the wizard (again)

[jasonjkay]

Old wizard topic

I have recently been redoing some of my charachters trying to make them look a little better and I came back to the wizard. Having a slightly better skill at drawing and shading I decided to tackle him again. As you can see I have improved his arms and the shading looks a lot better but something still looks wrong, what is it? can anybody help or suggest anything?

Old wizard's that I finally settled upon in the last topic, and the new wizard's.

Ok this is the final version, i'm not doing any more on him because I wont have time for the rest of the game.

[He-Man]

The last one is the best one in my opinion, but there's something wrong with his feet. Maybe you should try to make both feet point somewhere between the two you've got. If you understand what I mean...

[Nikolas]

Of course the third one is better!

I particularly like his hands!

About his feet, I don find it kinda strange, but I guess if you put some kind of floor with some kind of perspective it will work.

[IM NOT TEH SPAM]

The problem with the feet is that feet are not shaped like that.  The first two picture's feet are pointed in the middle, the third one is an ovular shape.  Look at you're feet, get that shape, and practice that shape until it looks as good as the rest of the picture. 

No other complaints here, I can't even nitpick on it!

[Das Plans]

Hey there!

I think those characters look fabulous. The toid one, in my opinion, is the best one.
One thing, I don't like that much, is the outline, which seems a tad too dark. Maybe try a blue-ish tone, a little darker than the wizard's coat, instead of the black... maybe...

Great work!

[Paper Carnival]

The shoulders look too wide for an old wizard guy. Also, the left foot looks weird and the lower part of his cloak is too pointy. I have attempted to edit it, I hope you like the changes:

original - edit

[Joelman]

I guess it kind of depends on the characters personality, I think the wide shoulders look a lot more badass, like he doesn't just rely on magic to take care of him. reminds me of that black sabbath song "The Wizard" lol not just the title, but the lyrics.

[jasonjkay]

Thank you all for your kind words and your great comments.

The last one is the best one in my opinion, but there's something wrong with his feet. Maybe you should try to make both feet point somewhere between the two you've got. If you understand what I mean...

No not really, but I agree that the feet look a little wrong but I have improved them a bit havent I?

The problem with the feet is that feet are not shaped like that. The first two picture's feet are pointed in the middle, the third one is an ovular shape. Look at you're feet, get that shape, and practice that shape until it looks as good as the rest of the picture.

No other complaints here, I can't even nitpick on it!

What? When I look at my feet, the front parts that would stick out are a sort of ovular shape. What do you mean?

Hey there!

I think those characters look fabulous. The toid one, in my opinion, is the best one.
One thing, I don't like that much, is the outline, which seems a tad too dark. Maybe try a blue-ish tone, a little darker than the wizard's coat, instead of the black... maybe...

Great work!

Thanks for those kind words, as for the outline it's a really dark blue, I guess I should lighten it up a little just to match the face outline which has gotten lighter.

The shoulders look too wide for an old wizard guy. Also, the left foot looks weird and the lower part of his cloak is too pointy. I have attempted to edit it, I hope you like the changes:

original - edit

Thanks, I like your suggestions for the bottom of the cloak and the feet, im not so sure aboute the shoulders, I mean they are supposed to stick out.

I guess it kind of depends on the characters personality, I think the wide shoulders look a lot more badass, like he doesn't just rely on magic to take care of him. reminds me of that black sabbath song "The Wizard" lol not just the title, but the lyrics.

lol, yea I gues he does look a little badass but thats good right. He's a wizard, he's supposed to look freindly and yet menacing, frail yet powerful.

Anyway what do you think of the face or the shading style? I was experimenting to get the shading to look more natural, if you think it's good I will use it on my future charachters.

[Paper Carnival]

The shoulders aren't wrong, it's just that they fit a strong warrior and not a wizard. Maybe narrow the shoulders just a little bit if you want them wide. That's just my oppinion though, the rest of the people seem to like the shoulders so.... Nevermind me

[jasonjkay]

The shoulders aren't wrong, it's just that they fit a strong warrior and not a wizard. Maybe narrow the shoulders just a little bit if you want them wide. That's just my oppinion though, the rest of the people seem to like the shoulders so.... Nevermind me

maybe I could go halfway between mine and yours with the shoulders, just budge them over by a couple of pixels. I like the rest of what you did.

