now im not talking about the ones you sit down and draw pixel by pixel. i mean the ones like on scirra construct's game demo: http://www.scirra.com/images/raindemo.png what tools are used, what is a brief step by step method to make those? etc? please shed some light here.

Well on the last three games I worked on that still used sprites they were all modeled in MAX and then rendered out as 2D sprites and then had a little cleaning up done in photoshop. I've also worked with artists who hand draw and ink their sprites on paper then scan them in then re-touch them in photoshop.

However the sprite in the link you provided could just as easily have been done by hand in photoshop by a good artist.

I'm not an artist myself but really I don't think there is a hard and fast rule. It's all dependent on the artists skill and familarity with the tools he's using.

i was thinking 3d models too..but for such small images it seems like a *giant* waste of time.

ive tried to draw up images with the pen tool, but they end up looking like flash sprites

When making an animated model, it is probably much faster and easier to start with a 3D-model. Then you can use skeletal animation to get all the correct proportions and poses, and then just draw the final look on top of that in Photoshop.

Quote: what tools are used, what is a brief step by step method to make those? etc? please shed some light here.

It looks like it was hand drawn, now they could have done that in photoshop or on paper and touched it up, its difficult to say which.

Whether its drawn Pixel by Pixel or freehand though, both share various underlying artistic techniques like Perspective, Coloring, Lighting, Dithering, etc. Even if you don't want to use PixelArt (which is fine) you can still learn a lot about these underlying techniques by studying it, and you can then apply them in whatever method you prefer.

Try reading So you want to be a pixel artist? and Creating good game art when your not an artist. Also consider visiting some of the Artists Forum's in my signature below. You'll find more tutorials and reference material, along with a helpful communities to help give you feedback and help you improve your technique.

Edit: You may also find the Drawing Resources and Tutorials & Downloads stickies in the Visual Arts Forum helpful as well.

[Edited by - Gyrthok on April 16, 2009 12:33:25 PM]