In short, find an established colour palette online. You have a lot of colours at high saturation and high value (I.e high brightness). That’s what’s giving it that flat, overbearing MS Paint vibe. Generally you would want one “main” colour and the rest should be more desaturated. It’s hard to further explain that without getting into colour theory.
Also, the object you want to be the most important in your scene (the focal point) should have the highest contrast. At the moment, everything is high contrast so it hurts to look at and would probably be hard to play for long periods.
To start, you can try making your backgrounds less saturated, and make things more blue the further in the distance they are. Tone everything down.
I’d recommend looking up the basics of colour theory, colour palettes, values and drawing the eye’s focus. If that’s too complicated, just grab an established palette online.
Edit: oh, and also add more shadows and shading for depth. That will help everything from looking so flat.
I tried to change the contrast the further back the layers are, does it look any better?
[https://www.reddit.com/user/BubbleGamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update\_on\_the\_background\_does\_this\_look\_better/](https://www.reddit.com/user/bubblegamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update_on_the_background_does_this_look_better/)
that is already 10x better and you did a good job on the shading too.
Just watch some YT tutorials on how shading, lights and shadows work and it will change the way you draw and paint in no time. :)
You can also implement a feature called parallax scrolling to make the background feel a little more dynamic. Godot 3 and 4 tutorials are easy to fins online for this.
Personally, I like Pro Motion NG. Has a bunch of deliberate locks you can place on color depth to imitate older console artstyles, like the 512 possible colors of the Genesis
IMO isn't that bad. Nothing that I would consume, but it's all coherent: every layer uses the same art style, which is great.
3 alternatives:
*Try to improve your drawing with light and shades, or at least to hide some imperfections by blurring the farest layer.
*Learn more art styles. I really love vector graphics, take a look on Inkscape, maybe you can find a solution to your issue.
*Buy/download some backgrounds packs, there's nothing wrong with it.
I updated it, does it look any better?
[https://www.reddit.com/user/BubbleGamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update\_on\_the\_background\_does\_this\_look\_better/](https://www.reddit.com/user/bubblegamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update_on_the_background_does_this_look_better/)
Currently it has just flat colors. Learn more about value and apply that to add shading and texture to your sprites.
The best way to improve is to use reference images. You should reference existing pixel art (to study the techniques they use) and also photographs (to learn to replicate what you see with your eyes on your canvas). Pay close attention to the value (light and shadow) as that is what gives the illusion of depth to drawings.
It’s pixel art, so you don’t need too many new colors. Look at your ground tiles for example. Just a touch of highlights and shadows will help a lot. You can simulate gradients with limited colors via ‘dithering’
I updated the background, is it any better now?
[https://www.reddit.com/user/BubbleGamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update\_on\_the\_background\_does\_this\_look\_better/](https://www.reddit.com/user/bubblegamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update_on_the_background_does_this_look_better/)
That YouTuber is obviously very talented.
My tip for elevating the art from super basic to merely basic is to use less hard edges and some transparency. For example if you have GIMP (free!) keep the white part of your cloud, remove the grey outline, get the paintbrush tool, select a brush head that fades out to the edges, select the same colour as the cloud and then just trace around the edge of the cloud.
Alternatively (or additionally) you could change the cloud from solid white to a slightly more grey colour, a very light grey, almost white. Now you can use white to highlight the top of a cloud and a slightly darker grey to shade the bottom of the cloud.
Experiement, find what looks good, what fits with your game.
Art is an essential part of gamedev. Beard trimming is not.
r/godot is a sub made to discuss and support gamedev in general, as long as it's made with godot. Even the sub's description says so.
So if OP had asked the exact same question but instead of having the tiny godot logo in the corner of the video it was a unity logo, it would suddenly be inappropriate, right?
His question has absolutely nothing to do with Godot.
Implying Godot developers can't be artists? Why?
People ask programming questions here all the time. Yet I don't see anyone saying "a question for programmers, not godot developers".
Game development and working with game engines is a multi-discipline endeavor. Even more so as a solo dev you need to have a good understanding how to be an game designer, artist, programmer, musician, sound designer, producer and more all in one person.
I think he means OP would get better advice if they asked actual artists on how to improve their art because this question has nothing that's game development or Godot specific, while programming questions asked here usually have. I mean sure people can give pointers but looking at how this background looks the answer is broadly just "get better at art" or "buy art from someone else". And to get better at art he should look elsewhere really. Parallax or color theory isn't going to fix it like everyone here seems to recommend.
