Hows that for starters? (sprite)

[AvihooI]

I've tried my best but I know something's missing... any idea?

[Layabout]

His head is really big and round. His eyes and ears are at the top of his head. He has no forehead. His skin tones are babyshit greenybrownyyellow. His body is totally out of proportion.

http://www.cgempire.com/forum/2d-tutorials-63/keeping-things-proportion-2588.html

This thread in another forum by our very own progzmax explains about good adventure game character proportions. Look at other sprites in adventure games. Print screen them. Try to recreate them witout a paintover. Pay attention to the colours they use. Pay attention to the structure. Create your sprites without shading first, then when you are happy with the sillouette, add in the colour and shading.

Savvy?

[cat]

I don't think it is too bad for a cartoony style character. MM has also characters with large heads.

One think that really does not fit is the location of the eyes. If you take the heigt of the head the eyes should be almost in the center. Take a look at this link http://www.fineart.sk/show.php?w=896 (it is from the second page of the link Layabout has posted) and see where the eyes are.

[AvihooI]

yeah good point... I think the resolution is too small to add much detail... so I'll try something bigger.

[InCreator]

I say it is bad. Well, "for starters", very few people come up with something good.

But what is good is that you can learn. Especially at Critics Lounge at AGS boards, because everyone will help and we have a loads of both tutorials and various styles to help you with this.

While there's no "pre-set" rules for character drawing, there's still some very common starters' mistakes you made.
Here's the problems with your image:

* Double pixels. In most corners, you made that strange double pixel error. Seek tutorials about this.
* Color leaks... er... or something. Your outlines don't keep brighter color inside. Take a closer look at his hands! What did you exactly tried to do here? Why aren't hands outlined? This is simple to fix, though.
* Proportions versus realism: As said, eyes are too high and big, there's no forehead
* Blue hair?
* Skin color is unrealistic. I can't point a finger at your character's race.
* Decide if it's an outlining you have there or some sort of half-assed shading. Currently, it feels like both.
* Image is unfinished! Never, ever post unfinished work at CL, unless it's something really big and complex, like a background. barely 200-pixel and very basic character does not fall into this category.

So, fix all mistakes first and post what you got. Then we'll see further.
The best advice I could give you is to learn from what others do when drawing a character. Observe how everything is drawn and used.

There's 2 cases where I made a tiny tutorial for help, and they're here
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=33380.msg433646#msg433646
and here
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=31167.msg400216#msg400216

Hope those would help a bit.

And yes, I know that I might have sounded harsh, but after few sprites, tutorials, and learning further you'll barely recognize this one.

[AvihooI]

I do wonder, do you guys use a wacom tablet for drawing sprites? cause I don't have one and it's kinda expensive for me to get at the moment.

InCreator, I've taken note of your guidelines, they're very helpful... I'll try sketching up something a lot better using your methods, but first I have a few questions:
1. Resolution: I am aware it's possible to draw sprites at any resolution but what in your opinion would be a resolution that's high enough to add details easily but low enough to not require too much pixel work?
2. Color: what's the best coloring system to work with (RGB, CYM, etc...) when drawing sprites? and where do I sample colors from, are real photosources any good for that?
3. Perspective: when I draw I am often baffled as to how to look at my sprite as I am drawing it; how much should I zoom in if at all?

And that's it for now, thanks for you help.

[InCreator]

1. Character dimensions are related to the rooms and resolution of your game. For 320x240 game, I wouldn't make character taller than about 110 pixels. But, I find 50-90 pixels of height usually enough for my games.

Of course, doors and entrances in your room should be in harmony with character. In the end, it all depends on your style.

2. Very interesting and highly technical question. I never thought about it. Windows Paint' palette is usually enough for me, for example, and all color picks are done by bare eye.  I sometimes edit saturation to get it lower, but that's all. To be honest, I don't even know what's the difference between RGB and CYMK modes!
Usually dragging eyedropper around on Paint's palette area will help me to find the color I need.

3. For 70 pixel character, 400% zoom seems to be enough. If this confuses you, try making a stickman which has all needed heights for your final character, then zoom in and stickman will give you nice references in actual drawing, so there would be no surprises later.

[mouthuvmine]

Okay, I've tried to keep everything reletively close to how you seemed to want it (subbing whatever skin color you wanted for my my own milky self), inlcluding size and simplicity. What was fixed were some small proportion problems with the body, a complete overhaul of the head, and some color change suggestions for the clothing.

I've never seen a need, especially with a charater like this, to raise the resolution for more dtail. You just have to be more picky about what features need to be seen most to get your point across.

I don't think I've given a mind blowing, inspirational image here, but hopefully it can help.

Have fun!

[ThreeOhFour]

Hmmm.

I have a few points I wish to make. I hope I don't appear to ramble.

First of all, this character seems to be at a good size for an adventure game. You'll have to design your rooms around your character height, so really you can use a wide range of sizes. I like this size sprite because you can put a fair bit of detail in and it won't take to long to draw or to animate.

Secondly, with regards to colour, mouthuvmine has a better colour scheme in his paintover - it's not perfect, but for basic shading and detailing it works quite well. I suggest you think about things before drawing them as any colour though. A yellow belt is uncommon, and the yellow belts I have seen have either had a black or a silver buckle. Yellow belt with a brown buckle = ugly.

When it comes to a graphics tablet - don't let the lack of this get in your way. I've never used one, and I am sure you can do many wonderful things with them, but you should be able to get a nice looking sprite without one.

I think most importantly, this character has no character. When drawing a character, try to give them a bit of personality that will make them stand out. Not to pick on mouthuvmine, but although he's given the character a facial expression, he hasn't given the character much in the way of facial features. You don't need loads of colours to do this, so there is little excuse for not doing it.

I've done a sprite at this resolution based on mouthuvmine's edit (colour wise) to show how I'd use this pallette and resolution. It's not perfect, but it demonstrates some of the points I think you should consider.



My sincerest of apologies for what may be a rant supported by an example that is not very good as I am tired from work. Good luck with your spriting.

[Layabout]

1st thing. I never use a graphics tablet when drawing sprites of this size. Reason? Because its more trouble than it is worth. the kind of detail you need at this size involves pixelling with a mouse. You need to decide where every pixel goes. It's half science half art.

I'm not terribly impressed by either of the redraws, as mr mouths looks very much like a 5 second paintover. Ben's is nice, but there is something wrong i can't put my fingure on. Probably his head. I try not to exaggerate things too much, as i think it's a bit lazy. You can get a decent looking face with a smaller head. Look at the king's quest sprites. Look at guybrush. Look at him!!!



He may be taller, but he looks better proportioned. He also has an awesome dynamic looking pose. When I stand around doing nothing, i never have my hands parallel to my body. I may have one in my pocket, on my hip. He also has very excellent posture. Ben's looks like the world is coming crushing down on his sholders.

What is the character's story. Maybe this will help with your design. Create a backstory. Give this man a life, then bring him to life.
Oh and i almost forgot.

How I pick my skin colours.



Nice isn't it.

[Moresco]

That skin color chart is awesome.  Did you make it?

[Layabout]

Nope, found it on a 3d forum.