My latest character: C&C Please

Erwin_Br · Thu 05/01/2006 14:08:16

This is my latest character: An alien used car salesman. A slick talker.

I'm not completely satisfied with it, and would love to hear your comments, critique, suggestions, etc... Fire away, if you please.

Thanks!

EDIT: I changed the color, and added some new stuff. Still not 100% satisfied, though. Maybe it's the pose? Or the shape of the jacket? I'm not ssure.

--Erwin

ildu · Thu 05/01/2006 14:36:17

He looks like a pikey. He looks quite dirty and poor also. The image I have of car salesmen is being advertisingly colorful, dressed over the top and especially suave.

Don't get me wrong, I think it looks great. It's just not what I would recognize as a used car salesman. So I guess you could experiment with some other type of clothing. I think he needs to look more like a business man. Also, the upper arm should probably go over the edge of the jacket, because now it looks more like a hole in the jacket rather than an arm.

Great work, though. I'd like to ask, though, why you make pixel-perfect characters and why you use single-pixel outlines. Your backgrounds are all anti-aliased, but your characters aren't. Aren't anti-aliasing and alphas an option for you? I guess it's a unique style, but the characters look a little out of place on your amazing backgrounds. No offense.

JimmyShelter · Thu 05/01/2006 14:48:25

Great character!
I would immediately distrust him if I met him in-game

Two things I noticed:
- does he miss an eye? It looks weird
- does he have two arms? or is the upper 'arm' a rip in his jacket? Hard to tell.

Erwin_Br · Thu 05/01/2006 14:53:10

Quote from: ildu on Thu 05/01/2006 14:36:17
He looks like a pikey. He looks quite dirty and poor also. The image I have of car salesmen is being advertisingly colorful, dressed over the top and especially suave.

Don't get me wrong, I think it looks great. It's just not what I would recognize as a used car salesman. So I guess you could experiment with some other type of clothing. I think he needs to look more like a business man. Also, the upper arm should probably go over the edge of the jacket, because now it looks more like a hole in the jacket rather than an arm.

Great work, though. I'd like to ask, though, why you make pixel-perfect characters and why you use single-pixel outlines. Your backgrounds are all anti-aliased, but your characters aren't. Aren't anti-aliasing and alphas an option for you? I guess it's a unique style, but the characters look a little out of place on your amazing backgrounds. No offense.

Actually, since a few days all my in-game my characters are rendered with AA (see example screenshot below). The reason I'm not using Alpha Channels is because it takes more time to create all my animations that way. So I let the engine render my pixelated characters in AA instead, with the same result.

This is also the room where my salesman will be, btw.

As for the salesman, he's more the 'dirty type' instead of the polished man you have in mind. I based him on several images I found on Google. Example below:

--Erwin

ildu · Thu 05/01/2006 16:29:32

It's looking very good with the AA features. Nice work.

But again with the character. What I had in mind is pretty much the same as in your googled image. You character doesn't look like a flashy type of suave salesman. The jacket and the feather in the hat make him look like a beggar with cheap jewellery

. You could try tilting the hat back. That always accentuated the business sleaze type of feeling. You could maybe lose the jacket and add a hawaii shirt. Or keep the jacket and add the shirt.

Also, I'm not sure about the color. The yellow might be too subtle for that background and the purple might be too dark. Have you experimented with green? Anyways, looks really great so far, but it's got a lot more potential.

JimmyShelter · Thu 05/01/2006 16:43:22

The glasses look a bit flat, and the upper arm is still a bit weird.

Maybe instead of the jacket an hawaii shirt?

DonB · Thu 05/01/2006 17:13:24

No, keep the jacket, in my opinion,

I think the jacket is very pimpish..

Veeeeeeeeeeery professional looks, compliments!, by the way

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Thu 05/01/2006 17:34:15

Maybe this will help. I dig the character, btw.

ManicMatt · Thu 05/01/2006 18:45:05

ace artwork!

Sorry, but I prefer the very first image...

I identify him as a used car salesman in the dodgy british salesman type of character.

the second one looks more like a librarian.. lose or change the glasses, in my opinion! 8)

Indie Boy · Thu 05/01/2006 18:50:21

what about a vest instead of a shirt more of a slob look, love the character so far

DonB · Thu 05/01/2006 18:52:16

Guys, ninjaboy did a PERFECT job in editting, I dont see your opinion's, really..

this last update of ninjaboy is BY FAR the best.. use it.. its finished

Erwin_Br · Thu 05/01/2006 19:18:07

Quote from: DonB on Thu 05/01/2006 18:52:16
Guys, ninjaboy did a PERFECT job in editting, I dont see your opinion's, really..

this last update of ninjaboy is BY FAR the best.. use it.. its finished

I agree. I like the glasses, his shirt... So I made an edit again:

I think I'm getting there... What do you think?

--Erwin

InCreator · Thu 05/01/2006 19:35:57

I edited progzmax's edit... and tried to give him some expression.

Al_Ninio · Thu 05/01/2006 19:59:50

I think the hat makes him look more like some sort of pimp than a used car salesman.
I think a badly combed-over bald patch would fit more.
Or something like the hair in the reference picture.

scourge · Thu 05/01/2006 20:01:16

I love your style man, erwin. Your game is gonna be excellent!

I think inCreator's character with the shirt in ProgZ's edit looks right

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Thu 05/01/2006 20:20:08

Maybe Al had something like this in mind? :>

ScottDoom · Thu 05/01/2006 20:27:52

Great style... I've been looking forward to your game for a long time. I wish I could draw like that... It looks so simple but I can never get it right.

Anyways, I thought it looked like a poor mob boss that isn't doing so well. I like where you're going witht he more colorful clothing (like in that reference picture). I think his coat looks like a big winter coat for some reason. I just simply changed the colors on it and removed the bottom, although if I were an artist I would have changed the top portion into a "popped" collar which I think would fit. Also, after changing the shirt and jacket the hat popped out so I changed the color on that too.

LilBlueSmurf · Thu 05/01/2006 21:24:16

I love the character. I agree that the glasses stand out, it seems like 'cheap salesman' always go for the 'everything matches' look, so I think just changing the clothing, hat, and glasses (notice how in your ref pic even the glasses match the brown of the shirt?) to have similar color schemes would help. Think tacky old sofas

stu · Sat 07/01/2006 07:31:52

i messed around with the colour slightly, new sunglasses and a moustache. but i have to say other peoples paintovers are better.

the reason i'm still posting this, is because i've gave the dude a new pose. on all the others, he seems to be in a unnatural floating position.

Corey · Sat 07/01/2006 09:06:13

his eyes don't look confincing... more like sad

My latest character: C&C Please

scourge