I want my character to look realistic but still be cartoony

Started by oareaso, Tue 26/04/2016 06:48:14

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oareaso

Hello everyone

I want to make something look realistic but still be cartoony like oddworlds style


I gave my best shot to succeed but i always feel like i am missing something


this is Xam the protagonist

I am not aware of what mistakes i have done or that i have missed to succeed reproducing the same artstyle as oddworlds or if i can follow another artstyle similar to it. :confused:

Blondbraid

If you want it to look more like oddworld, maybe you can "Soften up" the shadows and color palette a bit, some less contrast and less dark shadows? The black outline gives Xam a very sharp look. Utherwise, I rather like the Tim Burton-like smile you gave him!


oareaso

Glad you liked the smile :grin:
I tried making a quick fix, is this that you suggest?

Blondbraid

Yes, it looks smoother, although the hair still have a lot of contrast. It might be a good idea to compare the sprites against the background images in your game to see how the fit into the world.


Danvzare

Ok, I've been thinking about this for a while, but I think the one thing that prevents this from looking realistic is the face.
The shape of the face and how it goes into a point in the center, looks too cartoony. Things are generally more bulbous and rounded.
But more importantly, that mouth. The slit looks too much like a hole, and not enough like a narrow slit. Plus the way his mouth opens... it looks somewhat like how they do it in Anime. His mouth just kinda seems to appear, rather than having any real kind of anatomy working in the background there.

The thing about Oddworld, is that all of the anatomy was realized. The muscles and bone structure, and how they all interact with each other to perform movement, were all thought out, even if it wasn't always immediately obvious.
And for me, that just seems to be missing from the face of that character. If anything, it kinda looks like he's wearing a mask.
If he is wearing a mask though, and I've been misinterpreting the picture this whole time, then it's perfect.

The rest is really nice though. :-D

Oh, and just to clarify. This is some really good top notch pixel art.
I'm just trying to help by critiquing on the area you asked. I hope I'm not being to critical.

oareaso

Quote from: Blondbraid on Tue 26/04/2016 13:07:37
Yes, it looks smoother, although the hair still have a lot of contrast. It might be a good idea to compare the sprites against the background images in your game to see how the fit into the world.

thanks for the tips, i haven't finished any background yet so i will aim for this right now :smiley:

Quote from: Danvzare on Tue 26/04/2016 18:11:32
Ok, I've been thinking about this for a while, but I think the one thing that prevents this from looking realistic is the face.
The shape of the face and how it goes into a point in the center, looks too cartoony. Things are generally more bulbous and rounded.
But more importantly, that mouth. The slit looks too much like a hole, and not enough like a narrow slit. Plus the way his mouth opens... it looks somewhat like how they do it in Anime. His mouth just kinda seems to appear, rather than having any real kind of anatomy working in the background there.

The thing about Oddworld, is that all of the anatomy was realized. The muscles and bone structure, and how they all interact with each other to perform movement, were all thought out, even if it wasn't always immediately obvious.
And for me, that just seems to be missing from the face of that character. If anything, it kinda looks like he's wearing a mask.
If he is wearing a mask though, and I've been misinterpreting the picture this whole time, then it's perfect.

The rest is really nice though. :-D

Oh, and just to clarify. This is some really good top notch pixel art.
I'm just trying to help by critiquing on the area you asked. I hope I'm not being to critical.


to tell the truth i wanted his face to look like a voodoo mask :grin:


but i agree it doesn't look alive or anatomical, i will try making the mouth smaller without hiding the smile

LameNick

I think it's a nice piece of pixel art but if you want to go more realistic, i guess more realistic lighting would be the way to go.
Perhaps paint it first with no regard to any style, thinking about light and form and then try to wind back into the pixel art style you want to achieve.
How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

oareaso

Quote from: LameNick on Wed 27/04/2016 10:59:46
I think it's a nice piece of pixel art but if you want to go more realistic, i guess more realistic lighting would be the way to go.
Perhaps paint it first with no regard to any style, thinking about light and form and then try to wind back into the pixel art style you want to achieve.


i am not good using a paint brush, how can i make the lighting more realistic?

oareaso



created a new version tried to reduce the contrast of hair, smaller mouth and i am not sure if this is more realistic lighting

LameNick

I tried to point out the aspects of lighting that maybe give you bigger sense of realism in the oddworld character illustration.


