Programs For Artists and Game Creators

Hai! I was thinking that maybe the programs I use and would reccomend to others for making games and graphics might be helpful for others who are aspiring artists and game creators. - Mind you, these are just the ones I have mentioned there are countless programs one can use these are just my select few.

I hope this is helpful to somebody!

Graphics:

GIMP

I do pretty much all my graphics in GIMP, some of them are edited in the program I used for game creation but not overly often. GIMP is an opened-source photo editor and graphic program. This of is as a free photoshop. Granted photoshop might be aimed more towards painting but GIMP is just as good for making game graphics and it's free no strings attached.

MyPaint

As stated GIMP is my main source for graphics, but if I ever make a more advanced game or have a more painted style in mind I will for sure collab MyPaint and GIMP together for better coloring quality. MyPaint is another Opened-Sourced art program, this is more like a free ArtRage, the boldness isn't as sharp as ArtRage but it's still a wonderful program. If you want a more painted look I'd recommend MyPaint for sure; however there is another program called Krita, I can't seem to understand it personally...But I only use a mouse and that's probably why. Can't hurt for you to try.

 

Inkscape

 

I don't personally use Inkscape for the simple reason I don't understand Vectoring. When trying to make a vector I get so lost I'm on another planet. That aside, for those who would be more apt to use a vectoring program Inkscape is like a free Adobe Illustrator, it is as well opened source and is powerful enough to make sleek graphics that are vectors instead of normal images that use pixels.

Sounds:

Sony Acid (Free Version)

 

I use Sony Acid's synth pad to create my sounds (like picking up points, impact noises, power-ups...etc). I don't have the full version so exporting to .wav is an extra feature you can only get if you buy it so I have to use another program to convert to .wav...For what I need it for it's useful. You could maybe use Fruity Loops as well, there's free version if you have no money. Or another alternative is Linux Music Making Studio, it's a lot like Fruity Loops only you don't have to pay for it. (And it works in Windows too)

GoldWave ( Free version)

 

I use GoldWave to export my sounds in to .wav (that's the format I have to use in my game creation program) and I also edit the sounds in goldwave, like the volume and some effects to the sounds. You can buy GoldWave if you want too, I honestly don't know what you get if you buy it , I've been using the free version for stuff since I'm 10 or 11 years old so...yep. If you want a similar program that's fully free you can get Audacity, it's a free program for editiing music and stuff like that it would 

 probably be just as useful.

Game Creation

GameMaker 8.0

 

This is a program you'd have to buy for full functionality (unless you learn to code out of the gate). It's a very good program for noobs like me who don't know what they're doing. There's a drag and drop option and a coding option, if you code you have to use it's own coding language. Any previous coding knowlage would probably help you understand the codes in GML (Game Maker Language) however, its it's own lauguage and you'd have to learn it.
GameMaker is currently on the 8.1 version, and if you pay the most money (which is ungodly exspensive) you can make games on nearly every platform there is; however, though, if you are just starting out you don't want to spend all that money if you don't even know if you like the program. I'd mess with the free version first. GameMaker is a primarily 2D based program, there is some 3D ability but not a whole lot.

 If you're more in to 3D you can use J Monkey which uses Java Script as the code but you'd have to also lean how to use Blender which is a legally free opened source 3D animation and modeling program (Think if it as a free Maya).

I wrote review about GameMaker, it's rather old and I have learned a whole lot more about it since then but it might give you an idea. LINK

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Program Links:

Audacity

GoldWave

Sony Acid

Linux Music Making Studio

GIMP

MyPaint

Blender

Krita

JMonkey

GameMaker

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May God Bless You, Your Family, Friend; Along With The Health Of Yourself, Family, Friends, And All Who Know You. ~ Amen

~ Firefly

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[Tip of the Week; Week 6: Logging using HTML files (For Character Design).

Those of you who want to write a story, or want to develop characters for other purposes (game design, comics, animation) you probably want a way to organize you character profiles, and notes and the like. I know I do! And what do I do? I use HTML to make offline webpages/websites to organize my Characters. I'll admit, I haven't been diligent with writing it down in my webpages but I will show you what I mean using screenshots.

Make a simple button system and organise the webpages and connect them.
 

This is Angel's page (I need to update these pages these are all outdated) , notice that it says some things about her, along with some pictures, when I update it I'll add ideas and other things about her.
Think of it as a virtual index. These pages might seem hard to make, but it's quite simple you can download a basic HTML "template" in the downloads section that shows some of the basics and you can go to W3 schools for HTML lessons for free. - These pages use CSS too but for a basic log that's really not needed.

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This isn't a needed thing to do, but it can be helpful if you keep up with it.

Have fun!


~ God Bless ~

~ Firefly

P.S: Sorry for missing a week, it totally slipped past me! D:

My Current Process in Designing a Character! - Part Two:

This is Part 2 of my blog post about character design!
In this post I'll show you how I've applied some of my tips!

