This is the frontview of the maincharacter in Apollo 27:
4x (http://koti.mbnet.fi/paapeli/Etu.gif)
I'm not happy with him yet, so C&C please.
Here's the sideview for comparison:
4x (http://koti.mbnet.fi/paapeli/Sivu.gif)
I actually like the front view better than the side view. The front of his face in the side view strikes me as a little too flat.
In both views, I think the neck is a pixel or two too long--I don't know that there should be any neck at all showing between his head and his collar, and there certainly shouldn't be as much as there is now. Other than that, though, the only thing in the front view that really seems off to me--and not much, really; I'm just nitpicking here--is the ends of the sleeves. I know the intent is probably to make it look like his arms are coming in front of his hips, but it kinda looks like he's just strangely narrow-waisted; I'd probably continue the straight line between his arms and his torso all the way down to his hands.
Update:
4x (http://koti.mbnet.fi/paapeli/Etu_update.GIF)
Corrected the arms and shortened the neck a bit (when I drew him a long neck I was heading for a more cartoony than realistic style, but I see now that it looks better with a shorter neck). Will do some corrections for the sideview later.
Put his firm icon into his costume.
That's good, nothing too great or bad. I noticed some things that are wrong though
First, this isn't regular clothes. It's a space uniform, and the way it is the neck isn't supposed to be visible. Also the head could be a bit smaller. Also there's something wrong with his arm on the sideview, I think it's too much on the right. Also his torso (sideview again) should be thicker.
The shading is ok but there's something about it that makes him look like a human cylinder, especially the side view
He is so....cylindrical. Specially his side view.
Yeah, you may be right. I'll fix the shading later. First I need to make walkcycles ready.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/SpriteEditSpaceManGuyFlibble.PNG)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/SpriteEditSpaceManGuyFlibble.PNG)
I changed the hair, because its more common for astronaut folks to have crew cuts.
I changed the shading to to improve his posture and reduce the human cylinder thing. Oh and I added the little space suit panel and arm band.
Wow, that's a neat paintover you did! You really made me wonder if I should use that kind of hairstyle with him. Though if I did he would look awfully much like Roger Wilco. And I kind of wanted it to be more original.
For the shading you did a really good job and gave me some useful ideas. And those panel and arm band are good little details too.
Now just should I use the hairstyle in the paintover or leave it as the original... hmm...?
Hmmm... Maybe use something between? Experiment with different styles.
The neck is still too long , btw :=. I think you should remove the neck completely or at least be one or two pixels above his collar (and that's if you want him to have a long neck for a human ;))
I actually like the original hairstyle.Ã, It may not be terribly realistic, but it gives him character.
(Of course, it depends to some degree on the sort of character you want to give him...the original hairstyle makes him look maybe a little absent-minded and not too serious; is that what you were going for?)
Here is an edit of mr flibbles, I went for a crew cut style hairdo
(http://members.cox.net/veradin/spaceguy.gif)
the first guy reminds me of Las Naranjas (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=16004.msg27024#msg27024).
I've decided that I will keep the original hair. As Alun_Clewe pointed out: "It gives him character". He is supposed to be something like Alun said. 'Not too serious' is a good way to descript him.
ProgZmax - Very nice paintover (as always) but you have changed his personality a way too much. He just looks too serious and maybe a bit angry too. And that's not what I want him to be. :P
Netmonkey - Yes, that kind of, in some very small way, sort of looks like him ;)
Thanks for all the tips. I'll try to improve him a bit and will send an update sometime soon (maybe year 2009).
I've been lazy but now I have updated the character at last. I followed your tips about shading and used Mr Flibble's idea for details. Also I modified the hair a bit.
(http://img346.imageshack.us/img346/6300/etu38jh.gif)(http://img346.imageshack.us/img346/6300/etu38jh.gif)(http://img346.imageshack.us/img346/6300/etu38jh.gif)
I'm quite happy with this now but do you think there is something I should change?
He looks like he's standing to attention at the moment, a more relaxed pose (like ProgZmax's paintover) would look better imho.
His posture is a little rigid, but otherwise, thats a first class sprite you got there, well done!