A while back I wrote a guide to creating art as a programmer. I figured I would follow it up with a (very very very detailed ) guide of how I actually create art, by showing how to create a 2D sprite sheet by creating a model using Blender. As an added bonus, if you read the first 3/4 of it, you will also learn how to create 3D assets for your game. It is using 100% free tools btw.

EDIT: Now there is a table of contents. Start there.

Now of course, keep in mind, that I am not an artist, this is showing how a programmer creates art that is slightly better than programmer art. I've been a CG hobbyist for well over a decade, so I am a bit beyond Minecraft graphic skill levels. Fortunately though, I do understand the programmers mindset ( being one... ), so this series should be approachable to you. You should be able to come in knowing basically nothing and start pumping out some pretty pimping art!

It is of course a work in progress, and builds on a prior series I wrote about how to use Blender. ( It's linked in the first section ). I will update here as I add more sections.

Right now there is:

Introduction A Mission statement of sorts... you are pretty safe to skip it.

The Concept Wanna see a non-artist's design process... warning, there be dragons!

Modelling in Blender Part 1 Covers setting up reference images

Modelling in Blender Part 2 Box modelling

Next part to come soon.

Before you can run through the above, I assume you ran through these prior Blender modelling tutorials.

• Introduction
• Selection and Navigation
• Introduction to 3D Modelling
• Modelling Operations
• Modelling Commands Quick Reference

It will eventually cover modelling, texturing, rendering, creating a sprite sheet and possibly even some code to show how to consume a sprite sheet.

Again, remember, I am not an artist 1st ( or 2nd or 3rd ), so if you are an artist, this will probably be insulting to you. But if you are a programmer, or new, and are looking to bridge the gap, I hope this is the perfect tutorials series for you!

Good job :) These days people mainly do video tutorials which aren't the best for certain things so always nice to read a good traditional "paper" version. More people (programmers included!) should look into modeling as it isn't as hard as people think.

Anyway few things about the Blender part:

It would probably to be easier to start with going to edit mode and just moving the default cube (entire cube or the rightmost face) to the left 1 unit (holding CTRL snaps it to even units while moving) and deleting the rightmost face. But your way also works and teaches you stuff on edge loops and selection. You should probably talk about Z toggling between solid and wireframe display modes you can also choose in the drop down menu as talking about an additional X-ray mode might confuse some people.

First we want to make sure that the pivot is also at the origin. You can also do this in the 3D View Properties ( N ) panel.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Your image shows 3D cursor location. Anyway, mirror modifier uses object origin as the mirroring point and 3D cursor location or pivot center do not affect the way mirroring works. One thing I think you missed is enabling "Clipping" option so you can't move vertices to the wrong side of mirror axis or tear them away from x=0 location accidentally.

Anyway good going and I'm sure your tutorial from "non-artists viewpoint" will be useful to many out there. :)

Hi Shadow, thanks for the feedback.

I actually discuss the xray feature in the section on setting up the reference images. You are right about using the default cube would have probably been easier. Thing is, the very first thing I do when I install Blender is erase the default content ( cube/light/camera ) and save preferences.

You are absolutely right about the mirror modifier not using the 3D cursor, but I've found the modifier extremely problematic if not done about the origin, it might be overkill, but it works consistently. Otherwise it just seems to be somewhat buggy. I should note in the comments that this isn't required, ditto about the clipping ( oops ). I've updated the tutorial accordingly.

Thanks again.

Hi,

I just wanted to give you a thanks for sharing your work in bridging the gap between coding and using graphics programs such as Blender. For the heavy coder who lacks art skills in 3D programs, what you are providing for insight is exactly what they need to make fun, functional games that they make also shine in the visual area.

Thank you!

Clinton

Good share,it's really full of details.

Glad it's useful to some of you. Just added modelling part three. Now we have a very rough jet fully modeled, a few more details, then cleanup and we move on to texturing.

Alright... finally done with the modelling portions, now that Part Four is up.

I kept the model intentionally low polygon so it can be used in realtime 3D games or as we will eventually see, be used to render a sprite sheet. The topology is pretty solid, so it is fairly trivial to add detail. Hopefully much later along I will cover creating a high detail version for creating normal maps.

Attached is the end result of our modelling process. The Blend file is included at the end of the post.

We are just slightly over 500 triangles, a reasonable budget.

Next we move on to texturing.

Moved onto texture land now.

UV Unmapping explained

Creating a UVMap

Applying a Texture

Two more updates.

Painting in Blender

External Texture editing

The tutorial is FINALLY complete. It's 21 parts in the end, and covers everything you need to know to begin making 2D and 3D game art using Blender, even with zero prior experience.

There is now a table of contents so start there. Hope you enjoy it.