Guitarist sprite (first sprite attempt) and fantasy battle tune

[KingBingo]

Hi,

I've been lurking around here for a while and I thought it was time I committed to my own project using this amazing software...

Sprite

So here is my first ever attempt at a sprite.  The game itself is at the concept stage right now, but I know that it's going to involve a band and a dingy gig venue at some point, so here is the guitarist (maybe the bassist, as the guitar is slightly large, and he looks like a bassist) from said band:

1x

2x


Any comments would be appreciated, especially on highlights/shadows cause I'm kinda new at working in colour.

Tune

I've also got a tune here that I composed way back in 2005 for a game designed by my brother that never really made it out of concept stage.  It was composed for a fantasy battle scene and is styled on the work of Nobuo Uematsu, who worked on the earlier Final Fantasy games.

Battle.mp3 (2.5Mb) (left click, don't use right-click, save link as... else you'll have to rename the file when it's downloaded)

Again, any comments are welcome and thanks for taking the time to check these out. 

KB

[Fee]

Very nice guitarist IMO, is maybe fix the face a littel, more detail so when u animate him, his expression can change a littel.

The battel theme is quiet good too, sounds like a battel scene from Crouching Tiger or somthing. I like it more at the start than the end tho, seems to sound more threatening. The tune becomes much less threatening sounding with the Cielos or whatever those are.

[KingBingo]

Hey thanks, will have a look at increasing detail in the face.  When I was doing this, I couldn't believe how much difference a single pixel could make!

KB

[Kweepa]

Great sprite - very expressive!
I thought the colours were a bit odd though. It made him look like a medieval minstrel.



I also adjusted the face slightly and added some details to the hair to make it look less like a hood.
The boots seem enormous, but maybe that's intentional.

[KingBingo]

Nice one! 

The hair especially looks so much better.  The lighter top also brings out the strap, which adds a nice bit of detail that was hidden before, the lighter face is much more realistic (as far as can be when the face is like 10x10 pixels!) and facial features are a lot more subtle. 

You're right about the boots, they do look enormous.  Comically so, in fact.  I'll have a play, but may conclude that they add character.  What that character is will be open to debate.

Thanks for taking the time to do the edit, really appreciate all the pointers.

Drummer next, I reckon.

KB

[Renal Shutdown]

What sort of of music is this aforementioned guitarist playing?

From his stance, it's Jazz guitar.
From the size of the guitar, in relation to his stance, it's a Baritone guitar.

I'd need to know more about the character before I could say any more.

[KingBingo]

It's a fusion of modern jazz, death metal and Irish folk.

The guitar he's playing is a custom built Fendson, it has twin humbucker and triple single-coil pickups set into a hollow solid oak body.  It cost £25,000, and was built by one-armed dwarfs in a secret mine in Ayrshire.

He himself is a mute gypsy boy who expresses himself solely through his guitar after losing his voice down the back of the sofa.  He has been wandering the earth since looking for it, but has so far had no joy.

I hope that this is sufficient.  If you need his birthsign, PM me.  He likes to keep that private.

[EldKatt]

I'll talk about the music. All in all, it succeeds very well in many aspects. It's got that just right amount of momentum, when it comes to rhythm and instrumentation, for an Uematsu-inspired battle theme. When it comes to harmony, though... it's somewhat inefficient. Never develops any tension or goes anywhere. The entire song is basically one long pedal point, and one keeps waiting for that chord change to happen. The harmonic progression inherent in the main theme (i to III, or c minor to E-flat major, in the first two measures is what I would expect) is suppressed by the unchanging bass.

I see two ways to remedy this: either put more thought into the harmonic life of the entire song (I could make more specific suggestions, but not now); or, if you want to retain the pedal point character of the main theme, put in some more harmonically contrasting (and more active) sections around it. Be aware, though, that the latter solution is quite non-Uematsu, stylistically. He tends to use harmony in a very active and, if you will, traditional way, as the primary means of building tension.

I apologize if I use too much musical jargon for your taste; I'll gladly explain what I mean in more understandable terms if it's needed, but this is the way I ordinarily talk about these things and I don't like to abandon the convenience of this language unless it's necessary.

[Chicky]

Great sprite - very expressive!
I thought the colours were a bit odd though. It made him look like a medieval minstrel.



I also adjusted the face slightly and added some details to the hair to make it look less like a hood.
The boots seem enormous, but maybe that's intentional.

My lord, you racist!

[Da_Elf]

what was racist about his comment?

[Captain Lexington]

I should assume the comment about his hair making him look like a 'hood.'

[Steel Drummer]

No, the hood comment meant that the hair looked like a hood. You know what a hood is, don't you? Like on a jacket?

[Kweepa]

Perhaps it's because I hate gypsies.

[Captain Lexington]

My brain hurts.

So, is Steel Drummer here playing the fool pretending as if Chicky and I were serious about the hood?

Is Steel Drummer actually confused here?

Bah, to hell with social graces...

Steel Drummer: You do realize I was explaining Chicky's joke, yes? And that is was a joke? I am sorry if this appears condescending, but I've had problems with jokes being misinterpreted online recently. And so I am cracking down on ambiguity.

I won't do it again, promise.   

EDIT: I think the guitarist looks fine, but he looks like he's holding the guitar too high...

Is this just me not knowing how a guitar is really held, because I don't. But it looks uncomfortable. May even just be the angle.

[KingBingo]

EldKatt: Thanks for the crits.  I agree that the harmonic movements are limited but I think that the sustained bass pad holds a lot of tension in itself, so would rather keep that in there (at least for the first section).

I'll play around with the harmonies a bit more and see if I can't get something a bit more contrasting and dynamic.  Maybe keep that suppression of the harmonies in the first two measures at the start, creating a subdued tension there, and explode it all in the repeat as a development and a release of that tension.

Orator: I thought that he looked uncomfortable, too.  Turns out it's cause he's playing Jazz. 

When I come to animate it I'll probably move his left hand down to the high finger mashing strings at the bottom and it'll look a little less uncomfortable, like he's doing a mad solo.  The angle invariably shifts up when guitarists get down to them little frets.

Steve: Even highly skilled mute gypsy boys, expressing themselves through their guitar?  Surely not!  I used to quite like the idea of being a gypsy, actually.  Even more so after seeing Chocolat.

Thanks for the ideas, everyone.  Except the racism idea.  That's just silly.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Stay on topic please, people.  This is the CL not General Discussion.

[Chicky]

In actual fact i was referring to Steve making his skin tone a lot lighter, the original sprite struck me as a black funk or jazz guitarist.

I prefer the original colours.

[KingBingo]

Yeah, I see what you mean but if you look at the skin tone of the hands they don't match.  The hands are obviously white.  To be honest my intentions were for a white guitarist, and the face was a (bad) attempt at shading.

Steve's interpretation more matched my intentions, and I'm sure there was no racism intended.  Certainly wasn't from me.

[Ionias]

To me the guitar in your sprite looks like more of a bass guitar. If he's holding a regular guitar the neck should be skinnier and it should hang a little lower. Here is an example:



Forgive me for not painting over your sprite, but sprite work takes me years to produce.