I spent far too much time this afternoon making my (effectively) second sprite ever from scratch and I'm not entirely happy with it. It started at 60 pixels high and is now 45, so the proportions are a bit out, and I don't like the legs much. I was trying for attractive but not Lara Croft, though its hard to tell at this resolution. In the sprite she is wearing her hair tied back.
The character holds a fairly high position in a large interplanetary power company sometime in the future. She is sent out as a kind of representative/engineer to check on gas extraction plants and their crews, making sure everything is running smoothly and suggesting solutions to her superiors for any problems she encounters.
Anyway here she is:
1x(http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenWIP.png) and 5x(http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenWIP.png)
All (or at least most) C&C welcomed, paintovers and the like are also appreciated.
Any resemblance to Trinity from the Matrix is purely unintentional.
Well I'm no expert, but her head's right side seems to lack hair. Of course, maybe you did it so intentionally, but if not, then you could try add there some more pixels.
That piece is in desperate need of contrast! The face's and top's light & dark colors are practically indistinguishable from one another.
Also, women's hips are usually wider than their shoulders.
Nice sprite. Her hair is indeed kinda short. Like she shaved the sides. I also think you shouldn't let her rest her arms on here hips. If she holds them in the air it might add to a stronger pose. Another thing, her shoes seem almost the same colour as here trouwsers. I think you should either make them the same colour or add a bit more contrast between them.
I would have gone for more pixels :) It's very hard to pixel a character this small.
Her pose is a bit manly. But overall nice start.
Another thing: try making the character not too symmetrical. Now the body looks like it's mirrored in the middle. It makes a character looks less natural.
If she would lean a bit more on one leg, she would look more natural and less manly.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Onedollar_Help.gif) (http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Onedollar_Help.gif)
I'm afraid I went a bit overboard with the drawover, but hopefully you can take a few pointers from it (most have been mentioned). The things I altered were:
Excess colours
You used alot of different "almost black" colours, almost indistinguisable from eachother. Same goes for the shirt, her hair and her skin. I altered those for fewer colors in total, and gave them a higher contrast from eachother.
Posture
I don't know if you intended it this way, but you made her look very butch. Her shoulders are the main cause for this, so I nibbled a few pixels off to give her a bit more slender shoulders
I also altered her posture alittle bit by making it asymetrical and in the process made her legs (1 pixel ;)) a bit longer. I altered the left arm and leg to give the impression of a 3/4 frontal view.
Her face was altered (but not that drasticly, it still has your original shape but without the ears) and gave her a bit more hair. I used 2 pixels for her eyes instead of 1, and put them a bit further apart to lessen the "pinhead eyes" effect. I Also removed her red lips, but you could add that again if you wished.
As a last note: I have to agree with Jimmy. The size of this character is quite limited and makes it hard to create a decent looking sprite. A bit bigger would ease the process alot
Thanks for the feedback. Yup, she does look rather manly now that I've come back after taking a break. Here's my second version, complete with (slightly) improved posture, more hair, no ears and higher contrast.
(http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenWIP3.png) (http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenWIP3.png)
I might have another go tomorrow, in the mean time any more suggestions are welcome. I might increase the size too.
It already looks alot better, I would make the eyes a bit bigger tho and you should clean the skin colour up a bit. It still has the indistinguisable contrast differences. Also: you might want to try putting her left arm 1 pixel closer to her body. I think it would make her posture look better
Thanks, I'll try those out tomorrow. *Her* left arm, or the arm on the left (like you did with your paintover)?
Quote from: OneDollar on Wed 21/11/2007 22:25:41
Thanks, I'll try those out tomorrow. *Her* left arm, or the arm on the left (like you did with your paintover)?
her arm on the left, like in the paintover := Sorry about that
Right, I've now bumped the sprite up to 56 pixels tall, and yeah, it is a lot easier to work with. I ended up redrawing a lot, so her pose and shading have changed yet again. Here's an interesting progression so far...
(http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenWIP.png) (http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenWIP2.png) (http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenWIP3.png) (http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenWIP4.png) (http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenWIP6.png)
Let me know what you think.
It probably didn't warrant an edit, but I felt like it, SO:
(http://www.lumpcity.co.uk/~babar/misc/onedolla.gif)
* Removed the topmost dark pixel on the breasts
* Removed the eye white
* Added an ear
* Tried to fix her left arm
* Tried to do some shading on the face/head
I'm not so good at shading, but how you've done it on the shirt seems very random. I couldn't begin to clean it up, but I suggest that you do.