Part One Can Be Found Here!


Lets continue!

Here is my Character Benoni; His name means "Sorrowful".
I picked this name because when he was a younger Scarecrow some sad and traumatic things happened to him and now he's angry and bitter. - I picked first the name "Papa Crow" because he's the oldest scarecrow on the farm he lives on, but then I got more in to designing him and he's better fit as "Benoni" because of his history the name fits better.

Next after some sketches on paper I drew this chart in GIMP:

A few days later I made this "loose" Expressions chart; Then I colored in the chart using MyPaint and GIMP.

See how the chart helped me in the coloring? I forgot to add the stitches around his face, but then I looked at the chart and remembered! Oh wait! I forgot! The coloring also added depth that a chart can't. And, I added symbolism! The Blue buttons represent sadness to go with the name "Sorrow".

And what makes him different from other scarecrows? Well, he's got a hat with 3 different colored leaves, his button eyes have the holes pointing inward to almost make him look cross-eyed and his hay-hair tuft in the middle makes him look a bit unique.

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To be more exploring I tried coloring in another style which is more cartoon like, I think this one looks better even if I like the coloring of the first version!

Here is the 3 styles I tried trying to find the best representation; Non hard-lined, Outlined, and Cartoon. - I've been given the most support for the 3rd, and after a bit of vacation from this character I'm starting to prefer that version as well.

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I've written and extensive history on this Character but I'm not going to get in to it, but his history reflects a bit in his look. I haven't gotten to his body so I'll show another character for that.

Okay, lets meet Paisley the Bengal Tiger!

Her name is to represent her use, she's meant to represent the Middle-East, and Paisleys are common around the Indian areas of Asia, her clothes are inspired from the colors and designs of middle-eastern dress, more namely in South Asia; Her hair also to show the beauty of the fashion of that area, and of course, she's a Bengal tiger! Quite prominent not only on Bangladesh but also in India and other countries in that area.

Notice how I purposly made her have a very fluid pose, and happy expression.
She's instantly likeable! ( I hope!)

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Now look at this figure I drew a few years ago, she's a dancer so she should be very "curvy" in her figure because of the occupation and pose of her body. - But instead, she's kinda tense looking.

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So in the end for my method we have to:

1. Brainstorm And Create!
2. Name The Character!
3. Give the Character a Personality!
4. Draw out Emotions!
5. Get a method to help redraw the characters!
6. Color! 
7. Keep Figures Fluid and Alive!

I hope these posts were helpful! Feel free to ask questions if I didn't make something clear.

Now get out there and design a character!

May God Bless You, Your Family, Friend; Along With The Health Of Yourself, Family, Friends, And All Who Know You. ~ Amen

~ Firefly

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Would You Like To See My Drawings? Click here.

Have A Question?

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My Current Process in Designing a Character! - Part One:

My Current Process in Designing a Character! - Part One:

In Tip of the Week 2 I said design a new Character! I myself struggle making a character and also look for that perfect instruction guide in teaching me the magic zen of the perfect Character, and although I haven't found THE ONE! I have found some commonly said tips and thought I'd share with you some of those tips along with what I've come up with so far in my own method.

My Method:

Step 1: Brainstorm! If you don't already have a character in mind (from a story in your mind or such) you can do and exercise that Children's Comicbook Writer and artist Dave McDonald does and draw a random shape then give yourself 15-30seconds and draw a character. It's not to be a perfect character, just to give you an idea. If you're in to more detailed styled art and 30 seconds isn't enough for a full character just start with the face. You don't have to like everything you do, it's just to give you some ideas where to start!


Step 2 and 3: I put these together because depending on who you are you might want to interchange these steps.

• 2: Name your character. -Some people wish to give their characters names based off of their personality or life story. Like,you might have a Character that has to heal from a tramaic event and name them "Raphael" Which means " (the)God who heals". Or Maybe a a girl with a bitter past you might name her "Mara" which means bitter sea. 

• 3: Give your character a personality, what do they like? what do they not like? Are they a he or she? Do they have an agenda? Many other questions you can ask, depending on the reasoning for the Character you might want to write an actual chart that looks something like this:

__________________________________________________________________
Name: Kole Shimska
Age: 28
Likes: Ice-cream, sleeping, books, sleeping with books, cats, and her pet hamster Dimitri Jose.
Dislikes: People who tease her glasses, singing in public, being active, being late.

Life Story: Kole is from  Moscow Russia but lives in Columbia, she grew up without glasses but had an accident that makes her need glasses when she was 15. Kole Graduated from University when she was 20 and has an above average IQ and often annoys her one and only friend with saying random facts. She's often sad and lonely books and her hamster acting as her friends, since her only real friend lives far away and she can't always see him.
__________________________________________________________________

This isn't an actual character of mine, just an example of what you can do!

