1st Pixel art character atempt UPDATE!! (See botom of post)

[Revan]

Hello, this is my first attempt at a low resolution pixel character:

  x4: 


I have always liked the less is more approach, and decided that I would give it a go.

As you can see he has been hurt, and is a bit worse for wear.

I am having trouble with his face, and the shading of him.

I think the arm on the right (his left) looks out of place.

Also is there a better way to do low pixel glasses?

The colours haven't really been thought of yet, they are mostly just place holders. But any suggestions on the colours would be great.

Thanks...


Edit -

I have edited the face and some of the shading.

  x4: 


I think his head might be too big...

Also i have just thought. I am shading him with the light being on his left (And slightly behind him), but how do you shade a game character, making it generic enough so it looks right regardless of the room, yet dynamic enough that it looks good?


Update:

I have edited it some more while waiting for replies, I will leave the others up, so you can see my working out. (lol)

  x4: 


Here is a random animation (needs one more frame in the middle but I'm finding it hard to create it) :

  x4: 

[Kastchey]

It's very nice for a first attempt, low-res sprites are often tricky. I made a few corrections, but nothing major.




1. You can make his glasses less heavy-looking if you shade them like I did. Another way is to avoid drawing frames of the glasses, but that wouldn't work best in this case.
2. I made his legs and arms a bit longer. Legs should be around twice the length of the torso, and arms reach somewhere above the knees.
3. I also tried to make him look more like a wounded person, rather bent than standing straight.
4. Fixed the shading here or there. I assumed you imagined the light source somewhere on the right side of your character (his left), jusging from his hair and shirt.

By the way, is the red on his chest blood stains, or something else?

[Mr Flibble]

I think that paint over actually detracts rather than adding, in terms of the new posture. I'd leave the posture as it is.

The shading on the glasses is a good idea.

And the tie looks fine and tie-like to me.

[SpacePirateCaine]

Here comes the color police again.

Hi Revan - The biggest problem you're looking at at the moment is a kinda messy color palette. You're using a lot of colors that you don't need to when you can be reusing. There are even two different tones in your pants I didn't even see until I started adjusting the palette just to find where everything was.


Yours, then my edit, for comparison

So I knocked a few unnecessary colors off of your sprite, and gave him a pretty standard top-down shade. It's far from amazing, and more reflects my style than your own perhaps, so feel free to take and leave whatever parts of the paintover don't seem to work for you.

I also edited a few features - made his head a little thinner (Sorry if you were going for a more bobble-headed sort of look, I'm always more focused on keeping anatomy relatively accurate). I think I've maintained most of the 'bedraggled' kind of look that you seemed to be going for, and by upping the contrast, and making more 'blocks' of color, the individual features come out a whole lot more.

[Revan]

Wow.. nice... Im liking the paint overs...

Kastchey: It's meant to be a tie, and thanks for the info on hte legs / arms.. I just couldnt get it right...

SpacePirateCaine: Wow  :o liking what you have done with such a small colour pallet. I prefer your posture (and hair lol)/ colour police lol.. I knew it was a mess (I just threw them in as placeholders) I had already started cleaning it up (you may have noticed some skin tones where identical just 1 shade out lol)

I will take these into account and paint over mine (as im doing this for low resolution experience)

[Revan]

Sorry for the Bump, just wanted to draw attention to it

What do you think? It's based on SpacePirateCaine front view. I cant get the hair right tho



x4:

[Andail]

Arrgh, I sat too long with this and totally forgot what the original looked like, so now it's basically a brand new sprite.
Ah well, here's my version:

[Revan]

Arrgh, I sat too long with this and totally forgot what the original looked like, so now it's basically a brand new sprite.

haha cool... im liking it.. i actually like the way you've done the rip in the pants...

[Kastchey]

It's meant to be a tie, and thanks for the info on hte legs / arms.. I just couldnt get it right...

Maybe that made me think that this guy is more badly hurt than he really is, in this case your pose (and the pose in the paintovers) is perfectly fine. Forget my point 3.

And since you made a distinction between the right and the left side view (the right side view shows his wounded knee), how about changing the light and shadows accordingly? If you have your light source on the right side, then you could make his back lightened in the left view.

Also if you plan on using the 'clean' shading style, like in both SpacePirateCaine's and Andail's paintovers, you could try to get rid of the single dots flying around everywhere. Pixels come in packs you know... say dark blue area, then light blue area, then dark blue area again, rather than 'light pixel, dark pixel, light pixel, dark pixel'.

[Trent R]

rather than 'light pixel, dark pixel, light pixel, dark pixel'.

Isn't that what dithering is?


As for the sprite, the side view looks really stiff--even to the point of arching his back and sticking out his butt. Also, the right-facing looks like he has a chunk missing from his leg... I'd fill that pixel in with a flesh tone.

[Edit]: Just realized why it looks like his butt is sticking out! If you follow the wavy curve from the top of his head...

Crappy example? Probably.


~Trent

[monkey0506]

His butt's not sticking out at all. His butt is completely and utterly flat. It's his massive oak-tree thighs that are clogging up his arteries. So either the buttox area should be raised to a reasonable location, or the thighs should be thinned. However you look at it, it will vastly improve the sprite.

I also find it difficult in the side view distinguishing that he's wearing glasses. It just looks like he's wearing eyeliner and he has creepy yellow eyes.

Anyway, overall a really strong start for your first sprite.

[Kastchey]

rather than 'light pixel, dark pixel, light pixel, dark pixel'.

Isn't that what dithering is?

It is, but dithering works better when applied to larger areas. Or if you want to use it as a texture effect. Low res character sprites don't use dithering too much.. see these examples: Dithering styles

[Revan]

Thanks guys, lots of info coming in, all helpful, I'll keep at the character. Also does anyone else get reminded of Marty McFly every time they look at Andail's sprite? lol

Also could anyone give me a couple of hints towards animating a natural looking walk cycle?