Adventure Game Studio

Creative Production => Critics' Lounge => Topic started by: BerserkerTails on Mon 17/11/2003 20:34:35

Title: New female character (Need help)!
Post by: BerserkerTails on Mon 17/11/2003 20:34:35
A female character for my game, The Tablet of Altheria. This is what I've got so far, but she just... doesn't look right. Any suggestions? They would be most appriciated!!

(http://www.ssonicnet.com/lobt/cltemp.gif)
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: santiago on Mon 17/11/2003 20:48:42
I like her shoes and how you did the face with the lush hair.  :D

What I did react to was her arm. It looks kind of over-sized and "thick", try make it thinner and a bit smaller.   8)
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: Kweepa on Mon 17/11/2003 21:31:19
I did a quick paintover...

(http://www.mccrea.demon.co.uk/step/ags/paintover.gif)

I strengthened her chin, lowered her shoulder and breast, thinned out and lengthened her arm, raised her buttocks, and squared off her trouser cuff. Plus twiddled a couple of pixels here and there for the heck of it.

Looking at it again, maybe she's standing a bit hunched over. You could try putting a bit of a curve in her back as if she's pushing her stomach out a bit, or maybe moving her shoulder and arm back a bit.

Or, for a completely different look, draw her at 3/4 view like the old LucasArts games do for a stationary character. That works much better for a side view. Takes a bit more time though :(

Steve
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: Evil on Mon 17/11/2003 21:54:19
Whoa, its been a while for me. People dont realize that making a side angle first is a bad idea, its a lot harder. Always work out your front til you are almost 100% happy with it.

(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.geocities.com/lobsterswithlasers2/tailsgirl.gif)

I hope I got my point through and this picture helps some.
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: BerserkerTails on Mon 17/11/2003 22:08:57
Steve McCrea: That's perfect! The chin looks amazing (One of the main things I didn't like about mine), do you mind if I use this version in my game (With maybe a few touches here or there)? Of course, credit will be issued ^_-

Evil: I can see how doing a front view first would help with doing the side view... I'll keep that in mind for my next character.
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: Kweepa on Mon 17/11/2003 22:42:17
BerserkerTails - go for it!
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: BOYD1981 on Tue 18/11/2003 00:12:35
i've always found front views harder to do if i've done the side views first and often vica-versa...
i've noticed a few inconsistancies with Evil's front view compared to the side one, for example her trousers are higher up in the front view, and her breasts are higher up in the side view...
one thing i always do when making a character is draw either the front or side view then, on another layer, i make horizontal lines at the tops and bottoms of features such as the eyes, nose, mouth, shoulders and waist as it helps to get things in the correct place...
one thing you might perhaps want to do on your side view is shorten the mouth, unless she had a mouth like cherri blair or julia roberts (BLURGH!) you wouldn't see her lips that much from the side  :)
apart from that, i like it
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: MrColossal on Tue 18/11/2003 01:57:08
i just wanna say that she looks a little off balance cause her legs are so straight and her butt comes out and it looks like she's a tad off balance, maybe angling her leg back a little?

and to counter boyd, her lips would do that if you want them to. especially since she's a cartoon she can do anything she wants

but otherwise nice character i like her shoes
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: BOYD1981 on Tue 18/11/2003 03:07:43
to counter MrColossal
Quote from: BerserkerTails on Mon 17/11/2003 20:34:35
A female character for my game, The Tablet of Altheria. This is what I've got so far, but she just... doesn't look right. Any suggestions? They would be most appriciated!!

he asked for suggestions, i gave one
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: MrColossal on Tue 18/11/2003 03:21:21
...hello mr defensive

i countered your suggestion, so what? i didn't say "shut up boyd you don't know what you're talking about". Are you saying my suggestion is any less valid?

anyway....

here's what i was talking about, probably won't look quite right:

(http://sylpher.com/kafka/junk/edits/legsback.gif)
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: Evil on Tue 18/11/2003 03:36:42
Boyd, I just wipped up a character, no intention to be exactly the same. Just an idea.
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: OneThinkingGal and ._. on Tue 18/11/2003 04:24:07
Oooh...paintovers.

(http://www.esotericmango.com/art/custom/agsforums1.png)

Don't know why you want that funny pillow shading. I changed that a bit.
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: BerserkerTails on Tue 18/11/2003 04:30:20
Oh no! Too many suggestions!