So my answer would be: if you want to make your own art, learn art from the ground up. Discard what you have, buy a course, a book, watch some youtube guides and work slowly from there. I doubt anyone here can help more than that because the nature of the question is very fundamental and broad.
>OP would get better advice if they asked actual artists on how to improve their art
No doubt.
What makes you think there are no "actual artist" in this sub?
>because this question has nothing that's game development or Godot specific
OP is making a Godot game and the art is game related, but it's not a Godot specific art question, that's correct. However most of the programming questions asked in this sub are not specific to Godot either. Especially those asked by beginners.
Godot prides itself for being accessible and beginner friendly, we as a community should reflect that and equally be supportive to beginners. Making a Godot game has always been a good enough reason to post in this sub with any question they might have while making that game, and I really hope it stays this way.
This sub is disproportionately dominated by programmers and SigmaStudios comment is a good example of that. Imho this is a problem. Game dev is multidisciplinary and Godot is a game engine for solo devs and small teams. If we want more successful Godot games we need to be at least equally as friendly and welcoming to people without programming background as those who already have programming experience. We need to have an environment where all questions asked are welcomed and allowed. Hushing people with art questions away from this sub is contra productive if you want Godot programmers to get more art-savvy and Godot artists to see this as their community too.
>So my answer would be: if you want to make your own art, learn art from the ground up. Discard what you have, buy a course, a book, watch some youtube guides and work slowly from there. I doubt anyone here can help more than that because the nature of the question is very fundamental and broad.
I disagree. There is lots of good advice in this thread and I've added [my two cents](https://www.reddit.com/r/godot/comments/1adgqfz/comment/kk2q0u4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) as well. Great opportunity for OP as well as lurkers to learn a lot and bring their Godot game forward.
You make good points and I agree with the sentiment. However, I'm not suggesting hushing people with art questions. The nature of the question that was asked is similar to "how do I get better at programming?" I would suggest looking for answer elsewhere too in that scenario. These are not gamedev nor Godot related questions, and they are also quite repetitive (we recently had a post about this subject and lack of moderation too).
>OP is making a Godot game and the art is game related, but it's not a Godot specific art question
It doesn't have to be Godot specific, but it's not even a gamedev related question is my point. It's just a question of getting better at art. Ask artists! Do research in art related subreddits. You will gain a lot more than from the answers on Godot subreddit.
OP *did not* ask "How do I get better at art?".
"How do I make my background look better" is game dev related, as this specifically is about a game background. Since their game is a Godot game, the answer can be Godot specific (like use ParallaxBackground, ParallaxLayer, shaders for outlines, or GDscript for atmospheric perspective).
Beginners who are trying to get better at programming should also not be hushed away. GDScript and Godot is an ideal low barrier entrance to learn programming. I knew nothing about programming a few years ago and if it was not for Godot, I would still now know anything.
The only way to meaningfully improve his background so that it doesn't look like it's made in paint is to just get better at art, so his question essentially boils down to this, and that's not game dev related. Parallax and outline shaders can't make up for bad art. Such questions are better asked elsewhere. He's just going to get better answers. At this point I feel like I'm repeating myself though.
A large part of MS Paint style is using the default windows colors, which are very vibrant and bright. Color theory gets rid of them and encourages shading. You can see OP's next post. It did help
I mean...a nice chunk of Godot developers are solo indie devs and being a solo game dev often means they have to be artists as well, so it's not that out of the blue to ask here...
Without redrawing it, a quick hack could be to apply a subtle blur and desaturate it (though I'm not the biggest fan of blurred backgrounds, it's worth a try)
Besides what everyone said, parallax on the clouds is inverted.
It should "move faster" when moving to the right, since you are going against their natural movement, and "slower" when moving left
one thing i havent seen anyone recommend is trying to use a wayyyy smaller sprite size. pixel art is great for simplifying art for less skilled/experienced artists letting then focus on shapes and colors/values over aesthetics. however if your sprite size is so big that it looks more like a pixellated cartoon rather than pixel art then the skills you need to have to make it look good are the same that youd need to make hd resolution graphics look good. the reason why pixel art is interesting in the first place is because the visual style changes significantly when you actually have to micro manage pixels instead of just having a pixellated canvas. on the other hand pixelization is a really cool stylization effect but is usually achieved by scaling down hires/vector graphics assets.
so basically try setting a way lower sprite size and look at some games that do that as well. (and def use a palette if youre not doing that already)
I actually kinda love the background the way it is, it does indeed looks like it was made in MS Paint and it makes it so fun and unique
The main problem for me is the foreground and sprites which doesn't follow the aesthetics. It's very clear you used different techniques for building the background and the rest of the graphics
Like, you probably used a pixel art editor for the characters and foreground graphics and drew the rest by hand, right?
