What programs do yall use to make yalls art?

I usually just use graphics gale and I have started using Gimp, but i was wondering what type of programs yall use.

Here's a relevant thread.

~ Blob

Something a lot of people misunderstand about game graphics is that good program = good graphics. I can't stress how much that is not the case. Just like drawing with a pencil or pen or brush, it's not the medium that makes your art good. Its your individual creativity or skill with the medium that makes the graphics good. Like most things, you're not going to become amazing just by using 'better' or more expensive equipment.

Certainly they can help the artist with additional features or functions, but if the person drawing it is not say, very good at using the program, or just isn't an artist at all, chances are it's not going to turn out that good. This isn't to discourage anyone, but it's just the truth that people who have had more practice are more skilled at what they do.

This post wasn't written directly to the OP, nor is it to offend or anything, it's just a response to a certain trend I see that usually revolves around the question posed as the topic title.

In any case, Blob posted a fine thread about various useful programs that many pixel artists use to craft their tiles and sprites.

If you're willing to spend some money, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is probably the best. Alternatively, you could buy older versions of Photo shop, probably for cheaper prices.
Also, you could use
Gimp
Inkscape
MSpaint - But even the best artists can only make crap with that.
Blender - Actually isn't this a 3D modelling program? maybe it can do 2D also.

ya i agree with what you said, i was just wonderin what program people like ceric use because his tilesets are really polished and arent rough  like if i tried to make it with graphics gale, im just trying to figure out how they get there sprites and tiles so defined.
@swatllama are the latter programs free?

MSpaint - But even the best artists can only make crap with that.

No.

MS Paint does not limit the artist's work in any form. A pixel artist can do as much as he can/wants with Paint as with any other programs. Heck, Strasteo uses MS Paint (I'm not entirely sure), and I'll cut the head off of anyone who says his art isn't amazing. Even the guys from Card Sagas Wars use a program very similar to Paint.

ya i agree with what you said, i was just wonderin what program people like ceric use because his tilesets are really polished and arent rough  like if i tried to make it with graphics gale, im just trying to figure out how they get there sprites and tiles so defined.
@swatllama are the latter programs free?

I just spent the last hour or so making this in graphics gale for the first time http://imgur.com/TDQ6x

my first pixel art :3

you may have to zoom in a bit...

I guess this is what you meant by rough :| I knew drawing was difficult, but mine looks like oval puke with legs.

@SWATLLAMA:
I am hardly a good example of a fantastic spriter; however, I personally use MS Paint and I would kindly ask you to refrain from such rash statements. It offends any and all who actively use that program to pixel and refine their artistic skill, and manage to pull off wonderful works of art. Thanks!

I believe one of my friends uses MS Paint for her works:
https://crackerss.deviantart.com/
And you can check out my own links in my signature for some decent pixel works from myself.

Also, there's a neat page about some MS Paint tricks no one really takes notice of. (I find the color replacement trick very handy while pixelling.)

- - -

In any case, I don't want to derail this thread. Really, it comes down to knowing how to draw pixel art that makes tiles or sprites look great. Why your tilesets and sprites are not as defined/clean is probably because you may not know pixel art that well yet. The program doesn't matter as long as you're comfortable with it/know how its tools work and such. Probably most important is that making good pixel art takes time. It's a skill, and like all skills, it takes practice to get good at it. You're probably not going to make great works at first. That's how everyone begins.

tl;dr... You should find a pixel program you are fine or comfortable with firstly; that is largely your choice. I would suggest Graphics Gale, as I've heard good things about it, or MS Paint, because it's simple to use for beginners imo. Afterwards, you probably want  to tackle getting better at the actual techniques of pixel art. I would suggest hitting up a few pixel art tutorials/basics by Gas13, Helm, and Derek Yu.

ya i agree with what you said, i was just wonderin what program people like ceric use because his tilesets are really polished and arent rough  like if i tried to make it with graphics gale, im just trying to figure out how they get there sprites and tiles so defined.

Just to clarify, Ceric didn't make those tilesets. We restarted StencylForge before Stencyl launched and Ceric was kind enough to reupload a lot of resources.

@ Stratesteo: You are a very good artist. I said MSPaint is bad because it's generally harder to use, and not as powerful as gimp. I used it for a while, and never was able to figure anything out. Perhaps you can make good art with it, but it might be more difficult than in gimp.  If you make your art with it though, then that proves that it can make great art; it just depends on the user. In general, people will do better with Gimp or some other program.

Your friends art is good. Very good actually. She must be a great artist to create that "Open Your Heart" picture. Great shading there.

I'd just like to share this users art though. She uses Photoshop. I'm also pretty sure she draws on a tablet but still, she's a good artist.
http://firequill.deviantart.com
Enough with the off-topic though.

@swatllama are the latter programs free?

Yes. I don't know for sure about the following text, but I think Adobe Photoshop Elements might be a cheaper - and not as complete - version of Photoshop. Again though, I'm not sure.

I use MSPaint and GIMP to do graphics. However, I don't use them as much now.

MSpaint FTW.
Seriously. It doesn't matter in pixel scale.

Pixen.

It's free, easy to use, optimized for sprite sheets, and [only] for Mac.
https://github.com/philippec/Pixen

--mister. jones

Photoshop is the best of the best! Even old versions better than something else. Free and most populare alternative of it, as I know it's a Gimp, and paintnet, but if you seriously want making good graphics, it will be better to purchase photoshop. Because, for good art you need to work with layers and masks and have ability of fine colour adjustments. But of cause artistic skills still very important thing...you need to learn colour and composition harmony and practise practise and again practise...
Here is some of my old art for game darksiders. Firstly made pencil drawing on paper and than make "render" in photoshop

besides graphics gale i usually just use microsoft word the shapes end up really defined