noob token question

I want to draw a character ingame on the roll20 map, then turn it into a player or monster token. Is there a way to do this? Or do I need to draw in another software and upload to roll20? I would prefer a way to do it all ingame, on the roll20 map where everyone can see it, so I can easily make the token while we are playing.

You must have some mad skills if you can make a decent looking token from within the Roll20 VTT! The drawing tools are primitive, at best.  Regardless, I don't believe there is a way to get the drawings into an image in your art library that you can put into a character avatar or default token, so your best bet is with 3rd party software, save image, and import.

Thanks David. My art skills are primitive so I thought it a good match. When I DM I am used to drawing everything as it happens (on a white board) and I was hoping to translate that to roll20. The closest I have come is taking a screen shot and trying to crop it in paint and upload it real quick, but that is too many actions right now to keep the game immersive. The other approach I am working on is Grouping my picture ontop of the existing token, then ungrouping when the monster needs its sheet, but I dont think this works well for players. I am pretty sure for maps and battle maps, i can use the drawing tools spontaneously during the session. But if you get any ideas for workarounds, please let me know, Im completely new to vtt.

I understand your response better now. You are saying I need to get my drawing into the art library, and that is complicated because I cannot copy from VTT and paste anywhere other than the VTT, and there is no functionality in roll20 to save anything I draw in game.

Yep, you got it! Drawing maps in real time still works fine if you like that feel over searching for pre-made or creating your own illustrated maps, just like it would irl on a Chessex map or a whiteboard. Token art (for PCs & npcs) is another thing, though. There are several free token creation tools out there, like TokenTool, that are super easy to use. Just grab some art off of Google images, import and make a few decisions on borders, zoom levels (works best with a head or torso-up zoom), backgrounds, etc. Then export the token image from that 3rd party software and upload to your art library. Bada-bing, you're done! You can create folders in your library to organize if you want, or add tags to help with searchability later. Your players can send you art for their PCs so you can make the tokens in a uniform style, possibly with different borders or background colors to easily distinguish from npcs. Not sure what system you are using, but if D&D 5E I would highly recommend purchasing the monster manual, as all the creature tokens (including art) are already set up and linked to their respective character sheets with skills & attacks ready to go out of the box. Just drag & drop, huge time saver. If you are playing a system that doesn't have Compendium access via the Marketplace, you're stuck doing it manually. Djimmi said: I understand your response better now. You are saying I need to get my drawing into the art library, and that is complicated because I cannot copy from VTT and paste anywhere other than the VTT, and there is no functionality in roll20 to save anything I draw in game.

i see. there is a lot of nice artwork out there. it would be nice to be able to copy from the VTT and paste and save into my art library. then make it a token. then as i tell a story, i can be drawing the token and players can see me draw while they hear me tell. then the token i make, that i have been telling about, can spring into action, and they can respond by moving about the grid, slowly dying, or quickly in the case of some.

I just began making maps in roll20 too. The first attempt was frustrating, so i photo'd my graph paper map and imported it. That was worse! So I've spent the last week making maps and each one gets easier. As noted above, the drawing tools are primative so it will take time to develop a system that works for you. I've been starting out with the polygon/line tool and holding down shift to keep it aligned to the grid. I draw as much of the map in this way as possible, counting squares and following my graph paper drawing. Then I switch to using other tools and drop in art. If you haven't watched the tutorial, do so. There is an awful lot in there, but some of it will come in handy. Another thing I've done is drawn a map on plain, non-graph paper or found an overhead, top-down photograph and imported the photo. You can scale it without worrying about grid lines in the photo. Recently I drew a cave system with colored pencils, imported it, then dropped in free art to give it personality (dead bodies and blood). I've also found top-down nature photos of that look like a combat encounter could happen there. Anyhow, I'm still learning but I feel like I've sped up a lot in the past week.

I actually like the map making tools. I really dont care for super detailed art, but I am trying to create everything while we play, in a polyart style using the polygons and circles, outlined and filled. It comes out quite nice. I prefer to make things during the game session, I have found that over prepping content detracts from the playing experience. I am looking for a solution that dosent interrupt the immersion as much. Right now I can pull off my style fine, but if I draw out a spider, and move it into attack, I cannot attach the spider sheet without using other softwares and uploading and telling the players to wait. Also, if I want to draw and describe a magic sword, and a player wants to grab it, i can not easily attach it to their player token, and the art styles will not match, where as if I have drawn their character, and later the sword, i can attach the sword, if the sword breaks, i can break the sword, if it is covered in the blood of evil deeds, i can draw in blood droplets and make them well about the players feet and soak into their boots as their toes become sticky with dried blood and sweat. i prefer a more isometric viewpoint to the topdown approach, and i can control this nicely with my own drawing. If I am going in full prep style, I have no issues with using a Token Tool and pro art, or drawing out a map and uploading it, right now I am trying for an in session solution, like David suggested, if I could copy my little token from the VTT(which I can) and save it in the Art Library(which I cannot) then I could quickly convert without interrupting story time. Or, if I could click on my art token i made on VTT and have the same options as the tokens i drop from my Art Library, then im good. Are we allowed to hack in a solution? not that i can