Magnum PI Character

[The_Question]

Heres the main poses I've done for Magnum PI, using MrColossals template as a frame to which I added my design.Ã,  Im planning on using these three as the basis for all of my walk animations, so I'm trying to get them as sharp as possible.Ã,  In case anybodies really interested, heres the picture I used as a point of reference:http://www.magnum-pi.de/gallery/images/Tom_JungleBird.jpg





Apart from the shoes in the side-on view, I'm fairly happy with these.Ã,  Ive tried messing around with them, but they always come out looking a little...silly.Ã, 

[Ubel]

I think he would look better without those black outlines.

[MarVelo]

The eyes look a little cross-eyed and retarted. But an excellent graphic!

[The_Question]

Hmmm, your right, he does look better without the black, I'll get rid of that pronto.

Taffytom, I can't take all the credit for the graphic as MrColossal's templates give excellent anatomy and shading guidelines.  All I did was colour it in (and add the 'tache!).  Any advice you would give to alter the eyes?

[Ubel]

The eyes are not a problem. Shading is what you need. Skin has shading but the clothes don't. Also you have to put some to his hair in the back view.

[Darth Mandarb]

His hair is completely the wrong color ...


- altered the head's shape
- altered the hair shape and color
- I widened his left shoulder, but the right could use some widening as well.
- I thickened his legs a little (Tom Selek is a pretty big fellow)

I would also suggest killing the black outlines ... or at least completely use it (the feet aren't outlined).

Hope it helps!

[The_Question]

Okay, thanks for all the great suggestions thus far guys.Ã,  Since my initial post I have...

-completely removed the blackoutlines (Thanks Pablo!)
-added some shading to the t-shirt
-touched up the feet a little
-attempted to shade the back of the head but failed miserably

Darth_Mandarb, like the black hair, I'll add that on in a bit and see how it looks.Ã,  I'll also try resizing parts of the body, to see which bits I like and which I don't.Ã,  I think the head you altered looks really good though, and helps eliminate the "square eyed" look he had initially...

________________________________________________________________

Made some changes based upon Darth_Mandarb's paintover:





-Used the new head from Darth but lowered the neck a little
-Widened the legs and shorts
-Changed some shading around the legs

So, what do we all think now?Ã,  Im getting increasingly happy with this, I think its almost nearing perfection (Well, perfection for my skill level at least!).

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

How about this

[The_Question]

Hmmm, not really my cup of team I'm afraid, he looks far too angry!Ã,  I could use him as an evil Magnum in a future adventure

Seriously, I do like the extra detail you've added, especially the watch (which I may now steal!) and the extra shading around the shirt.Ã,  I don't want to get him too complicated however, as I've never animated a character before so want to lessen the amount of things that I can possibly mess up...

[skw]

I like ProgZmax's paintover. The character (especially his face) looks more realistic and he just have his unique personage, whist that guy at your image, The_Question seems yet incomplete and looks a little... silly (as you said before). Try to make his face more serious and that 's probably all, that you need now. You know what I mean...

Anyway, it's your style and only my opinion.
Good luck!

[The_Question]

-Did some tinkering to bring side and back proportions into line with front
-Changed side and back hair to make it more similar to ProgZmax's paintover
-Widened side arm
-Accentuated bottom
-Did some rejigging of backlegs

Not 100% sure if I've got the proportions of the side-on head 100% correct...

[Stefano]

Ha! ProgZmax's edit is actualy looking like Tom Selleck. That's a pretty hard thing to do with a 15 x 15 pixels box. Really, really cool.

Cheers,
Stefano

[UP]

Do you realize he's standing on his toes in the back view? 

Check the difference with yours and ProgZmax's edit...

[The_Question]

Heres my first ever batch of walkcycles, with Thomas sauntering down screen.Ã,  Ive stuck them into AGS and they look fairly good to me.Ã,  I just need to alter the head a little between frames and do something with the eyes as they are a bit static.Ã,  Also the shorts need shading, but I'm more interested in getting the animation right at the moment.

Once again, MrColossals templates were an enormous help.

Oh, and apologies if the images look squashed, they dont on my computer I assure you!

[Helm]

No offense to eric, I adore his art but this template  has problems. I think he'd agree himself. The stance is too rigid, the legs too far apart and the arms to closely put to his body. But the biggest issue is the actual downwards walk animation itself, which you've used as a base well enough, but is faulty to begin with. That's a duck walk. A guy would walk with his feet closer to his horisontal center of gravity, with the points of the shoes facing straight ahead instead of outside-sideways. I'd like it in a specific character concept because it gives a certain feel and personality, but for a template animation, which has to be as neutral as possible to accomodate any sort of character of that frame - no.

Which is weird because when I first saw these templates a long ago I couldn't spot any of the points I critique above, but better late than never. 

[Ishmael]

Yeah, the template style suits the dummy in them, but it doesn't suit actual characters, IMO.

[The_Question]

Is there any templates that you would reccomend then?Ã,  As a total amateur at this, its useful to get a simple guide as otherwise I get very lost very quickly, and I'm finding these outlines very useful for my first attempt.  I'll probably keep using them for the moment, and clean everything up (If I can!) when I have a little more experience...

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Others may disagree with me, but I would not recommend using a template at all.  It's difficult to develop your own style as an artist when you are painting over someone's work.  Using it as a guide is a different issue, however.  Instead of painting over eric's frames, try studying them and drawing your own version beside it, then varying it to make it look better to you.

[The_Question]

Ive been trying to that, using layering to copy my sprite over the walkframes and try to adapt them a little to fit with the unique proportons of a given character.  As someone who has never done any animation, or even much computer art, I find that they are an enormous help in setting me on the road to creating a game.  Once I'm more comfortable with what works and what doesnt, I'll probably throw the whole lot out and start again