Vash

Posted on Sep 30

Learn about 2D art / animation (methods) / (softwares) and how to choose one

#gamedev #art #drawing #pixelart

Introduction

This article is written for anyone interested in 2D art / animation. This article has references to multiple sub-subjects that fall into the categories of these types. I do this in order to avoid the mess I made with my article on 3D art / animation.

This article also includes usefull information for game-devs.

Regarding copyright, the sources of webistes and images have been noted at the botom of the article.

Enjoy reading! - Vash000

Forms of 2D art / animation
How traditional art is made and can be used
How digital art is made and can be used
How traditional animation is made and can be used
How digital animation is made and can be used
Art for game-devs
Art / Animation program comparisons
Usefull links
- Links to tutorials
Links and references to external sources

Forms of 2D art / animation

There are many ways to sort different types of art. I like to divide them into static art and animation. Both are art, but it’s easier to work with smaller categories. There are many forms of art and animation, so I can’t cover them all, but I’ll show you the main types and explain how typical animation works.

Static Art:

Traditional (drawing / painting)

Digital art (Made using a computer / laptop (or tablet / mobile device))

Animation:

Traditional (Hand-drawn Animation, stop-motion)

Digital (Digitally-drawn Animation, Motion Graphics)

Most art is converted to a digital format (usually image or video) to be stored, edited, or shared more easily than physical art like paintings or sketchbooks.

I’ll explain more about how art could be made and used in the chapters below.

How traditional art is made and can be used

About traditional art

Traditional art includes styles made without using technology, except to make the work easier or to digitize the finished pieces. For example, a drawing copy board with an LED backlight helps see the contours of an underlying image or drawing.

To digitize art, you might use a photo scanner like this one (A4-format photo scanner) from Canon:

The most basic forms of traditional art are drawing and painting. These use materials like pencils, charcoal, ink, and various types of paint (oil, acrylic, watercolor).

Most artists sketch with a pencil before painting so they can erase mistakes. However, erasers leave marks on your artwork, whether on canvas or paper.

Traditional art also includes sculpting, but since this article is about 2D art, I won’t cover that.

Traditional art is often used to study the basics of art, such as anatomy, color theory, lighting, perspective, and scene composition.

Uses of traditional art

Traditional art can be used for:

Posters to promote a product, as a prop, or to decorate your room.

Portraits to learn facial anatomy, sell as a service, or promote your drawing skills. (I don't know, I usually don't draw portraits).

Landscapes to create or recreate entire landscapes to hang on your wall or use as a background, maybe like Bob Ross.

Scenes / Settings to study, copy, and use as (your laptop’s / game's) background / home-screen or to hang on your wall.

Sketches / Drafts / Concepts to learn and progress or use for later artworks.

There are more forms and techniques of 2D art, but this article is a starting guide for beginners. I won’t over-complicate things by giving more information on traditional art.

I will leave links to useful sites in the “Useful Sites” chapter and might make another series of articles or videos on different art techniques and styles if I have time.

How digital art is made and can be used

Digital art is often found easier to use than traditional art because you only need a laptop/PC with a mouse or a tablet and an application that lets you edit images. Many digital artists prefer using a tablet or drawing tablet (pen/display tablet).

Digital art tries to simulate traditional art on digital devices through specialized drawing software. One of the most popular paid software is Adobe Photoshop. There are many free and paid alternatives, as well as specialized apps for certain art styles. For example, Aseprite is a paid app for pixel art.

Applications / programs like Adobe Photoshop can be used for nearly any form of 2D processing, making it a good choice for professional digital artists or editors.

There are many different art programs. At the end of this article, I will compare multiple art/animation programs.

One of the biggest advantages of digital art is that you can easily copy and paste images, make backups, work with multiple people on the same drawing without being in the same room, revert changes (ctrl+z), or use an older backup file. You can also change the entire image and color values without needing to redraw the entire frame. Additionally, you can increase the size of your canvas/paper without redrawing anything.

Digital art has many advantages compared to traditional art. The main difference is the feeling you get when drawing traditionally versus digitally. You can often tell digital art apart from traditional art, making traditional art a sought-after style.

How traditional animation is made and can be used

Traditional animation has many forms and styles. In the past, the only format was film. Nowadays, we have digital formats that can be displayed and shared over social media and other networks. The most popular digital formats are: (.MP4 and .mov). In film the .raw format is used for getting uncompressed data form the camera. Please don't store your animation in this format. (It's file-size will become way too big).

Most traditional animation today is made by taking pictures or scanning large series of pictures and compiling them at a certain speed (24 FPS is common).

For both traditional and digital animation, there are “still frames” where nothing or nearly nothing moves. This technique saves time by reusing the same image instead of redrawing it.

Traditional animation is done without computers and can include anything from stop-motion to hand-drawn animation.

Traditional animation can be used for:

Movies and TV shows: Classic animations like Disney films were created using traditional methods.
Short films and commercials: Many short animations and ads use traditional techniques for a unique look.
Educational content: Traditional animation can make learning materials more engaging and easier to understand.
Artistic projects: Artists often use traditional animation to create unique, hand-crafted pieces.
Music videos: Many music videos feature traditional animation for a distinctive visual style.

For more specialized forms of traditional animation, you can visit this wikipedia page.

How digital animation is made and can be used

Digital animation is created using a computer, PC, or (drawing) tablet, just like digital art. The only difference could be the program(s) you are using.

