For whatever reason, you decided to do most of the creative assets, namely Sprites and CGs, by yourself. As someone who has a few projects where I did both Sprites and CGs, I can say it’s possible. But healthy? A clear no.
If you’re an average person that has college or work and is less experienced than me, you’re more prone to fail to finish all the assets during a jam. Which again, is a common thing to happen during jams, too.
So what can you do to make it manageable AND possible? Some of my personal tips are coming right up.
Scope
“Cutting the scope” is a term you’ll often face and many times again in development and projects you create or participate in. Ask yourself if the number of sprites is really needed? Do all the NPCs need a face? How much of the sprite do you need to show? How can you position a scene for a CG to show less but have the same impact?
- Use silhouettes for NPCs that have more lines. Keep the more insignificant ones to their name.
- Keep eyebrows, eyes, lips, and extras like blush and sweat on separate layers to mix and match them for new expressions. Draw only the basic ones you need.
- Keep only key CGs and reduce more menial ones to cutscene panels if time affords it.
Quality
Polished sprites are neat and all, but if your process takes 3 days for one sprite, maybe think about a faster way to finish them.
- Instead of lineart, clean up the sketch. Sharpen it up and erase any dirt.
- Use the Multiply Layer of your art software to shade. Use one layer of shade instead of two or three.
- Forget about details and look at the bigger picture. Don’t get too hung up on the highlights in the eyes. No one will notice once zoomed out.
- A CG happens in a specific location? Zoom in on a BG, blur it, and put filters and effects on it. Gaussian blur will be your best friend here.
- CG doesn’t feel finished? Slap layer effects on it, some sparkles or other appropriate effects, a texture on low opacity, and an overlay layer. Noticed how often I mentioned layers? That’s because I abuse them nonstop for my CGs.
- Use fancy lighting with a multiply layer, glow and glow dodge instead of adjusting the colour palette.
Shortcuts
A specific pose or motif is too difficult for you? Use references, pre-made brushes, and assets to your advantage!
- If you own Clip Studio Paint, check out the Assets library. Lots of brushes there can and will help you redraw more complex motives in under a minute, and the 3D dolls are good enough guidelines to draw over for poses. These assets were created by others to help each other, after all, and you shouldn’t be ashamed to use them for their intended purpose.
- Trace references and 3D images. Make sure the picture you use doesn’t require specific credits and is OK to use for your project, such as public domain images from Unsplash. Need a specific perspective? Use software and websites where you can set up and decorate rooms (SweetHome 3D, SketchFab, Planner5D, Roomsketcher etc.) and angle the camera. Or just use your phone and take pictures of the perspective yourself!
- Look up or ask how other artists draw something, they might have neat tips and tricks that they discovered that helped them to speed up their drawings. In particular, tips by webtoon artists who also work on tight deadlines provide helpful insight on cutting corners and still looking good.
- Again, using references and assets is NOT cheating. They are to help for a reason, and if you are tight on time, you can’t be picky with your originality.
Get Help
You want your art to be displayed, but despite planning ahead and precautions, you’re still unsure if you can manage it? Have someone help you.
- Find someone with a similar art style and aesthetic to yours to draw additional art.
- Ask someone you can trust your art with to draw the lineart or colour for you while you work on the next drawing. That way, your style is still presented and stays cohesive.
These are all the tips I can give based on my own experiences and certain hardships that come with it. I’m someone who has a lot of time to spare, and thus can afford to be a bit extra with the art I create for projects. But someone with a job or school or college? Most certainly not and that’s why I shared what I learned over the years. Remind yourself of what you want to finish and not to strain yourself and burn out. It’ll happen at some point if you decide to do a lot of work by yourself and take the appropriate time to recover afterwards.