Kevin - the blue cat man (and now recolor!)

Akatosh · Fri 10/04/2009 18:48:46

Heh, he looks a bit like a run-down war veteran now.

Lemme tell ya somethin', kiddo. Sometimes, when the shit really has hit the fan and is ruining your fur forever, ya just don't have no choice. Lost half my family and tail to those bastards. Now YOU call ME a mad serial killer? Hmph. But whatever, I guess ya got me outgunned, and I ain't unreasonable. Tell ya what, officer. I'll just claw his eyeballs out and the two of us'll be game.

Also, nice spritin' there.

bog · Fri 10/04/2009 20:01:07

Quote from: Kastchey on Fri 10/04/2009 17:10:40
QuoteI see that you made the light come more from our left Any reason to that?
Well, no, no reason at all. I just, you know, pick some random spot for a light source and let it go wild. Next time I think I'll make it go from under his feet. Or from the tip of his tail, maybe.

...and seriously speaking, it's just a shadowing style which places the main light source in the upper left side of the image. I use it because as far as I can observe, the main light rarely comes directly from above so I find it more natural to always use some side shading. But as I said it's just a style, so you can ignore all my edits and your sprite will surely look very nice My main point was the tail.

i think for character sprites it's better for the light to come from above, that way you can flip them if needed. You wouldn't need to flip this front pose, but for a sideways view it would look really weird if the lightsource would change when the character changes direction.

SpacePaw - your extra shade on the pants is creating some banding. If you don't know what that is, this might help you - http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=8110.msg92434#msg92434

SpacePaw · Fri 10/04/2009 22:21:29

Is it any better now?
To be honest I never heard about banding. I'm quite new to pixel art after all. Very interesting subject. Unfortunately I can't really see it yet, I'm not even sure if I corrected it (and I have a bad feeling that it became too jagged now :/)
I have no idea how to fix it correctly...

Kastchey · Fri 10/04/2009 23:33:57

Quotei think for character sprites it's better for the light to come from above, that way you can flip them if needed. You wouldn't need to flip this front pose, but for a sideways view it would look really weird if the lightsource would change when the character changes direction.

You're right, and I usually make two different side walk animations (like here) to avoid the weird effect you described. Though it can be called a time-wasting method, I guess.

SpacePaw: It is better now, even if a bit messy.

Moresco · Sat 11/04/2009 01:39:53

Quote from: Kastchey on Fri 10/04/2009 23:33:57
Quotei think for character sprites it's better for the light to come from above, that way you can flip them if needed. You wouldn't need to flip this front pose, but for a sideways view it would look really weird if the lightsource would change when the character changes direction.
You're right, and I usually make two different side walk animations (like here) to avoid the weird effect you described. Though it can be called a time-wasting method, I guess.

SpacePaw: It is better now, even if a bit messy.

No, I agree with you. Better to make two different side walk animations, put the extra work into it, rather than just flip it and be lazy. I think when you put more work into it like that, that ultimately it will turn out better looking and not stale like all the flipped views tend to look. But that's just my opinion.

subspark · Sat 11/04/2009 03:03:39

Here you go mate. As offered, I've revised Kevin for you.

Hope you like him.

Cheers,
Sparky.

SpacePaw · Sat 11/04/2009 03:12:59

Woah great edit

Another proof that I have long way to go

The thing that amazes me is how quick you managed to do that. Kevin took me days to get him to look decent T.T

Anyways. I love how you made the hands and I dig onto the shading although I tried to be very restrictive with colors

(want to make 256 color game with 2 main characters

)

SpacePaw · Sat 11/04/2009 04:28:30

Lol, I uploaded wrong file before. Here is the newest version - sorry

subspark · Sat 11/04/2009 06:14:41

Very good! A clear improvement in the shading and a tidy-up on the silhouette.
Me likey! Keep tweaking away. I would suggest you think about posture and proportions at some stage but for now just concentrate on the shading and minor color tweaks. Well done.

Sparky.

bog · Sat 11/04/2009 08:45:33

Quote from: subspark on Sat 11/04/2009 06:14:41
I would suggest you think about posture and proportions at some stage but for now just concentrate on the shading and minor color tweaks.

Why is that? wouldn't it mean he'd have to redo the shading after the form has changed?

>

just a color edit, i shifted the hues a bit

By the way SpacePaw you don't have to upload your sprite at different sizes, you can just specifiy the width and height for an image in the img tag: [img height=220 width=80]

EDIT:

i found this short tutorial about shifting hues: http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/1618/rampsak6.png

JimmyShelter · Sat 11/04/2009 10:09:25

Quote from: bog on Sat 11/04/2009 08:45:33
By the way SpacePaw you don't have to upload your sprite at different sizes, you can just specifiy the width and height for an image in the img tag: [img height=220 width=80]

For people using browsers like Firefox 3, please do upload at both sizes: we see the resized images blurry.

SpacePaw · Sat 11/04/2009 10:18:41

Quote from: bog on Sat 11/04/2009 08:45:33
Why is that? wouldn't it mean he'd have to redo the shading after the form has changed?

By the way SpacePaw you don't have to upload your sprite at different sizes, you can just specifiy the width and height for an image in the img tag: [img height=220 width=80]

EDIT:

i found this short tutorial about shifting hues: http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/1618/rampsak6.png

Just like Jimmy said - it's for people with browsers that blur resized images. I use chrome lately so I know what it means

As for the hues thanks on the tutorial. I tried to keep everything contrasted, thought it looked ok already

bog · Sat 11/04/2009 10:39:59

oh sorry, i did not know that, i use opera mostly but i did check it now with firefox and it's horrible

subspark · Sat 11/04/2009 13:21:49

QuoteWhy is that? wouldn't it mean he'd have to redo the shading after the form has changed?

Certainly. But this is a learning exercise for SpacePaw. Something that is going to take lots of practice. I wish him well on this journey.
I have no doubt in my mind that his artistic skills will develop as strongly as his programming skills have, given a bit of time and patience.

Cheers,
Sparky.

Dualnames · Sat 11/04/2009 21:59:57

Overall the design of it, isn't bad at all. I say use bog's colour choices.

subspark · Sun 12/04/2009 01:52:01

Oh definitely. Bog has chosen a warmer set of colours for the hair which is easier on the eye.
The original hair appeared a little green against the contrast of the jacket but that kind of stuff can easily slip past you if your not on a constant lookout.

Well done Bog, and keep up the good work SpacePaw. Watching your character evolve is a positive and delightful experience.

Cheers,
Sparky.

SpacePaw · Sun 12/04/2009 02:54:18

Changed the colors a bit (warmer hair as suggested) and resigned from so restricted pallette, aimed for more Sparky-like shading instead

EDIT:
And just for showing you guys how you all help me and how this forum motivates me to work on my style and stuff:

>

subspark · Sun 12/04/2009 05:01:21

Hey dude the hands are much better! Well done! 8)
Sparky.

Kaio · Sun 12/04/2009 08:56:59

Wow, what a difference! Good job!