Hi all,
Yet another piece of "art" to comment on.
Character's concept: He is this sort of 18th or 19th-century countryside butler. The kind of guy you'd find in Wuthering Heights. That means:
- he's totally devoted to his Master,
- he's not a bad man but he can be rough,
- he serves both purposes of serving tea AND getting covered in mud when taking care of the horses/hounds.
Character's art: I want to keep his outfit semi-elegant but with grayish colours, to stick to the clothes fashion mentionned above. The kind of clothes that are meant to show that his Master has money, while not making mud too visible when he eventually gets some on hinself. The riding boots and the vest are mandatory.
Also note that the character doesn't need be too charismatic because he only has a secondary part in the plot.
Current state:
- I'm not happy at all with the hands... I just can't draw fingers at such a low resolution. :'(
- I kind-of screwed up with the general attitude, because I forgot that later in the game I'll have to have him hold a shotgun. Maybe I'll just have him carry it on his back. It's not that important.
- The leg might seem awkward at first but I got used to it, I think you can sense the movement and temporary distortion of the leg caused by the heavy boot. Tell me what you think.
- Finally you'll see that there is some sort of inconsistent half black outline that totally goes against the pixel-art tutorial posted recently by abstauber. I don't know if it's OK, in my head it was more like a deliberately exagerated shade on the left of the character. Also tell me what you think.
PS: It's NOT meant to be animated.
EDIT: My inspiration for this character would be closely related to THIS STYLE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxyIdl0IEWo)
(http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/266/3/8/majordome_by_monsieurouxx-d4ao3ya.png)(http://i54.tinypic.com/2s6qyw9.png)(http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/5185/butler1.png)(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/butler2.gif)
Original Lad's Darkdan's ProgZmax's
Use Darkdan's one if you plan on doing a paintover
x2
(http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/266/3/8/majordome_by_monsieurouxx-d4ao3ya.png)(http://i54.tinypic.com/2s6qyw9.png)(http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/5185/butler1.png)(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/butler2.gif)
Those green trousers sort of distract from the formalness and "special" head-servant position that butlers occupy. Maybe make them grey? Or darker? Or maybe blue?
Also, are his knees a bit low?
Quote from: Babar on Mon 26/09/2011 10:35:36
Those green trousers sort of distract from the formalness and "special" head-servant position that butlers occupy. Maybe make them grey? Or darker? Or maybe blue?
The combination of colours, clothes and boots would have made me think he was supposed to be a gardener rather than a butler. Were you going for a bit of a Mr Burns type attitude? (If so I think you've nailed it!)
He, he reminds me of the Harkonnen mentat in Dune 2..
Nice work and I like the colors. The legs (especially the knees, like Babar mentioned) look a bit wonky though..
Yeah, right now he looks more like a gardener, not only with color scheme, but the working boots and old looking coat. Mind you, the coat looks old because it's brown which kind of makes it look worn. The boots look like working boots because they're pretty wide and loose around the part where they connect with the pants - that's because those boots usually are like that so they can easily betaken off when they're muddy, so by contrast, tighter and maybe black boots would give off more of a sign of elite.
And yeah maybe change pants to some other color, dark gray or similar.
Don't knwo how classy you're going for but a slightly loger coat might be cool.
I don't know if he's meant to be moving (I read that it isn't animated) but that's a weird standing position, have you tried standing like that?
And yes, the knees might profit from being a bit higher up (move the boots end up as well though)
Nosferatu? ;)
The character looks pretty neat, but the legs seem wrong - the parts below the knees are unnaturally bent.
Maybe he's not meant to be as classy as I suggested in my description. Let's say he's the only servant in the house, along with an old lady. Then again think of Wuthering heights, or maybe the servants of the gentlemen farmers from Sherlock Holmes, living in old mansions with only two or three servants. He is also the gardener.
So I guess everybody finds the leg awkward. I've seen it for too long and can't put my finger on it anymore. I'll try flipping the picture to have a fresh look.
Also it's true he totally looks like the Mentat (I was thinking that as well) even though at first I went more for the facial expression of hector, the butler in Cruise for a corpse. But it all went wrong. The character looks overly sneaky :'-(
He has character I'll give you that!
I did a quick edit. Tried to fix the legs. Raised the trousers and knees. Moved the boots. I also made his eyes a bit brighter and did very small edit in the face.
I might made it even worse, just did things how I see them fit.
(http://i54.tinypic.com/2s6qyw9.png)(http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/266/3/8/majordome_by_monsieurouxx-d4ao3ya.png)
Quote from: Lad on Mon 26/09/2011 15:44:51
I might made it even worse, just did things how I see them fit.
I like it. I'll smoothen a few pixels here and there.
That looks much better!
