Gamer Grrlz

These are just some of the most common questions I come across when approached by people interested in bead spriting. To any visitors…I hope this FAQ answers your questions.

What IS that?

Its known as a “bead sprite”, a picture composed of fuseable plastic beads, arranged carefully on a grid and melted together to create a solid image. The word “sprite” refers to the many 8 or 16 bit pixel art characters available via the web, from various video games and other media.

What kind of “beads” do you use?

They are known as Perler beads, which many of us in North America are familiar with from childhood. I also use a so called “British” (used widely in Europe but technically Danish) Perler, known as Hama, which includes a few handy colors that Perler does not. I use virtually every Perler color (except some of the neon ones), and of the Hama I use dark red, maroon, army green, dark brown, light blue, and all the fleshtones.

How are they arranged?

On a pegboard-like grid. I use tweezers to carefully put them in place. Pegboards can be purchased where most Perler beads are sold.

How big are the grids, pixel-wise?

29 by 29 beads.

How many colors are in the Perler bead palette?

Approximately 53 known colors.

Where do you buy your beads?

While I used to (and occasionally still) purchase from http://www.perlerbeads.com, I find that BlueNDash is cheaper for Perler beads and gives you plenty of free ones for ordering, too. For the Hama beads, I order from Ebay seller Callahan13, who also has rare Perler colors and 50 colors to choose from in bulk packages from 10-50,000. Very few stores sell Perler beads nowadays. You will not be able to get individual colors from a store. Michael’s Crafts sells a good amount of accessories and bead mixes, but again, no individual colors. You will have to purchase single colors in multiple quantities online. If you do visit Michael’s Crafts in a pinch, I highly recommend the “Pet Mix”, which contains Peach, Light Brown (Tan), Brown, White, Black, Gray, and Rust. You can also find pegboards, tweezers, and ironing paper there, as well as starter sets, 11,000 count bead mixes, and other kid-themed Perler bead mixes.

How many beads do your projects take?

It just depends on which one. A standard Mario sprite might only take a few dozen beads. My largest project totaled appx 10,000 beads.

Do you use original pictures, or do you use a “guide”?

A little of both. Some are directly ripped from games, some are created from scratch to be *from* a game, TV show, movie, anime, etc. Many times, even the copyrighted artwork needs changes and heavy customization. I’ve even used Photoshop to pixelate a few items I’ve needed for my pieces (Mosaic and Posterize! I love it!). Its really a grab-bag of options.

Do you have a cross stitch pattern I can use to make my own sprite patterns?

No, I do not. Unfortunately the only free online source to do so is no longer working.

Can you direct me to a place for sprites?

I’m sorry, you will have to do that on your own. Many characters have several sprite versions available and find the right one for you is a task only *you* can complete. I suggest using the term “sprite” when you search the Internet for the right picture, and use Google Images to help. You may find what you need by searching deviantART or Flickr with your desired character + the word “sprite”. You can also visit these general sprite resource sites. Be sure to credit any original work:

http://www.chronomorphosis.com/azha/ Contains “template” sprites, which you can use to create original character sprites of your own. Requires credit.

http://cardgallery.tales-tra.com/cards.htm This has many different sprites, from Zelda to KOS-MOS. However, all are custom, so credit is required. These sprites are stunning so please, please, please do not fail to give credit.

http://www.spriters-resource.com/ Most of the sprite sheets there probably don’t necessarily need credit because they are from such common games…but take hed, some are custom. Be sure to read the disclaimer on each sheet. While I’m not sure if sprites fall under their guidelines of required credit (as you won’t be posting the sheets, just a sprite from), it may be wise to do so anyway.

http://www.spritestitch.com/?tag=pattern Sprite Stitch has a growing collection of patterns with unique projects for cross stitch or other mediums. Be sure to check out their forums for help with a project.

http://tsgk.captainn.net/ General sprites.

http://www.sprites-inc.co.uk/ A lot of Megaman stuff but their forums have things too. Check credit requirements carefully.

Can you tell me how to make your piece ____?

My apologies, but no. It took a lot of time and effort on my part to make these and recreating them is as simple as looking at them. In other words, you don’t need me to tell you how :)

Do you have any helpful sites or resources to get me started?

http://www.spritestitch.com
http://www.spriters-resource.com

What is required to start making Perler bead sprites?

It really depends on how far you want to go. My earliest work was done sorting beads from a huge 30,000 mixed bucket from Michaels, some cheap Perler Tweezers, and four lousy pegboards. We’re talking, 25 bucks worth of materials. But if you want to start off doing the “good” stuff right away, I suggest having at least 15-20 pegboards, at least two sets of tweezers, 2,000 each of 8 different Hama colors, 2,000 of all Perler colors except black (10,000), white (5,000), dark grey (4,000) and grey (4,000). The total price of that can vary wildly depending on the area you’re being shipped to, and who you order from, but comes to at least a few hundred dollars.

How many hours did it take you to do ____?

Its very hard to calculate the hours spent, as I never finish a piece in one sitting, and many hours go into choosing and customizing a sprite before I ever put bead to pegboard. Many take anywhere between six to 20 or more hours. Smaller ones can take a mere five to 30 minutes.

Do you sell your work?

Of course. A simple email for a price inquiry is all that is needed. I accept Paypal and have a store open at Etsy, at http://www.etsy.com/shop/hollygreengeekcraft.