First try at a character :)

[hokomoko]

First showing then talking:


And a zoomed version for the short-sighted (can't see anything in the little one myself, I should really get glasses).


I'm trying to develop a simple enough style in order to create a small game.
Note that I usually stay in the stick-people department, so "simple" is quite an understatement.
No interesting biography for the guy, only a horrible taste in clothing.

Please help this frightened lad (me, not the character)



P.S. I used this wonderful tutorial as a referrence, I hope it wasn't too helpful...

[auriond]

The stance looks similar to the tutorial, but other than that it's fine, so don't worry

The legs look good, but I think the shoulders are too straight, which makes him look a bit stiff. If you look at the sprite in your tutorial link, the final version has slighly sloping shoulders.

Also, the arms are a little too short. Stand up, let your arms hang by your sides, and see where your hands are relative to your body. You'll probably find that they're by your hips. The hands on your sprite are currently by his waist.

There are a few more points for improvement (where are the elbows?) but work on those mentioned first, and then we can see what else needs to be done

[Jakerpot]

His shoulders are too much high and the shorts are too small. That is what i think  I'm too lazy now for some paintovering... Maybe tomorrow!

[Kweepa]

Rough paintover of the head and shoulders:


* His nose was too defined.
* The hat was too low and too dark to make out details. (Note that I'm awful at drawing hats )
* His cheeks were too fat.
* He didn't have eyebrows. He's still a bit "starey"... there's always a tradeoff between drawing the whites and iris, and just suggesting the eyes, at this resolution.
* Suggestion for lowering the shoulders.
* I also recoloured the background to a slightly desaturated colour that doesn't appear in the image. Unless your backgrounds are going to be totally white, this should give a better approximation of a typical background in the game so you can see what details will be visible. For example, with the new background colour, I think you'll agree that the facial outline is too dark relative to the skin.

I second auriond and jakerpot's points.
I'd also turn in his left foot a bit, as having it point directly out to the left seems unnatural. His legs might be a bit too thick.

I'm confused by the character design. He seems to be dressed very oddly. Bright red shorts and an old hat? It's memorable...

[hokomoko]

Many thanks fellas! Tried to fix (almost) everything you said (except the hat):

Also, the arms are a little too short. Stand up, let your arms hang by your sides, and see where your hands are relative to your body. You'll probably find that they're by your hips. The hands on your sprite are currently by his waist.

About the arms being too short, that's quite amusing as my arms ARE too short (though not THAT much  ). It seems that without noticing I kinda drew myself...

I'm confused by the character design. He seems to be dressed very oddly. Bright red shorts and an old hat? It's memorable...

I don't have a very clear vision of this guy, so I just threw in anything I had in mind...