Hey everyone! Hope you are having a great day, if not, I really do hope your day gets better. Remember that nothing lasts forever, including bad patches and depression. Things will get better eventually, so just wait for the storm to pass and the sunshine to come forth.
Anyway, I am on the hunt for some free artwork to use in my WIP and I would like to know how CoG and HG authors get their artwork. I can draw and make my own artwork but I don’t have a clue how to get the drawing off the paper and on my screen. How do you guys get things like background drawings, character portraits and the like. I would much prefer an anime/manga esque style of drawing, as that is what I mostly drew as a kid.
I would suggest looking at free images on sites like Pixabay, or databases of images in the public domain. Or when you have the funds, look at commissioning an artist via Reddit or Tumblr, or looking at existing games’ art to find out the artist if their style works for you.
You’ll need access to a digital camera (or a camera phone) or a scanner. Potentially also some editing software, but there are free ones that are perfectly suitable for the things you’ll need for that purpose (creating digitally is a bit trickier on that front, but it’s irrelevant if you only aim to get drawing from paper to screen. Although now I’m wondering what kind of device would remove the image from paper in the process, but I digress).
There are heaps of tutorials online about how to transfer lineart and the like onto digital. You’re going to need some kind of digital art program. Many are paid, but some are free like https://www.gimp.org/ (Not anywhere near as easy to use as PS, but it is free.)
They pay for artists to make it, 2) they make it themselves, 3) they use stock images (make sure the correct copyright is in effect if using stock.) My advice is not to use AI unless it is just for brainstorming on the forums as like HannahPS says, you can’t use it in published work.
Here is an old post I put up with stock sites Stock art sites
