Reducing character designs to lo-res graphics

[Zaidyer]

I'm having a really hard time at this.

I want to design an adventure based on my sci-fi comic, Spacedust.
Because of the detailed character designs I'm using, each character is very hard to represent as a low-res sprite in a 320x200 adventure game. Take a look at Gene, for instance:

Example of Gene in the comic
Full-body example of Gene in color (minus some details on the jacket that were added later and appear in the comic)

Gene's head and jacket are full of lines that define shape and detail. In a Spacedust game, he would be the star. But I'm having trouble drawing sprites for him.
Here's a rough, incomplete try at a sprite. (No shading or color adjustments.) I just shrank Gene's profile image and drew over it, with minor liberties.


Here it is on a 320x200 screen:

Seems a little big, though. But so far, my efforts to trim him down have proven horrid-looking.
I feel like I'm missing something. Feel free to make any comments or suggestions.

[cat]

His eye looks weird. Otherwise I like him.

I don't know your comic, so I can't say if the style fits. Now the character seems to be fine for a space parody.

Regarding the size: It depends on your backgrounds. With 320x200 he is probably a bit too tall. Have you considered using 320x240?
If you decide to make him smaller: Try to take your sprite, resize it and then put a new layer on top and trace the resized/blurry original one. Maybe you will have to skip some detail then...

[Arboris]

x3

A quick repaint. I just reduced it to 75% from the original and then just cleared the cluttered lines a bit. I also moved his left arm back.

I also did a quick jab at a shaded version. But that'll be allot harder to animate, so best leave it as it is in my opinion.
 

[zabnat]

I would say that a version between ArboriS' first and second edit would work well and would be easy to animate. What I mean is have simple flat colored character with colored outlines. Black outline works sometimes, but since the jacked is also with a colored outline it looks weird that the face is not.

[ThreeOhFour]

I don't agree that shaded characters are harder to animate - it merely takes more time + effort. ArboriS has quite a nice feel going with his last paintover, however I have some suggestions so here is a quick paintover:

x2

-I find characters can lose the serious expression when you draw whites of their eyes
-The legs seemed at a rather awkard posture
-The boots did not look terribly boot-like
-Various other little touches

Hope this helps

[cat]

I don't know what the brown thing on his shoulder is but it the shaded versions it blends with his hand.

[Evil]

The hand and gun right by his face is confusing. I'd have him hold is arm out to his right rather than in front of him. Or maybe across his chest to his left shoulder, if you're trying to go for an in action look.

[zabnat]

Yes, Evil is right about holding his arm next to him face, it goes against the "rule" of cartoons. Which is that every posture should be recognizable from the silhouette alone. So the character really should be facing the other direction (be mirrored) or holding the gun in his left hand (but this could would not do if he's right handed).

Edit: well, Ben304 is right kind of right about the shaded characters beign harder to animate, but in my books "takes more time" == "harder" .

[markbilly]

Can't he hold the gun further out from his body?

So the right arm makes a V shape...
 

[Play_Pretend]

Is it just me, or does he look almost a bit crosseyed in the originals?