You could even add her hair, skin and eye color in the profile just to keep organized if you like!
Or if you want to get super super specific, write down the color codes/names to your colored pencils or markers (or other media) so you can exactly recolor your character over and over again. If you use digital you might want to make a color swatch and put the code number in it for double security (although the color select tool in your preferred program should find the color for you. )

 

Step 4: Play with expressions, even if you have an always happy or always sad character, we all know life isn't always in one state mind forever. And you get to know your characters better when you see how they look sad or happy or a bit tiffed about something! I'd say do the main 4 Expressions to start but surly do as many as you want!

The Main 4 would be:

• Happy
• Sad
• Angry
• Shocked

Each of these have level of emotion, one can be sad because they lost a game but won't cry about it, and another can be sad because their cat was stolen and cry their eyes out! Or one can be a bit irritated they lost the game but super angry when they cat was stolen! And so on it goes...I think you get the point! - If you want to add a 5th I'd say "shy" would fit, but it depends on your view of life and stuff so, just have fun making different expressions!

Once you've done that, keep a polished chart of your character's expressions so you can duplicate it a bit easier!

Also remember That the human body also has a lot of expression; A couple in love as they look at each-other's eyes appear soft, vulnerable, happy and relaxed, an angry person is quite tense and holds stuff down or is exploding in much action, a sad person is a bit saggy in bodily expression and etc etc etc!

Step 5: That oh so painful reality, I have an epic character, perfect name and personality...But, oh no! I can't draw the same character two times! What do I do?

Get a System:

Well, I myself haven't mastered the perfect method for this but in my "research" over the past few weeks, I came across a tip from an up and coming artist that said to make a system of in what order do you draw the character; Do you draw the eyes, nose, then mouth? Or...Head shape then face? Or, do you draw whole body and leave the details of the head and face for last? Get a system! It's a bit hard for me since I go where I want as I draw but if you got the discipline this could be pretty helpful! And even if you don't, spite yourself and try it anyway, do you wanna be comfortably not as could as you could be or work and be better?! Go moving solider! We got work to do!

Create a Chart:

One thing I have done is create a chart of the sketch, this could be done best on the computer in my opinion so you don't scuff up the original sketch. Say what makes this character unique, what stands out about him/her/it, and keep the chart as a reference!

Here's an Example:

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 See how it explains the ins and outs of this character's face! It even has a few notes on the bottom to remind me of things that explain why he's this way. - A chart might help you too! And do it with the body as well, note the shape, how tall using the head as a measurement, maybe even measure with a ruler and say how big each thing is to  make it perfectly exact!

Step 6: Color! Color! Color! 
Even if you don't color well or have "good" materials, that's fine! The Majority of my art supplies are children's pencils and markers. Coloring a character adds a new dimension! There is much color symbolism in the world, and you can create your own symbolism! For example: Red can mean evil or energetic, blue can mean calm and collected or sad or loneliness, yellow can mean cheerful and on and on it goes! How you look at color might and probably is a bit different than mine, just have fun with it! Play with patterns, play with designs, it doesn't have to look like a pro it just has to be fun! If you're not having fun with it and you're not being payed/have to do it you shouldn't do it! Have fun!
Aim to be the best but don't give up just because you're not there yet! You think Micheal Angelo got there over night? If he did I want his coffee cause that boy got it right!  Even the best were bad at one point it's fine, just keep going, aiming, having fun!

Even if you want to work in black and white, I think having 1 solid either very best you can do image, or a chart could help you immensely.


Step 7: Keep Figures looking flexible and alive!
Maybe you want to draw cartoons that are simple, or very extravagant figures but still, to make them look lively a good figure structure is essential! I don't suggest to go buy books, find a model to pose w/o clothes on or anything of the sort, there are pleanty of charts on the internet that are "clean" and have lots of tips.
 

 This one being an example: Majnouna's Tutorials
From what I've seen these are perfectly clean but teach a lot, if there is something "questionable" let me know I'll take the link down.

My main tip is keep the figures fun and "friendly" that doesn't mean never draw a villain but make them look "human"!  Of course the imagination does stop at people or animals, once you get in to your own space Anatomy is up for grabs and making something/someone "anatomically" correct isn't needed at that point.

That's the End of Part One, Part Two will deal with my Character that I designed a bit and show you some of how I've applied these things to my own drawings. - Can be found here.

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[ Tip of the week; Week 2: Design a Character!

If you want to get better at drawing, design a character, don't worry about perfection the first time! Just keep working at it, make a system for the order you draw things on that character, make a layout pointing out the distinguishable parts of the character! Name them! Make them your friend! Nothing better than a friend that you know the heart of, and you get the privilege to give them the heart yourself!

Have fun!

~ God Bless ~

~ Firefly

Update:

Since posting this, I wrote a 2 part blog post on this subject.

My Current Process in Designing a Character! - Part One

My Current Process in Designing a Character! - Part Two