Digital animation offers many advantages:

Efficiency: You can easily copy and paste frames, make backups, and work with others remotely.
Flexibility: You can revert changes, adjust colors, and resize your canvas without starting over.
Tools: Software like Adobe After Effects and Toon Boom Harmony provide powerful tools for creating complex animations.

Digital animation can be used for:

Movies and TV shows: Many modern animations are created digitally for better control and efficiency.
Video games: Characters and environments are often animated digitally.
Advertising: Digital animation is used in commercials and online ads.
Educational content: Animated videos can make learning more engaging.

Digital animation combines the creativity of traditional animation with the power of modern technology, making it a versatile and popular choice for many artists.

Art for game-devs

To create art for a game, you first need to know what your game will be and its main selling point. Everything in the game should fit together well to make it a “good game.”

The factors that influence a game will be discussed in another article.

When making art for a game, you need to know what kind of game it will be and what style you want. If you’re unsure, experiment with different styles! Look at other games like Cuphead, Rayman Legends, Undertale, Street Fighter (I-II), and Heartbound. These are some popular 2D games with different art styles. For example, Undertale and Heartbound are pixel-art games, and Heartbound uses a color palette that is accessible for colorblind players.

It’s hard to give specific advice, but generally, “Art can be used to visualize the game, and the underlying code controls the art and triggers different animations.”

Besides the story, sound, and gameplay, art is one of the biggest selling points of a game.

Art in a game can be made in two different forms

Sprite animation

Rigging (bone-based animation)

Sprite animation uses a series of images called frames. These images are shown one after another to make the character look like it’s moving.

Rigging is a method where you add “bones” to a character, similar to how it’s done in 3D animation. These bones control the character’s movement, making it easier to animate complex actions.

Art / Animation program comparisons

List of programs:

Price comparison

OTL = One Time Licence

Program:	free:	paid:	price:	Kind of licence:
Microsoft Paint	✅	❌	-	-
Paint.net	✅	❌	-	-
Aseprite	❌	✅	€19,99-	OTL
Adobe Photoshop	❌	✅	€316,97- (2024)	Per year
Adobe Illustrator	❌	✅	€316,97- (2024)	Per year
Autodesk Sketchbook	✅	❌	-	-
GIMP	✅	❌	-	-
Krita	✅	❌	-	-
Procreate	❌	✅	<€23,-	OTL, (depends on platform)
Rebelle	❌	✅	€169,39	OTL, (3 devices)
Corel painter	❌	✅	<€430,-	OTL
Clip studio paint	❌	✅	€45,49-	OTL
Inkscape	✅	❌	-	-

Main uses of the programs:

Program:	Drawing:	Animating:
Microsoft Paint	✅	❌
Paint.net	✅	❌
Aseprite	✅	✅
Adobe Photoshop	✅	✅
Adobe Illustrator	✅	❌
Autodesk Sketchbook	✅	❌
GIMP	✅	❌
Krita	✅	✅
Procreate	✅	✅
Rebelle	✅	❌
Corel painter	✅	❌
Clip studio paint	✅	✅
Inkscape	✅	❌

In theory you could use any of these programs to animate but the listed programs have build-in support and features for animaton. Please correct me if I'm wrong in the comments.

I use Microsoft Paint for small quick tasks and image scaling, Paint.net for other more complicated tasks and modifications, GIMP for editing even harder or more complicated images. (I use Paint.net way more often than GIMP because I'm used to it (and it is a lot simpler)). Then I use Krita for my art and animation.

Currently I'm making games in GameMaker and am using its build-in image editor in combination with Paint.net, altough Aseprite might be a really good application to use instead. You'll just have to find out for yourself what application you like.

When you are converting series of images from your hand-drawn animation into 2D animation then here is a list of applications for that:

Pencil2D an open-source 2D animation software that allows you to import scanned images of your drawings and animate them.
Animation Paper lets you scan your paper drawings and animate them digitally.
Toon Boom Harmony professional animation software that supports importing scanned drawings and offers powerful tools for traditional and digital animation.
Adobe Animate / Flash software allows you to import scanned images and create animations. It’s widely used in the industry for both 2D and interactive animations.
TVPaint Animation a high-end animation software that supports traditional animation techniques. You can scan your paper drawings and use TVPaint to animate them.
FlipAnim An online tool that allows you to create flipbook animations. You can upload images of your drawings and animate them frame by frame.

You could use most video-editing software that allows you to import images at durations shorter than your desired frame-rate. the only problem is that for example in Microsoft's Moviemaker (now Clipchamp) has you select, import and scale the images one-by-one. Or at least, that was my experience with Microsoft MovieMaker (maybe I was missing some information or feature when using the software).

Usefull links

to learn art over-all

Youtube channels

Marc Brunet (former Senior 3D Artist at Blizzard Entertainment): https://www.youtube.com/@YTartschool I defenitely reccomend watching Marc Brunet (He is one of the best art teachers on youtube).

Draw like a sir: https://www.youtube.com/@DrawlikeaSir

Brad's art school: https://www.youtube.com/@BradsArtSchool

KeshArt: https://www.youtube.com/@KeshArt

Winged Canvas: https://www.youtube.com/@wingedcanvas

Trent Kaniuga: https://www.youtube.com/@TrentKaniuga

Ross Draws: https://www.youtube.com/@RossDraws 50/50 sometimes usefull, sometimes not.

Rapid fire art: https://www.youtube.com/@RapidFireArt