Hello people, I'm here to give people tips on making good decals, as you could probably tell. I'm mainly just trying to increase the amount of good decals being made by people, so that the Faces, Decals, Prints section starts to look up and become more popular.
Setting up your Canvas.For this guide, I'm going to be using a program called Frames4 by the Tech4Learning company. I'm almost certain that none of you have this, but you can derive the same basic ideas from it.
First off, set your canvas to a square. The two sizes that can be used as a decal in Blockland are 512x512 or 256x256. I prefer 512x512, but a lot of people don't. For now though, since we are working on a decal, I'm going to set it a 500x500, so that it is easier to place guides. Also, make sure that your canvas is transparent. Your canvas should look something like this.
Now, we are going to place some guides. most programs will have guides and/or rulers to help you keep you work symmetrical. These first guides aren't about keeping symmetry though, they are so your work isn't cut off. One thing that Blockland does is cuts off the edges of your decal. I like to put guides at 50 pixels away from the edges, like this.
If you don't save space at the edges, you will get odd things like one side of your blockheads body will be a different color than the rest of the body.
Now that you have that done, put some guides in the direct center of your project so that you can keep it symmetrical. no one likes lopsided decals. This is where having the canvas at 500x500 is useful.
Note: Remember to scale the image back up to 512x512 or 256x256 when you're done!
Designing your Decal You should make sure you make stuff transparent as necessary. Don't accidentally make stuff the color you want it when you're wearing it. When you are making clothing, put thick black lines around borders to define them. This is pretty relevant everywhere, unless you think it isn't necessary. You see it on some of my decals, and a great example would be Jirues decals. Here are some examples where it would be good:
As you can see, there are borders around everything so you know what is what. you can easily define a collar, pockets, and the shirt underneath.
Also, listen to what Taboo has to say.
is this going to be like roblox where we just have random images plastered onto our torsos that couldn't be an actual clothing by any stretch of the mind
Yeah. Don't do that. Unless you're doing something out of a joke, like the "CNA I BE DOGE" decal, it is better to make a decal that looks like actual clothing. Otherwise you look like some weirdo walking around with a pixelated pepper on your chest.
ThumbnailsI really shouldn't have to go over this, but I will anyways. Most of the time re-sizing the image to 64x64 is enough, but if that isn't the case for some reason, put something relevant. If I were to make a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey as a decal, I could use a Pittsburgh Penguins logo as the thumbnail.
Be CreativeIf there are 10 different of the same type of decal, don't add to the mess, make something totally different! Make something that no one has made before. If everyone is making suits and formal jackets, make a space suit or something. It is always good to have a break from the same old thing over and over and over again. Being a lemming and coping everyone else is just dumb, and shows no actual ounce of creativity. Making something that people have made before is always excepted if the original was done poorly and you make a better one, but as a general rule, design against the grain.
PackagingFor any packaging questions help or general how-to's, refer to Wedge's
How to package decals topic.
That concludes my guide for now, I'll add more if more is suggested.
