Forums

Sega Master System / Mark III / Game Gear
SG-1000 / SC-3000 / SF-7000 / OMV
Home - Forums - Games - Scans - Maps - Cheats - Credits
Music - Videos - Development - Hacks - Translations - Homebrew

View topic - Other SMS Artists?

Reply to topic Goto page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
  • Joined: 30 Jun 2016
  • Posts: 194
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
Reply with quote
Other SMS Artists?
Post Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 12:19 pm
I was quite curious just how many other Master System artists - or artists for older machines in general - would be around these parts.
Browsing through the forum thread history doesn't really bring up much in the way of this sort of thing, bar Phano's recent topic.

So - I might as well see if there's even a ball to get rolling!
I've worked in collaboration with other artists to produce artwork over time. Whilst much of the recent pixel artwork has been more based around the Mega Drive,
But, I've worked on some Master System and Game Gear things, so I'll post one here, and see if anyone else around here has also done such arts for the machines!

The image I have attached was a collaboration with an acquaintance of mine, as noted in the top-left corner. I'm quite proud to have gotten it to work inside a single palette line!

I've actually been meaning to make this sort of a topic for months now, but haven't really done so until now.
If I've put it in the wrong section. Please move it!

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 28 Jan 2017
  • Posts: 540
  • Location: Málaga, Spain
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 6:30 pm
Hey! Thats looks really good!

I am thinking on ask for a graphics designer searching fun for a new project i am planning.

Would be great to have these style of graphics!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 01 Feb 2014
  • Posts: 844
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 7:36 pm
Nice picture and interesting topic. Because the Master System doesn‘t offer a bitmap mode, and it doesn‘t have enough individual tiles for a fullscreen image, producing digital paintings for it can be quite a challenge. It can be done with some trickery, though, as the title screens of Power Strike II or Monkey Lad show. It would be cool to see some more advanced examples that also play with the two palettes.

My Master System art has been in-game stuff exclusively, but I‘m tempted to try a fullscreen image now.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 04 Jul 2010
  • Posts: 539
  • Location: Angers, France
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 9:30 pm
I've made many SMS art/draw past years.
AkiraTetsuo.png (10.36 KB)
AkiraTetsuo.png
BleachKon.png (7.16 KB)
BleachKon.png
nausicaa_2.png (10.38 KB)
nausicaa_2.png
nausicaa.png (9.05 KB)
nausicaa.png

  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Jun 2016
  • Posts: 194
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 3:22 am
@ichigobankai, I wondered who drew those Cimmerian artworks. They're utterly exceptional!
You're a fantastic artist!

Kagesan wrote
It would be cool to see some more advanced examples that also play with the two palettes.

I actually worked on a conversion of a different aquantance's picture along those lines. It wound up maxing out both palette lines, requiring mid-screen palette swaps, and filling out the sprite lists.

But dammit, it fit! Just barely into the VRAM and other constraints!
It's just a bit unfortunate that I learnt a bit too late from Tiido that vertical dithering looks terrible on SMS Composite.

I've added that picture into the attachments. The original full-colour picture would be by the artist LaPatte, and I got some phenomenal help (ie. he drew it) from MarkeyJester with the background.


I did contact eruiz00 privately, but determined we're looking for two very different things. :)

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 21 Mar 2016
  • Posts: 18
  • Location: Brisbane, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 2:12 pm
Not an artist, but done some SMS spec graphics.
monkeylad_mockup.png (23.41 KB)
monkeylad_mockup.png
space_merc.png (79.88 KB)
space_merc.png
phantasm.png (27.51 KB)
phantasm.png
smessier.png (67.28 KB)
smessier.png

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8644
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 3:09 pm
Quote
Not an artist, but done some SMS spec graphics.


Wow, this is quite some art bomb you've dropped there, they are incredible work. I love the one inspired by Monster Land / Wonder Boy :)
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 21 Aug 2012
  • Posts: 363
  • Location: Berlin, Germany
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:17 pm
Guys, this looks amazing. Better than many graphics from original designers when the Master System was at it´s peak.

Ichigo - holy shit that aggressive bear! He looks like Naughty Bear.
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 20 Dec 2004
  • Posts: 739
  • Location: Lyon, France
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:46 pm
Wow, this is so cool :)
Flygon, could you "convert" into sms-style artwork some paintings other people did ?
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 28 Jan 2017
  • Posts: 540
  • Location: Málaga, Spain
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:11 pm
Awesome tiles Surt!
Could i use the tiles of space mercs theme? This is just What i was thinking for a new project!!!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Jun 2016
  • Posts: 194
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 6:15 am
surt! I've seen your artworks around in the past, but I kept forgetting who drew them.

