I know this is a common topic, but I don't know the best way to start game designing. I can draw, but when it comes to the software, I design the assets too slow I think. What is the first thing I should do to begin assets design? Thanks for your attention. ;)

Be slow, and be ready to fail a few times.

One of the most fantastic ways to learn any skill is through practice. You need to keep creating assets and trying to improve them, and you'll get faster and produce higher quality assets over time.

I'll move you to our Visual Arts forum for this particular question, I think you'll get better and more relevant feedback there.

Be slow, and be ready to fail a few times.

One of the most fantastic ways to learn any skill is through practice. You need to keep creating assets and trying to improve them, and you'll get faster and produce higher quality assets over time.

I'll move you to our Visual Arts forum for this particular question, I think you'll get better and more relevant feedback there.

Thanks for moving it anyway, at first I thought it was a piece of cake question that all senior can answer easily, and asked by a beginner. So I choose to post it to the beginner section. :)

Nice advice by the way, I've been trying to produce the game myself for the mean time

I think that by far what makes the most difference when I'm working on some asset is the planning that took place before I turned on the computer.
When you go to your software, you should already know what you want to make and have a clear idea of how to make it -- though the latter involves experimentation with the tools available, and you may discover a better way to go about it.

Digital Modeling by William Vaughan.
He is making a 3d game engine and recently reviewed the book. He said: "If you have even a passing interest in becoming a 3d modeler, you owe it to yourself to pick up this book. Highly recommended".

There's also a tutorial in it on making a realistic head.

There's one very important rule for making visual game assets: work from outwards to inwards. Don't make one asset "perfectly" before moving to the next one but leave it in "outer shape"-state before making the next one. If you are for example making an animated sprite and add details and shading on every frame right away it will be very tedious to alter movements or outfit changes. Instead get the whole set done with basic color, add details once you're satisfied with the movement (of course you can finish one frame as a reference like "I want them all to look like this").

This also applies to models/textures etc. What makes a "style" of a game are many assets that _combined_ deliver some kind of experience. Take out your magnifier out once you have a bunch of raw assets and enough to get into the flow of your game. You can create a masterpiece of a model/sprite - if it doesn't fit the overall gaming experience it sucks.

This increases both speed and quality.

There's one very important rule for making visual game assets: work from outwards to inwards. Don't make one asset "perfectly" before moving to the next one but leave it in "outer shape"-state before making the next one. If you are for example making an animated sprite and add details and shading on every frame right away it will be very tedious to alter movements or outfit changes. Instead get the whole set done with basic color, add details once you're satisfied with the movement (of course you can finish one frame as a reference like "I want them all to look like this").

This also applies to models/textures etc. What makes a "style" of a game are many assets that _combined_ deliver some kind of experience. Take out your magnifier out once you have a bunch of raw assets and enough to get into the flow of your game. You can create a masterpiece of a model/sprite - if it doesn't fit the overall gaming experience it sucks.

This increases both speed and quality.

So if I may repeat your statement, it means that I should first draw the basic shape of the assets, and then put them to the editor, so that I can create the behavior of the assets. Then I improve the assets quality (redesigns it, like adding the shading, etc) after I get the idea of what assets I wanna make with the behavior I create. Is that so?

It might be useful for finding out what assets you want to make but it's actually important for making good art at all. If you ever took a drawing lesson, you will be taught to think about the man you want to draw as a series of shapes. You don't start from drawing a fleshwound inflicted from a laser gun and work outwards. If you make e.g. a grass texture, make it with 3 shades of green first and see if it looks right. Implement it and see if it fits when another sprite walks on it. That way you will know how much contrast it needs (if contrast on grass tiles is too high, characters somehow blend in with it and are less striking or it can look higher/wilder or lower than intented just by using different colors for shades).

The outwards-to-inwards rule can be applied to everything visual art related.