20 years in cross stitch & games, newbie to sprite stitching

[Aggie Tsubi]

Hi, I'm new here! Hope I'm posting this in the right place. Anyway, cross stitching and video games are two of my oldest hobbies, both starting when I was in elementary school, but I've never once combined the interests. I've seen all the really cool cross stitch pieces that people have made of game sprites for years, and I kept telling myself that I have to give it a try. I finally decided to get serious about it, but I'd love some general tips and help. I've never once made my own pattern in all my years of cross stitching. I've mostly done kits, but I also have followed patterns from the For the Love of Cross Stitch magazine I was subscribed to many years ago. So in terms of actually doing the stitching, I'm all set. I'm already familiar with the cross, half, back, 1/4, 3/4, french knot, etc. etc. and all of the general techniques. I already picked out what I'd like to do for my first project, and I spent a bunch of time getting the sprites all cleaned up and perfect. They're moderately large sprites from the title screen of a Genesis game, so I know it's a bit more ambitious than starting with something small from a NES game or such. But with my experience, I'm comfortable doing a somewhat large project. I probably wouldn't want to do anything bigger than around a foot and a half in either direction, though.

So I downloaded KG Chart and used the great guide here, but I'm still having trouble making a pattern. I want it to be as sprite perfect as possible. I want the full amount of colors, and I want it to be that 1 pixel = 1 stitch. However, no matter how I toy around with the settings, it seems to always represent each pixel with 4 stitches, which makes the project massive. It also seems to make the colors duller and darker. I don't know if the floss suggestions look different from what I'm seeing on screen, though.

If anyone can help me figure out how to make the pattern I want or offer general advice and tips on cross stitching video game sprites, it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[blackmageheart]

Hi there, and welcome to Sprite Stitch!

First of all, it would be really helpful to know what settings you are using when you import your image into KGChart. If you want it to be identical to the on-screen sprite, it should be imported at the same size (pixels) as the size of the image.
If, after that, it's still appearing as 4:1, it may be the case that the sprite has been enlarged to fit the title screen (seen that many times!)

It'd also be helpful to see the sprite(s) you are trying to import, that may give us a better idea as to how to solve your problem.

On the colours issue, what you see on-screen usually doesn't match the actual thread colour. Thankfully, many of us are adept at choosing the appropriate colours just by looking so we may be able to help you there too!

As for general hints and tips, well you are obviously an experienced stitcher so you will already be familiar with many of the er...technical aspects of the craft! When it comes to sprite stitching, you've already got a good headstart - but there are still many things to learn
My advice for now is don't rush, and enjoy your stitching. And I'm sure you will get many more tips on sprite stitching here!

[funkymonkey]

Yep, feel free to post the image you're trying to import. We're happy to take a crack at it.

[Aggie Tsubi]

Doh, I don't know how I didn't notice this before, but you're totally right, blackmageheart. It was 4:1 to begin with. I don't know if the title screen was drawn that way or if the screen shot I was working off of was magnified, but that was it. I resized the image to 50% before importing, and now everything is 1:1.

Okay, here's what I'm working with so far. If you want to see these pictures in a different way, just let me know.

Here's the original image at the proper 1:1 I want:

Spoiler

If you want a better look at the picture, here's the bigger 4:1 original:

Spoiler

Here's how it looks in KGChart:

Spoiler

Here are the floss suggestions:

Spoiler

So you can see how the blues, greens, and yellows get dull, and how the shield gets redder, among slighter differences, but as far as I know, maybe the floss suggestions match the original colors much better than the image. But if anybody has better floss suggestions, I'm all ears! Thanks to both of you for being so helpful, this forum is great.

[funkymonkey]

KG chart (and really all stitch programs) are notorious for being off a bit on color. When you go to buy your threads, I would just bring a picture that you like the colors and pick them to match. I ran it though PC Stitch to see if you like its choices any better.

Spoiler

MW.jpg (207.83 KiB) Viewed 3568 times

[blackmageheart]

Doh, I don't know how I didn't notice this before, but you're totally right, blackmageheart. It was 4:1 to begin with. I don't know if the title screen was drawn that way or if the screen shot I was working off of was magnified, but that was it.

Would have thought for a title screen that it had been drawn like that, to fill the space. Seen it so many times on Genesis / Mega Drive title screens!

KG chart (and really all stitch programs) are notorious for being off a bit on color. When you go to buy your threads, I would just bring a picture that you like the colors and pick them to match.

Yeah I agree. It's less about what you see on the screen (that is just a guide really) and more about what the real life colours of the threads are. What I do is, I put my images through KG and PCStitch, make a note of the numbers and then I decide if they are suitable or not. If not, I choose a more appropriate colour (or colours) and swap them out in the pattern. Sometimes that makes the on screen pattern look kinda funky but I know that in real life it's right

[Aggie Tsubi]

Yeah, it looks much nicer in PC Stitch, thanks! I see what you mean about the colors being off. I compared the floss selections for both, and even though the blues are definitely better in the PC Stitch picture, it's actually using the same choices for blue in both. As soon as I can figure out where the heck I stashed my floss box, I'll have to see if I have any of the colors already (besides good old 310, that is), and then I can compare the real deal to the sprite. For the rest, I'll just have to do the comparisons in the store.

Oh, I was also wondering, what do you all recommend for aida count and strand number when it comes to stitching sprites?

I can't wait to get started on this project.

[blackmageheart]

Oh, I was also wondering, what do you all recommend for aida count and strand number when it comes to stitching sprites?

Any count is good, just depends on what you want the finished size of your sprite to be! For that one you posted earlier, I'd probably go for 18ct. And usually 2 strands of thread is enough!