Hello all,
I have recently been re-visiting a sprite I made for a sprite jam (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=38867.msg511921#msg511921) a while back, and have now added a front view and a left-facing 3/4 view to match the original sprite, both of which I am quite happy with.
The side view, however, refuses to co-operate, and comes across as very blocky, looking nothing like the originals :-
(http://scarab117.webs.com/photos/happy/Oh%20Sideview,%20Why%20can't%20you%20be%20more%20like%20front%20view%20and%20three%20quarter%20view.png)
I have also been experimenting with different palettes (the current 8 colour palette is what you see here plus a mauve-y sort of colour, which can be seen in the other entries in the link), mostly for the skin, and haven't been able to find anything I'm particularly happy with, so some suggestions on that too would be appreciated. :)
I am, of course open to crit on the other three sprites as well, although the side view is the one I am least happy with.
Peace
Scarab
I was going to say, that you might want to either bring his head a bit formard or just adjust the shoulders forward, as he seems to stand up like he would in the army... But then, it doesn't really differ from the front view. I mean, to me, it looks really good. The man though, all in all could use longer arms and feet, but that's just anatomy :) Still, yo could try bringing the shoulder up front just 1 pixel. That might help a bit...
The front sprite looked alright to me, however there were some weird things about the other sprites. Mainly I thought it looked odd that the 45-degree sprites' legs were so widely spread, compared to the front sprite. Also, yes, the side sprite looks rather stiff in comparison. I made a quick paintover to hopefully give you some idea on how I think you could make them look more natural. I didn't change much, just some little adjustments:
(http://pabstuff.com/images/misc/scarab_edit.gif)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/2cqz03d.png)
3x
(http://i48.tinypic.com/2cqz03d.png)
I didn't know of any men that have beard growing all around their head, Scarab. Well, I never visited England either =P
Nice work!
I made some minor adjustments to your 3/4 view sprite as I thought his legs stood too widely apart and his whole body was facing toward us more than it should, imo.
Maybe that's one of the reasons you think your side view sprite doesn't fit in that well. It looks much more narrow than the other two.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/missy_L/mafija.png)
I changed the pose and shading to a certain extent, although you shouldn't rely on my shading since I don't feel very confident about it. I also changed the skin tone to a slightly less yellowish one.
Sorry if I interfere with your style too badly, anyway, no need to use my suggestions as you're quite good at it yourself.
Tuomas: I experimented with shifting the head/shoulder around one pixel, but at this resolution, the movement is quite dramatic and he 'over-shoots' what would be considered a natural stance.
The limb length is intentional, it's part of the style I was trying to create with this series of sprites.
Pablo: Thanks for the paintover. :)
Regarding your comments about the 3/4 and front sprites not matching, the 3/4 was the original sprite, which I tried to replicate into the front view (which I will only be using for walking, not standing), and narrowed the legs simply because I didn't want the legs for the left-ish, right-ish and front to be the same.
Your take on the sprites is, however, quite interesting, the side view being especially useful.
Jim: Ha, good point, facial hair fixed. I also experimented with different styles of beard, but ultimately it seemed to age him too much.
Cuiki: Thanks for the paintover, the different style has given me a few ideas on different ways Hans could look :)
r.e. different skin colour, I forgot to mention in the OP, I was trying to go for unrealistic skin tones, a la Ben304
Thanks for all the help so far, these are my last few iterations
(http://scarab117.webs.com/photos/Sideviewiterations.png)
thoughts?
peace,
Scarab