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glunty // Leonardo lessons

Make your own game sprite

Design a game character or item, control its style, view, and colors, then generate real sprite art you could actually drop into a game.

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    01

    Dream up your game world

    Every game lives somewhere. A dark cave? A candy planet? A rainy city where it never stops raining?

    You do not need the whole game today. You just need the world your art will live in.

    Type one short line: where does your game happen?

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    02

    Pick ONE thing to make

    Game art gets built one piece at a time. Each piece is called a sprite - a single image like a hero, a coin, or a sword.

    Pick just ONE to make today: a character OR an item. One is plenty.

    Type what your sprite is.

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    03

    Name it

    A name makes it real. It stops being 'a character' and becomes someone.

    Short and fun beats long and fancy.

    Type a name for your sprite.

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    04

    Give it a personality

    Art feels alive when it shows who or what something is.

    Is your character brave, sleepy, or sneaky? Is your item magic, rusty, or glowing?

    Type 2 to 4 words that describe it.

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    05

    Choose the camera view

    'View' means where the camera sits. It totally changes how a sprite looks.

    Side view is for side-scrollers like Mario. Top-down looks straight down like old Zelda. Front view stares right back at you.

    Type the view you want.

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    06

    Pick your art style

    Style is the LOOK. Pixel art is blocky and retro. Chibi is cute with a big head. Hand-drawn looks like a storybook.

    There is no wrong pick. Choose the one that feels like your game.

    Type your art style.

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    07

    Choose your colors

    A palette is your set of colors. Picking colors on purpose makes art look designed, not random.

    Name 2 to 4 colors that go together. Pros keep the list small.

    Type your palette.

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    08

    Add your secret ingredient

    This is where it becomes YOURS. Add one tiny detail nobody else would think of.

    A glowing feather in the hat. A crack shaped like a smile. A little sidekick bug on the shoulder.

    Type your one signature detail.

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    09

    Open Leonardo and get set up

    Time to meet your tool. Go to Leonardo and make a free account.

    Find the Image Generation page. Set the shape to a square (1:1) - sprites are usually square so they drop into a game neatly.

    Type the canvas shape you picked so you remember it.

    Open Leonardo (new tab)
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    10

    Test a quick draft first

    Smart artists test small before going big. Copy this simple prompt, paste it into Leonardo's prompt box, and hit Generate.

    This is just a rough first look. It does not have to be perfect - you are only checking that the tool works.

    Watch the images appear. Which one is closest to your idea?

    what will really happen

    Leonardo gives you a grid of options to pick from.

    It mangles hands, faces, and small details and edges can come out messy.

    It often ignores part of your prompt, like your exact colors or that one signature detail.

    Open Leonardo (new tab)
    Game asset sprite of [name], a [asset] set in [world]. [style] style, [view]. Single subject, centered on a plain background, clean crisp edges.
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    Build your real game-art prompt

    Now go full power. This adds your palette, your personality, and your signature detail - all the control the quick draft was missing.

    Tap to build your prompt. The page fills in every choice you made.

    Copy it, paste it into Leonardo, and Generate. THIS one is your real sprite.

    Open Leonardo (new tab)
    Do the steps above and your Your game-art prompt shows up here.
    hold on - judge it, do not celebrate
    • Is this the sprite you imagined, or just the first thing it made?
    • Did it actually include your signature detail, or skip it?
    • What would you tweak to make it truly YOURS?

    Did you regenerate to get your detail right, or accept the draft?

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    Ship it to the class wall

    You made real game art from your own brain. Do not let it hide on your screen.

    Download your favorite sprite from Leonardo, then post it on the class wall with a line about your game world.

    Tag it #GLUNTY so everyone can see the world only you would build.

The class wall - share yours

Loading the class wall...

You made real game art!

You designed a sprite that came straight from your own head - your world, your colors, and one weird detail no AI would guess on its own. Nobody else on Earth has this exact art, and it is ready to drop into a real game.

Embedded tool from glunty.com