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00:00Welcome!
00:01In this lesson I will show you how to use Photoshop for pixel art.
00:06Photoshop isn't mainly used for pixel art so we need to prepare it for pixel art specifically
00:13because Photoshop is widely used for photo manipulation as well as 2D digital art.
00:19You can get it on Adobe.com and it's a subscription based model meaning you pay I think it's
00:26$20 each month or 21 US dollars but you can get discounts if you're a student and stuff
00:33like that.
00:34Anyways, you can go here in the creativity and the design tab click on Photoshop and then
00:39you can buy it.
00:40Keep in mind that you will need to sign in and give your credentials to it so you can actually
00:45download the Adobe Creative Cloud.
00:48If you have an older license like Adobe Photoshop CS6 or something like that, that means you
00:56already have a permanent license so you don't have to upgrade or anything because any version
01:01of Photoshop pretty much will do the work for pixel art.
01:05Let's go into Photoshop and start creating our first pixel art in it as few examples.
01:11Here under the file tab you can create new and here you have the document that you want
01:16to create.
01:17Width, height, resolution, color mode and background.
01:20Width and height are self explanatory.
01:23You can choose the width and height of your canvas.
01:27Let's say it is 32 by 32.
01:31Resolution will always be 72 pixels per inch and color mode is RBG.
01:36Unless you want to specifically create pixel art for printing then you want to use CMYK color
01:42but I think almost all pixel art is created in RGB color.
01:48Then you want the background contents to be transparent.
01:51You can choose between white, background color if you have specified it and transparent.
01:56We will use the transparent one.
01:58You can keep this on 8-bit, no need to go up or down and click OK to create our
02:04canvas.
02:05First tool that we need to use to actually see our canvas over here is the zoom tool.
02:11You can click and find it over here.
02:13Whenever you hover your mouse over a specific tool it will show you the shortcut.
02:20In this case it's Z or Z depending on when you leave.
02:25Then when you click you can go and zoom in by scrubbing left or right if you have this option
02:32scrubby zoom checked on.
02:34If not then you can just left click to zoom in.
02:38Ok, essentially pixel art in Photoshop is quite easy but you need to set it up.
02:44Photoshop can be intimidating to beginners but since we won't be using most of the tools
02:52anyways and their options you don't need to be scared.
02:56I will explain to you how to set it up immediately.
03:00Essentially we have few different groups.
03:02First group is drawing tools.
03:05We can use drawing tools to draw stuff and erase stuff.
03:09Second group are the selection tools.
03:11So we can use them to select.
03:13And the third one are miscellaneous which you can use to move stuff or zoom in and zoom
03:19out.
03:19Zoom is one good example of it.
03:22If we look over here to the left we have plenty of different options.
03:29By default you will have the brush option over here.
03:32The shortcut is B and if you use brush tool even if you put it in one pixel it won't
03:38work
03:38because look what happens.
03:42Whenever we draw it creates this anti-alias effect which we do not want for pixel art.
03:49We want hard square pixels to manage.
03:54If you manage to create this you need to go to pencil tool.
03:59We have four different ones.
04:00We only use the pencil tool nothing else.
04:03Here you can choose the size of our pencil.
04:08Let's keep it on one pixel.
04:10You have different modes.
04:12Keep it always on normal.
04:13Opacity on 100% and you don't need anything else.
04:18So essentially just choose the pencil tool.
04:21Choose the size and you are good to go.
04:24Over here you can choose the colors or over here.
04:29It all depends on you but I will stick to this one.
04:32When you left click you can choose your colors and let's keep it on black.
04:38You have many different options for the color modes but keep it here on H which means hue.
04:44So you want the hue will to be here and you have the value and saturation over here.
04:49Right.
04:51So how does our pencil work?
04:53Well you can see we have easy hard edges as we wanted them to.
04:59If you increase the size it becomes bigger and by default our pencil tool is rounded so
05:08it has a round edge.
05:09So this is the first drawing tool.
05:11The second drawing tool is the fill tool.
05:16If you click over here which is the G so we have two places down.
05:21This is the paint bucket tool and it has a few properties over here that you want to make
05:27sure you adjust.
