Discovering CloudNovelist: Interview with MoneyFunny (Feat. Sprite Tutorial!)

Happy April! We hope that everyone is staying home and staying safe. This month, the CloudNovelist we are featuring is MoneyFunny.

About MoneyFunny

MoneyFunny is a sprite artist from Hong Kong. Since joining CloudNovel in 2017, she has been releasing her sprite art and characters, all with a cute and unique art style! We’re very impressed and can’t wait for her future developments!

Interview

First of all, would you like to introduce yourself to the CloudNovelists?

“Hi! I’m Hayman. I like drawing. Previously, I’d been drawing through a Taiwanese visual novel website: Bassavg. However, since I couldn’t upload unlimited images on BASS, I decided to search for other websites to share my sprites and characters. That’s when I found CloudNovel, and I’ve been using it ever since!”

Awesome! How is your experience on CloudNovel so far?

I like the unlimited upload for character (both image sizes and numbers) and I love the game u guys make! The game development system is very expert, though I’m not good at making games, haha. I prefer to be the artist on the game making team. 

Got it. So you draw sprites to support CloudNovelists. 

Yup.

We’ve all noticed your artwork on your profile. You’ve drawn a lot of characters in such a short time! (And they’re all so cute ^^) How do you draw your sprites?

Well, since the COVID-19 epidemic, most Hong Kong people can’t go to work often, so I spend most of the time drawing. I use Photoshop to draw. It takes some time to explain the drawing step:

MoneyFunny’s Tutorial on Sprite Development

1) Concept: Consider the some elements that make the sprite unique. 

How old is she/he? What is his/her character? Where is she/he like? Where is he/she from? At this stage, first think of the color and style. Blue (representing star/ocean) Green (forest) Pink (food?flower?), etc. Then, i start to sketch

2) The drawing steps are very similar to other artists. .. draw a body first.

3) Add a new layer, create a line art. 

4) And after some erasing and fine tuning, the first draft of the character is born.

5) Add a new layer for color.

6) And tada: here is the sample of unfinished character.

Oh, that’s awesome. How long does it take to make one character?

Haha, it depends on the detail of the character. Even sketching for the body takes a lot of time for artists. For a simple drawing, sketching a body only takes a few min. However, it takes some time to draw a beautiful line, so I’ll often spend from 20 minutes to 1 hour. After the character is finished, I’ll go back to edit the lineart for coloring, and it also takes time to test which color is right. If it is a simple picture, it takes about 30 mins, but most of the time, it takes an hour or two for the base coloring. Then, I spend 2-3 hour more on lighting and shading. Often, the whole process takes from 2 to 3 days.

Wow, what an intricate process. 

Thanks! I prefer not to spread a whole day for the same character. Otherwise my eyes get tired when I’m on the same drawing haha. Also, I listen to music when I draw, which helps a lot!

Many other CloudNovelists are very interested in learning to draw their own characters. Do you have any advice for these people?

Practice, practice, and practice. Artist drawing videos really help as well. 

Got it. Thank you very much for the interview. Good luck with your characters!

My pleasure. Good luck!