(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Cowboy.gif)
Hello! I would love to have any advise on how to improve this guy. He is supposed to be the hero (Or anti-hero) of a new Wild West project I have in mind. Clothes, items to bear, pallete, pose... I would appreciate all.
Thanks!
Quote from: Nacho on Fri 30/04/2010 12:30:15
Hello! I would love to have any advise on how to improve this guy.
Could you present it on a lighter background, please?
Right now it's creating optical illusions that mess with its outline.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Cowboy2.gif)
Sorry... I tend to work with dark BGs, since it's instintive to use too bright palletes for the chars if done otherwise...
Mas botas!! Good job :)
(Looks like in converting the bg to a lighter shade part of the heel of his boot has disappeared?)
I love the lean western-man look this has.
One thing; he appears to be wearing suspenders no? They outline his torso a bit too much to my eyes. Other than that (and the improvements to the boots/cuffs) I dig it!
When can I sit at the poker table with him?
Hey! It's a waistcoat! (Jackett, or vest, as you americans say). Hey... I can feel my improvement in English! ;D
Quote from: Nacho on Fri 30/04/2010 14:30:43
Hey! It's a waistcoat! (Jackett, or vest, as you americans say). Hey... I can feel my improvement in English! ;D
I didn't think they were suspenders. It's pixellated, but the human brain fills the gaps with its experience : when I see a cowboy with 2 vertical lines on the sides, I see the sides of the waistcoat, because in my imagination all cowboys have waistcoats :-)
I seriously can't find any defect in that sprite. Like, *any*.
You'd better deliver that walkcycle, Nacho, I'm watching your ass! ;-)
OK, then, maybe a tiny-weeny one : the bottom of the right foot is flat. Maybe you could anti-alias a bit the far-end pixels of the foot (left and right) to make it rounder, since the boot is supposed to be slightly pointy?
His left arm looks deformed, you should also remove the 'bulk' from his shoulders, have no idea what that is supposed to represent. :P
The back of the scarf seems to be sticking out and the holstersare too far above his waist. Imagine him pulling that revolver out! I'm also not sure which direction he's facing. The feet and legs tell me he's approx. 30° to his right but his torso suggests he's facing straight.
Love the shading on the legs!
Nacho, I agree with all the other posts, your sprite doesn't need any major help - I just wanted to mess with it because it is excellent, and I like playing with excellent things :)
(http://www.polard.com/pixelart/cowboy_l.gif)(http://www.polard.com/pixelart/cowboy.gif)
- Added a darker shade of green, as his stomach area seemed a bit to bland / flat. By adding a darker sheen it recedes further down / away. I compared it to the darkness of his trousers, where you went nearly completely black.
- Made the buttons a shade lighter so that they still stand out on the darker front of his shirt
- Took away the one finger in his right hand, it seemed weird to have one standing out like that.
- Made handles of his revolvers gray to insinuate metal, as they got lost for me. I imagine on a complex background they would get lost.
- Made his stirrup shape different, I feel it looks more like a stirrup in a star shape, though you might disagree.
- Changed the shading of his 'suspenders' / overcoat to reflect what was done with the shirt. The shading and lighting seemed reversed vertically on closer inspection. If I misunderstood what that piece of clothing was supposed to represent, apologies.
- Added a teeny bit if lighting detail to his buckle.
- Made the boot of the heel of his right shoe thicker, it looked like he was wearing a lady's shoe to me.
- Gave him eyes! You might not like it though.
I had to resist giving him a white Colgate smile, as he seems to be cheerful chap.
I love the style you've got here, the only problem I can foresee is, because the sprite is so thin, that he might get lost on complicated backgrounds. But if you use it on large areas of plain colour in a kind of cartoony style, it shouldn't be a problem.
Once again, excellent work!
EDIT:
Quote from: Nacho on Fri 30/04/2010 12:30:15
He is supposed to be the hero (Or anti-hero) of a new Wild West project I have in mind. Clothes, items to bear, pallete, pose... I would appreciate all.Thanks!
You asked for items, so I felt like adding something, just maybe to generate some ideas:
(http://www.polard.com/pixelart/cowboy02_l.gif)(http://www.polard.com/pixelart/cowboy02.gif)
About those last changes :
The ones that are a YES :
- Made his stirrup shape different, I feel it looks more like a stirrup in a star shape, though you might disagree.
YES!
- Added a teeny bit if lighting detail to his buckle.
YES!
The ones that are a NO:
- Took away the one finger in his right hand, it seemed weird to have one standing out like that.
NO! It made him look like a duellist, always ready to pull his gun out.
- Made the boot of the heel of his right shoe thicker, it looked like he was wearing a lady's shoe to me.
NO! To me, the boot looks too heavy now. I preferred the original (exagerated santiag, that fits this overslim character)
- Gave him eyes! You might not like it though.
NO! It looked like his eyes were hidden by the hat - Very Clint-Eastwood... I loved it.
The other ones are good, but would really matter only to a cyborg with bionic eyes :)
(http://i40.tinypic.com/xzjva.png)
My take on the waistcoat.
Love Jim's take on the waist-coat (non suspenders!)
I was still not lovin' them pant cuffs over the boots so I did a quick paint-over (MUY rapido)
(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/help/nacho_west01.gif)
(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/help/nacho_west02.gif)
LEFT - boots over pants
RIGHT - pants over boots w/ less cuff-action going on
Thanks for the crits! I am going to use your waistcoat, I love it... Boots over trunks are another thing I love...
I am removing the second lighter blue, it's not necessary and I think I could use that 16th colour for something else.
Using 16 colours for the sprite is a requisit, so, don't use more than that!
Thanks!
P.D. Saberteeth... the Bulge is supossed to be a bulge in the shirt, like the one Guybrush has in CMI... I will try a version without them.
this looks incredible!
I like the boots over pants version, that should work!
Love the style!
First off, this design has a shitload of character. I love the general linework and color application, though I think you've gone too dark/saturated with the blues. Another problem I foresee with this is a rather common one. When exaggerating anatomy, you'll often run into trouble trying to make the character assume basic, natural poses (like crossing his arms, for instance). With arms so long and shoulders so tight together, you'll find that the result may look strange if he reaches back his arm to grab his gun or folds his arms or places them in a way that forces viewers to see them disproportionately. What I've done below is widened his shoulders to a distance more closely approaching proper anatomy (they should be out even farther though). I've also drawn his left hand in a 'quickdraw' pose with a forearm and shoulder length slightly shortened from the right arm to show you the differences. The longer the arm, the more his shoulder and elbow will need to kick back to be able to grip the gun like this, eventually making him look silly. The second image shows him in more of a relaxed, arms crossed pose. Again, his arms have been shortened somewhat and his legs slightly widened. I've also adjusted the contrast on colors to make them pop a bit better and I raised his vest so you can clearly see that it is a vest.
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/nacho_poses.gif)
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/nacho_poses.gif)
Hopefully this will help you down the road if you get into some difficulty trying to get him to do some kind of natural movement.
The way he's holding the handle of the gun looks a bit odd.
If he's just resting it there, then why isn't his hand more relaxed?
If he's ready to draw, then why hasn't he got a firm grip?
he's doing that 'finger dance' on the hilt. Awesome pose!