New Groove Characters

[ScottDoom]

Any tips?

I guess they could use some shading, but but is really bothering me is the lack of detail in the faces but it's so hard to cram detail into such a small resolution.



Just an idea right now... I'm thinkin' of making a game but I'd probably have to get permission to use the characters.

[ThreeOhFour]

Yay for poorly done paintovers, yay for larger resolutions, and yay for llamas.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

It's all about how you handle expressions and proportions.

I didn't spend alot of time on this edit but your sprites are very easy to work from.  What I did:

1.  Added more distinct shading.
2.  Move the eyes farther apart, added ears, changed expression
3. Made the shoulders more 'square' like the disney rendition
4.  Made the arms longer.





You can ignore the shading aspect, just look at how I did the face and it will give you some ideas on how to give a personality to a smaller sprite.

[big brother]

I like the simplistic look of the original (as that makes them closer to the cartoon). However, they are stiff and rigid, lacking the dynamic shapes that gave the cartoon characters personality. A while back there was an infamous thread on the DOTT style a while ago that covered this issue.

[ScottDoom]

ProgZmax, nice paint-over but it's not the style I was heading for. I'm going with no shading (maybe some simple shading eventually) for a cartoon look plus it's easier to animate them that way (hopefully). Plus you got Kronk's outfit color wrong.

What I do need help with is the general pose for each character as well as facial detail especially in the skinnier characters (Kuzco, Yzma, and now Birdwell).

I'm thinking the sprites could maybe be a bit bigger (pasted one to a 320x240 background and stretched it to 1024x768 from there and the character was pretty small across the entire screen) but I tried redrawing Kronk bigger and it came out horrible. I'm really proud of my current version of him. It's Kuzco and Yzma I'm not real proud of.

Anyways, two new ones:
Papi & Birdwell from Kronk's movie:


I also did some slight edits on Kronk.
-Made him slightly taller.
-Squared his shoulders (thanks for idea, ProgZmax)
->

I also gave necks to Kuzco and Yzma:
Ã, 

What needs to be done:
Relax poses and make them have more character. Possibly detail/characterize faces better. Possibly add simple shading.

I still have to draw a few more characters too, and then I'll start the animation process for a walking cycle on each and start up programming. I have a story in mind (unique story that continues off the end of Kronk's New Groove) and a couple puzzle ideas but nothing solid yet.

I'll post about it in the Currently In Production section when I get some background work up.

[sergiocornaga]

I'm faily certain Kronk looked better before.

[Mats Berglinn]

Even it was awhile since I saw Emperor's New Groove, I know that Yzma is shorter than the Emperor and both Pacha (right spelling?) and Kronk are taller than the Emperor.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I got the colors wrong?  Hmm...

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/10280000/10289442.jpg

His shirt looks blue to me. 

[JimmyShelter]

I got the colors wrong?  Hmm...

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/10280000/10289442.jpg

His shirt looks blue to me. 

And not only that: The characters seem shaded!  :o


I'd go with shaded characters like ProgZmax' edit.

[big brother]

Of course the shading may be due to the difference between cover art and that of the actual cartoon.

If you plan on animating those characters, I'd recommend not shading them (besides a basic drop shadow maybe) to stay closer to the Disney style.

[ScottDoom]

Even it was awhile since I saw Emperor's New Groove, I know that Yzma is shorter than the Emperor and both Pacha (right spelling?) and Kronk are taller than the Emperor.

You're right. I got that fixed...

I got the colors wrong?Ã,  Hmm...

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/10280000/10289442.jpg

His shirt looks blue to me.Ã, 

You know, I have that DVD cover sitting right on my desk and didn't even notice it. I was going by memory and a googled image which showed a light purple shirt. I just grabbed this screencap from the movie too:

I just eye-dropped all the colors on him onto my new sprite edit. Also, in the movie there's no shading really. Only in some scenes and close-ups.

Anyways, here's my new Kronk. He's even taller now and his arms are longer. I also changed the shoulders a bit, and I eye-dropped the colors straight from a movie capture so no complaining about colors.Ã, 
->

Pacha is a bit taller with longer arms...
->

Yzma is shorter with a few other minor changes (shoulders)...
->

And here's a new one.
Rudy (I think that's how it's spelled):


By the way, the reason I'm showing all these characters is because they're all mostly well-known and it's not spoiling anything. Although when I make the game I'm going to throw in a few original characters that fit the theme.

[scourge]

i think you can go ahead and shade. Generally you first draw keyframes and then add shade. All classic adventure games had shading, well most of them anyway.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Just go with whatever you are comfortable with.  If you want to shade them, do so.  Mine was more an example of one way you could go about it in terms of making the facial features really stand out on a small sprite (which was your original question).  If you don't want to shade them you don't need to, they'll still look fine.

[ScottDoom]

I think I'll leave them like that for now... The backgrounds will be shaded so I'm hoping their flat look will help them stand out more. I'm going to draw up a few backgrounds soon and get a walking animation going for Kronk to see how it all looks.

I'm just trying to keep it simple so I can actually finish. With all my other projects I thought too big or tried to hard with the art and never finished it.

[Gregjazz]

+1 on the not shading them. It's not really the style to have drastic shading. Stay simple--it looks better IMO.

[big brother]

You should prolly pick your own colors, since the shapes have outlines in the actual movie.

Remember that your sprites are much smaller than the characters in the movie, so they will need to pop out visually.

[scourge]

geoffkhan, i aggree with not drastic but a little shading can go a long way

example: simon the sorcerer, discworld, even monkey island.

The characters might look too pasted if its completely ommitted. But if you're bg is gonna be detailed the less character shading the better.

On the other hand if your characters are too flat and your bgs too detailed it might look as though they are from different games.

[EDIT] I thought Apprentice 2 pulled the unshaded characters off perfectly.Ã, 

ScottDoom: I think for the Disney feel the flat characters might look better, but of course with a "drop shadow" like bb sais. Since they would look less pasted 2D then

[ScottDoom]

I decided to go with outlines like the film...
->

A slight change but it gives an improvement, doesn't it? I think that may be my final, although rather simple. I'll draw the other views and my first walk animation ever next... 

[JimmyShelter]

Nice! The outlines make them seem less flat, that was why I found the shaded versions better, but outlines are a pretty good solution!