Well darkjak hand draws them first then adds more detail on the computer and i think zanzaba does too.

lrn2read

Haha, actually when I say handdrawn, it's my term for "made on the computer using only my own hands, as opposed to filters, layer styles, or any other computing algorithm, to make it.

For the sharp lines, I use two things to my advantge, the larger canvas and pixel brushes. Mostly the sharpness you see is due to the larger canvas. 512x512 looks even sharper. However, that will be lost on resizing so before you buy any head, you really should see the ingame version.

There are really pro artists here too. I just do this as a minor hobby. I have to look at something I draw for a while to break it down into colors and lines instead of entire objects. I think the longer you do it, the more experienced your eye gets, and the more patterns you see.

I started off way worse :]

Look at that! I managed to sort out the glowing, then i had problems with mapping to a sphere because it had multiple layers, then i figured out that i had to merge them down to each other to make it look non-mutated, that isn't my best texture and my art still sucks but i'm learning how to use some of the more advanced features of gimp now!


EDIT:
I got transparent textures going too:

Nice progress, keep going at it.

I still cant work out how darkjak got the head to be that detailed though...

P.S.

My 300th post, YAY!!

Lots of practice and talent.