Make a Sprite Comic
Sprites are pixel characters usually from games like Sonic and Mario. Sprite comics are web comics that use computer sprites, often taken from these games, for entertainment purposes. Though not widely popular, these comics are fun to make and show creativity in people. If you are interested, this article will guide you through the steps of making a sprite comic.
Contents
Steps
Brainstorming
- Think of what characters you are going to use. Are you going to make your own or use somebody else's? What poses will you use?
- Try to build a plot based around your characters, as well as a general tone. Is your comic a tragedy, comedy or something else?
- Think of what backgrounds you are going to use for your comic. You can make your own background, or use a pre-made one, such as one from a video game. What props are you going to put in the background? Consider where the prop(s) will be in the comic to give a good idea of perspective.
Creating Your Comic
- Open up a paint program and put the sprite sheet on it using copy/paste. (If you have more than one sheet repeat this step for each one.) OR, if you saved the sheet(s) on your hard drive, just open the file. Then open up another paint program and expand the canvas until it is the size you want.
- Make a decent-sized box large enough to place your background in and paste the background from the sheet to this paint program. Then paste the important things, like the ground, and background items, such as trees and buildings.
- After everything for the setting is in place, time for the characters. Copy/paste your characters into the box,but remember to have "draw opaque" on or you will have those unwanted white boxes, taking note of position, pose, and spacing. If you want, you can combine two together for an extremely funny pose!
- Next comes the best part. Using the text box tool on Paint, type whatever the character will say in the situation. Make sure to keep it sensible. A character on fire WOULDN'T say "I am cold." Also make sure to have the box not in the way of anything important and have the box all one color, preferably white
- Repeat the above steps for creating a comic until you have the comic done.
- Make a space at the bottom and put down the comic name, your name for credit, and for giving credit to the people who made the sprites. If you don't, and the original spriter who edited/sprited from scratch the character you're using, expect fireworks.
- There are many sprite comic websites and if you can't find a certain character from a site just type it in on Google and you will find one.
Warnings
- Do not copy ideas from others. It's rude, and will hurt you when it comes to getting fans.
- Be aware that the longer you make your comic, the more chance that the reader will be distracted or bored. Eight to twelve panels is commonly accepted as a good length, although there are good single panel ones out there as well as entire book length comics.
- Know your audience, and know your characters. If you're making a story aimed at children using Sonic characters, no one wants to see Knuckles and Tails hurtling profanity at each other.
- The #1 killer of comics is empty space. Try not to leave an empty space for it distracts the reader and it looks unprofessional.
- Do not take other's non-ripped (as in, edited or from scratch) sprite sheets without giving credit in your comic.
Things You'll Need
- A Paint Program
- Sprite Sheet(s)
- Some creativity
Related Articles
- Make a Comic
- Write a Comic Book
- Appreciate Anime
- Make a Comic Strip
- Make a Sonic Story (Without Pictures)