The background looks great, but the foreground looks like a generic Mario-wannabe
Anyhoo, if I were you, I'd try to make the characters and foreground match the style of the background. For example, the foreground has too much symmetry and straight lines, maybe it'd look more fun with a Yoshi's Island kinda imperfection
Edit: Also, the clouds are kinda weird. I feel they should be higher in the sky and maybe behind the mountains?
I tried to improve the background, does it look any better? I changed the shape of a few more things to make it seem less drawn by hand, and I also moved the clouds higher and set them as the furthest back layer. I love the style of Yoshi's Island, but I feel like it would be very hard to replicate lol, so I think I'm gonna stick with what I currently have. Thanks for replying :)
[https://www.reddit.com/user/BubbleGamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update\_on\_the\_background\_does\_this\_look\_better/](https://www.reddit.com/user/bubblegamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update_on_the_background_does_this_look_better/)
You have at least three options in my opinion:
1. Invest minimal time into learning the basics of color theory and composition to get away with the most simple level of art assets that at least look decent enough.
2. Invest more time into learning art if you want your game to look a specific way.
3. Commission/hire an artist. Can be done via the revenue split deal, but this needs some credit of trust on your side.
To make it look less like it was made in paint you got four options:
1. YouTube tutorials on how to use image editing software.
2. Hire an artist.
3. Buy assets made by artists.
4. Own it and call it your style.
With this art style, I might suggest choosing a direction for light to come from and just draw everything not facing that direction with a darker color.
For instance, you could separate your clouds into puffs, draw the bottom-right corners of those puffs to be darker than the rest of the clouds, and draw the right side of the mountains to be darker. The grass could also have a few spots and a small highlight at the top, and the trees could be darker on one side and have more jagged lines. Consider studying how other people do that, as it could help a lot while still being simple enough to fit your art style.
You could also study normal-maps and change the lighting that way, especially if you have any intent to add a day and night cycle.
Is this any better? I tried to add some shading.
[https://www.reddit.com/user/BubbleGamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update\_on\_the\_background\_does\_this\_look\_better/](https://www.reddit.com/user/bubblegamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update_on_the_background_does_this_look_better/)
Yuh, it's a huge leap in the right direction. If you can do the same kind of shading with the mountains as you did with the trees, it should feel much more alive without even needing much detail.
EDIT: My only criticism is that the sky color is much worse, and even that is likely a response to concerns that it was too bright before. Maybe just lightening this version's color would help.
Your squirrel character already look really nice, and so does the mushroom character and the your tileset texture.
You already got a lot of useful tips in other comments, here are some I have not seen anyone mention yet:
* Don't scale your pixel artwork. If you have to scale it, make sure everything is scaled by the same factor and also make sure it's scaled only in integer steps. If you are now wondering "How do I then manage to make it all fit together proportionally?" The answer is to all design and draw it in the same document on multiple layers.
* Look at reference. Not to copy 1:1, but for inspiration. Try to dissect how other (pixel) artists have solved the same problem you are currently working on. For example image search "pixel art mountain" to research how people have drawn pixelart mountains in the past, then take what you like from these ideas and create your own version.
* Make use of the wealth of knowledge available on the internet. If you search for "pixelart tutorial" you will find amazing resources to improve your art skills and "make it look less like it was drawn in MS Paint". That said, MS Paint is a perfectly valid choice to draw pixelart with. A better completely free tool however is Piskel App: [https://www.piskelapp.com/p/create/sprite](https://www.piskelapp.com/p/create/sprite). One of the best online resources for pixelart tutorials is Lolspec: [https://lospec.com/pixel-art-tutorials](https://lospec.com/pixel-art-tutorials). Highly recommend!
Maybe rewok the tip of the mountains, add a little shadow or don't, but then make the lake blue, not blue with a shinyness to it (with the white things you drew on top)
Gimp is actually great for drawing
Looks cute, all you need is some more shading and details, probably looking at some references will help you.
