Finding pixel artists?

djcouchycouch · Post by **djcouchycouch** » Mon Nov 05, 2012 3:43 pm

I'm continuously going back and forth with feelings of "I should make all the art! Working on my own is easiest!" and "man, making art is hard! I should get help".

Anybody know where one can find decent pixel artists?

I have some doubts I'd be able to find anyone interested, though. It's hard to convince someone to work on a project where they wouldn't have final say and get little or no money out of it.

Stef · Post by **Stef** » Mon Nov 05, 2012 6:31 pm

I hope you will find someone but honestly i think it will be indeed very difficult... i think there is not much (good) pixel artists around.
You may try asking on this forum :
http://www.retropixel.fr/forum/

Chilly Willy · Post by **Chilly Willy** » Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:15 pm

You might also try OpenGameArt: http://opengameart.org/

slobu · Post by **slobu** » Wed Nov 07, 2012 4:30 pm

I had to admit that I needed help with music. I just don't have the willpower to set up my MIDI keyboard. However, art is just about finding the right tool and devoting some time.

I don't see art as a problem for you from the screenshots I've seen. It just takes practice.

ammianus · Post by **ammianus** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 12:18 am

I was wondering about this.

I am somewhat handy with photoshop/gimp, even simple paint stuff, but no good trying to draw something freehand from scratch, especially at low pixel resolutions. Although there are ways you can use graphics tools like gimp to take a higher resolution image and blur it down into something lower rez.

In any case, when I was thinking of getting to that stage I was going to see if I could post some kind job advertizement for students of the art school at the university I went to (which is nearby), I may not get great retro pixel artists, but if they can draw the content, I could probably figure out how to convert it to suit my needs, plus it might work for them to do part time work and build their portfolio. Maybe you could also try someone with a style you like on deviantart.com and contact them to see if they were interested in a commission?

Anyone know what might be a reasonable rate for a part time artist?

Are there any copyright or legal issues if you pay someone to work on a game that would be released on an unlicensed system?

djcouchycouch · Post by **djcouchycouch** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:07 pm

ammianus wrote: Are there any copyright or legal issues if you pay someone to work on a game that would be released on an unlicensed system?

I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think releasing it on an "unlicensed system" has any special problems. I think it would be similar to if the game were released for XBLA or PSN or DSi or whatever. But I wonder if the Pier Solar guys had any issues with that.

As for copyright, I'd make sure to contract an artist on a "work for hire" basis, where all copyrights are held by the company/client. The artist can (and should) be credited, but the ownership is the company's. I'd hesitate to hire an artist as a partner because it complicates things when it comes to ownership, compensation, contracts and all that business-y stuff. Especially when there's money involved.

And as well as not being a lawyer, I also have no money. So right now I can only dream of having a million dollars to pay people to make my game.

ammianus · Post by **ammianus** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 4:06 pm

djcouchycouch wrote:
I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think releasing it on an "unlicensed system" has any special problems. I think it would be similar to if the game were released for XBLA or PSN or DSi or whatever. But I wonder if the Pier Solar guys had any issues with that.

At this point, I just assume they are too small for the lawyers for Sega or whoever to bother with?

Anyone know what the original relationship was between game developers and Sega when the system was in it's prime? How did one make "licensed" games?

Although, even for games on dead system, they still go after people like the guys who did Streets of Rage Remake, which might make some sense since I think they do make some money re-releasing ports of old games on iPhones and other modern systems.

And as well as not being a lawyer, I also have no money. So right now I can only dream of having a million dollars to pay people to make my game.

I was hoping it would be considerably less just to hire a graphics artist part-time/on-commission to draw sprites. I guess it depends on how much you want them to draw

The other thing that we might do is have a group of people interested in making the same game and pool our feeble skills

Most of us programmers seem to like our own little worlds so I doubt it would happen.

MintyTheCat · Post by **MintyTheCat** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 7:11 pm

Yes, I find myself in a similar Situation: Software is not too much of a Problem but I cannot do Pixel Art.

I spent a fair Amount of Time doing Conceptual-Art but I have to be honest and say that it takes me Ages to get anything even half decent - I am not an Artist

I could half manage the Music but I tend to look at the Music and the Art Side of Things as being completely seperate from the Software Side of Things.

I tend to have to gear up to thinking about Game Design where I don't have to do that for Software - good Job I chose the right Career

I have worked with a few Artists and hope to continue working with them but in the worst-case I would perhaps just pay a Freelancer who specialised in 2D Pixel Art and Animation as there's no way I wish to create Pixel-Art - I can barely handle a Mouse - I live on the Command-Line

tinctu · Post by **tinctu** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 11:15 am

Try pixeljoint.com forum too.
I do pixels and chipmusic but I am very busy with my RetroWiz opensource game console.
But in future I can make gfx, msx for your MD/genny project...