[Kiddie]

Personally I like the narrower shoulders more.  It gives him a more aged look.  With the broad shoulders, it looks like he could be just any guy in his 20s with a long grey beard on.   I think the narrow shoulders gives him alot more age, personally.

Also a tip, I'd try to do most painting with a grey background.  A pure white, or pure black, background changes the way colors and shades are percieved.  For example, a grey color on a black background will appear lighter than the same grey on a white background.  It's an optical illusion, and can affect the way you paint (ie if you paint on white all the time, when placed on a dark background, characters will seem unnaturally bright and vibrant).  Here's an image to illustrate even further:



The grey strip in the middle is the same grey throughout, but with the gradient on the other sides, the grey strip appears to start light, then darken.

[Krysis]

He looks a bit too much like a cone :
  A
/v\
/__\

why dont u modify his hat and body shape a bit:
_/\_
/\/\
| : |
/_:_\

Anyway I allways thought /\ shaped hats are silly.
some one with a _A_ lookin hat I can respect a bit more. 

[jasonjkay]

Personally I like the narrower shoulders more.Ã,  It gives him a more aged look.Ã,  With the broad shoulders, it looks like he could be just any guy in his 20s with a long grey beard on. :PÃ,  I think the narrow shoulders gives him alot more age, personally.

Also a tip, I'd try to do most painting with a grey background.Ã,  A pure white, or pure black, background changes the way colors and shades are percieved.Ã,  For example, a grey color on a black background will appear lighter than the same grey on a white background.Ã,  It's an optical illusion, and can affect the way you paint (ie if you paint on white all the time, when placed on a dark background, characters will seem unnaturally bright and vibrant).Ã,  Here's an image to illustrate even further:



The grey strip in the middle is the same grey throughout, but with the gradient on the other sides, the grey strip appears to start light, then darken.

Ok I agree on the shoulders I'll start changing them when I get some spare time, as for the painting on black or white I sort of see your point so i'll paint on grey instead.

He looks a bit too much like a cone :
A
/v\
/__\

why dont you modify his hat and body shape a bit:
_/\_
/\/\
| : |
/_:_\

Anyway I allways thought /\ shaped hats are silly.
some one with a _A_ lookin hat I can respect a bit more.

Yea, maybe. Have you ever played discworld, the wizards in that game have the same hat style. Also he's supposed to look like a cone, that's how I drew the first version by drawing a cone first then refining the lines more to fit a wizards body, then I added the face and the arms.

[jasonjkay]

Ive modified the wizard to look more like the edit from guybrush peepwood, does it look better now? anything else I should change?

[Paper Carnival]

yes, that looks good

However, the left arm is 5 pixels wide (not counting the border) and the right is 4, that makes the left arm look fatter. I think it will be fixed by moving the right border of the left hand a pixel on the left

[IM NOT TEH SPAM]

No, that's just the cloak of the wizard--plus, no one's going to notice unless they count out the pixels.  And if you can find someone (other than yourself) that will do that, I will give you a reward*.



Please note: Reward may or may not be alive/rotten/diseased.  Traveling by next millenium air.  Donkey Rounda Studios & King_Nipper are not responsible of death or horrible disease.

[Paper Carnival]

No, that's just the cloak of the wizard--plus, no one's going to notice unless they count out the pixels.Ã,  And if you can find someone (other than yourself) that will do that, I will give you a reward*.



Please note: Reward may or may not be alive/rotten/diseased.Ã,  Traveling by next millenium air.Ã,  Donkey Rounda Studios & King_Nipper are not responsible of death or horrible disease.

Actually, I noticed the right arm was thicker on the first glance. I only counted the pixels to make sure it wasn't an illusion.

[jasonjkay]

I never really noticed, the only problem is that what you refer to as a quick fix causes problems when it come to altering the shading and highlights. I'll change it anyway. Any other suggestions to improve the wizard or do you think I should call it finished (exept for the correction).

[big brother]

It's going to look a bit strange in the game since your sprite has specific lighting. If it doesn't match the lighting sources in your backgrounds it will be especially noticeable. 

[jasonjkay]

None playable charachter, He's supposed to go outside and I always do the light comeing from the left in outside scenes.