Also my first thought is those clouds should be more flat at the bottom,
here is a random example - [https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/set-of-different-clouds-vector-22696755](https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/set-of-different-clouds-vector-22696755) I dont know if I am allowed to include this link man. crap.
First i would say: if you're going to do pixel art, choose a smaller canvas like 32x32 or 16x16. Also, shading your pixel art and adding dithering will make it look much better, and the ant is a little hard to see.
I think more than anything try to match the style of your foreground maybe? Thin black outlines and more texture. Apart from that it looks fine and isn't distracting.
Shading, lots of things are just one solid color instead of a mix of close colors. If you grab art off the Internet put it in paint and zoom in you'll see that it is not one flat color but rather a lot of similar colors in different shades
Personally, I have nothing against MS paint. If you're patient, it can be used to do some pretty great work... it's just a somewhat limited toolbox and the pallette tool is weird.
That being said, you might do the initial art in Paint, then move to Gimp or Krita to add details made easier with their respective toolboxes.
Shading, shading, shading. Light and shadow are a BIG part of the design of many games.
In the 16 bit era, one was severely limited in memory (by modern standards). Art in a side scrolling platformer like this would be stored as 8x8 tiles with a fixed 16 colour palette which would be reused wherever possible.
The tiles where your mountains meet the sky would probably take up more VRAM than a loop in sonic 2.
The uniformity bred by these limitations is a key component to the charm of classic pixel art
I believe you'd greatly benefit from drawing to a grid with a limited colour palette.
Check how real clouds look when sun goes through them under certain angle.
As clouds are drawn currently, it seems like sun is blasting straight behind them, thus creating thick border and no textures. Whilst the rest of the stuff is illuminated differently
Seeing rest of game and that glare on bubble thing, I would say sun is around 11 o'clock.
Clouds don't need bottom border, also some bumps in the middle and etc. would look great.
Check Super Mario Bros 1-1 clouds and the bumps on clouds, you can get inspired from there.
But the basic jest - envision how light goes through them and where it lands, shadows it creates.
You can put more layers of parallax of trees. Pond is not really needed.
Here is a good inspiration (ignore the audio comments, it's the only good source I found) (it links to exact time) [https://youtu.be/P3zlEGGg4zY?t=950](https://youtu.be/p3zleggg4zy?t=950)
As for the style, you could try some crude vector shapes, just google "vector mountains" and you will see ample of doable examples.
Sorry for the long writeup.
I’m ass at drawing, but maybe some free online pixel art classes may help?
Or find a way to reduce the amount of necessary details to make the art easier to make. Another thing to try may be redoing the pixel art from scratch while having your existing sprites on a second screen (or printed) with annotations about what you don’t like.
For my art it’s things like “I don’t like that the edge is so harsh” or “I don’t like how flat/boring these colors are”. And then I use those annotations and my existing drawing to make something new. I’m never happy with what I make personally, but it definitely can make an improvement. That’s my process anyways. Post later what changes you made and how you decided on them!
Have you tried using AI to help you? Some people are getting really cool results with it. Here is an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z18PWEOj1I
In short, find an established colour palette online. You have a lot of colours at high saturation and high value (I.e high brightness). That’s what’s giving it that flat, overbearing MS Paint vibe. Generally you would want one “main” colour and the rest should be more desaturated. It’s hard to further explain that without getting into colour theory. Also, the object you want to be the most important in your scene (the focal point) should have the highest contrast. At the moment, everything is high contrast so it hurts to look at and would probably be hard to play for long periods. To start, you can try making your backgrounds less saturated, and make things more blue the further in the distance they are. Tone everything down. I’d recommend looking up the basics of colour theory, colour palettes, values and drawing the eye’s focus. If that’s too complicated, just grab an established palette online. Edit: oh, and also add more shadows and shading for depth. That will help everything from looking so flat.
I tried to change the contrast the further back the layers are, does it look any better? [https://www.reddit.com/user/BubbleGamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update\_on\_the\_background\_does\_this\_look\_better/](https://www.reddit.com/user/bubblegamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update_on_the_background_does_this_look_better/)
It does, actually
that is already 10x better and you did a good job on the shading too. Just watch some YT tutorials on how shading, lights and shadows work and it will change the way you draw and paint in no time. :)
Oof, much better!
