I Need Help Starting Out? I'm a Programmer But Not A 2D Artist?

Lately I've been using Construct 2.

The problem is, is that I cannot make my own sprites and tilesets. I suck at art. And I have no clue how individual programmers make small, basic games without an artist's help!? What do you guys do? How can I get at least good looking 2D art as sprites and tilesets?

Scirra has an asset store from which you can purchase game art; also check out the asset store at the unity3d site.

Firstly, as a solo programmer you can look for free artwork or purchase it instead.

You can find free artwork on sites like OpenGameArt.org, Game-icons.net, and in sets like SpriteLib, Kenney.nl, some of the collections on Lost Garden, etc. Don't forget to check if there are any particular licencing conditions and/or rules you need to follow when using free artwork. The other main issue with free artwork is that it may not always be in an appropriate format and styles from different sources may not necessarily match.

You can also purchase art from our marketplace, GameDev Market, GraphicRiver, etc. or any of the many asset stores provided by Unity, Game Maker, or even Scirra themselves, etc. Again, be sure that the licence conditions are suitable for your usage.

If you want to make your own art -- or if you just need to make changes to stuff you've found or bought -- remember that art is a skill like any other. There are certain rules and guidelines you can learn in order to improve, and your work will improve with practice. Try some of the tips from these articles:

• The Total Beginner's Guide to Better 2D Game Art
• Better Programmer Art

You can also try choosing an art style that isn't so complex; some games have a hand-drawn look, are made with photos, are done as cartoons, etc.

Hope that helps! :)

jbadams hit it right.

Depending on the game and style, you may be just fine buying the art, if it fits your game or you know enough to modify it.

But this may not be the case, or you may not have a budget beyond $0. In these cases, you have to take the time to learn, or find a way to make it work by designing your game around it. Many people have taken to learning pixel art. The pipelines for it are very advanced, and there are plenty of tutorials for it. You can get many styles from it too. It is(at least in theory) easier to learn than a more HD style, or using 3d. But the thing people don't get is that it is still hard to make GOOD pixel art.

Another "easy" way is to use vector graphics. Usually there are less color limitations than a pixel style so you may want to still use a sort of palette to keep your game consistent, but it can be easier to modify shapes, etc... than pixel by pixel for some people.

Last thing, which for me is somehow simply easier than 2d is 3d. I don't know why, but for me it is simply easier and less time consuming to create some simple 3d models in Blender, and pre-render animations to sprites. It isn't that I get good pixel art that way, rather the result is simply better than my pixel art results, and takes less time, and more so when you have to make changes.

I should mention though, there are plenty of discussions about the 3d pre-render bit all over, with mixed opinions on cost, time, etc... And for most people it takes more time to get up and started with that method too.

One thing though, there are tutorials around, including an article somewhere on this very site, that talk art "art for programmers." They are great to at least get something started with.

To add to what others said:

Be aware that, as long as you don't set your expectations to high, even someone who is not a good artist can create a consistent, acceptable looking graphics for a game, if he has a good plan.

Look at "Thomas was alone"... I am pretty sure most people could create this kind of graphics. Of course even here, in the detail, you need to know what you are doing (how to create the shadows? What colors to use? Will the chosen shape communicate the game logic behind it well enough?).

Still, get Gimp, learn its interface, and you will be churning out the shapes needed for your game in no time.

If you aim higher, then yes, either you learn how to draw, you buy stock art or you find someone that does the art for you, paid or not. But be aware you do not need production quality art from the start of the project, it is pretty common to start a project with placeholder art, that might consist of nothing more than simple block representing level geometry or characters.

I actually wrote a guide about exactly this subject, A Programmer's Guide to creating art for your game. It goes through the various low/no cost solutions available for creating art for the artistically challenged, including links to tools and tutorials to get you going.

I personally am of the belief that

a) low def pixel ( aka 8bit ) is so horrifically over done it should die in a fire.

b) low fi low detail high contrast 3D polygonal work is probably your best bet. The tools have a high learning curve ( cough Blender cough ), but it also seems like the most intuitive approach for programmers of the various options available.