im back and heres a sprite

[Fusiomax]

I'm back! Though I don't think anyone really would have noticed I was gone.

If you are wondering where I was, I was taking exam's and revising.

With all but one exam behind me I thought "I should get back onto my project."
So i turned the pc and looked into my files where all my stuff is stored away nice and neatly and... all of my files were corrupt. turns out that nasty virus a few weeks ago got into 'em.

So I decided I would just spend 10 minutes quickly making a sprite so that I could put something in the folder.

It came out rather well, at least that's my opinion. So i thought i would put it up for a critique.



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So what do you think?

how do i put up zoomed in views?

and is 5 colours to simple?

Thanks in advance

[Oliwerko]

So I decided I would just spend 10 minutes quickly making a sprite so that I could put something in the folder.

This is exactly the approach that will only yield bad results. It doesn't work. Improvement needs time.

You could also mention where is the sprite supposed to be used, etc.

His legs are seen as if he's (she's?) facing the player, while his body is facing right; among other issues.

My suggestion would be spending more than 10 minutes quickly making something up and putting it here. What criticism are you looking for when you spent 10 minutes on it?

[Fusiomax]

I would like to say thankyou for what you said it made me completely change the way i was thinking.

So i spent about an hour just moving bits here moving bits there adding a bit of detail and i know have this.



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Back story: he is a lizard type alien that has crash landed on an alien planet and is trying to build an interstellar teleportation device to get back home. He is 1,456,783 years old his race lives for millenia and to pronounce his name it would take a thousand years.

so how is it now?

once again thankyou for your aid Oliwerko

Fusiomax

P.S I just read my post and it seems a bit sarcastic i did not mean for it to sound like that i am actually very grateful for what you said.

[SpacePaw]

Just few minutes of editing - don't be afraid of adding shadows deeper or you'll end up pillow shadowing, also don't be afraid of higher contrast (most of the colors in your sprite aren't visible because they are too similiar to other ones). Try to draw your sprites on solid grey background instead of white and you'll have better, less saturated results.

[Fusiomax]

thanks SpacePaw. did you touch the outline or does it just look a bit different because of the better shading?

Also is the general outline good or is it well...rubbish?

[SpacePaw]

thanks SpacePaw. did you touch the outline or does it just look a bit different because of the better shading?

Also is the general outline good or is it well...rubbish?

I added outline between pants and shoes...Beside that it's completely the same   it's not rubbish - it's quite ok. You just need to do more contrasted shading and go with unified lighting (now it's top-down, original sprite was more like pillow shadowed. As you practice more you'll get it )

Some people around here would do even better job than me but I think you should concentrate on those basics for now

[Calin Leafshade]

Sorry I have taken wayyyy too many liberties with your sprite but maybe it gives you new ideas on where to take it.

Sorry there are too many changes to list but the biggest change is probably the colour choice.. notice how the highlights are closer to the warmer end of the spectrum and the shadows are cooler colours.

[SpacePaw]

Sorry I have taken wayyyy too many liberties with your sprite but maybe it gives you new ideas on where to take it.

Sorry there are too many changes to list but the biggest change is probably the colour choice.. notice how the highlights are closer to the warmer end of the spectrum and the shadows are cooler colours.

agree with warm highlights and cool shadows. Although I personally hate dithering XD but it's just my opinion

[Fusiomax]

Sorry I have taken wayyyy too many liberties with your sprite but maybe it gives you new ideas on where to take it.

Ok you did do a lot

agree with warm highlights and cool shadows. Although I personally hate dithering XD but it's just my opinion

yeah i dont really like dithering, its always seemed to complicated.

The warmness is good maybe a bit to dark though, and he seems a bit menacing.
His is a peacable race one devoted to the persuit of knowledge.

But on the other hand the menacing nature could be aplicable to an anti-hero or villain.

how many colours should a sprite generaly have?

[Calin Leafshade]

I don't usually dither sprites but I thought I would play around, really I was trying to make the head look a little more cylindrical. it looked a little flat and dithering seemed appropriate.

and yes I did go for a menacing look because his pose looks menacing but really if you make those eyes round again the menacyness will go away.

[SpacePaw]

how many colours should a sprite generaly have?

It all depends on the style. It can have only 2, it can have 8, it can have 50. There are no real standards but for such small sprites I wouldnt go very high with the color count. You *can* do very smooth color transitions but it's hard to do and animate later so I wouldn't bother and go with 3 shades of each color to practice the shadows placement and contrasting stuff

[Calin Leafshade]

If you're curious (and more for my own practice) I did a couple of versions of the sprite which show how easy it is to change the feel of the characters immediate demeanor with literally just a few pixels




As for colours, less is generally helpful to the artist since it's less time-consuming to animate and can result in a cleaner looking sprite.. especially at such low resolutions.

[Anian]

As for colours, less is generally helpful to the artist since it's less time-consuming to animate and can result in a cleaner looking sprite.. especially at such low resolutions.

Yeah, but even chracters/sprites in like Broken sword (which is bigger resolution than this is supposed to be) don't need to have many colors (though the backgrounds do).

In any case, sprite now seems to have volume, which looks much better and "real".

[Fusiomax]

ok so i wasn't sure where else i could go with the sprite so i decided i would try to do a front view of it



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so how is it?

I know i really need to work on my shading

im reasonably happy with the legs its the arms and head i feel dont look right.
yes the head isnt shaded at all thats because it looks better unshaded than how it did when i shaded.