Difference between revisions of "Create Art"

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== Getting Started ==
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Graphic artists working on artwork intended for mainline Wesnoth usually meet on the [http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewforum.php?f=9 Art Contributions forum] or on the [http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewforum.php?f=18 restricted Art Development forum] ("restricted" meaning that only those users with special permissions - such as art contributors and developers - can post there). The former is a great place to post and discuss new and current mainline Wesnoth art and graphics, and the latter to see what the art development team is working on. Artists working on graphics for [[Glossary|UMC]] add-ons meet in the [http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewforum.php?f=23 Art Workshop forum].
  
=== General Information ===
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Unit and terrain art is stored in the lossless ''Portable Network Graphics'' (PNG) format. Each frame of a unit animation, and each variation of a terrain is stored as a separate .png file in ''data/core/images'' under the [[EditingWesnoth#Where_is_my_game_data_directory.3F|main data directory]] of the game, and generally these files will be 72 x 72 pixels (the size of Wesnoth's basic hexagonal tile) with an alpha channel (a part of the file that indicates how transparent each pixel is). When creating your own images, you can test them without overwriting any game data by putting them in your [[EditingWesnoth#Where_is_my_user_data_directory.3F|user data directory]]. The game also supports JPEG images, although these are better suited for story art.
  
Graphic artists working on artwork intended for mainline Wesnoth usually meet on the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=9 Art Contributions forum] or on the [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=18 restricted Art Development forum] ('restricted' meaning that only those users with special permissions - such as art contributors and developers - can post there). The former is a great place to post and discuss new and current mainline Wesnoth art and graphics, and the latter to see what the art development team is working on. Artists working on graphics for [[WesnothAcronyms|UMC]] add-ons meet in the [http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewforum.php?f=23&sid=c34b1ad188e9e2ad9d7588b450fd4941 Art Workshop forum].
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To edit these graphics, you'll need some program capable of creating PNG's - some of the programs in the following list are free, open-source software, and will do the job nicely: [[Art Programs]]
  
Unit and terrain art is stored in the portable network graphics (PNG) format.  Each frame of a unit animation, and each variation of a terrain is stored as a separate .png file in the "images" subdirectory of Wesnoth, and generally these files will be 72 x 72 pixels (the size of Wesnoth's basic hexagonal tile) with an alpha channel (a part of the file that indicates how transparent each pixel is).  When creating your own images, you can test them without overwriting any game data by putting them in your userdata directory (see [[EditingWesnoth]] for details on Wesnoth's directory structure).  The game also supports JPEG images, though these are better suited for story art.
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If you need some inspiration, we have a (no longer maintained) [[GraphicLibrary|Graphics Library]] which collects art posted on the forum. You can use this for ideas, and as a scrap heap for different parts of unit images (a technique described [[Give Your Hero A Personality|here]]).
 
 
To edit these graphics, you'll need some program capable of creating PNGs - some of the programs in the following list are free, open-source software, and will do the job nicely: [[Art Programs]]
 
 
 
If you need some inspiration, we have a [[GraphicLibrary|Graphics Library]] which collects art posted on the forum. You can use this for ideas, and as a scrap heap for different parts of unit images (a technique described [[Give Your Hero A Personality|here]]).
 
 
 
=== Roadmap ===
 
A list of what's being done and what needs doing:
 
* '''[[Tiles Status]]''' - A roadmap/plan of sorts for future work on terrain tiles. '''(outdated)'''
 
* [http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2014 A list] of current work that needs to be done with sprites. '''(outdated)'''
 
  
 
== Art Tutorials ==
 
== Art Tutorials ==
  
 
These are a work-in-progress, and describe both how to make art fit into Wesnoth's style, as well as giving some considerable tips on drawing in general.  Especially useful is the [[External Tutorials]] page which lists a large number of art tutorials available on the web.
 
These are a work-in-progress, and describe both how to make art fit into Wesnoth's style, as well as giving some considerable tips on drawing in general.  Especially useful is the [[External Tutorials]] page which lists a large number of art tutorials available on the web.
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=== General Art and Computer Graphics ===
 
=== General Art and Computer Graphics ===
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* [[Designing weapons and armour]] - Advice from zookeeper on designing realistic weapons for your characters.
 
* [[Designing weapons and armour]] - Advice from zookeeper on designing realistic weapons for your characters.
 
* [[Portrait Tutorial]] - A guide on how to draw unit/character portraits by Kitty.
 
