Tough Guy

[GreenBoy]

Once again I'm asking for some advice.  I've come up with an idea that I really like for a game and I've been pixeling.

Here's my main character:

 

 

I've gone a lot lower res with my walking character than I have previously, but I generally like the look, plus I've always wanted to do a game with portraits.  He's a undercover agent/spy for the british goverment involved in finding people with "talents" (ie ESP etc) before and during the 2nd world war.

Are the sprites realistic enough for a game with a serious theme?  Do you think he looks appropriate for the character?  Does he look english? Do the sprites match?  Where can I improve on technique?

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I think it's a good start but the shading is all over the place, especially with the smaller sprite.  You've got similar shades and shadows working against each other on the face and clothing.  What's more, he doesn't have the pose of an agent and his arms are simply too short.

I've made an edit to address these and some other concerns:

1.  Lengthened arms and adjusted pose to look more dynamic.  People rarely stand straight like matchsticks, so mirror the curved behavior of natural standing poses by studying reference photos.

2.  Adjusted width of shoulders, giving him a bit more upper body 'bulk'.

3.  Reduced colors and cleaned up shading.

4.  Adjusted color tones away from the jaundiced look and more towards somewhat pale skin tones.

5.  Redesigned face to look more confident and serious, more in line with the 'tough guy' topic.






The most important changes were cleaning up the shading and making the colors contrast better and fixing some of the anatomy.  I wasn't sure exactly how old he was meant to appear but from the portrait he looked in his 40's so I went with a 40's kind of look for him.  Also, since we're talking world war II, he'd most likely wear a hat as they were very popular at that time (a derby, homburg or fedora would probably fit him best).  I've included a quick version of him with a hat on to give you some ideas.

Hope this helps!

[GreenBoy]

Wicked edit ProgZ, I'll see I can make some changes based on your suggestions.

EDIT: I've done a little bit of adjustment to the standing sprite, it's still not quite there yet, I have to adjust the skin tone still but I'll do that when I do the portrait.

 

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

It looks better, just decide on the darkness of your colors based on the kinds of backgrounds you're going to have.  For instance, if you have a lot of night scenes his body is going to disappear in places, and in really bright rooms he's going to look too dark.  What you want to go for is an overall color range that works in both extremes, with reasonably bright highlights and reasonably dark shades, but nothing 'pure' white or black if you can avoid it (except for basic things like shoes and such, and even then going slightly towards brown or blue might give a better look).

Have a look at this:




1. The left is your original sprite on black.  Notice the legs and torso especially start to disappear, along with shading along the shoulders.

2. The second one is yours on white.  Notice that even on white the lower legs and torso are hard to read because of the bright colors surrounding it.

3.  The third one is a color-adjusted version that takes bright and dark values into account, evening out the brightness so even the darker areas can be seen on bright or dark.

4.  A final comparison.  Here we use a casual, neutral color to compare the visibility of both sprites side by side.  Clearly the edited version is easier to read even on the neutral surface.


I'm not sure what color you're using for your background when you draw sprites (the ones you've posted have been on white) but I strongly encourage you to render all your sprites on a NEUTRAL background like the one I've shown above.  It prevents your sprites from becoming either too dark or too bright.

[Matti]

I agree that the sprite is way too dark. It's a nice visualization you got there, ProgZ - and a nice edit too!

[GreenBoy]

Me too.  I hadn't considered the background much at all apparently, I do most do my spriting with a white background.  Eep.  I'll definitely  change it.

EDIT:

   

   

I've fiddled around a bit more with the colours and a few other things, I'm quite happy with it now,  Though I'm seriously considering not bothering with the portraits any more and using lucas arts style talking animations.  I like the hat too, thanks for the tip ProgZ.