main character for 'Rise and Fall' help

[Vel]

Here's andrew Barksdale at the beginning of rise and fall. As you can see, he does not differ much from WWTLF. Problem is, that I want him to look good for the game .And before I start animating or drawing the front view, I need help/advice. I am aiming at a 'broken sword'-y art style, but I dont know where to start from, nor how. I'd be really grateful if anyone could give me a piece of advice.

[auhsor]

It looks pretty good. The arm seems to be wrong. firsly it should be a bit shorter and secondly make it a little bend, cos at the moment its dead straight, and not really at a comfortable position.
A bit of shading might be nice, depending on your style, and also, the pants and shirt are both white, and unless they are supposed to be like that for the game, it might be nice to change one to a different shade.

[Tiki]

I think he looks a little too stiff.  Is he supposed to be elegant & proper?  If so, stick his chest out more, lift his chin up.  If he's lazy, bored, etc make him slouch.  I think this would add to his character, and make him look less like a stick with a face.  I hope I wasn't too harsh.  I do like it, especially the face.  Keep at it!

[Phemar]

Yes, I'd definately say he looks a bit stiff...

[Vel]

I think you misunderstood me. I want to draw the character in broken sword 1 style, not enhance the sprite's current look.

[MrColossal]

why not post some samples of "broken sword style"

since i really have no idea what that looks like

[Vel]

Kind of like that - cartoony, and not too complicated.

[MrColossal]

you're gonna have to practice drawing quite a bit to get to that level i'm sure

draw him on paper first a whole bunch of times and then scan and convert to a sprite

i don't really have much else to say about it, relax him out a bit, get him standing correctly and do your best to show both feet in the side view, even if it's just a little, he'll look less like a cardboard cutout

[Vel]

Thanks eric, Ill get working tomorrow.

[Vel]

I coloured eric's sketch, please tell me if there is anything wrong and whether anything can be enhanced (without shading, which I will do once I've finished the walkcycle). After I get this right, Ill turn the character.

[Chicky]

i think the main reason why eric's (and George) looks soo good is because of the shading style. They both use differentating (sp:P) line styles. You can see that the line thickness changes to suit the folds in clothing.

This is what your sprites missing imo.

[Vel]

I agree with you, OSC, but its easier for me to add shading to all frames at once.

[Tiki]

The top part of the suit is too dark.  I cant see the difference between his arm and coat.  Maybe its my eyes, or maybe its my monitor, but i think you should fix that.  Either make it all white and shade, or make it a shade of grey, with darker outlines around the arm.

Just my 3 1/2 cents

[Vel]

TikkiTikkiMan, the coat will be white, I miscoloured it last time. So, Im off to draw the front view now.

[Nacho]

I think Val's goal is that he finishes games... He could surelly go for a great-shadowed-detailed character, but I think it's quite correct for him as it is...

[Vel]

Farlander, that's a different topic, but I don't set myself goals that are too high for me. I will make the main character more detailed though, it's just easier for me to make the animation without shading and then add it to every frame than to animate a sheded sprite.

[Vel]

This is the front view, although Im not quite happy with it. Criticism welcome.

PS Sorry for double posting, but it had to go on top.

[Evil]

Feet are kind of big. Didnt change them though.

[Hollister Man]

I like Evil's edit, he doesn't look so much like he's about to sneeze.

His coat appears to just "sweep" back towards his pockets, rather than either folding or having been tailored that way.  I think it needs buttons, a pocket, or something...

[Vel]

I made an edit on evil's edit, what do you think?