Part Three: Conceptualizing

The first thing you need is a good idea! Try to visualize what you want to pixel, either in your head or on paper. A little work in the pre-planning department can let you concentrate on the actual pixelling.

Things to Think About

1. What will the sprite be used for? Is this for a website, or a game? Will I have to animate this later, or is this it? If the sprite will be animated later on, you may want to keep it smaller and less detailed. Conversely, you can pack as much detail into a static sprite that you will never have to deal with again. But think about where the sprite is going to go, and what will work best.

2. What constraints are being placed on me? Earlier, I had said that color conservation is important. One of the reasons is that, especially if you are working on a game, your palette of colors may be limited. Also consider the dimensions of your sprite and how it will fit with its surroundings.

Let's Wrassle!

For this tutorial, I didn't really have any constraints, but I wanted to make sure the sprite was rather large so that you could clearly see what was happening with each step. To that end, I decided to use the Lucha Lawyer, the ass-kickin'est wrestling attorney around, as my model! He could be in a fighting game, or something, with moves like the "Habeus Corpse Blaster".