DIY: Thumbnail, Artwork, and Scratch Features

Today we will be reviewing how to create a good thumbnail, tips and tricks to master the scratch art tools, and some features like how to get a project or studio featured how to make a quick mouse trail, and more! Only in this DIY Scratch post!

• How to Get a Project or Studio Featured

• In order for a project to get featured you need to propose the project tough a studio I will link later. To propose a project in this studio;

• - You must be a Scratcher (if you are a New Scratcher, wait until you become a Scratcher)

• - The project must be made by someone other than you

• - The project must follow the Community Guidelines

• These are the kind of things they are looking for:

• - simple projects

• - complex projects

• - projects that show an innovative use of Scratch

• - projects that promote collaboration and remixing - projects by people who haven’t been on the front page a lot already

• - projects that different kinds of people would find enjoyable

• - projects that inspire

• Please note that proposing a project does not mean they will feature it-- they are only looking for suggestions. They use lots of methods to find projects to feature, so we often feature stuff that wasn't suggested! If you want me to suggest one of your projects don't hesitate to ask!

• Here is the studio for a project to get featured:

• Propose Projects to be Featured (2/1/2021 - ?) - Scratch Studio

• Studios can also get featured here is the link:

• Propose Studios to Be Featured - Discuss Scratch

• Artwork Tips & Tricks

• If you press and hold "Alt" for about 5 seconds, it will create a copy of the sprite you have selected. This is better than the copy button because it creates a copy of the sprite and doesn't move the copy, which I found very useful in developing artwork in games specifically "Spacewar!".

• When you want to make a sprite longer, wider, or bigger, try pressing and holding "Alt" while reshaping it! That will allow you to make everything get changed by the same degree. For example, when you stretch it to make it wider, instead of stretching only on one side, it stretches both sizes equally.

• If you want to select a group of sprites (for example, to copy two dots on each side of the spaceships in "Spacewar!") then you select one of them and then press and hold "Shift" and select the other one (you can use this for any number of selections not just two).

• If you want to rotate a sprite on exact 45-degree angles, to be precise, then press and hold "Shift" while rotating!

• Thumbnail and Mouse Trail Code

• Every good game has to have an appealing thumbnail. A thumbnail shouldn't be too crowded, it should have about three main things in it (i.e., player, enemy, or other objects). But on the other hand, it should not be too bland. As a rule of thumb, (pun intended) it should be also appealing to your targeted audience! The code to the thumbnail is off to the left.

• Here is some code for a great mouse trail! Feel free to change the size, number of steps and effect! Have fun!

Thank you for viewing this post and stay tuned for more DIY posts!