free program I can use (Mac and pc)
2. What are the easiest and harder/hardest problems I'm gonna face as a beginner
3. What are a few things I can start making that are easy but will teach me about various things?
4. Are there any good youtube tutorials?
5. Any tips you guys wanna give me or advice?
6. Easiest way to learn to shade or easiest method?

Then thats it! thanks for taking the time to answer if you did!

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1. GIMP
2. Easy: Shading Hardest: creativity, i get frustrated when i want to make something but literally nothing comes to my mind cause i only think about things that have been already made
3. Cubes and balls, with those you can practice shading
4. Yes, search up a tutorial made by a youtuber by the username "BinOfTrash" she normally does drawing videos, but she does pixel art as well
5. Do it constantly, the more frequently you do it the faster you'll learn and you'll get the hang of it quickly
6. Take a flashlight and turn off the room's light, turn on the flashlight and aim it to your hand and notice how some areas are darker and those hit directly by light are lighter


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

edit heads/bodys/hats/what u want in photoshop then u learn tools and things that will help u and u will be better with the time (my way)

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Originally Posted by crazycloud

1. GIMP
2. Easy: Shading Hardest: creativity, i get frustrated when i want to make something but literally nothing comes to my mind cause i only think about things that have been already made
3. Cubes and balls, with those you can practice shading
4. Yes, search up a tutorial made by a youtuber by the username "BinOfTrash" she normally does drawing videos, but she does pixel art as well
5. Do it constantly, the more frequently you do it the faster you'll learn and you'll get the hang of it quickly
6. Take a flashlight and turn off the room's light, turn on the flashlight and aim it to your hand and notice how some areas are darker and those hit directly by light are lighter


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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for me shading is hard and creativity is hard lol

Advice:Talk to Kendrick

Shading tips :)
https://www.era-go.com/vb5/forum/dev...ice-on-shading
Check the Snk & Revenix (Kendrick) posts there :)

Thanks everyone for the great tips! Right now I decided to work on a noob head with a few added things.

Keep posting your graphics on the forums for help and guidance, it works! :)

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Originally Posted by TheJakeob

Thanks everyone for the great tips! Right now I decided to work on a noob head with a few added things.

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thats the good and fun way to start just edit for fun

Just making sure so pure white and black only refers to F9F9F9 and 000000 right? so these two examples are NOT pure black and white right?Attachment 27675Attachment 27676

Correct. I'd use F8F8F8 for Black though.

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Originally Posted by Jou43

Advice:Talk to Kendrick

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^^^
He has a point. That point; accept criticism, no matter how bad or good it is. That's one thing I do, but as every outcome of the artist I have been giving feedback, they ignore me and say, "No, I think it's good." Because it isn't good.

If one says that your shading is very complex and hard to understand - re-do the shading and ask for help to any graphic experienced artist.

If they say, "Good job! I like it!" 5,000 times and there's no feedback, don't get happy. Either they're too lazy to give you feedback or they're trying to sweet-talk to you.

As snk said, post them on the forums. Make a graphic thread. There you will get hate and love. There you will meet me and hear my sayings of, "AA. Shading."