In order to add a character to our game, we need to either use a pre-existing sprite that we have rights to or create a sprite first.
To create a sprite we will need graphic design software or image editing software, like the one shown in the following screenshot:
There is a wide and diverse range of software of varying features, ease of use, and prices. The most well-known and widely used image editing software in the game development industry are: Photoshop, Xara, and Paint.NET. Paint.NET is free to use and can be downloaded from http://www.getpaint.net.
Once we have downloaded the software, we create our character sprite. A character sprite is a 2D image of a character and can be made of a single image or multiple images. We will create our character from multiple images since it helps when animating the character as the different body parts will be able to move independently.