I like it very much.
Some thoughs :
- Draw a vertical line in the middle of the character : the lower body is shifted to the right.
- The left knee is too low and disarticulated to the right.
- The legs are too tight against each other (the character seems to have to pee)
- The sides of the bottom of the jacket are wrong.
- A thumb should be visible.
I am sure the final character will be great.
I think the fingers look messy... (his left hand)
I can't see a reason for such huge boots... unless he serves hey for horses maybe..
Quote from: AnasAbdin on Tue 27/09/2011 09:36:26
I think the fingers look messy... (his left hand)
I can't see a reason for such huge boots... unless he serves hey for horses maybe..
Caught not reading the initial post :-) TWICE! ;-)
Quote from: Monsieur OUXX on Tue 27/09/2011 10:02:24Caught not reading the initial post :-) TWICE! ;-)
hahaha indeed! I was quick-scanning through the thread... I think your solution to drawing fingers in low resolution is not to oblige yourself to draw ALL five fingers if you know what I mean.. of course the thumb is not negotiable.. but the other four fingers can be (not necessarily reduced) but you can remove the outlines (if any) make a finger a little different shade than the other... you know use tricks to maintain human anatomy lol
Quote from: AnasAbdin on Tue 27/09/2011 10:59:20
I think your solution to drawing fingers in low resolution is not to oblige yourself to draw ALL five fingers if you know what I mean.. of course the thumb is not negotiable.. but the other four fingers can be (not necessarily reduced) but you can remove the outlines (if any) make a finger a little different shade than the other... you know use tricks to maintain human anatomy lol
Thanks! :D
A quick repaint of your butler in order to illustrate my comments :
(http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/5185/butler1.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/28/butler1.png/)
Quote from: Darkdan on Tue 27/09/2011 13:24:17
A quick repaint of your butler in order to illustrate my comments :
(http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/5185/butler1.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/28/butler1.png/)
Oh my god sorry I saw only anasAbdin's comment and overlooked yours.
Well basically his sprite was good, and yours is perfect...
EDIT: Maybe the eyes are now a bit too bright. Also maybe the left leg a bit too thin, and its knee could be slightly higher (just nitpicking).
You are right about the left leg. And it is a lot more work to do on that character.
But that is the endless fun of drawing... ;D
Yep (just to avoid misunderstandings: I will correct the points I pointed out)
I would probably get rid of the calf boots since boots were more of a status symbol than a practical man's shoe of the day due to expense, though someone who worked outside extensively in the English weather would likely have a pair for mud (but would not wear them indoors).
Here is a good example of what 'commoners' wore in the 18th century:
http://www.vandaprints.com/lowres/39/main/1/12454.jpg
So add to that a waistcoat or a jacket with a flat tail and you'd basically have a butler/chamberlain/steward.
Colors are also an issue as dyes tended to be very expensive and were plant-derived, so many of the outfits of the time tended to have similar colors (white, gray) unless you had the money to pay for something more robust.
Here's a really quick example of what I'm talking about. I didn't really shade or detail much since this is just a rough example, but it should give you an idea or two.
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/butler2.gif)
Quote from: ProgZmax on Thu 29/09/2011 06:44:18
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/butler2.gif)
Hmmm... It's getting more and more complicated. We're going too far back in time here, but that's my fault, because the time period is not clearly defined in How They Found Silence. But I'm definitely sure that on the countryside, a butler who'd also take care of the horses wouldn't wear white stockings and a white wig. However I accept your comments about the vivid colors.
I'll try to take the best of each sample.
PS: There's
that movie which name I can't remember, that would be the perfect model. Maybe someone remembers its title?
It's an ambitious guy who gets hired in a manor as a servant, and gets the trust of the master. Then he takes advantage of the fact that the horny (yet mad and hysterical) daughter of the master has a crush on him. It's a drama that takes place on new years Eve and the climax happens when the master comes back and the girl kills herself, if I recall. I thought I remembered the girl was Uma Thurman but it seems I'm mistaken.
Just want to say that I love the colours of the original - they capture the dark gothic countryside atmosphere perfectly and suit both the character and the game. The hands do look a bit weird, but I wouldn't worry about them too much - they convey the general gesture and no one will look at them for too long in-game, with other distractions all around.
I also like the relatively large size of the sprite - this way it feels more mature (as in 18+ rating mature) and less cartoony. Good job!
Quote from: Ilyich on Thu 29/09/2011 17:03:27
gothic
Good keyword suggestion for my visual research!!! Thanks.
=========
My inspiration for this character would be closely related to
THIS STYLE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxyIdl0IEWo)
Actually I didn't really pay attention to it but I just realized that progZmax's face looks much less vicious. I'll probably use the face, if not the clothes!