Also, she seems to be turned slightly to the (our) left, while her face is looking slightly to the (our) right. I'm not sure how you should be handling her left arm, because it still looks somewhat strange.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/30.png)
Rushed late night paintover. Might try again later. Use more pixels, I say. And more contrast.
Ok, I've done one more edit, had a go at that arm, virtually redone all the shading and added the ear Babar suggested. Since then I've had a go at her back. Again I'm having difficulty with posture and shading, though I don't think its too bad. Any more comments, thoughts or suggestions?
(http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenWIP7.png) (http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenBWIP1.png)
It's good to see such progress on your sprite. Personally I don't have any problems with her backview, the shading is pretty good as it is.
Thank, though I've just spotted a small problem :) I'll get around to a side view or two at some point and then... *shudder* ...walkcycles. In the mean time any other thoughts are appreciated.
She looks good as is. If you want to improve the shading a little it might be nice to light her from above, and perhaps add a bit more contrast to her skin.
(http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/148/carmenwip7editta9.png) (http://imageshack.us)(http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/1628/carmenbwip1editbb7.png) (http://imageshack.us)
The lighting here is a little more uniformly from above. Her shoulders have been rounded out a tad, she's been given a slightly heavier build and her breasts have been made more natural in shape. Her face has been re-shaded a bit- the main change is that her nose is lit a light spot instead of a dark spot. These are all really fiddly edits; as I said before the sprite already looks fine, and doesn't really need any work at all.
Nice work, this sprite has really come a long way!
Yay ! I made some changes on your character, I hope you don't mind.
Lowered the shoulders, the boobs, made her legs thinner, modified the haircut and the way she stands. I also added a belt and opened her shirt.
(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d123/lamak/CarmenWIP7_edit.png)(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d123/lamak/CarmenBWIP1_edit.png)
[PS : how do I put the images side by side ?]
edit : Thanks for the tip, OneDollar !
Thanks for those, especially liking what you did with her hair Sparky. Both sets of edits will be useful for shading too (something I need a bit more practice at). I'm starting work on my third attempt at a MAGS competition, so I'm gonna put her on hold for a bit, and see what I think when I come back.
Quote from: Andy R. on Fri 07/12/2007 02:39:35
[PS : how do I put the images side by side ?]
Its as simple as writing all the image embedding code on one line
The sprite's looking pretty good, I think. Just remember that when it comes to doing sprite art for gaming, less is often more. If you want to avoid a lot of headaches when animating a sprite, try to cut the color count down: two-to-three colors at a higher contrast per item can usually achieve the effect you want, and save you a lot of time later.
I don't see the smaller sprite as having been a large problem. Yes, you're limited in the amount of detail that you can fit into the character's smaller features, but that doesn't make it any worse. A well-drawn low-resolution sprite can still do what a hi-res sprite can, and be a whole lot more efficient when it comes to animation.
(http://216.139.58.35/stdwl/carmenedit.gif)(http://216.139.58.35/stdwl/carmenedit.gif)
I pushed a few pixels here and there to make her pose a little more dynamic, and took the color-count down from 21 to 8, raising contrast and limiting myself to 2 colors for skin, shirt and pants, one color each for hair and epaulletes. I know her eyes are blue, but from a distance, eye color doesn't show up. Guybrush Threepwood's eyes are blue too, according to the close-ups in Monkey Island, but were represented by a single dark-colored dot, because it would look awkward otherwise. I also managed to save color count by using the same dark tone as the shirt for the eye.
Thanks, those are some useful tips. Sprite drawing and animation are something I need to practise, but unfortunately I don't have a lot of time at the moment. I will have a go at animating her at some point, and probably find that it is difficult with lots of colours... we'll see.
There's still a very common problem present. The pants look very baggy, as if she lets them hang below waistline. It's typical, that people first draw the hands and the shirt down to where it should be, and only then consentrate on the pants when the imagined waistline forms around the line where the shirt ends, and because most shirts hand over the waistline making the belt invisible, the crotch is usually there where the shirt ends. And like SPC drew her, the hands go halfway the thighs, when before they were way too short.
Imagine a belly button and measure the hands again, the elbow should be just about where it is, or just above. So basically the torso is too long and the feel start too low for it to look like a proportioned human being. Also, I would advice more contrast, perhaps less colours and thusly more detail, in which case it'd go pretty much to what SpacePirateCaine did.
