Silveira Neto's CC-BY-SA and GPL Artworks

[Nikita_Sadkov]

https://github.com/silveira/openpixels

Includes nice colorful tileset and a set of layers for constructing characters (examples folder demonstrates what is possible). This time free even for commercial use.

Author also has some GPL-licensed artworks at his site: ttp://silveiraneto.net/

[c_xong]

This is already on OGA: http://opengameart.org/content/openpixe ... veira-neto

The art quality is not the best but it's a very complete set so it's a good choice for placeholder or prototype art.

[Nikita_Sadkov]

This is already on OGA: http://opengameart.org/content/openpixe ... veira-neto

OGA entry is outdated.

The art quality is not the best but it's a very complete set so it's a good choice for placeholder or prototype art.

It would be near impossible to extend some complex stylized work, like the one by Henk Nieborg. Even if you have money to hire best artists.

[Akien]

Nice resource! The art is pretty cool IMO, but as you say, the style is relatively complex and makes it hard to expand.

BTW, the OGA entry might be outdated, but it still gives the same link as you do, so it's still a good reference

[c_xong]

While it's true that some art styles are easier to extend than others, that's not what I meant by "quality". The artist commits rookie errors like using gradients on flat surfaces, inconsistent shadows, and not shading surfaces correctly based on light angle. This all makes things look flat and clashing.

Similar errors are committed by this pack: http://opengameart.org/content/the-mana-world-woodland-indoor-tileset
Notice how the walls stick out much better than the benches and the armoire at the top-left, due to the shading (except the walls are still wrong because they're gradiented). The tables and chairs stick out only due to the shadows; the top-shading is wrong.

One other, more fatal error is that the characters are too low-contrast compared to the backgrounds. This is more obvious if you play a game that uses these tiles, as it's very hard to make the characters out. Compare to this: http://opengameart.org/content/lpc-interior-castle-tiles where the character really sticks out due to bright colours and hard outlines, plus it doesn't commit the shading errors, which means the furniture and stairs don't look flat at all. LPC has other problems but overall it's a much higher quality pack.

This means that the set looks good from a distance - it's colourful and has lots of variety - but once you start using it in a game the problems become apparent. If you have access to an artist with any formal training at all, you'll be able to produce better art than this. Sometimes you don't need an artist at all, just a cursory understanding of visual theory. As an example, and this will seem biased, C-Dogs art gets the shading right despite being drawn by a programmer. So use this set for prototypes but be aware that as final art, it's simply not up to snuff.

When you create art for games, you can't just pick colours because they look good to you, you have to keep in mind how they highlight certain gameplay elements, in addition to the basics like how light works, foreground/background composition and shading to make things look solid. I'd expect the visual hierarchy to be something like: characters > furniture > walls > ground, whereas this set is more like walls > ground > furniture > characters. Take a look at this article http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/HermanTulleken/20150729/249761/Color_in_Games.php, near the middle it talks about various techniques you can use with colour to highlight things.

[Nikita_Sadkov]

The artist commits rookie errors like using gradients on flat surfaces, inconsistent shadows, and not shading surfaces correctly based on light angle. This all makes things look flat and clashing.

Consider email-ing him with critique. Because I doubt he reads every web forum on the Internet. I think he could easily fix it.

Similar errors are committed by this pack: http://opengameart.org/content/the-mana ... or-tileset

Same here, it would be better for the artist himself to know about these errors. Especially because it would be bad for his portfolio to associate himself with amateur art.

C-Dogs art gets the shading right despite being drawn by a programmer.

Programmers with CG degree usually have good grasp of optics and how light travels through the scene. What programmers miss is the artist's creativity, visual thinking and motorics required to draw what they imagine. Artists also have to do a lot of amount of anatomy study to draw something like a galloping horse with deforming muscles. For Hollywood movies they don't even employ artists anymore, just a medically correct model of a horse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r45e5Xky35k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YncZtLaZ6kQ