--- title: "Making Of Pirates VS Ninjas Art" description: "Our artist Oleksiy Beztsinnyy shares the process of creating art for Pirates VS Ninjas. Pirates VS Ninjas is a two players strategy game for iOS and Android. It took around 6 weeks to complete all the graphics. In total there are 14 unique unit types. Each has at least 3 types of animations. Oleksiy also created icon, logo and all the menu screens." url: https://manytomany.co/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/ published: 2014-03-29 --- # Making Of Pirates VS Ninjas Art 29 March 2014 · Oleksiy Beztsinnyy This is an archived article from the website of Factorial Complexity Ltd., an older incarnation of many-to-many. Information may be outdated or inaccurate. _Our artist Oleksiy Beztsinnyy shares the process of creating art for Pirates VS Ninjas. Pirates VS Ninjas is a two players strategy game for [iOS](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pirates-versus-ninjas-2-player/id667901021?mt=8) and [Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.familyroomgames.piratesvsninjas). It took around 6 weeks to complete all the graphics. In total there are 14 unique unit types. Each has at least 3 types of animations. Oleksiy also created icon, logo and all the menu screens._ Among the first things I have created logo and main menu screen. Got some references and started picking colors and fonts. Also created some sketches of how things would look. ![Pirates vs Ninjas game concept art showing main character designs](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-1.jpg?2042307c8b) Picked the colors and added more details to Pirate and Ninja characters to be used on main menu screen. ![Sketch artwork showing pirate character development process](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-2.jpg?1bbf873907) After sketch is ready, repainted everything in vector for polished and scalable result. ![Digital art creation process for ninja character design](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-3.jpg?b6ac2a5a04) Picked the fonts and created menu elements: logo and buttons. ![Color study and shading techniques for game character art](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-4.jpg?dfa4cd60a6) Done with the style for menus. Then it was time to create first stage background. That is where the battles take place. In the game we had just 2 stages: the pirate ship deck and the yard of ninja dojo. First sketch: ![Background environment art for Pirates vs Ninjas game scenes](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-5.jpg?b11377e65d) Then painted every separate object in Photoshop. We don’t need stage background to have many details, so they don’t distract player from battle itself. ![Detailed texture work and lighting effects in game art](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-6.jpg?d271548e09) The largest part of the work were units and their animations. As always I started with hand-drawn sketch. ![Final polished character renders for Pirates vs Ninjas game](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-7.jpg?4c0a0944f0) After designs were confirmed by product owner, I had created production ready versions them in Adobe Flash. ![Game UI and interface element design artwork](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-8.jpg?2763ae1eb5) Each of the unit was made in 3 colors: red, green and blue, and had at least three animations. Here is how Komodo Dragon’s animations look like. Idle: ![Animated sprite creation process showing character movement](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-9.gif?25c6feb2b6) Walk: ![Combat animation sequences for Pirates vs Ninjas characters](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-10.gif?fd5d68a344) Fire: ![Special effects and particle animations for game battles](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-11.gif?70303d0e89) All units needed a black outline around them to fit nicely into the environment. Adding that inside the Flash seemed tricky, so I used Adobe Photoshop automation for that. Here is how everything looks in the game: ![Final game screenshot showing completed Pirates vs Ninjas artwork](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-12.jpg?4703688a86) One final touch is an application icon. Having a nice icon is super important for number of downloads in Apple App Store. I reused the same characters from the main menu and added few nice effects. ![Game logo design and branding elements for Pirates vs Ninjas](https://drw9cjciukmjl.cloudfront.net/blog/making-of-pirates-vs-ninjas-art/pirates-vs-ninjas-13.png?d1df5f85d4) Game is free and available for [iOS](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pirates-versus-ninjas-2-player/id667901021?mt=8) and [Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.familyroomgames.piratesvsninjas). Have a look and let me know, what you think. By the way, you also can check a fun article on [8 Best Turn-Based Android Games](https://joyofandroid.com/best-turn-based-android-games/) ![Vitalii](https://manytomany.co/vitalii-yellow.png) ## Hi. I'm Vitalii. I’m a software developer, technical manager and solo entrepreneur. I have been building software products all my life. 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