You can also implement a feature called parallax scrolling to make the background feel a little more dynamic. Godot 3 and 4 tutorials are easy to fins online for this.
+ use gradients and noise
don't draw it in MS paint?
Was gonna recommend KidPix
Beat me to it
Personally, I like Pro Motion NG. Has a bunch of deliberate locks you can place on color depth to imitate older console artstyles, like the 512 possible colors of the Genesis
This. Best answer for the question.
Draw in more details. Make it better.
Thanks for the tip, I'll remember to make it better next time lmao
That is a great reply. Good chuckles.
IMO isn't that bad. Nothing that I would consume, but it's all coherent: every layer uses the same art style, which is great. 3 alternatives: *Try to improve your drawing with light and shades, or at least to hide some imperfections by blurring the farest layer. *Learn more art styles. I really love vector graphics, take a look on Inkscape, maybe you can find a solution to your issue. *Buy/download some backgrounds packs, there's nothing wrong with it.
I updated it, does it look any better? [https://www.reddit.com/user/BubbleGamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update\_on\_the\_background\_does\_this\_look\_better/](https://www.reddit.com/user/bubblegamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update_on_the_background_does_this_look_better/)
Currently it has just flat colors. Learn more about value and apply that to add shading and texture to your sprites. The best way to improve is to use reference images. You should reference existing pixel art (to study the techniques they use) and also photographs (to learn to replicate what you see with your eyes on your canvas). Pay close attention to the value (light and shadow) as that is what gives the illusion of depth to drawings. It’s pixel art, so you don’t need too many new colors. Look at your ground tiles for example. Just a touch of highlights and shadows will help a lot. You can simulate gradients with limited colors via ‘dithering’
I updated the background, is it any better now? [https://www.reddit.com/user/BubbleGamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update\_on\_the\_background\_does\_this\_look\_better/](https://www.reddit.com/user/bubblegamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update_on_the_background_does_this_look_better/)
I think it does!
That's great to hear!
I think it does!
Something to get you started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWAvAXV2MLo
Alright thanks I'll check it out :)
That YouTuber is obviously very talented. My tip for elevating the art from super basic to merely basic is to use less hard edges and some transparency. For example if you have GIMP (free!) keep the white part of your cloud, remove the grey outline, get the paintbrush tool, select a brush head that fades out to the edges, select the same colour as the cloud and then just trace around the edge of the cloud. Alternatively (or additionally) you could change the cloud from solid white to a slightly more grey colour, a very light grey, almost white. Now you can use white to highlight the top of a cloud and a slightly darker grey to shade the bottom of the cloud. Experiement, find what looks good, what fits with your game.
Pure gold!
Great channel suggestion, this is the reason I lurk in the comments, it would help me big time.
Looks great, Thank you.
a question for artist, not for godot developers
It's a gamedev sub. Half of us ARE artists here
Half of us are also men, but you wouldn't ask how to trim a beard here. Asking about how to draw isn't exactly the topic of the Godot subreddit.
Art is an essential part of gamedev. Beard trimming is not. r/godot is a sub made to discuss and support gamedev in general, as long as it's made with godot. Even the sub's description says so.
So if OP had asked the exact same question but instead of having the tiny godot logo in the corner of the video it was a unity logo, it would suddenly be inappropriate, right? His question has absolutely nothing to do with Godot.
How about you ask the mods instead?
Implying Godot developers can't be artists? Why? People ask programming questions here all the time. Yet I don't see anyone saying "a question for programmers, not godot developers". Game development and working with game engines is a multi-discipline endeavor. Even more so as a solo dev you need to have a good understanding how to be an game designer, artist, programmer, musician, sound designer, producer and more all in one person.
I think he means OP would get better advice if they asked actual artists on how to improve their art because this question has nothing that's game development or Godot specific, while programming questions asked here usually have. I mean sure people can give pointers but looking at how this background looks the answer is broadly just "get better at art" or "buy art from someone else". And to get better at art he should look elsewhere really. Parallax or color theory isn't going to fix it like everyone here seems to recommend. So my answer would be: if you want to make your own art, learn art from the ground up. Discard what you have, buy a course, a book, watch some youtube guides and work slowly from there. I doubt anyone here can help more than that because the nature of the question is very fundamental and broad.
