Create an 8-Bit Style in After Effects

8-bit Forever!

The first tutorial from Charles Yeager caught my eye today and then I thought, well why not expand on the  8-bit theme and give you all something really good today! Combine several of the techniques explained here and have one amazing 8-bit Nintendo-style animation!

1. Quick Tip: Create an 8-bit Style in After Effects

This will get you started with the basics. AE Tuts+ and Charles Yeager bring you a two minute After Effects tutorial on creating the 8-bit look using Posterize, Mosaic, and Hue/Saturation. He shows how to save this as a preset to speed up your workflow.

2. After Effects Tutorial: Retro 8-Bit Video Game Title Screen

This one comes from Thinkmojo and is a bit more involved than the previous two. He goes over how to create a reflection, how to use the loopOut() expression to cycle the animation, and also how to create that 8-bit look with Mosaic and Posterize in After Effects.

3. How to Animate Retro Pixel Art in After Effects, 8-bit Style

This one comes from Nick Morris at AE Tuts+. He explains the workflow for taking pixel art from ASEprite into Photoshop and then finally into an HD comp in After Effects.

4. Creating 8-Bit Animation

This is an interesting tutorial because the artist is singing while he works! He starts off by making a character with a unibrow in Photoshop and then takes it into After Effects to create the lipsync. He does this manually but I would suggest using a plug-in called MamoWorld Auto Lip-Sync, which allows you to create a mouth that automatically animates according to your voice recording.