What Software Do You Use?

[SassySnivy]

Simply put, if you make pixel art...what software do you prefer to use? And most importantly: why?

This always seems to be an interesting kind of topic to bring up that usually incites some discussion.

You can pick multiples if you use more than one tool.

To start us off: GraphicsGale is my main software, but I do use Windows Paint for canvas purposes. GraphicsGale canvases do not typically conform to what you paste (unless you paste as a new image) and are a little more complex to change the size of than Paint. Not by much, but I still find myself using paint for this purpose.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I use paint because it's on my computer and I'm lazy. xD I've never tried another program for spriting. I really do not like all the changes in Paint from XP to Windows 7 though. The colours are annoying now and the tools are sometimes blurry. :(

[Noblejanobii]

I originally started on paint, as you could tell by some of my earlier sprites because they have a different color scheme from the original Pokemon all together. However, as I moved from a Dell laptop to a Mac with Photoshop, I now use photoshop quite a bit since I know how to sprite and tweak stuff very well. I'm also always learning new tricks in the program since my mom and her co-workers use it constantly for their jobs, so they give me tips a lot of the time. I can say the best tip they gave me was to save as a png not a jpg. Life saver advice right there.

[SassySnivy]

Pokemon Trainer Sarah
Yeah, same. Win 7 paint was hard to use...very glad I ditched it. It can get pretty buggy, too.

I was at the mall today and tried out Win 10...you will not believe how crazy the default paint program is (Fresh Paint). I think it's safe to say that as of Win 10 (idk about Win 8) making pixel art in paint is impossible. XD

Noblejanobii
I hear that once you get used to it, Photoshop is a great tool for pixels. I just never bothered though because it doesn't flow with my own workflow hahah

But it's amazing watching progress videos of people making pixel art in photoshop

[Noblejanobii]

Speed-X

I'll admit, adjusting to all the tools and layout and figuring out how everything works in Photoshop is difficult. I mean, I've been using it since… I was to say my freshman year of high school and literally today I just figured out how to manipulate multiple layers at the same time. I'm still learning how to use this program, but it's great because it makes it a lot easier for me to manipulate things.

Granted, I haven't tried much else because I did get Photoshop for free so I figured why spend money to get anything else, but as far as I what I'm used to, I think Photoshop is the best for me.

Also, pro-tip for spriting in photoshop. If you want to give the picture a transparent background, make sure to paste the initial image on a transparent canvas (photoshop has that option when you create a new project). There are three tools that can be used: magic wand, whip tool, and background eraser. DO NOT USE THE MAGIC WAND TOOL!!! It is only to be used for deleting picture backgrounds and it's not even that useful then. It deletes colors in the actual sprite image and causes distortion in the image as well. Whip can be useful but often poses the same threat to sprites at the wand. Background eraser is the best because unless you tell it to, it won't distort the image itself at all.

[AWA1997]

I still use MS Paint. I think my computer uses windows 7 and, while it doesn't let you make transparent bachgrounds when you upload it, it has worked for all of my spriting needs thus far. Granted, I have a 50/50 chance of having issues with mistakes in the coloring no matter what I save it as, but otherwise there's been no major issues.

[SassySnivy]

DO NOT USE THE MAGIC WAND TOOL!!! It is only to be used for deleting picture backgrounds and it's not even that useful then. It deletes colors in the actual sprite image and causes distortion in the image as well. Whip can be useful but often poses the same threat to sprites at the wand. Background eraser is the best because unless you tell it to, it won't distort the image itself at all.
Do you have the tolerance turned to 0? This will make sure that the magic wand only selects the one exact specific color you asked it to. Also, don't forget to turn off anti-aliasing!
Also may want it either Contiguous or Global depending on what you're doing. Contiguous only selects that immediate cluster of pixels, while Global (or some name akin to that) selects all pixels of a certain color.