05:29First tolerance must be zero.
05:34Tolerance means that whenever you are trying to paint bucket a certain color and if you put
05:40tolerance let's say 20 that means the software or Photoshop will look for 20 values up or down
05:48that are closest to our current color.
05:51So it might paint over 20 different colors.
05:54We don't want that.
05:56Next one is anti-aliasing.
05:59That is the thing that creates those feather edges that I showed you just now on the brush
06:03tool.
06:04Not something that you want so keep the anti-alias unchecked.
06:08Contiguous and all layers depends on the situation.
06:11All layers is self-explanatory.
06:13When you paint bucket something it will put that color on all layers.
06:19I usually keep this off because I don't want it.
06:21Contiguous however is something that you want to understand.
06:25So let's create a simple shape over here with our pencil tool.
06:33And let's go back to our bucket tool.
06:36If I keep this contiguous checked on that means that it will only paint in until this shape
06:46is interrupted by other color.
06:48In this case our shape got interrupted by this black color over here.
06:53If I keep this contiguous off it will paint everything on that layer in that new color.
07:00Like so.
07:02Let me give you another example.
07:04If I put two of these black shapes over here.
07:10And I want to paint them in let's say red color.
07:15If I keep the contiguous on as long as this layer doesn't change the color.
07:22It's all fine.
07:23However if the contiguous is off.
07:26It will paint all of that on that layer.
07:29Very useful.
07:30Very useful tool.
07:31Alright.
07:32So what is the next one?
07:34Well, we have the shapes tool.
07:37Allow me to erase these shapes.
07:40And you have few different ones over here.
07:42You have the rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, polygon, line, a lot of them.
07:48Each of those has its own properties up here and we need to be very careful how to use them.
07:54Let's go over the first one which is the rectangle tool.
07:57If I create it just like so.
08:00You can see what happens.
08:02We create a rectangle with a fill.
08:05Fill which is the red color over here is what will be painted inside of our rectangle.
08:14Stroke is the color of the stroke which you can see it's currently this gray one.
08:20And here is how many points we want our rectangle to be tick when it comes to its line for
08:32the
08:32outside.
08:32Meaning the outline.
08:34You want to keep it rounded.
08:35So let's say one or two or three etc.
08:39Quite easy to use.
08:42Alright.
08:43Let me just create new layer.
08:46Now if you don't want anything you can just click and choose this option.
08:52This means it won't have any fill.
08:54So we can create a simple rectangle like so.
08:59Quite nice if you don't want to mess around too much when it comes to creating everything
09:07by free hand.
09:08Alright.
09:09Moving on.
09:10We have the rounded rectangle tool which creates again a rectangle but with rounded edges.
09:15And this is the one that you want to avoid.
09:18I usually don't use this one.
09:21Because it creates that feather effect.
09:25Ok.
09:26Going on.
09:28We have the ellipse tool.
09:30Allow me to put everything on one pixel.
09:32And this ellipse tool is very useful because it creates these kinds of circles.
09:42Now you can hold shift to make sure the circles is always the same size.
09:49So like this.
09:51Or you can hold alt to make sure you have it pointed and pinned down to the same location.
09:59And if you combine that with shift you can choose wherever you want to create your new
10:05circle.
10:05Now if you can notice our circle also has this feather anti-alias effect.
10:13You can use these tools to practice drawing circles over them.
10:17By no means you should use this in pixel art.
10:20Because whenever you have this feather effect you can just skip them all together.
10:25So when do we use this tool?
10:28Well you can use it to practice.
10:30So rectangle tool you can use it to actually draw rectangles.
10:34But the rest of these like ellipse tool rounded rectangle tool.
10:39Just use them for practice.
10:41Nothing more nothing else.
10:45So if I go over the line tool.
10:47Here I will create a straight line.
10:49Again you can see this feather effect.
10:53Not something that we want.
10:55If you want to create straight lines there is a much easier way to do it.
11:00And that is using the pen tool.
11:03So let's go back to the pencil tool.
11:06Meaning this one.
11:08And now when you draw a straight line.
11:13You can hold shift.