However, the sprite's gone a long way from what you started with. I think I might make a paintover of the first one to show what I mean, also, I like the face, the mouth etc in the original the most. It's got an innocent look to it :)
I yeah, and forgot to mention, 50 pxl seems a bit small, but how ever you like it. I usually make them at least 80. tall. Well, it's a completely different thing using less and less pixels, but basically it just means cutting back on detail and really focusing on what's needed in the sprite. Also, drawing this "fix", I started thinking, is the clothing thought through, I mean, it does look a bit dull, so is this girl like one who doesn't care what she looks like, or are these just some clothes she wears at home, etc? here's a quick sign as to where I'm going with this. It's not my best work, but for the 20 minutes I decided to give to you, the original on the side for comparison:
(http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/3070/carmenpowm5.png)(http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/CarmenWIP3.png)
A quick Xplanation (:P): I made the head smaller, yet trying to keep the facial details, and added some hair to give her a somewhat of the touch that I find pretty. I made the posture a bit "elegant". Basically I turned her to her right some 5 degrees, not too much, but yet easier to put the balance on one foot more then the other. I raised her other hand a bit to put it on the pelvis, just to show how it in my opinion should look there under the hand, basically, a female bottom, which is more round than the male one, at least in stereotypical cases like sprites usually. Also, the other hand is a bit behind the thigh, but yet reaches down as much as it should. The other leg is behind the other and neither of them is really straight because you'll realise if you try standing both legs locked straight, it'll be difficult. I also took some colours off the shirt, just to realise this version didn't have the yellow shoulders, oh well, they're easy to fix. But with low resolution I think tits look better with just a little detail, and to show this I left the 3rd colour, to show that they come out a bit. I also opened up the collar a bit thinking it wasn't a polo, again, easy to fix. and my biggest point here is the crotch which goes all the way up to the shirtline, as I said before. Oh, and the one pixel on the elbow is to show how much difference one can in fact make, try removing ti for fun and see which way it's better. I hope this helps at all.
EDIT: yeah, ok, so you get the point, the legs were too short in mine too, from waist down they're better more than half of the whole length, usually exact half. well, who cares, it's not my sprite and I like girls with short legs ;) :P
Thanks Tuomas, that's really useful. I'm almost tempted to redraw her for a 640x480 resolution... anyway I'll think about it and play around with some of the ideas people have suggested
Bump
One MAGS duly out the way and I'm starting to think about this project again. I haven't corrected any of the later suggestions yet (colour count, eye colour, baggy 'pants' etc) but I had a go at a side view anyway.
(http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/PhillipsSide.png)
I'm not at all happy with the face and the arm looks a bit stuck on... at some point I'll knock the colour count down and see if that solves that problem...
Anyway, critics lounge do your worst! Suggestions, paintovers, any other faults you want to pick with it...?
Here's a comparison of the three so far...
(http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/PhillipsAll.png)
I must really like this character! I had a second go at it:
(http://www.lumpcity.co.uk/~babar/misc/gal2.gif)
Aside from the stuff with the face, I don't think the little bit of skin on the collar would be visible, and she seemed even fatter than in the other views, so I tried narrowing her down a pixel or two.
It was allways difficult for me, to make left/right face views, without making the "cubik". So it is better to use 3/4 view. IMHO
I used the babar's pic to show this (also the eyes/ears are to high IMHO ;)):
(http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/889/image2ue2.gif) (http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/1443/image3ra2.gif)
Of course I couldn't loose the oportunity to strip some lo-res girl... ;)
Right, I've doctored the side view a bit following Babar's advice, and tried to raise the crotch as Tuomas mentioned. Also as everyone is adamant that she should have less colours I had a go at a different shading style...
(http://dollarsquest.googlepages.com/PhillipsAllAltShading.png)
To be honest I do actually quite like it, and its going to be a lot easier to animate.
RE: 3/4 views, is the general idea to use a 3/4 view for when a character is standing but facing left or right, and a 1/2 view when they're walking?
Any more comments or ideas? Looking at the sprites with different shading I'm slightly worried her arms seem a bit too thin, especially her left arm, what do you think? Does the shading have too much contrast?
Yarooze, your version is great. She looks like she's saying "Where did those come from?" ;D
Thanks for all the help guys!
I really like the new style of shading, and I think it fits perfectly. Nice work!
What bugs me now though is that once the lighter shade on her shirt was removed her breasts kind of looks like orbs attached to the sides of her torso. I think it might be how the darker shade frames the lighter shade on the breasts, but I'm not sure what would make it look better. Maybe make the lighter shade go a little further upwards?
Also, you might wanna make the lips a little less brownish.
Other than that, I'm really impressed! It's such a huge improvement over the original.