I still cannot believe they are Master System based artworks. I actually had to analyze and inspect them manually myself, because I couldn't believe my eyes!

This might be some of the best tileset artwork I've ever seen for the machine.
"Not an artist". I think you're more of an artist than I am!

Simply phenomenal!
It would be beautiful to see someone develop a Sonic the Hedgehog clone for the machine with you as the tileset artist.


Kenneth wrote
Flygon, could you "convert" into sms-style artwork some paintings other people did ?


Most artwork I perform is, in fact, collaborations with other artists.
Admittedly, the amount of Master System related artwork I'd feel comfortable posting here is limited.
Whether due to diminished quality compared with what I've already posted, or other reasons. :)

Most artwork I've actually performed is for the Mega Drive or the Game Gear.
But they're both so lenient in their own ways as to lose a lot of the challenge of Master System geared artwork.
It can almost be a challenge to use all the colours the Master System provides you!

I do prefer to work in collaboration with other artists, regardless. It's a bit of an ethics thing.
Converting their artwork with them being unaware can be a smite bit rude!

Since I bought up the Game Gear anyway, may's well bring up a bit of an old fight...!
...in collaboration with a friend of mine, by the name of BlckFlyn, of course!
breloomgrinningprofilelinesdmg.png (2.9 KB)
Where's the colour?...
breloomgrinningprofilelinesdmg.png
breloomgrinningprofilelinesgamegear.png (4.95 KB)
MUCH better!
breloomgrinningprofilelinesgamegear.png

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 21 Mar 2016
  • Posts: 18
  • Location: Brisbane, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 6:37 am
eruiz00 wrote
Awesome tiles Surt!
Could i use the tiles of space mercs theme? This is just What i was thinking for a new project!!!
All this stuff is available on Open Game Art, same user name (can't post links).
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 29 Mar 2012
  • Posts: 879
  • Location: Spain
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 7:44 am
Amazing art guys!! :-O
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8644
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 10:02 am
surt wrote
eruiz00 wrote
Awesome tiles Surt!
Could i use the tiles of space mercs theme? This is just What i was thinking for a new project!!!
All this stuff is available on Open Game Art, same user name (can't post links).


Here's the link:
https://opengameart.org/users/surt

(we had to disable links for new posters because of spam bots, but normally after 3 forum posts you can freely post them)
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 18 Dec 2014
  • Posts: 95
  • Location: Canada
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 4:25 pm
Impressive
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 15 Feb 2016
  • Posts: 19
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 1:06 am
You are all amazing, good heavens. D:
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 21 Mar 2016
  • Posts: 18
  • Location: Brisbane, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 4:49 am
Last edited by surt on Sun Apr 22, 2018 11:20 am; edited 2 times in total
EDIT: updated version

A new WIP.


Bock wrote
surt wrote
All this stuff is available on Open Game Art, same user name (can't post links).


Here's the link:
https://opengameart.org/users/surt

(we had to disable links for new posters because of spam bots, but normally after 3 forum posts you can freely post them)

Also got some SMS-ish stuff in my junk thread here: https://opengameart.org/forumtopic/cc0-scraps
beast_soldier.png (37.89 KB)
beast_soldier.png

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 29 Mar 2012
  • Posts: 879
  • Location: Spain
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:44 am
surt wrote
A new WIP.


Bock wrote
surt wrote
All this stuff is available on Open Game Art, same user name (can't post links).


Here's the link:
https://opengameart.org/users/surt

(we had to disable links for new posters because of spam bots, but normally after 3 forum posts you can freely post them)

Also got some SMS-ish stuff in my junk thread here: https://opengameart.org/forumtopic/cc0-scraps


I love it!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Jun 2016
  • Posts: 194
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 8:50 am
Wow! Utterly incredible!
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Revo
  • Guest
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:31 pm
Amazing art surt! Would love to see a game coming out from that beast soldier.


Little Teddy Boy like that I did last night:



edit: new version:
 
  • Joined: 18 Dec 2014
  • Posts: 95
  • Location: Canada
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 6:05 pm
Revo,I totally want to play that.
  View user's profile Send private message
Revo
  • Guest
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2018 3:08 pm
Ah ah thank you, will probably release a demo soon ;)

New progress:
 
  • Joined: 30 Jun 2016
  • Posts: 194
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat May 12, 2018 3:37 am
More full-screen stuff!

