If by "especially 8bit style" you mean low-resolution, low-color as on the NES or Master System then you definitely do not do that using a 3D package. Drawing each frame by hand is pretty much necessary, since a lot of the tricks artists used to make things look good are not something that any 3D graphics package I know of can do (e.g. use dithering intelligently, or apply colors artistically to achieve the intended effect. Also, palette-swaps (by which I mean actually designing them) are another thing that no package I'm aware of does. A computer probably could be programmed to do these things reasonably well, but no one has, AFAIK).

On the 16 bits, with a larger color palette to use and more colors per sprite you started to see things like Donkey Kong Country that used pre-rendered sprites, created in a 3D program and then exported with texture and lighting applied. This had a charm of its own, but it wasn't the same charm as hand-drawn sprites.

For creating hand-drawn sprites, my preferred program is Cosmigo ProMotion, which is a sort of spiritual successor to Deluxe Paint (which was popular with game artists all the way through the GBA and DS, despite being a DOS-based program). Many of those who moved off of Deluxe Paint earlier moved to ProMotion from what I understand.

ProMotion costs $80 bucks, but its money well-spent IMO. Graphics Gale is only $20, IIRC, but I don't like it as much.

There were several Mac games made by Ambrosia Software back in the late 90's that were 8-bit and the sprites were made with a 3D program. That being said, the 3D program ran on a machine with 8-bit graphics and had the ability to render images with a custom 8-bit palette. I don't know if that can be done theses days.

8-bit color (256 color) is much different than 8-bit (NES-style) graphics, which are what most people mean when they say "retro". In that regard, the SNES was much closer to the "8-bit graphics" Macs had (though the macs of the late 90s were certainly rocking higher resolutions, and probably were capable of using more colors too, though perhaps not at a fast enough rate for fast interactivity.

Interesting comments, the kind of 8 bit style I wanna make is like Pitfall, or a bit of more resolution (just a bit):

Should I do all the draw manually? Or may I use a 3d software to generate sprites?

Interesting comments, the kind of 8 bit style I wanna make is like Pitfall, or a bit of more resolution (just a bit):



Should I do all the draw manually? Or may I use a 3d software to generate sprites?

Using 3d software to make sprites like that is kind of like taking a priceless greek statue and then whacking it with a hammer until it is a roughly statue shaped block of stone.

I shouldn't really need to say that art like that should just be a bitmap.

Take a look at Paint.net. I like it because Gimp and Photoshop have far too many features and I don't know how to use them very well. Paint.net is a lot slimmer but still very capable. It feels like MS Paint, but it has layers, transparency and other interesting features. Also, it's free!

If you are going to use a Wacom tablet then you definitely want to avoid GIMP as I've never been able to get it to function properly. I use them all, but you will learn what works best for your purposes by simply trying the different programs and seeing what suits your needs for each task.

If you are going to use a Wacom tablet then you definitely want to avoid GIMP as I've never been able to get it to function properly.

Experiences vary.

GIMP allows you to configure each input device separately. That throws a lot of people the first time.

The first time you configure your tablet it may be best to refer to a tutorial since it has a software restart required to get it to save everything properly. (Yes, it uses one of those stupid 'save settings on exit instead of when I change them' systems.) You need to set the software settings in a way that work well with your OS settings: using it on a full screen configuration, a window-locked configuration, or mouse-like configuration. If your OS and the software are configured to match, the positions will correspond and all is well there.

The brush dynamics are a little weird at first, since each brush and each input type can have its own dynamics settings. You might prefer speed to be stroke width and pressure as sensitivity, or perhaps only having sensitivity and no width, or something else. That's the only part I found annoying, since each brush needs to be configured. A little experimentation and you'll find something you like, and it is easy to change it on the fly if you need something different.

Once you get those set and a brush dynamics setting you like, it works wonderfully.

Oh, and as for that specific art style: render to a tiny bitmap and scale it up.

You may find 176x223 works well. Then clamp the colors to a 16-color palette, and scale it up to your full screen size.