Space Man Sprite - LF Input.

[EchosofNezhyt]

Alright so I'm working on a spaceman sprite and did a few little animations but this is his base pose.

Hes kinda bent down with his leg on the left is strait and his right leg is bent and facing to your right.

Also the suit is kinda low in the middle but it makes his legs stubby I think? Whats your opinion. I like the general idea I think it needs some refining though.

Oh and the drill ignore it I haven't finished it so the end looks like crap.

The animations aren't finished and were quick ones so just ignore them for now.

[Tabata]

I like the suit as it is.
If I had to use the sprite I'd just do the animation the other way around to do a step forward to attack (not backwards like it is now).
Mayby I'd also try to see how it looks when both legs are bend to aim at a target (left like it is and the other one with the knee on the ground).

[EchosofNezhyt]

Thanks yeah. The footing needs changed on the animation. Im not to worried about them though at this point.
My focus is making sure my sprite looks quality enough.



Another quick animation I did a few days ago... (Ignore it also lol...)

[Armageddon]

Is it going to be shown at a double resolution like that? Because if so you may want to pick your colors from a more defined palette. As it looks really random grainy instead of suit folds.

[EchosofNezhyt]

Is it going to be shown at a double resolution like that? Because if so you may want to pick your colors from a more defined palette. As it looks really random grainy instead of suit folds.

Well I zoomed in to see it better and it will be bigger on screen but its about 10 times zoomed in not double resolution.

I messed around a bit with the shading but its so low rez its hard to get the finer details... I think I got a decent form with the shading but it does look basic.

I'll mess around with it.

Heres the original.



I was using the nasa suit as reference.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/234060main_spacesuitegress.jpg

[EchosofNezhyt]

*Cough* If only Khris or Andail or Shane would give me some input

[Renal Shutdown]

Pick a base color per 'area' (ie, trousers), the color you'd see on a cloudy but dry spring/summer day or the color you'd see if you met him in a Wal-Mart store on a Wednesday  -  Something that doesn't rely on a specific light.  After that, pick a highlight color (what it will look like if you shined a torch at it from 3 foot away).  Pick another color, the dark, which would show if you were in a room with him and only had a lighter from across the room.  Build the palette from those three colors - this generally doesn't mean "standard" "increase" or "decrease" of values.  Grab colors from a reference photo, if need be.  It's only a standard value if you're greyscaling it from scratch.

The helmet has two problems.  Either 1. He's doing an EVA an he really close to a sun, and part way thru him turning his head the sun moves erratically, or 2: there's 3-4 suns who turn on and off.  Either way, the sun is too close.  The shot where he's looking to the right, the angle of light is from the right, but after he turn's his head, the reflection of the sun moves with his helmet.  I'd pick 1 specific point, and since his helmet "seems" round, I'd have the light hit it at the same point as his head turns.  (Angle wise, 75 degrees whilst looking right, and -15 degrees whilst looking at the camera, 300 looking left - OR mathemtically correct angles).  Either way, the highlight should be in the same place each time.  I'd also up the higlight dramatically, and have just 1/2 pixels pick out the angle of the sun, whilst the rest is shaded.  Almost white as a highlight would work, depending on palette.

For someone who seems like he's in space, it looks like he's currently surrounded by suns.  I'm guessing this wasn't the intention.  Unless it's based on the Bruce Wills movie, with lasers and meteors, which defies the rometest semblance of logic and literally anything is possible.

[EchosofNezhyt]

Well all the colors are what a real space suit is like.
Not really worried about the animation because they were quick stuff and just to get something going.
Hes on a planet not in space I prolly should been more specific.(A red one to be exact, I'm also trying to stick with only a few colors.)
Can you explain the color thing more?
I linked the reference picture in a above post.
I thought the colors were decent and I try to not just use value changes, the reflection thing make sense but I made prolly 20 versions and it ended up looking the best that way.
I will try the suggestions. (sorry if I sound like I'm defending my work lol.)

[Andail]

Hi Frito, sorry I missed your plea. I think your sprite is pretty good, and there's little I could do to improve it. I would probably pick a slightly different hue for the shading (and not just a darker orange) as that will often make it more interesting to look at, but then again it's a very small and simplistic sprite so it's just a minor thing really.

As for the animation, make sure his entire body moves, not just his arms and the drill. When lifting a heavy object, you compensate by moving back a little (to keep balanced). It's a very common mistake to only animate that which seems the focus of the operation, and forget all the compensatory movements.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I think it looks pretty cool, but in terms of readability you need to bear in mind that the smaller the image the more careful you have to be with definition.
I made a quick edit to show you what I mean.

1.  Adjusted colors slightly to make certain colors pop better and be reusable.  Depending on whether or not the game takes place entirely in space or on darker backgrounds you might need to go back and add darker aliasing around the gun and helmet/backpack to prevent blending.
2.  Made the shape of the figure and weapon more distinctive and easier to distinguish.
3.  Added some minor details (a black harness and patch on the leg) to break up the colors and make it easier to read.
4.  Increased the height by one pixel to give the legs a bit more length.  This will help when animating especially.

[imgzoom]http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/spaceman_zps6b310e3c.gif[/imgzoom]

Hopefully this will help.  Just bear in mind that detail is wasted if the sprite is too small or the parts are not defined well enough.

[EchosofNezhyt]

I think it looks pretty cool, but in terms of readability you need to bear in mind that the smaller the image the more careful you have to be with definition.
I made a quick edit to show you what I mean.

1.  Adjusted colors slightly to make certain colors pop better and be reusable.  Depending on whether or not the game takes place entirely in space or on darker backgrounds you might need to go back and add darker aliasing around the gun and helmet/backpack to prevent blending.
2.  Made the shape of the figure and weapon more distinctive and easier to distinguish.
3.  Added some minor details (a black harness and patch on the leg) to break up the colors and make it easier to read.
4.  Increased the height by one pixel to give the legs a bit more length.  This will help when animating especially.

[imgzoom]http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/ProgZmax/spaceman_zps6b310e3c.gif[/imgzoom]

Hopefully this will help.  Just bear in mind that detail is wasted if the sprite is too small or the parts are not defined well enough.

Wow that is amazing makes mine look bad. I dont really use aa though is that a problem?

You don't mind if I use it right? I may change something up.

Btw this sprite is going to be scaled up. Its for a android game. I think I went to simple with the design and thats why yours really pops when its smaller.

I do like the somewhat simplicity of mine scaled thoo hmm..

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Using/not using Antialiasing isn't a problem but whether you realize it or not you were applying a form of it when you add some darker shades around the side of the helmet/pack/gun so the edges look a bit smoother and pop a bit more visually against the background.  It's not something you have to do but often it improves the presentation.

You're free to use the sprite if you want, but if you're dealing with an android game where there's going to be a lot of scaling you might consider just making the sprites bigger to begin with and then displaying them at whatever resolution works best.  Most people agree that blocky, zoomed in sprites do not look that great.

[EchosofNezhyt]

Well some zooming but I don't really wanna draw them in native resolution would be normal art at that point.
I was adding shading so it looked less flat/realistic not for making it stand out but it does look better.
I think I might tweak it still haven't got around to it yet.
I personally like pixel art scaled up as long as its not like pacman res. /Shrug