A comparison between me drawing up for the Master System, Game Gear, and a certain other machine.
Based on some fantastic linework drawn by Emenius.
ratchipscaredinthedarscaled.png (41.74 KB)
Master System - The land of 6-bit RGB DACs
ratchipscaredinthedarscaled.png
ratchipscaredinthedarkgamegearscaled.png (26.71 KB)
Game Gear - More colours, a shame the screen's a bit naff!
ratchipscaredinthedarkgamegearscaled.png
ratchipscaredinthedarkDMGgameboyscaled.png (26.37 KB)
He who shall not be named
ratchipscaredinthedarkDMGgameboyscaled.png

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 01 Feb 2014
  • Posts: 844
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat May 12, 2018 5:51 am
Very nice. I‘m not really a fan of that kind of extensive dithering for cartoon-y stuff like this, though. I think the cleaner shading in the third picture works much better in this particular case.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 19 Oct 1999
  • Posts: 14683
  • Location: London
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat May 12, 2018 8:13 am
Is the horizontal lines dithering style more effective than checkerboard or vertical lines? Or is it a deliberate attempt to avoid blurring of the dither?
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 30 Jun 2016
  • Posts: 194
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat May 12, 2018 12:24 pm
Admittedly, I'm not often a fan of excessive dithering myself.

The initial goes, particularly on the Game Gear one, were very much non-dithered, but every attempt looked a bit strange.
In the end, adding in the texture to the jacket and fur ended up making it look nicer.
Doing it on the ground for the SMS was perhaps a bit excessive though.

Conversely, the dithering on the DMG piece would've looked a bit strange.

But, yeah. It's very much more for the sake of texture, more than faking in additional colours. Especially after learning more about how vertical band dithering can simply wind up causing excessive rainbowing on actual hardware.
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 21 Mar 2016
  • Posts: 18
  • Location: Brisbane, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 4:34 am
Simple hor shmup.

voidblaster.png (15.88 KB)
voidblaster.png

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 30 Jun 2016
  • Posts: 194
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2018 2:53 pm
Forgot I did this thing.

Friend of mine, Trapmagius, drew up the sketch for this.
Somewhat ashamed to admit that human faces are difficult.

Still, enjoy your Game Gear art and awful horrible use of raster effects!

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 30 Jun 2016
  • Posts: 194
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 3:02 am
Pardon the double post, but.

So I realized the previous Game Gear art was actually kind of crap.
Let's draw a different picture instead!

I am about 90% sure this will work on a real machine, hahaha.
flurretclosetothecamerascaled.png (60.76 KB)
Drawn 100% solo by Flygon. :3
flurretclosetothecamerascaled.png

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 21 Mar 2016
  • Posts: 18
  • Location: Brisbane, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 1:29 pm
Fiddling with this again, a year later.

beast_soldier17.png (127.38 KB)
beast_soldier17.png

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 24 Sep 2007
  • Posts: 64
  • Location: Umeå
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 3:37 am
I've dabbled in animating some sprites:
https://www.deviantart.com/wrim/gallery/38126102/SEGA

And sometimes I use them to make games like Alex Kidd Hot Pepper Attack:
https://create-games.com/download.asp?id=8711
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 04 Oct 2015
  • Posts: 17
Reply with quote
SMS standard image format
Post Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 1:23 am
Congrats, there are some really nice images here! :D


Too sad nobody ever created a standard image format to share SMS images.

It's really curious how Pixel Art seems to have been relegated to a 2nd class treatment around here... While for music there's a specific forum and the VGM format to share songs, there's no specific forum for SMS Pixel Art, nor a specific image file format.

With a specific file format, it would be possible to comfortably view the images with an image browser on a real SMS with a Master Everdrive, and even share images in native format on sites like the Retro Gallery. Even image editors could be created, like those that exist for the C64 and ZX-Spectrum.

The file format doesn't need to be anything fancy, as it just needs:


  • A header signature, so it can be easily identified by tools like [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_(command)]file[/url]
  • Some header info (file version, data is compressed or not, SMS/GG palette, etc)
  • Some basic metadata fields: Author, Title, Notes
  • An area to save the VDP registers
  • An area to save the palette.
  • An area to save the raw VRAM data (or maybe separate areas for bitmap data, SAT, name table, etc


This would cover the majority of images published here. Raster effects could be left for a more advanced image format, or a 2nd version of the file format.

Don't you agree that the SMS deserves its own specific image format? :)
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 21 Mar 2016
  • Posts: 18
  • Location: Brisbane, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 7:58 am
Forgot about this one based on Deevad's CC-BY licensed Pepper and Carrot comic:

pepcar.png (10.57 KB)
pepcar.png

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 19 Oct 1999
  • Posts: 14683
  • Location: London
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 11:37 am
I don't think it is a big deal to use PNG. It has the advantage of working in a browser.

On a real system you'd need to make a program to load the data anyway (so standalone files won't help) and as soon as it becomes bigger than a screen it is also much harder to display.