However frankly the pixel art that you made is esthetically pleasing(the only thing that is little confusing to me is the line that goes from his crotch up to his back, it gives me the impression of a butt-crack). I don't know why you would wanna push it into realism not speaking of the fact that if you do, animating it might turn into nightmare.
I don't know what's your process and what tools you use, I without a tablet and a software like photoshop wouldn't be able to render much of anything but I would suggest you to concentrate on the pixel-art esthetics, readability, design and maybe if you want to achieve more realistic lighting just stick to occlusion shadows. That's like in overcast lighting you get shadow gradients where opposing surfaces meet and slight gradient from top to bottom lighter to darker.


Also I liked the first teeth more.
How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

oareaso

LameNick thanks for all the info and suggestions, i tried making the lighting more realistic but i give up, LameNick i agree with you i will keep him like this :cheesy:

Maybe i will try to make the background have a more realistic lighting in the future but i think it will look like this for now.

Thanks everyone a lot i like Xam's new look and i have learned new stuff too, i will make sure to add your names in the special thanks credits if you wish :wink:

Blondbraid

He looks good against that backdrop, it will be interesting to see what sort of game this will be. Best of luck! :)


Mandle

Quote from: oareaso on Thu 28/04/2016 11:48:53


Man...that looks SO AWESOME!!!

I think you've aimed for a certain style and found your own instead!

And that's a million times better than pulling off a perfect copy of someone else's!

Can't wait to see where this goes!

oareaso

Mandle and Blondbraid i appreciate your interest it means a lot to me to know that the artstyle is appealing now :cheesy:

Many thanks for everything, you are all Awesome! :cool:

SilverSpook

I have to agree with Mandle; don't worry about getting it to look like Abe because your art style is great.

Actually, the character sprite looks pretty close to the Oddworld characters, the smaller ones.

Stick with it, this looks like the makings of a really awesome and aesthetic adventure game experience!

CaptainD

Quote from: Blondbraid on Thu 28/04/2016 13:45:17
He looks good against that backdrop, it will be interesting to see what sort of game this will be. Best of luck! :)

Agreed! (nod)(nod)(nod)
 

Snarky

I think it's a really cool sprite and wouldn't worry too much about whether it's "realistic" rather than cartoony.

I do think it has one problem, though: I find it a little harder than it should be to determine which leg is the right and which is the left. Just looking at it, it reads almost equally as him standing in a wide stance (leg to our left is his right), or taking a step on tippy-toe (leg to our left is his left). I see that you've darkened and made the leg to our right slightly smaller to indicate it's the far one (his right), but it's still not clear at a glance IMO (though it works better on the background than with the sprite by itself; probably because of the shadow on the ground and how you've reduced the highlight on his groin).

I think the things that contribute to the effect are first that his heels are up in a way that is more natural for walking than standing, second that this would actually be a less awkward post (the actual stance is kind of awkward in general, all pigeon-toed and splayed out), and third that the shading around the pelvis is quite confusing and can be interpreted in different ways. Maybe get rid of or at least reduce the line between his left thigh and the pelvis?

Danvzare

Quote from: Mandle on Fri 29/04/2016 02:30:31
I think you've aimed for a certain style and found your own instead!

And that's a million times better than pulling off a perfect copy of someone else's!

Agreed, 100% agreed.
Which was why I ended my criticism before, by saying just how good it was, and that I was only trying to critique on the area he asked on.

In my personal opinion. Leave it as is, and use that sprite as the basis for your artstyle. Because it is quite simply brilliant.

oareaso

Snarky

I tried reducing the lines a little, tried to fix the left leg too but failed so i let it as it is



oareaso

ok i no longer aim to make him realistic but atleast i want his moves to feel natural


here is every frame he use for the animation

[imgzoom]http://orig11.deviantart.net/3d62/f/2016/125/c/8/c8a2ea64fac6f0172f2a69108cb10815-da1d95t.gif[/imgzoom]
demostration

so any opinions?

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