A gentleman among Pirate Captains

Zaidyer · Mon 17/07/2006 22:07:51

One of several ideas I have going for an adventure game is a beginner's project starring a pirate captain. As if the world didn't have enough pirate-themed adventure games already, right?
(Blame Pirates of the Caribbean for this one.)

Anyway, here's Edward Artemis, captain of the "Commodore's Scourge".

I used the techniques outlined in Project Sphinx to draw this one. The sepia-tone background was a deliberate choice to frame the color scheme of the character, giving him an old-timey look.

Captain Artemis himself is surprisingly intelligent for a pirate, being both stately and manipulative. This is why none of his eyes or limbs are missing; he just gets somebody else to do the dangerous work, or finds an alternate means to ensure his success. Through the opening chapter of his story, the player will find that he's completely willing to sacrifice his entire crew to acquire a valuable treasure, being reasonably sure he can draft a new one. (A task which itself will involve a lot of trickery and misdirection.)

Comments and alterations are welcome.

fred · Mon 17/07/2006 22:27:07

Great sprite. Only thing I think should be worked on is the eyes, they look a little strange in the unscaled version.

Also, I think it sounds like an interesting character design for a villain.

Kiddie · Mon 17/07/2006 23:17:03

I like it! However, the only thing really I see wrong (and it's not really WRONG as in wrong wrong), it's a bit small in my opinion. I just put it in a 320x240 scene and there's plenty of room left over. You could probably fit about 100 equally sized characters in there comfortably.

Personally, I'd up his size a little to give him a bit more detail.

Haddas · Mon 17/07/2006 23:37:32

I'd think he'd looked a little more cool/shady with his hat tilted over his eyes

Gregjazz · Tue 18/07/2006 00:47:26

Quote from: Zaidyer on Mon 17/07/2006 22:07:51
I used the techniques outlined in Project Sphinx to draw this one. The sepia-tone background was a deliberate choice to frame the color scheme of the character, giving him an old-timey look.

I actually thought "wow, that looks like the Project Sphinx style" before I even read what you wrote. Good work!

Penguinx · Tue 18/07/2006 03:00:27

Very nice. I'd definitely like to see more.

Zaidyer · Tue 18/07/2006 21:10:28

Wow, the feedback on this one is pretty encouraging! He's definitely a keeper.

However, I have found that while it's easy to define a character, it's not so easy to keep him consistent throughout his different poses.

Here's the downward-facing sprite, with foreshortening lines intact from the original pose. I originally drew this frame from scratch, but ended up using a few elements from the side view and a lot of pixel-pushing to get it to look right. It looks more like he's facing leftish now.
Suggestions and examples would be helpful to get this one fixed up.

Babar · Tue 18/07/2006 22:19:46

He looks a little "funny" and cross-eyed now. As fred said, I'd suggest losing the whites of the eyes, and just using plain dots for the eyes.

ildu · Tue 18/07/2006 23:14:19

I like the whites of the eyes. They go extremely well with the otherwise low-constarsty brownish-red color scheme. Loosing the whites would definately direct less attention to the face, which you really dont want in an adventure game.

Khris · Tue 18/07/2006 23:14:44

The result of my pixel-pushing, tried to make him face forwards more.

My version is to the left:

x2

Great sprite, btw!

Edit: I've just noticed that the original version looks a bit thin, I'd add a few pixels beneath his right arm.

fred · Thu 20/07/2006 13:27:25

The front pose is great too, and I like what KhrisMUC did with it. Only critique I can think of is that the feather in his hat may seem to move alot in the transition between the two poses, almost like he was flipped horizontally.
About the eyes, I played around with a version of this and can't seem to get it right. Maybe it's a minor thing, I just think the space between his eyes is a bit large, but perhaps, given the pixel and color-limits this is the best solution.

Mikko · Thu 20/07/2006 13:55:19

I tried different eyes, but it's up to you if anything got better. Consider this merely a test, it is a wonderful sprite, don't worry about the eyes.

300%

fred · Thu 20/07/2006 19:56:44

Heh

That's the kind of thing I got myself into.
You're right - don't worry about the eyes. It's a wonderful sprite.

ThreeOhFour · Sat 22/07/2006 15:43:57

This is a very nice, piratey sprite that you have created.

Thought I'd have a go at the eyes too (aren't we unfair, focusing on 4 pixels, instead of the rest of the thing???). Do not know whether these are an improvement or not, but at least they don't look like he's cross-eyed, or look left or right.

200%

Didn't change much. Though not much needs changing on this marvellous fellow.

n3tgraph · Thu 27/07/2006 11:51:19

Perhaps if you gave him blue eyes and leave the white away??

In Ben's edit it kinda looks like he has no eyes, no offend

Haddas · Thu 27/07/2006 12:10:52

I'm still of the opinion that the hat needs a bigger shadow.

Mad · Thu 27/07/2006 12:51:39

I'm with Haddas concerning the shadow, so I took the liberty to make a paintover of his paintover:

I changed the moustache, because I thought the dark shadow under his nose a bit odd-looking.
Now he has a defined nose and lips.

I also took one of the lighter sleeve colours for the eyes for them to stand out even more.

Excellent sprite by the way!

Pesty · Thu 27/07/2006 12:52:34

This is a nice sprite and doesn't need anything so drastic as removing the whites of his eyes or anything, I think they are just a tad too white, that's all.

All I did was picked a slightly darker, warmer tone just to show what I mean:

Original:

My edit:

Not a big change I know, but it does make a difference. You could even make it a bit more dark and warm if you felt like it.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Sun 30/07/2006 19:15:29

What I would suggest is to use his lightest skintone for the whites. This tends to make them apparent without drawing undue attention.

1. Gave the outlines shading based on the light source.
2. Moved the eyes one pixel apart so he wouldn't look cross eyed.
3. Altered feather and hair angle slightly to fit him turning his head.
4. Made the right arm bend a bit more naturally.

You've done well here, hopefully this will give you some ideas for improvement.

EagerMind · Mon 31/07/2006 10:09:21

This is a great sprite! The only (minor) suggestion I would add would be to change his left arm (the one he's holding up) so his hand is resting on the hilt of his sword. It seems strange and uncomfortable to me that he's just holding it up - it looks like that arm wants/needs to rest on something. If you rest his hand on his sword, I think it will keep the arm bent but make it look a little more natural and relaxed.

But then again, I'm the first one to mention this, so maybe it's just me!