A PNG file can contain a sprite sheet which as an image exceeds the system limitations (resolution, colours) while being on spec for individual sprites. Likewise any raster palette switch in a level map.
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 21 Mar 2016
  • Posts: 18
  • Location: Brisbane, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 3:39 am
SMS adaption of an old NES tileset.

blowhard_sms_map.png (39.23 KB)
blowhard_sms_map.png

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 21 Mar 2016
  • Posts: 18
  • Location: Brisbane, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:08 pm
Reworked some old tiles to fit into a single pattern table.

EDIT: Oops, left Yuguzu's sprite on there.


plastic.png (54.53 KB)
plastic.png

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 06 Apr 2011
  • Posts: 250
  • Location: Netherlands
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 11:24 am
@Surt: That Beast solder tileset looks pretty damn good!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 04 Oct 2015
  • Posts: 17
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 2:17 pm
I think you'll be glad to know that the Retro Gallery now has a section dedicated to the Sega Master System. :)
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 29 Mar 2012
  • Posts: 879
  • Location: Spain
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 3:11 pm
I don't know if the user surt is still around, but I plan to use its Void Blaster tileset for the tutorial I'm currently doing at elotrolado.net: https://opengameart.org/content/void-blaster

May I have your permission to use it for the tutorial?
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 21 Mar 2016
  • Posts: 18
  • Location: Brisbane, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 9:23 pm
kusfo wrote
I don't know if the user surt is still around, but I plan to use its Void Blaster tileset for the tutorial I'm currently doing at elotrolado.net: https://opengameart.org/content/void-blaster

May I have your permission to use it for the tutorial?
Of course. It's publicly licensed so no need to ask.
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 29 Mar 2012
  • Posts: 879
  • Location: Spain
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2019 7:47 am
surt wrote
kusfo wrote
I don't know if the user surt is still around, but I plan to use its Void Blaster tileset for the tutorial I'm currently doing at elotrolado.net: https://opengameart.org/content/void-blaster

May I have your permission to use it for the tutorial?
Of course. It's publicly licensed so no need to ask.


I just prefered to ask personally :-)
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 24 Sep 2007
  • Posts: 64
  • Location: Umeå
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2020 8:56 pm
I animated the corrupted Raoh from the Taiwan version of Hokuto No Ken
By request from Bock I'm uploading it here.
It changes depending on which way he is facing.
There's three additional sprites not included, the two injured walk animations after the final punch and the death pose.


corruptedRaoh.gif (7.04 KB)
corruptedRaoh.gif

  View user's profile Send private message
Revo
  • Guest
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2020 3:00 am
Wow, no rom?
 
  • Joined: 31 Oct 2018
  • Posts: 27
  • Location: Davenport, FL
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2020 11:46 pm
Not a full piece, but I thought it was worth sharing regardless.
There would more than likely text on the left side of the screen.

PrincessGi.png (7.37 KB)
PrincessGi.png

  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 01 Feb 2014
  • Posts: 844
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 6:59 am
Very nice.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Jun 2016
  • Posts: 194
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:59 am
That picture is brilliant, Leo!

I worked on converting another artist's artwork over to the Master System, to vent myself over some frustration. After sending it to them, to my incredible surprise - they were happy with the conversion, and were okay with it being distributed.
The problem is... I ran a quick litmus test, and realized I came in at around 810 tiles.

Whilst there's a few tricks that could be used to get the image in under the 448 tile limit - plausible methods were discussed in the SMSPower! Discord, it doesn't feel quite inside the spirit of the rules.

Should I post it anyway, and claim it's for the System E worst to worst? Or keep this to pure SMS/GG-only?
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 19 Oct 1999
  • Posts: 14683
  • Location: London
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 12:32 pm
I guess that's part of the challenge? There's a reason why you can't just throw up full screen graphics, even if it's tough to reduce to a smaller palette and bit depth. The "converted image" look will run out of tiles, the "built from tiles" look is a bit limiting, and in between there is something really tricky :)
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 30 Jun 2016
  • Posts: 194
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 2:19 pm
Then it shall not be posted until a ROM could ever be generated with the image in it!
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 31 Oct 2018
  • Posts: 27
  • Location: Davenport, FL
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:15 pm
Thanks for the feedback guys!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 05 Sep 2013
  • Posts: 3757
  • Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 3:30 pm
Flygon wrote
Whilst there's a few tricks that could be used to get the image in under the 448 tile limit - plausible methods were discussed in the SMSPower! Discord, it doesn't feel quite inside the spirit of the rules.


I'd say reducing the unique tile count by using the Master System dual palette feature (even if you just reorder the same colors in the second palette) should be OK, you're not playing out of the rules if a SMS can display it. Also 448 isn't the upper limit, if you don't use sprites and the whole PNT you can get a few more. Again, totally fine IMHO.
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Reply to topic Goto page 1, 2  Next



Back to the top of this page

Back to SMS Power!