Tar Man

Nine Toes · Sat 31/12/2005 02:44:33

I've been trying to make a sprite of the "Tar Man" zombie from Return Of The Living Dead. But, I'm having a little trouble. I've been working on his head for about 2 hours now, and I can't quite seem to get it to look right (at least to me, anyway). It's a little difficult to get it to look right because the sprite, so far, is very small.

So, I thought I'd ask for some of your help...

These are the heads.

Here's a little blow-up for you:

...And here is my reference image:

EDIT: Sorry about that...

Any suggestions? Do I already have a head that looks just fine? I know it's a dumb question, but it's really bugging the crap out of me.

Haddas · Sat 31/12/2005 02:47:37

Yes. Change image hosting for starters. About the actual sprite. I think it is great, but as long as i can't see the referrence image I won't tell you if it looks like him or not.

mozza · Sat 31/12/2005 03:05:02

I think it already looks pretty good. Maybe make the colour on top of his head a little bit darker because it looks kind of like he has a cat on his head or something. :p
And if possible make the eyes a little larger and put the pupil in the middle like in the reference pic. I know it would be hard because of the size.

EDIT: I did a quick paintover. I changed the colour of the top of the head a bit.

Akumayo · Sat 31/12/2005 03:58:22

I like mozza's paintover, but I think the spots on the head should be an even darker shade of orangish than he did even, because in the picture, it appears that the orange on the head is just th elighting, and in your sprites (and mozza's too a little) it looks like he's wearing a bald cap that's the wrong color for his face or something weird like that. So, maybe darken the top colors a few shades more, maybe like, -10 luminance would do it.

Nine Toes · Sat 31/12/2005 04:10:49

Actually, that orange on the top of his head is supposed to be like that. It's like that in the movie:

Here's a model someone did:

I do like Mozza's paint over. Although, I will try to reduce the luminance some.

Cool beans, boys.

Akumayo · Sat 31/12/2005 04:15:22

Ahh, I did not know about the orange, (never even heard of Tar Man 'till now), sorry

mozza · Sat 31/12/2005 04:17:33

I haven't actually seen the movie so $:-\$
But in that pic you have in your second post it looks as if it is a scald or burn of some sort to the skin. I tried changing the eyes without changing the size of the sprite but I couldn't get it to work. I am starting to think Ã,Â that the eyes are actually what makes it look different. In all of the pictures of the movie etc. his eyes are wide open as if he has no eyelids.
Best of luck.

Nine Toes · Sat 31/12/2005 04:49:56

I fixed it a little.

1. I mixed some new orange-ish browns for the top of the head.
2. I tried widening the eyes.

In the first row is the original.
The second row shows the eyes wider, but with that dopey, almost sad-looking thing he's got going on with his eyebrows in the first reference photo.
The third row shows his eyes full open.

Akumayo · Sat 31/12/2005 04:51:53

I think it looks like the recognizable him now! Good job!

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Sat 31/12/2005 07:34:21

I love Return of the Living Dead 1 and 2, and Tarman is one of the most visually interesting zombies of all time so I decided to do a little paintover.

Things I did:

1. The reason why Tarman's head looks brown at the top is because the layer of black 'tar' is thinnest up there, showing more of the skull and flesh which helps to create a brownish tinge. Lower down I changed the values to black and the highlights to white (like one of the photos).

2. Added some ears, made the sockets curved more like eyebrows (as in the photo).

It could still use some lighting improvement around the jaw and such but it may give you some ideas. Hope you like it.

LGM · Sat 31/12/2005 08:09:55

haha! I love Tar Man. Such a great piece in that movie.

Haddas · Sat 31/12/2005 13:00:44

I don't know man. I think progzmax won. He got the mix perfectly. Before the orange top looked like hair or a hat of some sorts.

Nine Toes · Sat 31/12/2005 14:07:59

Yeah, ProgZMax nailed it right on the nuts. But I appreciate all of the help Akumayo, Mozza, and everyone else gave.

I'm still working on mine. Maybe I'll repost with it when I'm finished. Awesome Piece, ProgZ. I wish I had the patience to put that kind of detail into something so small.

Corey · Sat 31/12/2005 15:40:56

I'm bored to dead here because everyone is gone and every 5 or 10 sec theres a pang of firework driving me crazy.
So I thought I could make a fast dawning of his head too. anway, here it is.

Krysis · Sat 31/12/2005 18:03:46

And yet another paintover

voh · Mon 02/01/2006 23:14:14

Quote from: Corey on Sat 31/12/2005 15:40:56

Resizing an image and removing the background isn't "drawing". It also isn't a "sprite" as it is usually meant around here.

stu · Tue 03/01/2006 20:55:12

why does he look so damn happy?

surely he should be in pain!

Mozesh · Tue 03/01/2006 22:04:36

Here's my paint over, that's the fourth one now

EDIT:
The same with the newer colors: