Fantasy wargame sprites

[Victor6]

I got a little bored over the weekend and dug out some old sketches for a fantasy wargame ( i.e. warsong \ Langrisser ), although I'm not completely happy with how they turned out;



I was assuming a 320 x 240 game, with out 30-40% of the screen area obscured by status screens. I went with the darker outline to try and keep a cartoony \ 16 bit feel.

The original idea (or at least what I can translate from my scribbling), was to use a primary colour for each faction, and a separate trim colour, then add little quirks like plumes, feathers, horns etc to add character.

Lastly, for anyone who takes an interest in this kind of stuff. the sketch to sprite process for them;
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab150/Victorsix/warsongcreation.png
(Not extremely informative, but it does show roughly what I was doing)

[karja]

The only thing that comes to my mind is that the gryphon-riders leg maybe should be behind the gryphons wing.

Else I think they look really nice and clean.

[Monsieur OUXX]

Yes, I think the lack of critics comes from their near-perfection.

[Wonkyth]

Definitely.
Although the skeleton does look a little on the dull side, unless that's just the faction colour.

[Khris]

Those are really flat.

Here's a quick paintover focusing on volume:

x3

[Crimson Wizard]

Maybe a tad offtopic, but I always wnated to know, how this soft gradient is done on your pictures. Is it done manually, or using some editor tool?

[Victor6]

Cheers for the feedback y'all.

The only thing that comes to my mind is that the gryphon-riders leg maybe should be behind the gryphons wing.

I've tried both; legs behind puts the 'saddle' too far towards the mounts rear, and then you can swing for anyone without cutting a wing off. too late to do quick edits now. I'll try tomorrow night.

Those are really flat.

Here's a quick paintover focusing on volume:

x3

Guilty as charged. - I normally apply a dodge filter and a darken filter post animation for depth, to limit the number of colours I have to deal with when animating. I do like the edit though. and it brings us to....

Maybe a tad offtopic, but I always wnated to know, how this soft gradient is done on your pictures. Is it done manually, or using some editor tool?

Manually; as a rule it's 3-4 color depth for cloth, 4-5 for metals, and 6-7 for reflective surfaces. although reflective stuff gets set to border and internal during animation.

Definitely.
Although the skeleton does look a little on the dull side, unless that's just the faction colour.

He's factionless, so dull gray colours. The idea was to change the grey to red\blue\green\pink etc depending on which side was active, and add little touches like logos on the shields to make them unique.

[Eggie]

Oh, just lovely.

And just for the record; prefer the original to the paintover. It seems somehow more iconic, important for images this size.

[Technocrat]

Lastly, for anyone who takes an interest in this kind of stuff. the sketch to sprite process for them;
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab150/Victorsix/warsongcreation.png
(Not extremely informative, but it does show roughly what I was doing)

[takes keen interest]

[denimtrousers]

Lastly, for anyone who takes an interest in this kind of stuff. the sketch to sprite process for them;
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab150/Victorsix/warsongcreation.png
(Not extremely informative, but it does show roughly what I was doing)

[takes keen interest]

Me too, actually. Would you be able to scan it at a larger size? And at what size do you sketch initial illustration? What program do you use to make your sprites?