Model Editting - Hands - Joe the Echidnafox
Welcome to the Model Editing Tutorial. This tutorial will show you how to manipulate an existing sprite, add features from other Pixel Art pieces, and modify a piece to give it more of a unique style. Please Note that you should never edit a sprite that has been created by another Artist, only use sprites and Pixel Art pieces from within commercially released games.
Editing hands is exactly the same as any other part of the body. This part of the tutorial will show you simply how to avoid common areas of mistake when changing the hands.
All we are going to do with this hand is simply make him put up a finger. The first mistake to make would simply be to put the new finger on top of where the old one was. This either gives you a really short finger, or a finger with another one below it. Another common mistake, even when the old finger is removed, other fingers must also be put into consideration. You need to make sure that you edit the next finger along so that it looks like it is now visible. This is not the case for this example, but it should be taken into consideration for other sprites...
Another problem is adding items from other character's hands. The reason for this is angles, many characters hands are placed at different angles so it is hard to transfer properties from one hand to another. Some just need simple rotations or flipping, like Knuckles' Knuckle. However for those that need to rotated at angles other than 90 degrees, you'll need to edit them yourself as paint doesn't do anything other than 90 degrees. This isn't shown in this example, but it should be taken into consideration for other sprites...
Angles can also be a problem when actually putting the hand onto the arm. Since Paint can only make 90 degree angles, it is impossible for this hand to actually be put onto this arm straight (or with the thumb being on the wrong side).
Finding combinations of hands and arms that work is difficult, and will restrict the amount of different poses you can get. However if you can get it right it is well worth the effort.