11:14And it will automatically draw a straight line.
11:17Even if my mouse goes left or right.
11:19It will keep that line straight.
11:22If you want diagonal straight line.
11:25Click once.
11:26Hold shift.
11:27Pick wherever you want your line to end.
11:29And click again.
11:31And you can create a straight line very very easy.
11:35This is really awesome.
11:39Ok moving on.
11:41Now that we have this covered.
11:43Let's go to erasing our lines.
11:46If you have the eraser tool over here.
11:48You want to make sure your mode is on pencil mode.
11:52Because if it's on brush mode.
11:54You can see this anti alias effect once again.
11:57If you pick pencil mode.
12:00Then you erase as you should.
12:02Again you can choose the size over here.
12:06This is all there is to drawing tools.
12:09Now let's jump to the selection tools.
12:14Let me draw a few different shapes.
12:19Ok.
12:20Selection tool number one.
12:21It's the marquee tool.
12:23And you have different options.
12:25You have the rectangular, elliptical, single row and column.
12:28I usually use only rectangle tool.
12:31Because pixels are also rectangles.
12:34And what happens.
12:35Well.
12:36You can select any part of your image.
12:39You can even move this selection.
12:42And then when you want to move it anywhere else.
12:45You can use the move tool.
12:48Which is the V shortcut.
12:49And you can move it away.
12:51If you want to paint in only within that selection.
12:56You can do so.
12:59So the selection tool is used to put boundaries around something that you want to paint.
13:05Or if there is anything you would like to paint in or erase.
13:09Only within that border.
13:13Selection tool is used for that.
13:15Especially if you want to select a certain part and move it away.
13:21Ok.
13:21The second one is the lasso tool.
13:23Now this one is something that you should be careful of.
13:26Lasso tool has this property anti-alias and feather.
13:29You want the feather effect to be on zero pixels.
13:32And you want the anti-alias to be off.
13:35So now.
13:37If you want to select a custom shape.
13:39You can do so with the lasso tool.
13:42Very, very nice.
13:44Yes.
13:44When it comes to magic wand tool.
13:46Allow me to create different color for the background.
13:52Ok.
13:53Magic wand tool essentially picks a certain color on your canvas.
13:58And it's quite simple.
14:00You have the sample size.
14:02You want it to be on point sample.
14:04Because if you choose any average.
14:06It will average out those colors.
14:09So point sample is used for pixel art.
14:11Tolerance.
14:12We have this once more.
14:13We want it to be on zero.
14:14And anti-alias.
14:16We want to be off.
14:17Contiguous.
14:18Depends again on what you want to achieve.
14:20So.
14:21If I go over here.
14:21And select.
14:23This red color.
14:26You can see.
14:27I selected everything on this layer.
14:28Why is that?
14:29Well.
14:30Our contiguous is turned off.
14:32If you want to have this on.
14:35Then we will only select the color until it ends.
14:38Like so.
14:39So.
14:40Like.
14:41The same thing like it was for the paint bucket tool.
14:45Ok.
14:45One thing that you should know about Photoshop is that you can combine those tools together.
14:51So.
14:51I may choose the rectangle for this one.
14:54Then I might switch to the lasso tool.
14:56And then I will need to hold shift.
14:59Hold shift.
15:00Hold shift.
15:01To select.
15:03Extra stuff.
15:06As you can see.
15:07Or hold alt.
15:10To unselect certain parts.
15:12This shift and alt shortcuts in combination work for every single selection tool.
15:18So it doesn't matter.
15:19I can go with.
15:20Marquee tool.
15:21Rectangular.
15:22And I can unselect.
15:24Alright.
15:26This is how you can make extra selections very very quickly.
15:30The one tool.
15:31Which is.
15:33Outside of this.
15:34That I certainly want to cover.
15:36Is the picker tool.
15:38Eye dropper tool.
15:39This one essentially picks the color.
15:41I never use this shortcut over here.
15:43Which is.
15:44I believe eye.
15:45That's right.
15:45I always click just.
15:48And hold alt.
15:49For temporary.
15:50Color picker.
15:51As you can see.
15:52You can very very easily.
