Hello all!
It seems I have been going in circles. I've been trying to achieve this style for at least a year, but I keep making the same mistakes. Looks I have a problem with clothing.
Now I have read a few tutorials on clothes shading, and they have helped me with making little folds and loops while sketching, but I can't seem to incorporate them here.
Two examples:
(http://www.babar.squarespace.com/storage/pictures/bathrobe%20wizard.gif) (http://www.babar.squarespace.com/storage/pictures/wizlight.gif)
It seems that all the clothes in my sprites look like square or hexagonal boxes, or look like random patches of colour on the cloth. I'd be most thankful if someone helped me with these specific sprites, though if you gave a sort of "general rule" or even a tutorial on how to handle cloth folds and shading in this sort of sprite, you'd make me a very happy person.
I bet there are people with more usable ideas than me, but I can give you a hint, didn't study for nothing eh ;)
First when I begun to read your descripton of your problems and loked st the mage in white, I was thinking like; what's this guy talking about. The picture's very good. Although: the right side of the (pardon my lack of vocabularity when talking about clothing) jacket, sleeve or something, don't even know it in my native language... anyway, it's on top, as in a female way. Yes, women have buttons on the left side and men on the right side, that's how you know which is which... or so I've been told.
Ã, Ã, I reckon you want to have some kind of 'wrinkles' on them as if to show they are alive? Might concider the facts that the waist is tighter due to the belt or what ever you're using. So a robe like that would get a little wrinkled from armpits to the waist and the down from there...
Ã, Ã, Then think of if you should draw a part of the hem a bit longer on occasions to make it look more vivid. It wouldn't go that way naturally, look like it sure, but the part that looks longer is the end of a wrinkle... so if it's on the inside it ought ot be darker.
On the blue man, I see more things to be fixed. First of all his other leg is longer and the other sleeve is thinner. But that's not what you asked ;D
Ã, Ã, I see you have darkened the torso from above his left arm, but not under it, which, concidering the cast ball was the light source would be even darker. Then the feet. It's hard to describe because it doesn't seem anathomically correct, BUT; should you bend or twist or whatever you do to the hem, it wouldn't be so that the bent knees were more out than the hem itself. I mean, the right leg seems to block the light right next to it, but for some reason not from the front of the hem at all. Now that is not possible unless it's glued onto his leg (which I doubt).
I try to help the best I can. Yet they are very nice pictures, especially the white clothed one.
Are they better now?
I get what you mean about women's shirts being the other way 'round, but I hope I can take some artistic liberties with that, because if I switched it, the shading wouldn't show in the middle. However, I did some of the falling from the underarm- going towards the belt thing you said.
I fixed up the second too. The sleeve is now narrower. About the leg, I was trying to show that his right leg was more forward than the left, but I suppose I suck at fore-shortening. Fixed that a bit too.
I had made the area under his left sleeve lighter so that the sleeve was distinguishable from the rest. But I suppose you are right, so I changed that too. That is another problem for me: Trying to follow lighting rules while at the same time making the individual parts of the picture distinguishable.
Maybe a white belt (or something other to hold the robe) He's cloth is a bit "boring". Very nice pictures tough!
I get what you mean. I would suggest, that you drew the left leg a bit higher, with less angle on the knee. Then, if the left leg would be in the back and therefore wouldn't get any light, si it'd be much darker... WEll, to make it easier, I did a little paintover. I didn't mess with the colours, but I do think it needs to be much darkes on the hem on the left side as well as on the back at waistlevel.
(http://img351.imageshack.us/img351/42/wizlight0mf.gif)
With this I tried to show, that the reason I misinterpreted the position was because of the light coming to the left leg. now that it's off, it looks more like it's behind, or to me it does at least... I appologise for the horrible drawing but I usually work with more colours, but I only did this to give you the idea :D
I changed his belt to white. Now he is the bathrobe wizard in the truest form! But now, the 3Dishness of his belt makes the rest of him look flat.
I messed around with the blue guy again after seeing your edit, Tuomas. Dunno if it's better or worse.
But once again, a general rule of the thumb for these sort of sprites would be helpful.
the rule is simple. Stand on the position your character stands and look where the shadows appear.