Jake art work

Started by Cassiebsg, Wed 23/04/2014 19:36:58

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Cassiebsg

While I my work on the BSG game sluggish it self forward, I got and idea for another game... And while for the BSG I want the art just right, as well as I need to spend some time with the story writing, this one I don't want to focus too much in the art.
It'll also keep me free from a known universe, meaning I can focus a bit more on the coding/scripting of the game... :)

Anyway, I've been working on Jake a 10-12 year old boy. And am currently working on his sprites, while I've already created 3 rooms for the game.

I've finally managed to get Corel to work for me, even if in a painfull way. Using Corel Photo-Paint to great the art, then Corel Draw to rotate objects (for creating animations) and back to Photo-Paint to retouch the sprites and save them as png. It's a bit of a pain, but it works.

Anyway, posting here my first "decent" walk cycle... Feel free to bash it to death. :D
Just looking for some feedback about what might be/feel weird with his walk.

[IMGzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/Jake_RW.gif[/IMGzoom]

[IMGzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/Jake_RW1.png[/IMGzoom] [IMGzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/Jake_RW2.png[/IMGzoom] [IMGzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/Jake_RW3.png[/IMGzoom] [IMGzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/Jake_RW4.png[/IMGzoom] [IMGzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/Jake_RW5.png[/IMGzoom] [IMGzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/Jake_RW6.png[/IMGzoom] [IMGzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/Jake_RW7.png[/IMGzoom] [IMGzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/Jake_RW8.png[/IMGzoom]
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Ghost

Not too bad. Frames 3-6 create an arkward jerking motion for head and torso; movement in that region is usually smoother since the spine takes most of the recoil. It also looks as if you've using body sements- there are visible gaps and "joints" that could be smoothened. But basically a nice start.

The workflow you describe sounds terrible though. I'm no fan of Corel so I am clearly biased, but since you're creating a low-res, non-AA sprite anyway, I'd suggest you take a look at GraphixGale. It's easy to use, free, and you can do everything in ONE workspace.

Retro Wolf

+1 for Graphics Gale, I like to "sculpt" sprites using the arrow keys on the keyboard.

I feel like your guy's feet shouldn't be flat all of the time, how to explain it? The ball of the foot?

Cassiebsg

Thanks Ghost, I'll check that prog out. I tried Gimp, but can't get the hang of it.
I can see that the arm/shoulder moved a pixel or two too high. Will try and fix it. :)
And yes, I just created a side view, and then broke the picture into segments/objects I could rotate/move.

@Oldschool_Wolf, I didn't bother rotating the feet, or the hands... even the arm I didn't break it in 2. So I know those need a little tweak.
Feet should not take that long to fix since there's not that many pixels there, so it should be an easy fix. Arms am not sure I'll bother. Not for the purpose of this one game... don't know yet. ;)
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Gribbler

I'd also recommend GraphicGale. Graphics for The Bum were created entirely in that program. It's a great piece of free software for pixel art.

Ghost

Quote from: Cassiebsg on Wed 23/04/2014 22:32:04
And yes, I just created a side view, and then broke the picture into segments/objects I could rotate/move.

Many people do that; so nothing wrong with it- there's even an AGS Walkcycle Generator that works on the very idea and it's pretty good. Just remember to cover up gaps and you should be fine.
My own approach is different though (and more work-intense)- I use a body without arms and legs, shift it around, and draw the limbs frame-by-frame. It's clearly more work, even in low-res sprites, but the result's pretty pleasing and well worth the effort.

What I forgot to mention above, you're using bounce/recoil to good effect. Just so you know, you did something many people forget and it didn't go unnoticed! ;-D

Giraffadon

Nice sprite!

Just thought i'd say that the back shape on frame 7 would add a lot to the rest of the frames,
it wouldn't be a drastic alteration either.

Cassiebsg

#7
@Ghost, I may have not produced much yet, but I have spent many hours trying to find good reference walk cycles. ;) I hope the bounce/recoil isn't too exaggerated though, think the up position was the hardest to do, since it involved rotating the body as well as extending it slightly (maybe the leg should be a bit more straight?
And yes, ideally drawing all sprites and positions would be preferably. I just don't think I have the patience or will to do it at this point, when am just trying to grasp the concepts and don't want to use too much time with graphics.

@Giraffadon, Thanks. :) you mean the shape of the sprite's back? If so, will try and work that in. :)


I did for the most part tried to fill in the gaps, and redo some of the shadings, so it would fit the new position, but guess there's still some odd pixels here and there that need fixing.

I have now installed GraphicGale and have stumbled into an odd thing when opening my png files... Frame 3 have 2-3 other "frames" hidden on an alpha channel, and some of the other files seem to still have a black rectangle around that I used to ensure I was importing the file from Corel Draw into Photo-Paint at the same size. I had deleted them... or so I thought. .
This is happening with frames 1, 3, 4, 5 & 7.
Do you guys know how I can get rid of these stuff? Cause I can figure out how to turn alpha channel on/off, but no idea how to delete them.

EDIT.

Okay, done some clean up and fixes. Please let me know if something still looks odds... Oh, and love GraphicGale! Finally one prog that has an original size window, so I can see what am doing in real time! :D

[IMGzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/New/Jake_RW.gif[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/New/Jake_RW1.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/New/Jake_RW2.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/New/Jake_RW3.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/New/Jake_RW4.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/New/Jake_RW5.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/New/Jake_RW6.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/New/Jake_RW7.png[/imgzoom] [imgzoom]http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww258/Cassiebsg/Jake/New/Jake_RW8.png[/imgzoom]
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Giraffadon

Quote from: Gribbler on Wed 23/04/2014 22:42:54
I'd also recommend GraphicGale. Graphics for The Bum were created entirely in that program. It's a great piece of free software for pixel art.

Kudos to you sir!
After d/l and 5 mins of play i had a big grin on my face :-D

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