Check out these tutorials - they might help:

http://2dgameartforprogrammers.blogspot.com.au/

Alex - Inkscape is free and so is gimp... ;)

I just wrote a tutorial on creating game assets with bitmap output in mind... It might be helpful for the Scirra community...

<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wdYUy2qrtsc/T0WHnNfY_SI/AAAAAAAAAzY/If_QwBKU6Zs/s1600/tutorial_sample28b.jpg" border="0" />

Enjoy!

thanks, SoldjahBoy!

Thanks, kittiewan... I am glad you like my work... I will make sure to keep writing and posting new tutorials and art bits.

Thanks for the flowers... I am trying to update both the blog and Gamasutra - compiling posts into a bigger set for the Gamasutra blog. A new post is due soon... (I am currently being slowed down by computer problems...)

— - sprites are basically moving objects and don't have to be pixeled. In order to create content quicker I create most of my art in vectors - as it scales lossless.

Kyatric - thanks... It's not that hard to get started and after that it's a matter of practice, more practice and a little bit more - or in my case 20+ years of it... :)

Thanks, guys... I am surprised there is no 'game art' section on the forum...

I am currently working on several sets of stock game art - so far mainly characters. Check out the BlockBuddies:

<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1BfEr6uMLLM/Tu3PSn3vg0I/AAAAAAAAAV0/HZM4vOqa9t8/s640/BlockBuddies_showIcons.png" border="0">

BlockBuddies game art

Each set comes with 53 frames and 4 sizes (S 64x64, M 96x96, L 128x128 and XL 256x256) and also includes a flipped version for game engines like GameSalad.

The sets sell at USD 15.00 with the bundles containing 3 characters selling at USD 37.50 and two character sets going for USD 20.00.

<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4RdVZ0d_4WE/Tu3PRAzs4EI/AAAAAAAAAVo/ucE7BFPz7nA/s1600/BlockBuddies_Dummyshow.png" border="0">

[This is a sample of the frames - and the dummy is free to use in your game (commercial or free).]

Cheers,

Chris

2dgameartforprogrammers blog

— - I use a wacom tablet for all my art [pixel, vector, digital painting and 3D] but it's just a matter of what you feel more comfortable with... Inkscape and Gimp work fine either way...

As far as onionskin animation in Inkscape goes it's limited but works - see my latest tutorrial on animation:

2dgameartforprogrammers.blogspot.com/2011/11/character-animation.html

Ize - I am glad you like the tutorials and would like to see what you come up with.

I can give it a try... It shouldn't be too hard ;)

Hi, I am Chris... pixelpusher, vectorbender and quadturner for a long, long time... I have been working as a freelance artist, art lead and creative director for various indie developers and on more games than I can remember... The most recent release is "The adventures of Shuggy" for Xbox Live Arcade with Smudge Cat games and bunch of iphone/ ipad games with Utopian Games.