This ninja drives me nuts, because I don't get the shading right. I want the light to come from the left front. His left left leg is supposed to be further behind, while his right one goes basically straight in front.
My attempt:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/ninja_cobv3.png)
The basic outline:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/ninja_cobv1.png)
Suggestions and/or paintovers would be very welcome.
My shot:
(http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/1420/redrawcob3ng8.gif)
I got rid of the black outline:
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b319/Knoglefar/ninja.png)
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b319/Knoglefar/ninja2.png)
Thank you. They are both better than what I came up with.
KhrisMUC's version very much hits what I had in mind and I have to admit that I am a bit envious.
Although it does not look like it I labored almost an hour on the shading.
Is it just practice or are there any hints you can give?
Get ProMotion (http://www.cosmigo.com/promotion/). The trial version is all you'll ever need. It's like a crossbreed of DeluxePaint & PhotoShop aimed especially at pixel art.
Use few colors, high contrast & study the masterpieces over at Pixelation (http://www.pixel-arts.org/pixelation/).
Plus it helps a great deal if you have a well developed spatial sense.
The line art is really good and was fun to shade, btw! :D