Can someone please explain to me how, in the 90s, with very limited hardware and software, these incredible illustrations could be created, and how today, with Cintiq and iPads, many people can't even draw a cube?
people who were already deeply into art as a hobby did those, while there are tons of people buying tablets to draw just to never touch them.seriously, i dont get why people start traditionally before investing. it's like they think going digital will magically make them better.
there is an manga about this called 16bit Sensation, there's an anime version but it covers less of the tech stuff and is more of a romance (kind of)long story short they drew on paper, scanned or traced it against the monitor, then used dithering techniques to render the image. backgrounds were traced from photos
>>7773868>long story short they drew on paper, scanned or traced it against the monitor, then used dithering techniques to render the image. backgrounds were traced from photosPeople keep telling me this or a variation of it. Not op, but I find it weird there is no good detailed tutorial to do it. Like with krita, photoshop, asesprite, etc. And when I asked on pixel art subreddits or discord about it, they were very aggressive. Perhaps modern pixel art artist consider it cheating on some level?
They could do plenty without CSP/Blender/Sketchup model stuff.Here's some of the settei from Uru in Blue (1992).
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>>7773831The internet wasn't really a thing, so you weren't being blasted in the eyes with all the bad art of amateur and hobbyist artists.There's also a rose tinted way of looking at the past, where we forget there was a lot of bullshit mediocrity back then as well, and only cherry pick the best to hold up as examples of the 'standard' for back then.There's also just the charm of a lost medium - the art for those specific old computers were lovely. It's as they say; limitations breed creativity. We know have basically no limitations, and it leads to a lot more bland crap. Those limitations would also force smarter colour palettes, because the computers or consoles themselves had limited colour palettes; do you think your image would have had that monochrome blue background if they had access to unlimited colours? Almost certainly not.Finally, you may wonder why small game projects such as in your image can have such great art, or such a great artist, when so many projects have bland or subpar art or artists now - the answer is that demand simply outstrips the supply.There are so many projects that require artists, especially artists with technical know-how, and there's simply only so many that can hit those beautiful peaks that you want; there's also something to be said about us drowning in too much content, and perhaps missing a lot of gold because we're distracted by the diamonds, so to speak.
>>7773831only the impressive works survived. thousands of nerds tried, only the good ones stuck around. these days you can see 100s of kids sharing their shitty ipad doodles.
>>7773869>People keep telling me this or a variation of it. Not op, but I find it weird there is no good detailed tutorial to do it. Like with krita, photoshop, asesprite, etc.yes literally this manga is the closest you'll find lolhttps://mangadex.org/title/63de8884-e35c-46ad-a7c7-fe3b2d5f1ec6/16bit-sensationThere is a guy on twitter who makes PC98 *like* art, but he does the 3d model CSP shit and has a different process.>>7773879I think this is the wrong take, there genuinely are THAT MANY more shitty amateur and hobbyist artists out there now. This is like a uniquely 2020s and onward thing too.
>>7773894>I think this is the wrong take, there genuinely are THAT MANY more shitty amateur and hobbyist artists out there now. This is like a uniquely 2020s and onward thing too.We'll just have to disagree, because my experience of the earlier internet, there were plenty of shitty artists then too.In fact, the majority of artists were shitty, and that remains true now.Not like either of us can point to a study to show the percentage of art that sucked ass, arranged by decade.
>>7773923Don't you think every kid having an art capable phone in the palm of their hand changes things? Even if the % is similar, the absolute volume changes what we actually experience.
>>7773831step one is already being good at art without a computer.good digital artists for 90s pc games were good artists before ever touching a computer.there was a saying in the industry back then iirc it was something like>you can't teach a programmer how to make art, but you can teach an artist how to use a computer
>>7773831Fundamentals.
>>7773878>>7773875>>7773873>>7773870God I have such a boner for settei/cel shitnever gets oldThe elephant in the room was that these artists got paid for skills. Skills got you a foot in the door. Now it's social media numbers and that's mostly from fanart and trend hopping and sucking up to algorithms. Plenty of skilled artists today are jobless while nepotism and trend chasing runs rampant.
>>7773831>with very limited hardware and softwarethey had decent hardware and software. tablets have been around for a long time. that said you could draw this with a mouse too.
>>7773831There is an anime that literally shows the process of how this is done. If you’re interested you’ll find what show it is.
because the original drafts were drawn on paper.digital art made the creative process easier and more comfy. Not everything is shit.
>>7773831>>7773869There's no particularly special technique for the lineart. What's difficult to replicate is the dithered rendering, because back then their digital art software was designed around pixel art and had dedicated dithering brush tools. We have some dedicated pixel art software today but so far as I can tell it's not really geared toward creating fully rendered and (relatively) hi-res pixel art. Last time I checked Aseprite didn't have dedicated dithering brushes and you had to make your own. Anyone in the know, feel free to correct me on that.
>>7773831it's the same reason RPGMaker and Unity enabled the creation of endless shovelware. It wasn't any kind of "democratization of art" or making it more accessible to everyone, it was literally lowing the barrier of entry to thousands of drooling retards.Back then you had to be really committed to even get colorful pixels to show up on screen, so only the top made it there.
>>7773868this anime?
>>7775510still have to make your own custom dither brushes or download a set someone else made.
>>7773831PC-98 supremacy.>>7773831Well "many people" couldn't even draw a cube back then either. But professional artists could.What artists used to accomplish with limited tools is amazing, but it's still clear that the average skill level has gone way up in the modern era, just because learning is so easy now and there are so many resources available.
>>7773935>Don't you think every kid having an art capable phone in the palm of their hand changes things?Yeah but those phones are also tiktok capable and most kids these days would rather microdose content for an hour straight than actualy DO anything.