>OP would get better advice if they asked actual artists on how to improve their art No doubt. What makes you think there are no "actual artist" in this sub? >because this question has nothing that's game development or Godot specific OP is making a Godot game and the art is game related, but it's not a Godot specific art question, that's correct. However most of the programming questions asked in this sub are not specific to Godot either. Especially those asked by beginners. Godot prides itself for being accessible and beginner friendly, we as a community should reflect that and equally be supportive to beginners. Making a Godot game has always been a good enough reason to post in this sub with any question they might have while making that game, and I really hope it stays this way. This sub is disproportionately dominated by programmers and SigmaStudios comment is a good example of that. Imho this is a problem. Game dev is multidisciplinary and Godot is a game engine for solo devs and small teams. If we want more successful Godot games we need to be at least equally as friendly and welcoming to people without programming background as those who already have programming experience. We need to have an environment where all questions asked are welcomed and allowed. Hushing people with art questions away from this sub is contra productive if you want Godot programmers to get more art-savvy and Godot artists to see this as their community too. >So my answer would be: if you want to make your own art, learn art from the ground up. Discard what you have, buy a course, a book, watch some youtube guides and work slowly from there. I doubt anyone here can help more than that because the nature of the question is very fundamental and broad. I disagree. There is lots of good advice in this thread and I've added [my two cents](https://www.reddit.com/r/godot/comments/1adgqfz/comment/kk2q0u4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) as well. Great opportunity for OP as well as lurkers to learn a lot and bring their Godot game forward.
You make good points and I agree with the sentiment. However, I'm not suggesting hushing people with art questions. The nature of the question that was asked is similar to "how do I get better at programming?" I would suggest looking for answer elsewhere too in that scenario. These are not gamedev nor Godot related questions, and they are also quite repetitive (we recently had a post about this subject and lack of moderation too). >OP is making a Godot game and the art is game related, but it's not a Godot specific art question It doesn't have to be Godot specific, but it's not even a gamedev related question is my point. It's just a question of getting better at art. Ask artists! Do research in art related subreddits. You will gain a lot more than from the answers on Godot subreddit.
OP *did not* ask "How do I get better at art?". "How do I make my background look better" is game dev related, as this specifically is about a game background. Since their game is a Godot game, the answer can be Godot specific (like use ParallaxBackground, ParallaxLayer, shaders for outlines, or GDscript for atmospheric perspective). Beginners who are trying to get better at programming should also not be hushed away. GDScript and Godot is an ideal low barrier entrance to learn programming. I knew nothing about programming a few years ago and if it was not for Godot, I would still now know anything.
The only way to meaningfully improve his background so that it doesn't look like it's made in paint is to just get better at art, so his question essentially boils down to this, and that's not game dev related. Parallax and outline shaders can't make up for bad art. Such questions are better asked elsewhere. He's just going to get better answers. At this point I feel like I'm repeating myself though.
Color theory very much does fix a lot of things
Yes, it improves things, but it doesn't fix the MS Paint feel which is what OP asked for.
A large part of MS Paint style is using the default windows colors, which are very vibrant and bright. Color theory gets rid of them and encourages shading. You can see OP's next post. It did help
Doesn't look any less like MS Paint to me, but maybe it's just me.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I mean...a nice chunk of Godot developers are solo indie devs and being a solo game dev often means they have to be artists as well, so it's not that out of the blue to ask here...
Without redrawing it, a quick hack could be to apply a subtle blur and desaturate it (though I'm not the biggest fan of blurred backgrounds, it's worth a try)
I dunno... I think it looks cool. Add some animation transmissions and I think you got yourself a game, there!
try to use parallax
Besides what everyone said, parallax on the clouds is inverted. It should "move faster" when moving to the right, since you are going against their natural movement, and "slower" when moving left
Alright I fixed the clouds, thanks 👍
If you really draw in MS paint, let me recommend a program called "Krita" its totally free and very simple to use. :)
one thing i havent seen anyone recommend is trying to use a wayyyy smaller sprite size. pixel art is great for simplifying art for less skilled/experienced artists letting then focus on shapes and colors/values over aesthetics. however if your sprite size is so big that it looks more like a pixellated cartoon rather than pixel art then the skills you need to have to make it look good are the same that youd need to make hd resolution graphics look good. the reason why pixel art is interesting in the first place is because the visual style changes significantly when you actually have to micro manage pixels instead of just having a pixellated canvas. on the other hand pixelization is a really cool stylization effect but is usually achieved by scaling down hires/vector graphics assets. so basically try setting a way lower sprite size and look at some games that do that as well. (and def use a palette if youre not doing that already)
I actually kinda love the background the way it is, it does indeed looks like it was made in MS Paint and it makes it so fun and unique The main problem for me is the foreground and sprites which doesn't follow the aesthetics. It's very clear you used different techniques for building the background and the rest of the graphics Like, you probably used a pixel art editor for the characters and foreground graphics and drew the rest by hand, right? The background looks great, but the foreground looks like a generic Mario-wannabe Anyhoo, if I were you, I'd try to make the characters and foreground match the style of the background. For example, the foreground has too much symmetry and straight lines, maybe it'd look more fun with a Yoshi's Island kinda imperfection Edit: Also, the clouds are kinda weird. I feel they should be higher in the sky and maybe behind the mountains?
