First ever sprite attempt. Tips to get better please =)

Spike4072 · Sun 30/03/2008 19:17:48

Well I love adventure games and have played a lot made with AGS. I have an idea for my own game but I need to learn how to make good sprites before I can start.

Here is my first attempt at my main character Snow. She is an Ice elf so she has light blue skin and white hair. She is based off of my character from the oblivion game. Screenshot here

Anyway here is my sprite. Doesn't look like much right now $:-\$

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Edit

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Ghost · Sun 30/03/2008 19:55:01

A striking resemblance to Ulysses31, a fav cartoon of mine

I like the concept, but you should try and get rid of the typical "mirrored look" of low-res sprites. By making the front view asymmerical you'll already greatly improve the look.

The simple shading and the colour palette are nice and easy on the eyes, and you will find animation much easier with a small palette.

What puzzles me are her clothes; if this is a fantasy game you probably should alter the looks to fit your world (for example, few people in Oblivion wear surfer shorts

)

It's a nice, clean first sprite, and I can totally picture it in a game, so good start!

Spike4072 · Sun 30/03/2008 20:30:47

Thanks I will see what I can do about the "mirror look."

For the shorts what I had in my mind is some ragged cut off/ripped pants but it didn't come across very well in a sprite. I will giver her some different pants.

mouthuvmine · Sun 30/03/2008 21:40:03

You could try a much lighter shade of the shorts' color at the bottom to suggest cutoffs.

EDIT: On seconds thought, I didn't realize just how small that sprite was. I'm sure there's a way, but I don't know it.

My only other suggestion for now, is give her more face. It's a very short face right now. her mouth and eyes are very close.

miguel · Sun 30/03/2008 21:53:39

Yup, if you want more detail you have to make the sprite bigger.
sorry again for what happened to your mouse

Nikolas · Sun 30/03/2008 22:02:49

OT: Ghost I love Ulysses 31 and actually a few months back (around the summer) I went and bought the DVD... case (3 DVDs I believe). It still didn't lose the magic...

Spike4072 · Sun 30/03/2008 22:21:49

Well for size I was going by this background from KQ4. Its 320x200 but I guess I could go for 640x400 to make the sprite bigger.

Spike4072 · Sun 30/03/2008 23:26:36

Ok I made her pants longer and upped the size for more detail.

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I still need to work on the symmetrical problem but better?

miguel · Sun 30/03/2008 23:29:47

much better!

I would also get her more straight, she looks tired,
good work

brokenbutterfly · Sun 30/03/2008 23:31:11

Better alright! Prettier, less square

Sylvr · Sun 30/03/2008 23:32:10

She looks hunched forward, to me. $:-\$

Ryan Timothy B · Sun 30/03/2008 23:41:52

Since you upped the size of the character, make her pants wavy instead of being straight lines. Some knees might be nice too.

miguel · Sun 30/03/2008 23:48:05

Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Sun 30/03/2008 23:41:52
Since you upped the size of the character, make her pants wavy instead of being straight lines. Some knees might be nice too.

I second very much the knees, give the woman a pair of legs, fgs!

Spike4072 · Sun 30/03/2008 23:48:45

Hmm about the hunched over look. She has a top part on her shirt that drapes over her shoulders. I guess that is what makes her look hunched. Any ideas on how I could do it differently? I'm not real that good at art stuff.

Ok I will work on the pants some more. What is FGS?

Spike4072 · Mon 31/03/2008 00:47:54

Ok third edit

I think i got rid of the slouching I hope and played with the pants a bit. This spriteing stuff is harder than it looks

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ThreeOhFour · Mon 31/03/2008 02:57:32

Interesting sprite - however the colour scheme feels a little dull to me.

Here is a mockup with a more vibrant colour scheme:

Hope this is useful.

EDIT: Just reread your first post and checked out the reference image, realising how far off the mark I was

.

Here's an edit based on your reference picture:

Ryan Timothy B · Mon 31/03/2008 03:32:27

Should've known ben with his crazy blue people fetish would come along and draw this totally exceptional character. She's got sex appeal (with clothes and without), in a weird blue alien-like way.

But she doesn't look poor like Spike had kinda suggested by saying she was wearing torn at the knees pants. But the boots help give a poor image.

EdLoen · Mon 31/03/2008 03:32:58

She still appears to be slouching. I think the main reason (to my eyes at least) to why it appears that way is that the shoulders are wider then the hips, and the hands are infront of the legs versus parallel to them, or even behind them.

I say try bringing the shoulders in a few pixels, and not bothering with thumbs. Since the sprite is that low-res (even at that size) digits aren't needed to be pronounced like that.

ThreeOhFour · Mon 31/03/2008 03:40:11

Quote from: Ryan Timothy on Mon 31/03/2008 03:32:27
Should've known ben with his crazy blue people fetish would come along and draw this totally exceptional character. She's got sex appeal (with clothes and without), in a weird blue alien-like way.

But she doesn't look poor like Spike had kinda suggested by saying she was wearing torn at the knees pants. But the boots help give a poor image.

Hehehe, I have a blue person fetish? This is most interesting!

I did the character based off the reference pic, which is where I got the undies from. I could give her a pair of daisy duke shorts, but I'm afraid rumours of my blue person fetish would only spread

.

Spike4072 · Mon 31/03/2008 04:25:08

Wow Ben that mockup looks great :o
I still don't see how people can get such great detail in such a little space.

I see what you are saying about the arms now EdLoen. I think I may just redo this one from scratch. it looks horrible next to Bens sprite lol.