15:54Switch between colors.
15:56So this is the miscellaneous tool.
15:59Another miscellaneous tool is the move tool.
16:01Which I showed you before.
16:02Once we select something.
16:03We can move it around.
16:04And zoom in and zoom out.
16:06And this is it for the tools when it comes to Photoshop.
16:10Nothing else is needed.
16:11The stamp tool.
16:12The clone tool.
16:13The pen tool.
16:14We don't need any of those.
16:15I showed you how to create lines.
16:18Shapes for practice.
16:19How to choose color.
16:21Everything you need to know.
16:22Now.
16:23We are still not finished for the Photoshop.
16:26I still have two things to explain.
16:28And that has something to do.
16:30With animation.
16:32Animation is done using the layers.
16:34Layers.
16:34You can find over here.
16:36And they work.
16:37The same way.
16:38They do.
16:38In pretty much.
16:39Any digital.
16:40Painting software.
16:42Layers.
16:43You can think of them.
16:44As sheets of paper.
16:45Stacked on top of each other.
16:47So if I.
16:48Completely erase this layer.
16:51And create.
16:53Very very simple shape.
16:57On layer.
16:59Below it.
17:00And let's say.
17:00I want to create another layer.
17:02Above it.
17:03In green color.
17:07Now look what happens.
17:08When I draw something.
17:09Above it.
17:10It's also.
17:11Above it.
17:11On canvas.
17:12It's.
17:12The blue color.
17:13Is not erased.
17:14It's just.
17:15Behind.
17:16Our current layer.
17:18So you can.
17:18Combine layers.
17:19In many.
17:20Many.
17:20Different ways.
17:21You can.
17:22Erase layers.
17:23By.
17:24Clicking delete.
17:24Once you select them.
17:25Bear in mind.
17:26You always.
17:26Need to have.
17:27At least one layer.
17:28So you cannot.
17:29Erase the last one.
17:30You can.
17:31Combine them.
17:31So if I have.
17:33Multiple ones.
17:34You can.
17:34Duplicate layer.
17:35By control J.
17:36Or right.
17:36Clicking.
17:37And click.
17:38Duplicate.
17:38Or even.
17:40Copying it.
17:41And then you can.
17:42Merge them.
17:42By selecting them.
17:43Together.
17:45So you can.
17:46Hold.
17:47Control.
17:47Or command.
17:48And left click.
17:49All the way.
17:49To.
17:50To the ones.
17:51You want.
17:51To combine.
17:53And then you can.
17:54Click.
17:55Control.
17:56E.
17:56Or command.
18:01Layers.
18:03You will.
18:04Rarely.
18:04Use this.
18:04In pixel art.
18:05So.
18:05But this.
18:06Is still.
18:06Something.
18:06That I wanted.
18:07To point out.
18:08Now.
18:08Let's go.
18:09To the animation.
18:10Tab.
18:11We need.
18:11To actually.
18:12Open up.
18:13Our timeline.
18:14And we can.
18:15Do that.
18:15By going.
18:16To the window.
18:16Tab.
18:17And clicking.
18:19Timeline.
18:20We need.
18:20To create.
18:21Our animation.
18:22By.
18:23Clicking.
18:23Create.
18:23Video timeline.
18:24Over here.
18:25And what.
18:25You will.
18:26Notice.
18:26Immediately.
18:27Is.
18:28That.
18:28Over here.
18:28We have.
18:29The same.
18:30Layers.
18:31We have.
18:31Over here.
18:33Layer 2.
18:33And layer 2.
18:33Copy.
18:37This.
18:38Purple color.
18:38Indicates.
18:39How long.
18:40Does that.
18:41Does that.
18:42Layer.
18:43Last.
18:43In our.
18:44Animation.
18:45So.
18:46If you.
18:46Want.
18:46To create.
18:47A background.
18:47Layer.
18:49Let's say.
18:50We want.
18:51To rename.
18:51This.
18:51To background.
18:52You can.
18:52Double click.
18:53On its.
18:54Letters.
18:55And it.
18:55Will.
18:56Immediately.
18:56And.
19:06If.
19:06You.