Just when you use stuff like PS for pixels, make sure that you have all of the anti-aliasing things off. ^^

[Noblejanobii]

Do you have the tolerance turned to 0? This will make sure that the magic wand only selects the one exact specific color you asked it to. Also, don't forget to turn off anti-aliasing!
Also may want it either Contiguous or Global depending on what you're doing. Contiguous only selects that immediate cluster of pixels, while Global (or some name akin to that) selects all pixels of a certain color.

Just when you use stuff like PS for pixels, make sure that you have all of the anti-aliasing things off. ^^

It's possible that they may be turned on, but I usually shut them off and still get the same issues. Background eraser works perfectly for me though.

[SassySnivy]

I still use MS Paint. I think my computer uses windows 7 and, while it doesn't let you make transparent bachgrounds when you upload it, it has worked for all of my spriting needs thus far. Granted, I have a 50/50 chance of having issues with mistakes in the coloring no matter what I save it as, but otherwise there's been no major issues.
I agree. Win 7 paint has a lot of quirks. For instance, you can only use "the eraser trick" on pixels placed by floodfill. It won't work with pixels placed by anything else (even the damned PENCIL), which is a major inconvenience I had to endure. Of course that's not to say that GG doesn't have its annoying bugs...I would much rather deal with GG's "oh wait that makes sense after I think about it" flaws than Paint's "what the hell this doesn't even make sense" flaws, hahah. But to each their own!
If ever you want to make your background transparent, you can always download Paint.NET. I definitely don't recommend ezimba or iaza or whatever it was called. Yes, it allows you to make your images transparent in-browser. However, the images last about a month. Really stupid.

But yeah, Paint.NET is totally free if you need to use it for something like that! :D AWA1997


It's possible that they may be turned on, but I usually shut them off and still get the same issues. Background eraser works perfectly for me though.
Ah, right. *sweatdrops* You did mention the background eraser. That's a tool I've never heard of before. Does it kinda do the same thing as the magic wand, where it gets rid of an entire area of one color? Noblejanobii

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

For instance, you can only use "the eraser trick" on pixels placed by floodfill. It won't work with pixels placed by anything else (even the damned PENCIL), which is a major inconvenience I had to endure.
OH MY GOD. IS THAT WHAT IT IS?! I haven't been able to work that out at all! I couldn't figure out why it would work sometimes and not others! WTH Paint!

[Noblejanobii]

Ah, right. *sweatdrops* You did mention the background eraser. That's a tool I've never heard of before. Does it kinda do the same thing as the magic wand, where it gets rid of an entire area of one color?

Pretty much. You have to slap the image on a transparent canvas first (obviously), then just go to the eraser tool. Click and hold and a few other options will pop up. The eraser with scissors is background eraser. click that and then go to your image. Click where there is background, and it'll delete the color. Now, you do have to be careful, because if you click the image itself it'll delete all the color of the same color connected to where you clicked will be deleted. But otherwise, background eraser is very nice.

[AWA1997]

Honestly, with the eraser trick, if you're talking about what I think you are, I haven't had any issues with it in a long time, no matter how I did it. So, maybe it's not windows 7 or maybe they did some kind of fix to paint itself or something. Thanks for telling me how to make transparent backgrounds, though, that's been a major thorn in my side because it just flat looks bad when you want to use it as your avatar on most sites. (Check to the left of my post for reference.) If I ever get the chance and it works out for me, I'll sprite you something. (Just a fair warning, though, it may not be very good XD)

[monkeybard]

I can't believe I'm the only one that uses aseprite! Completely free but with all the attractive features of paid pixel art programs (layers and opacity, animation, magic wand and more) and it still has the eraser trick! I've tried GraphicsGale and others (and I don't like doing pixel art in traditionally graphics-focused programs like GIMP and Photoshop) but aseprite was the one that convinced me to graduate from good ol' Paint.

[Bulbasaur]

I usually use a translation of Paint Tools SAI.

[Suicune's Fire]

GraphicsGale. :] I also selected Photoshop because I use that for palette editing and saving the actual sprite with, because I'm weird like that. I don't actually sprite in Photoshop; I just edit what I've already sprited in GG. :]