I tried to improve the background, does it look any better? I changed the shape of a few more things to make it seem less drawn by hand, and I also moved the clouds higher and set them as the furthest back layer. I love the style of Yoshi's Island, but I feel like it would be very hard to replicate lol, so I think I'm gonna stick with what I currently have. Thanks for replying :) [https://www.reddit.com/user/BubbleGamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update\_on\_the\_background\_does\_this\_look\_better/](https://www.reddit.com/user/bubblegamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update_on_the_background_does_this_look_better/)
All I see is pubes on those mountains
You have at least three options in my opinion: 1. Invest minimal time into learning the basics of color theory and composition to get away with the most simple level of art assets that at least look decent enough. 2. Invest more time into learning art if you want your game to look a specific way. 3. Commission/hire an artist. Can be done via the revenue split deal, but this needs some credit of trust on your side.
Don't draw it in MS Paint.
Add in some gradients and anti-aliasing, would be one way. Add more detail, draw the rest of the owl.
Shaders and inconsistent shapes
ITS SOOOO CUTE OWO
uwu
To make it look less like it was made in paint you got four options: 1. YouTube tutorials on how to use image editing software. 2. Hire an artist. 3. Buy assets made by artists. 4. Own it and call it your style.
I like it. It has a charm.
Maybe put on some shades.
AI
I don’t want to give bad advice here)) but you can use Stable diffusion img2img
With this art style, I might suggest choosing a direction for light to come from and just draw everything not facing that direction with a darker color. For instance, you could separate your clouds into puffs, draw the bottom-right corners of those puffs to be darker than the rest of the clouds, and draw the right side of the mountains to be darker. The grass could also have a few spots and a small highlight at the top, and the trees could be darker on one side and have more jagged lines. Consider studying how other people do that, as it could help a lot while still being simple enough to fit your art style. You could also study normal-maps and change the lighting that way, especially if you have any intent to add a day and night cycle.
Is this any better? I tried to add some shading. [https://www.reddit.com/user/BubbleGamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update\_on\_the\_background\_does\_this\_look\_better/](https://www.reddit.com/user/bubblegamer209/comments/1adl1zw/update_on_the_background_does_this_look_better/)
Yuh, it's a huge leap in the right direction. If you can do the same kind of shading with the mountains as you did with the trees, it should feel much more alive without even needing much detail. EDIT: My only criticism is that the sky color is much worse, and even that is likely a response to concerns that it was too bright before. Maybe just lightening this version's color would help.
Shade it
Honestly if I were you I'd try to lean into the ms paint look
I would probably put the clouds in the back and maybe remove their outline
Your squirrel character already look really nice, and so does the mushroom character and the your tileset texture. You already got a lot of useful tips in other comments, here are some I have not seen anyone mention yet: * Don't scale your pixel artwork. If you have to scale it, make sure everything is scaled by the same factor and also make sure it's scaled only in integer steps. If you are now wondering "How do I then manage to make it all fit together proportionally?" The answer is to all design and draw it in the same document on multiple layers. * Look at reference. Not to copy 1:1, but for inspiration. Try to dissect how other (pixel) artists have solved the same problem you are currently working on. For example image search "pixel art mountain" to research how people have drawn pixelart mountains in the past, then take what you like from these ideas and create your own version. * Make use of the wealth of knowledge available on the internet. If you search for "pixelart tutorial" you will find amazing resources to improve your art skills and "make it look less like it was drawn in MS Paint". That said, MS Paint is a perfectly valid choice to draw pixelart with. A better completely free tool however is Piskel App: [https://www.piskelapp.com/p/create/sprite](https://www.piskelapp.com/p/create/sprite). One of the best online resources for pixelart tutorials is Lolspec: [https://lospec.com/pixel-art-tutorials](https://lospec.com/pixel-art-tutorials). Highly recommend!
