artwork for my game (sprites and portraits)

[loontje]

I've been postponing posting something in here for quite a while now so here goes. Please keep in mind that everything's  not 100% finished yet. That's why I could use some constructive criticism.

These are all different versions of Lydia the demon huntress









Hailey (the main character)





Claire the secretary

[Brad Newsom]

The biggest mistake a lot of young artists have is the straight back syndrome. No human has a straight back, we are build to have a very specific curvature. If you look at a human, you will notice an 'S' shape along the spine. If you can capture the S shape and apply it to your work, they will look more human instead of a really long stick stuck up there @$$.

Things I think you should rework is the blue cup girl (the way you drew it gives her the protruding head look. Its slanted in a way. Basically, if you don't apply the 'flip the page' technique, you will start to see these problems.) That applies to the Lydia stance. She looks as if she should fall over. Her shoulders are to manly, and her boots are to big. The last thing I think you should fix is the last image. Her eyes look REALLY weird. I'll be brutal. She looks like she has down syndrome and a stroke victim. Her eyes are melting off her face!

Im only being critical mainly because these type of criticism truly pushes the artist to there limits. Without painful criticism, no one would improve.

[ThreeOhFour]

The first thing that struck me is that your sprites look very square (The ingame ones particularly).

Rounding shoulders, legs, arms and waist will make them look less like cardboard boxes and more like real people.

Here's a quick example:



Notice how I've given her hips and shoulders that are more feminine? Granted, not every woman is curved in this way, but the larger image led me to thinking that this is what you're looking for.

Hope this helps

[Questionable]

EDIT: Ben, I love what you did with that face.

ANYWHO the proportions are usable, though to make them make sense you have to really nail the silhouette, I suggest drawing with only two colors until you can TELL that what you have drawn is a girl... and don't cheat and use clothes! They come later... Using this method I came up with this body:

     .

Also, you're using erroneous colors, like three colors on the shoe? I tried to reuse all of your colors, but I think you can clean up the image a bit.

Your Low-lights (shadows) and Hi-lights, appear totally random. I left Lydia Jr here fairly neutral but you can tell that the light source is coming from the top left of the screen. I left it neutral so that you can mess around with it more easily and get a feel for how I did, what I did and then re-draw Lydia and the rest of your characters with your new experience.

You will notice, that I did not draw a belt a sword or a scabbard strap. Well, to be totally honest I forgot at first. But, by the time I was done drawing Lydia I felt like she didn't need a belt, if was just one more thing to be annoying during animation. I drew a scabbard strap, but it seemed like a silly concept... how is that practical? Only if your hip or ribs have unavailable real estate. In actual combat it would be less beneficial to have your main offensive and defensive item on your back; an enemy can more easily remove it, a blow to the back cannot be defended, it is a cumbersome reach for the hilt and in order to pull the sword out you must have long arms or a hilt that twist... or a very roomy scabbard, additionally the scabbard cannot be easily removed and brandished as a bludgeoning device and the strap will hinder movement and it Will constantly rub while moving AND NOBODY LIKES CHAFING!

SO anywho... I just couldn't figure out why I've seen it in movies but, never in a historical context... That's when I realized: Because there are better places to keep your sword. SO I was going to draw a belt, but again I feel that the less there is to animate... THE BETTER! SO I figured I would explain it away b saying that she simply attach's her scabbard to a stout leather scabbard loop designed into the side of her pants...

But then i figured I'd tell the truth...

LASTLY! I didn't change her face because I thought that was the essence of who she is, you did a great job on the head.

On another note, why do you have so many images about Lydia... Why is she the first character you listed? It makes me think that you like her better than the main character, and if YOU do than i probably will, then I will wonder why I am playing the game about this less interesting character... All theories...

[yarooze]

I like the faces! 

it seems that you have some troubles with the figures. I altered your main character sprite a little, to show what I mean:
2x

NB! -  Legs must be min 50% of the girly sprite! More better!  look at the WOW Elfes...  :o