Mr. Colossal: I like your idea... <Changes his sprite again>

OneThinkingGal: I like the pillow shading... But I like your version's hair too... Can't decide...
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: OneThinkingGal and ._. on Tue 18/11/2003 04:35:55
I changed a lot more than the hair heh.

I gave her a bigger butt, unless you wanted her stick-thin like that and also raised the upper edge of the trousers. And a bigger chest.  Oh yeah, forgot I moved her arm back a bit too, so she looks a bit more stable.

In addition to the shading changes.

You could keep the other stuff and shade it how you want but I don't like pillow shading personally...it makes little sense. Nothing is pillow shaded in real life.  
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: BerserkerTails on Tue 18/11/2003 04:49:31
I did notice the chest area, but in my opinion, her butt is too big on your version.

I change the actual sprite to have a chest much like your versions.

Wow... I didn't know I'd get this much feedback on just one sprite! I should do this more often ^_-
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: MrColossal on Tue 18/11/2003 04:56:56
hehe, nothing is pillow shaded in real life maybe, but if berserkertails wants it like that then it's fine

just saying, just cause some people don't like it doesn't mean it isn't right.
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: OneThinkingGal and ._. on Tue 18/11/2003 05:00:30
/me points out the word 'personally' in the post

I don't quite see where I said it isn't right. Altho if you're just saying it to be saying it, its fine. Just sounds like you're objecting to something I said.
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: MrColossal on Tue 18/11/2003 05:15:18
good lord, i was just saying it to offer another point of view. and i did say "just saying..." but whatever
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: Las Naranjas on Tue 18/11/2003 05:55:24
GET OUT YOU F**KING FASCIST MR COLLLOSSASALL!!!1!!!
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: remixor on Tue 18/11/2003 07:12:44
Sorry to ruin the mood here, but what exactly is "pillow shading"?
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: MrColossal on Tue 18/11/2003 07:21:38
(http://sylpher.com/kafka/junk/edits/pillow.gif)

like, the shading is only around the edges and kinda creeps in making everything seem bumped up like a... pillow i guess...

but i don't see that on this sprite at all
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: Kweepa on Tue 18/11/2003 08:51:13
Mr Colossal: Great job on the legs.
One Thinking Gal: Nice recolour. I preferred the smaller breast - it seemed a bit more natural. Yours looks like she's wearing too tight a tshirt. Nothing wrong with that I guess.

Steve
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: n3tgraph on Tue 18/11/2003 10:24:28
whoops
nevermind ^_^
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: OneThinkingGal and ._. on Wed 19/11/2003 00:46:21
Quote from: MrColossal on Tue 18/11/2003 05:15:18
good lord, i was just saying it to offer another point of view. and i did say "just saying..." but whatever

I thought it was fairly obvious that he could either take the opinion or leave it without someone needing to point that out, as if I was shoving my opinion down his throat. But like you said, whatever. Don't need to turn it into some big thing if it isn't.

Steve, the breast was a bit too high and unnaturally shaped. Bigger was not really the point.  It would work fine with it a bit lower and having some mass.

The pillow shading I mentioned is in the hair, the outer edges are darker and the inner part is lighter.

Edit: I just noticed you have that exact thing about the breast in your redesign Steve, thats what I meant. :) That would work. Oh and I totally missed the shoulder there, good job on that. I think it needs to be lowered like that BerserkerTails.
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: loominous on Wed 19/11/2003 13:04:19
Some small modifications I came to think of (based on One Thinking Gal's version).

x3 (Text reads: ORG (Original) OTG (OneThinkingGal) NEW
(http://w1.865.telia.com/~u86517124/Downloadable/nfc.gif)

(Starting from top of head)

(i) Enlarged her backhead
(ii) Inverted green eye pixels to make her look forward rather than down.
(iii) Added shade to skinpixels infront of eyes.
(iv) Gave her some shoulderblades (back of thorax sticking out rather than flat back).
(v) Retracted and lowered shoulders to give a less tense - if somewhat overathletic - posture.
(vi) Modified breasts.
(vii) Reduced and raised her behind.
(viii) Retracted legs and feet one pixel to straighten her posture (looked like she was slightly bent forward)
Title: Re:New female character (Need help)!
Post by: on Fri 21/11/2003 17:58:30
Pillow Shading (Pillow Emboss) is usually used for buttons, it's dark one side and light on the otherside. I can't notice any difference between pillow emboss and normal emboss, so meh.