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[qtpi0121]

♥An Introduction to Frankenspriting and Editing♥:

By: Qtpi0121

1. Gather Your Materials:

Okay, here's all of the basic things you'll need:

-Some sort of image editing program (MS Paint, Paint.net, GIMP, Photoshop. . .) (I'll be using MS Paint.)
-The RTP palette
-The template of your choice: Male, Female, Child (I'll be using the Female template for an example.)
*The palette and child template can be found here. You can get Enterbrain's template off of Famitsu.

Now, open up a fresh, new image, and paste everything you'll be using, or just copy and paste one of these into the image.:

Spoiler:

2. Cover Your Bases:

Since Enterbrain was kind enough to supply us with all of those… err… *lovely* RTP sprites, all you need to do is scour the collection for the clothes you would like. Sadly, there isn't much selection for children, but no worries! =w=b

If you absolutely have to, I will condone the use of Famitsu, simply to find a clothing base. Don't worry about hair yet, I'll be tackling that later.

Spoiler:

3. And so we Begin:

Ah, nothing like cutting up defenseless pixel people to start my day.

Alrighty, at this point, all you need to do is pick what parts of clothing you want from each sprite. It can be anything from a bow to a cape, so long as it isn't completely covered by the sprite's hair. (That's when this process can get a tad complicated.)

-Be sure to copy your bases before starting, just in case you mess up. Badly.-

Basically, just use the default green and get rid of everything you don't need from your base sprites. The same thing goes if you want longer/shorter sleeves etc. Don't worry about shading yet. For side views, you only need to do this for one row, unless the outfits, etc. you've chosen aren't symmetrical. (The sprites on side view rows are the same, just flipped horizontally, in most cases.)

Spoiler:

4. Put that Palette to Work~:

Before you put everything together, it's important that you make sure you like the colors, so here's where your palette comes into play.

All you do is just grab the color you want, and recolor the clothing from the lightest to the darkest shade.

Spoiler:

5. Putting it all Together:

Here's a simple step. (If you're using MS Paint, set the default green as your secondary color, and turn transparency on. (Go to the rectangular selection tool and click on the bottom box.) ) Select your clothing, then drag it on top of the character template, or paste it on a new layer if you have a program with layer management. If you have a bow or something of the sort, just move it to wherever you'd like, unless you'd like it to go on the hair.

“The clothes look weeeiiirddd though… >:P”

*sigh* Patience young grasshopper, we are getting there slowly. @_@

No, really. About 60-70% of the time, if the clothes look odd near the back/shoulder area, the hair covers it up.

Spoiler:

6. Here we go Again...:

Spriting hair from scratch- it's like jumping into a pit filled with sharks when you're covered in blood. It's unpleasant to do, but pretty hilarious to watch.

Time to pick the hair! I'm sure you were looking forward to it

It's almost exactly the same as picking the clothing. Pick the main hair you want first, then look through the RTP and search for any different bangs, hats, etc. you’d like as well.

Now you'll basically decapitate the sprites you want the hair from, and repeat steps 4 and 5.

Spoiler:

7. Cleanup Time!:

Clean up! Clean up! Everybody do your share! Clean up! Clean up! Soon the mess will not be there!

If you've been looking at the pictures at all, I'm sure you probably noticed that some of them look … less than desirable. No big deal though, just calm down. CALM DOWN. =_=; Okay, moving on.

All you really need to do is find out where the “problem areas” are, and clean them up. This is much easier to explain in picture form, so here goes:



Feel free to get rid of any non-head-oriented clothing bases after this. You may need the hair bases still.

8. Almost Done. . .:

Okay, since your sprite is “prettier” now, we can start… to finish.

At this point, if you have any bows or hats that you'd set aside, go ahead and put them on the sprite. All you need to do for shading is glance at your base sprite, and shade underneath your sprite's hat the same way. (At least, that's the simplest way to go about it.)

If you feel like trying it, you can put some of the character's bangs in front of a hat or something. Just to experiment...

For shading: If you did the same as me and changed sleeve lengths, simply take the third shade of the color, and use it as a border. If you feel it needs it, use the second shade around the border.

Spoiler:

9. Finishing Touches:

All that's really left now is changing the eye color if you want, and testing the sprite itself.

Now, just save your sprite as "$Insertclevernamehere" and open up RPG Maker. (If you have it.)

To test, just import the sprite. (Go to "Tools" -> "Resource Manager" -> Click on the "Characters" folder -> Click on "Import" -> Click on your image.) Now test it. Really, that's it. You’re done. Unless you messed up, to which I'd say, “Where did I go wrong :’(“


Don't worry, I didn't mess up.

Now go have some crazy spriting fun~ ♥

This post has been edited by qtpi0121: Feb 17 2011, 12:54 AM

[Oopsifarted]

Very, very nice. I'll be using this tutorial as a reference tonight.

I love how you clearly explained everything, making it easy for your average reader to understand.

[MagicKid]

Nice. I'mma use this whenever I feel like trying a frankensprite and I feel it is fail.

[Luchino-chan]

This is a very informative tutorial. Odd, you know. I was just learning to frankensprite today. Perfect timing, it seems. I'm sure this will help out a lot of people.

[qtpi0121]

*Forgot I posted this...*

Oh yes, I remember. I forgot to tag it, and when I did remember it was too late =_=

Anywho, thanks for the positive feedback everyone! I'm glad to help :3

[U-Oreo]

I've been frankenspriting for a while but I'm the type of person to not pick up on patterns or realize there are easier ways to do things... xD

Thank you so much for this!

Spoiler:

It took a while but this is what I made!

This post has been edited by U-Oreo: Feb 10 2011, 05:12 PM

[Varva31]

OK i tried it
my very first time franken spriting here it is lol

Attached File(s)

 _Idk_who.png ( 10.54K ) Number of downloads: 75

 

[bulls]

Very good tutorial,made a link for my sig!

[swordalians]

thanks,this is really helpful!

[Xalidir]

nice tutorial, detailed and easy to follow. this will help any fledgling spriter out definately.

[new]

very beautifuly done nice i can do some spriting!

[qtpi0121]

@U-Oreo: I like it~! It's a very good start b

@Varva31: It looks pretty nice so far, but the forehead needs shading. As hilarious as it would be, we don't have sparkly foreheads...sadly.

@bulls: Thanks for the support d=w=b

@swordalians: Your welcome c:

@Xalidir: Since you are banned, I generally would laugh, but I am sadly too polite to do so. Thanks though

@new: I'm glad you liked it~ *rallies the troops and starts waving a flag* ~WE NEED MORE SPRITERS~

*Calms down*



This post has been edited by qtpi0121: Feb 23 2011, 06:38 PM

[Shyneo]

Ehh... I think i did something wrong...

 Shyneo.png ( 1.75K ) Number of downloads: 4




This post has been edited by Shyneo: Aug 4 2011, 03:26 PM

[jheck2]

sorry if i post here.. i am a newbie in making RPG and i really need help..
i wanna know how to put this correctlly after i am done with the face edting..
why am i getting this after i put it on import file??

can someone teach me step by step on how to do this.. thanks

Attached File(s)

 need_help.jpg ( 4.77K ) Number of downloads: 0

 

[Reisen]

XD That's a faceset, not a sprite. You import that inside the Facesets folder. As for sprites, you need to put a $ before the sprite's name if it's a one-character set only.