19:07Want.
19:07Your.
19:08Current.
19:09Layer.
19:10Or.
19:10Frame.
19:10To last.
19:11You.
19:12I mean.
19:13Last.
19:13Less.
19:13You.
19:14Just.
19:14Simply.
19:14Drag.
19:16This.
19:16Purple.
19:17Bar.
19:18To.
19:18Whichever.
19:19Length.
19:19You.
19:19Want.
19:19One.
19:20F.
19:20Is.
19:20Usually.
19:20Like.
19:22Now.
19:25How.
19:37To.
19:38We.
19:38Use.
19:38To.
19:38Slide.
19:39Over.
19:39Our.
19:39Animation.
19:42And.
19:42Each.
19:49Will.
19:49Be.
19:49A.
19:50Frame.
19:51In.
19:51Our.
19:52Animation.
19:52So.
19:52If.
19:57I.
19:57Click.
19:58Here.
19:59To.
19:59Create.
19:59new layer you can immediately see that I get a new layer now bear in mind you can
20:06only edit frames that you can currently see in the animation so if I go over
20:11here you can see the layer to copy or the first frame as soon as I go over to
20:18the other frame I can no longer edit this frame it will put out an error that
20:25I cannot use the eraser or anything else because the current time is outside the
20:29range of the target layer this basically means if you don't have your if the time
20:34on the timeline is not on that frame currently you cannot edit that layer so
20:40let's create simple animation I will pick this blue color and on our layer after I
20:49will create a different position and different shape
20:54now if I try to play this animation you can see it changes quite nice now do
21:03keep in mind that for each and every frame you need another layer this is why people
21:11don't use Photoshop for animation because it can get very very hard very quickly as
21:17soon as you have more than let's say 10 frames it gets really complicated to
21:22follow everything along that's why professionals use tools like Adobe Animate
21:28instead of Photoshop when it comes to animation that is previous Adobe Flash or
21:33Toonbun Harmony etc for pixel art unfortunately this is the only option and
21:40yes it will be a bit harder but once you get used to it you can create very very
21:45nice animations again if you want to create animation that lasts for like 40
21:5050 frames which is only on high resolution professional level you will
21:55have you you will have to need a lot of patience to create something like that in
22:00Photoshop at least all right when it comes to tiling system in Photoshop
22:05unfortunately it doesn't have it tiling system is something that we can use to
22:10create tile sets and tile maps very easily very quickly but if you want to
22:16create something similar you will need to create a bigger canvas let's say 128 by
22:21128 and then we have this nice little canvas and on it we can create different
22:32different tiles I'll just create a few different ones very very quickly just to
22:42prove my point so very quickly I created well these are tiles these these are just
22:53shapes part the but the principle is the same so you can use the selection tool
22:58like this then you can hold the ctrl and alt or command and alt and just drag it
23:08around this is how you can replicate tiles very quickly this is quite useful but
23:14again it's not tiling system but is the closest thing that we can get to in
23:18Photoshop one more thing about Photoshop is its size but more specifically it's
23:25resizing so if I create a simple sprite over here and I click ctrl T I can
23:31resize it but if I keep it by default which over here is usually billionaire look
23:38what happens it automatically creates this anti alias effect which is not
23:45something that we want so whenever you have this option of three of picking
23:50interpolation you always want to keep it on the nearest neighbor so wherever you
23:54resize it will always keep those hard edges even when you save for the web for
24:00example you can you should always pick the PNG file because it's a lossless format
24:06and the quality it should always be nearest neighbor especially if you want to
24:12resize it to high resolution so keep that in mind quality or interpolation should
24:20always be on nearest neighbor okay so we covered everything I covered what are
24:27each of these tools and how you can use them how you can use the animation within
24:33with combination of layers and how you can copy paste very quickly a tile again
24:39keep in mind Photoshop is not primarily used for pixel art so please use it only if
24:45you already have Photoshop for other usage or you want aside from pixel art learn
24:53about digital painting or design if you are planning using only pixel art and
24:58pixel art only Photoshop is probably not the best option especially because of its
25:04price okay this is it for this lesson I will see you in the next one
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