* [[Portrait Tutorial]] - A guide on how to draw unit/character portraits by Kitty.
* Sgt. Groovy's vector workshop - Tips and tricks for drawing with Inkscape.
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* [[Armour Tutorial]] A tutorial on how to shade metallic armour by LordBob.
** [[Z-order tricks]] - A few methods for faking overlapping shapes.
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====Vector Art====
** [[Variable-width strokes]] - How to make the strokes vary in width, like being drawn with a flat-tipped pen — no tablet needed!
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Sgt. Groovy's vector workshop - Tips and tricks for drawing with Inkscape.
** [[Shaped gradients with Gaussian blur]] - How to make gradients in other shapes than linear or radial.
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:* [[Z-order tricks]] - A few methods for faking overlapping shapes.
** [[Smooth shading in vector]] - The basic vector techniques for smooth shading, employing Gaussian blur and clipping/masking.
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:* [[Variable-width strokes]] - How to make the strokes vary in width, like being drawn with a flat-tipped pen — no tablet needed!
** [[Vector Inking]] - Vector techniques, including mouse-only, for inking your sketches.
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:* [[Shaped gradients with Gaussian blur]] - How to make gradients in other shapes than linear or radial.
** [[Making portrait art in vector]] - A complete tutorial for making Wesnoth unit portraits in vector graphics.
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:* [[Smooth shading in vector]] - The basic vector techniques for smooth shading, employing Gaussian blur and clipping/masking.
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:* [[Vector Inking]] - Vector techniques, including mouse-only, for inking your sketches.
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:* [[Making portrait art in vector]] - A complete tutorial for making Wesnoth unit portraits in vector graphics.
  
 
=== [[Terrain|Terrain Graphics]] ===
 
=== [[Terrain|Terrain Graphics]] ===
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The following is information specific to drawing terrain for Wesnoth.  Read Frame's "Tiles Tutorial" for a good overview of how terrain graphics work.
 
The following is information specific to drawing terrain for Wesnoth.  Read Frame's "Tiles Tutorial" for a good overview of how terrain graphics work.
  
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* [[Mesilliac's Essay on Terrain Perspective]] - The geometry behind the perspective used for terrain tiles in Wesnoth.
 
* [[Tiles Tutorial]] - Frame's tutorial describing the process of making terrain tiles in Wesnoth, and how they interact with adjacent tiles.
 
* [[Tiles Tutorial]] - Frame's tutorial describing the process of making terrain tiles in Wesnoth, and how they interact with adjacent tiles.
* [[How To Make Seamless Tiles]] - The tutorial is aimed at Photoshop users, but the technique is similar with The GIMP.
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* [[How To Make Seamless Tiles]] - The tutorial is aimed at Photoshop users, but the technique is similar with GIMP.
 
* [[Seamless Tiles Using Inkscape]] - This tutorial teaches a method for making seamless hex tiles in vector craphics (to be rendered in raster).
 
* [[Seamless Tiles Using Inkscape]] - This tutorial teaches a method for making seamless hex tiles in vector craphics (to be rendered in raster).
 
* [[Turning Square Tiles into Hex]] - Nifty tricks for transforming square (or any rectangle) shaped seamless tiles into hexagon seamless tiles.
 
* [[Turning Square Tiles into Hex]] - Nifty tricks for transforming square (or any rectangle) shaped seamless tiles into hexagon seamless tiles.
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* [[MultiHexTutorial|Multi-Hex Tiling Tutorial]] - A description of how multi-hex tiles work.
 
* [[MultiHexTutorial|Multi-Hex Tiling Tutorial]] - A description of how multi-hex tiles work.
 
* [[Editing Castles]] - Instructions for how to make/edit castles (and other corner-based terrains) using yobbo's GIMP script.
 
* [[Editing Castles]] - Instructions for how to make/edit castles (and other corner-based terrains) using yobbo's GIMP script.
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* [[How to create textures]] - This tutorial proposes a process to create custom terrain textures from photo reference.
  
 
These describe the system used to specify how terrains behave in game:
 
These describe the system used to specify how terrains behave in game:
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* [[Creating Unit Art]] - A list of specifications you will need to match.
 
* [[Creating Unit Art]] - A list of specifications you will need to match.
 
* [[Give Your Hero A Personality]] - Tricks for editing existing images, including some clip art.
 
* [[Give Your Hero A Personality]] - Tricks for editing existing images, including some clip art.
* [[Basic Animation Tutorial]] - Or "How to Animate Sprites for Dummies," covering the basic theory, and all of the mistakes to avoid.
 
* [[From Base Frame To Full Animation]] - A solid method of moving baseframes forward towards full animation.
 
 
* [[Team Color Shifting]] - How to create art that uses our new team color system.
 
* [[Team Color Shifting]] - How to create art that uses our new team color system.
 
* [[TeamColoring]] - How to automatically team-color sprites to see what they look like in various colors.
 
* [[TeamColoring]] - How to automatically team-color sprites to see what they look like in various colors.
 
* [[Creating Shadows Under Units]] - How we create the shadows for the units in-game.
 