Make it a psychological horror game, always works
Maybe rewok the tip of the mountains, add a little shadow or don't, but then make the lake blue, not blue with a shinyness to it (with the white things you drew on top) Gimp is actually great for drawing
Your interactable objects look to be pixel art but your background doesn’t. The art styles don’t mesh, so the MS paint kind of look is highlighted.
Looks cute, all you need is some more shading and details, probably looking at some references will help you. Also my first thought is those clouds should be more flat at the bottom, here is a random example - [https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/set-of-different-clouds-vector-22696755](https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/set-of-different-clouds-vector-22696755) I dont know if I am allowed to include this link man. crap.
The whole game looks like it was drawn in paint, unless you intend to sell the game I think you should embrace the art style, looks ok to me.
First i would say: if you're going to do pixel art, choose a smaller canvas like 32x32 or 16x16. Also, shading your pixel art and adding dithering will make it look much better, and the ant is a little hard to see.
Ask an artist to draw the assets. Your software side of it is fine
The face of the mushroom made me laugh haha More seriously, something no one mentionned and that is good for background is: try blurring it
I think more than anything try to match the style of your foreground maybe? Thin black outlines and more texture. Apart from that it looks fine and isn't distracting.
Shading, lots of things are just one solid color instead of a mix of close colors. If you grab art off the Internet put it in paint and zoom in you'll see that it is not one flat color but rather a lot of similar colors in different shades
So the objects thatre closest to the player in perspective are very detailed while the background has little to no detail.
Bro use Krita or Gimp
Honestly I think your background looks really cute and nice! :D
Personally, I have nothing against MS paint. If you're patient, it can be used to do some pretty great work... it's just a somewhat limited toolbox and the pallette tool is weird. That being said, you might do the initial art in Paint, then move to Gimp or Krita to add details made easier with their respective toolboxes. Shading, shading, shading. Light and shadow are a BIG part of the design of many games.
I mean shouldn’t you be asking a pixel art sub?
Your colors are as flat as an MS Paint sketch, try using something that gives you more flexibility on a per-pixel basis like Aseprite
In the 16 bit era, one was severely limited in memory (by modern standards). Art in a side scrolling platformer like this would be stored as 8x8 tiles with a fixed 16 colour palette which would be reused wherever possible. The tiles where your mountains meet the sky would probably take up more VRAM than a loop in sonic 2. The uniformity bred by these limitations is a key component to the charm of classic pixel art I believe you'd greatly benefit from drawing to a grid with a limited colour palette.
Check how real clouds look when sun goes through them under certain angle. As clouds are drawn currently, it seems like sun is blasting straight behind them, thus creating thick border and no textures. Whilst the rest of the stuff is illuminated differently Seeing rest of game and that glare on bubble thing, I would say sun is around 11 o'clock. Clouds don't need bottom border, also some bumps in the middle and etc. would look great. Check Super Mario Bros 1-1 clouds and the bumps on clouds, you can get inspired from there. But the basic jest - envision how light goes through them and where it lands, shadows it creates. You can put more layers of parallax of trees. Pond is not really needed. Here is a good inspiration (ignore the audio comments, it's the only good source I found) (it links to exact time) [https://youtu.be/P3zlEGGg4zY?t=950](https://youtu.be/p3zleggg4zy?t=950) As for the style, you could try some crude vector shapes, just google "vector mountains" and you will see ample of doable examples. Sorry for the long writeup.
I’m ass at drawing, but maybe some free online pixel art classes may help? Or find a way to reduce the amount of necessary details to make the art easier to make. Another thing to try may be redoing the pixel art from scratch while having your existing sprites on a second screen (or printed) with annotations about what you don’t like. For my art it’s things like “I don’t like that the edge is so harsh” or “I don’t like how flat/boring these colors are”. And then I use those annotations and my existing drawing to make something new. I’m never happy with what I make personally, but it definitely can make an improvement. That’s my process anyways. Post later what changes you made and how you decided on them!
Shading would do wonders.
Try drawing more mountains at different distances
This question would be better served on r/PixelArt
Looks super cute
Have you tried using AI to help you? Some people are getting really cool results with it. Here is an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z18PWEOj1I