* [[Creating Shadows Under Units]] - How we create the shadows for the units in-game.
* [[Making Bow Animations]] - The current standard for how we want bow animations to work.
 
 
* [[How to Anti-Alias Sprite Art]] - A means of removing the jagged edges on pixel lines.
 
* [[How to Anti-Alias Sprite Art]] - A means of removing the jagged edges on pixel lines.
 
* [[Rotate Pixel Art Without Blurring]]
 
* [[Rotate Pixel Art Without Blurring]]
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* [http://forums.wesnoth.org/download/file.php?id=56284 Zerovirus's Spriting Workflow] - Wesnoth artist Zerovirus explains step-by-step his methodology for creating Wesnoth sprites from scratch (.png file).
 
* [[Creating a scratch built sprite]] - An attempt to show some ways creating a sprite from scratch.
 
* [[Creating a scratch built sprite]] - An attempt to show some ways creating a sprite from scratch.
* [[How to create motion blurs]] - A simple explanation on how to create attack animation weapon blurs.
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* [[FrankenPacks]] - A quick and dirty way to create sprites for [[Glossary|UMC]].
* [[FrankenPacks]] - A quick and dirty way to create sprites for [[WesnothAcronyms|UMC]].
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* [[Choosing your palette]] - Make shadows look interesting.
* [[Fire Animation]] - A great guide to creating fire FX by rhyging5.
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====Animation====
 +
:* [[Basic Animation Tutorial]] - Or "How to Animate Sprites for Dummies," covering the basic theory, and all of the mistakes to avoid.
 +
:* [[From Base Frame To Full Animation]] - A solid method of moving baseframes forward towards full animation.
 +
:* [[How to create motion blurs]] - A simple explanation on how to create attack animation weapon blurs.
 +
:* [[Making Bow Animations]] - The current standard for how we want bow animations to work.
 +
:* [[Fire Animation]] - A great guide to creating fire FX by rhyging5.
  
 
=== External Tutorials ===
 
=== External Tutorials ===
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* [[External Tutorials]]
 
* [[External Tutorials]]
 +
  
 
== See Also ==
 
== See Also ==
 
* [[Create]]
 
* [[Create]]
 
* [[EditingWesnoth]]
 
* [[EditingWesnoth]]
* [[GraphicLibrary]] - Lots of usercontributed graphics (most should be GPL'ed)
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* [[GraphicLibrary]] - Old library of user contributed graphics (most should be GPL'ed)
 
* [[Project]]
 
* [[Project]]
* [http://wesnoth.dbzer0.com/blog/wpg2 External Graphic Library] - A project to better organize the art of Wesnoth.
 
  
 
[[Category:Art Tutorials]]
 
[[Category:Art Tutorials]]

Revision as of 11:22, 17 April 2017

Graphic artists working on artwork intended for mainline Wesnoth usually meet on the Art Contributions forum or on the restricted Art Development forum ("restricted" meaning that only those users with special permissions - such as art contributors and developers - can post there). The former is a great place to post and discuss new and current mainline Wesnoth art and graphics, and the latter to see what the art development team is working on. Artists working on graphics for UMC add-ons meet in the Art Workshop forum.

Unit and terrain art is stored in the lossless Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format. Each frame of a unit animation, and each variation of a terrain is stored as a separate .png file in data/core/images under the main data directory of the game, and generally these files will be 72 x 72 pixels (the size of Wesnoth's basic hexagonal tile) with an alpha channel (a part of the file that indicates how transparent each pixel is). When creating your own images, you can test them without overwriting any game data by putting them in your user data directory. The game also supports JPEG images, although these are better suited for story art.

To edit these graphics, you'll need some program capable of creating PNG's - some of the programs in the following list are free, open-source software, and will do the job nicely: Art Programs

If you need some inspiration, we have a (no longer maintained) Graphics Library which collects art posted on the forum. You can use this for ideas, and as a scrap heap for different parts of unit images (a technique described here).

Art Tutorials

These are a work-in-progress, and describe both how to make art fit into Wesnoth's style, as well as giving some considerable tips on drawing in general. Especially useful is the External Tutorials page which lists a large number of art tutorials available on the web.


General Art and Computer Graphics

Vector Art

Sgt. Groovy's vector workshop - Tips and tricks for drawing with Inkscape.

Terrain Graphics

The following is information specific to drawing terrain for Wesnoth. Read Frame's "Tiles Tutorial" for a good overview of how terrain graphics work.

These describe the system used to specify how terrains behave in game:

Sprite Art

The following are different tutorials about sprite work compiled by various Wesnoth sprite artists. These will give you the most specific-to-Wesnoth information about making sprites, and are well worth a read.

Animation

External Tutorials

The following page contains dozens of links to tutorials covering all manner of artwork, including sprite art. These were not made by Wesnoth artists, but should prove very useful for general instruction.


See Also