Game Character Needs a Critique

[if_ur_punk_say_W0o]

i was wondering if somebody could critique this hairstyle i made.

Here it is....i think it may need some work....

[esper]

The hair is fine... The face might need a bit of slimming out. In the meanstwhile (is meanstwhile a word?) I don't get your avatar quote... I examined the difference between W0ot and W0ot for about thirty minutes before I came to the full and complete realization that there was absolutely no difference between the two.

By the way, if you take my advice and slim out the face, I'm now seeing that the hair won't work anymore... you'll have to slim it out too, or she'll look like she has a purple afro.

[TheYak]

Actually, I think the face could work, it just tends to look off because the features are pushed to extremes.  Keep facial proportions in mind (such as eyes recommended to be roughly halfway down the head), and I think a more natural look will fall into place. 

The hairstyle works, but I do get a bit confused about the length.  With it so close to the head and no differentiation between bangs and sides it gives me the impression of long hair tied back in a ponytail, except that the front seems to have bangs that go below the chin and cover the eye.   

overall style aside, it seems it should come out from the head a little bit, but I can see where that'd be difficult with so few pixels.  Hopefully one of our pixel-deities will come around and poke some dots around.

[MrColossal]

I think the biggest problem is you have 2 different resolutions going on... Did you scale up an image and then paint on top of it?

[if_ur_punk_say_W0o]

i re-did some of the hair, didn't slim the face....but feel free to do paintovers!

[Helm]

I think the biggest problem is you have 2 different resolutions going on... Did you scale up an image and then paint on top of it?

[Phemar]

I sort of did a paintover:





I just basically turned it into one resolution.

[Stefano]

Little paint over (10 min):

[2X zoom]
I have tried to keep all facial features and colors you chose.
I used the larger resolution (as Mr. Colossal said, you used 2).

[Phemar]

Okay, you know what? Scrap my paintover! That's way too good, Stefano! Man I wish I could sprite like that.

[if_ur_punk_say_W0o]

ok here is the whole outfit could you(Stefano) do a good paintover for me? and if i could ask your permission to use the paintovers....lol....but anyways PLEASE!

[Scummbuddy]

I'd suggest that (if free time is available) Stefano make a character template (female) for you to work on top of, instead. You need to make it your own, but using a template, you can continue to work on the character until it is something you can be proud of. If he just does the work for you, you don't get any experience out of it, besides becoming a manager.
-------
Edit*

Well, since I was given a rather rude AOL IM, I'll explain a little more as to what I meant, which is the same as my reply back.

I'm trying to help by pushing you to be a better game maker and artist. You shouldn't take offense at someone driving you to be a better game maker. I actually quite like your character, especially now that you've done the whole body. I wasn't saying that it was bad or anything, but if you wanted Stefano to do a complete re-draw, then I didn't want you to get the easy way out. I wanted you to feel a sense of accomplishment. You should feel that already, now that you've made that really nice girl character, but if you want it in Stefano's style, then I just feel that you shouldn't take the easy way out, plus, learning the style for yourself will give you the better ability to make more characters and backgrounds in that same style, instead of having to go back to him everytime. You will feel a whole lot better if you can do it yourself.

I'm posting this reply not to make him seem even worse, but to show what my intentions were with my original post.

[n3tgraph]

that character would work very well in a game, it's a bit long though, you might want to think of the resolution you're drawing in. This woman will be HUGE in 320x240 for example

[big brother]

2x zoom, 9 colors (10 counting background color, which wasn't used on the sprite) Done during my lunch break


Merry Christmas. There's no need to thank me, you can just send me money. Tis the giving season, right? Well, I guess everyone's entitled to one free paintover.

Critique, huh? Ok, where to start…

Basic:

- First off, listen to Mr. Colossal/Helm. They are interchangeably God and His immaculate Son, Jeebus. At least around these parts, stranger.

- Never, never, never, and I cannot stress this enough, never save pixel work as a JPG. Evil demons that live inside your computer (know as compression) will nibble away at your work until nothing is left! Here's one more “never” thrown in for good measure: NEVER! Ahh…

- As mentioned earlier, pick one resolution for your image.

- Since your sprite will rarely (probably never) appear on a perfectly white background, you should draw it against a more neutral color. This will affect the colors you choose.

More Advanced:

- Changed the color from yours…actually there's too much to explain here, so just study the palette in my paintover. Mine uses 9 colors for the sprite rather than your 3.2 billion, but mine looks more colorful. This is due to the hue shifts I use between my shades. Like I said, study the palette. If you want, there's a way to easily reduce my color count down to 8 (9, counting the background). Maybe you can figure that out. If not,

Spoiler

Replace the darkest shade of green with the dark purple. Amen!

[close]

- Proportion: I tried to make her look more realistic (and less mirrored), while maintaining an ectomorphic look. It's something you pick up by drawing from real life and looking at enough porn.

Wow, I feel like Nick Burns: Your Company Computer Guy. “He'll fix your computer then he's going to make fun of you" (singing). Or maybe like I just beat up a little kid at the playground. How's that for a critique?

P.S. OMG LOL!!!two

[if_ur_punk_say_W0o]

Big brother thats a very nice paintover but if i may ask if you could change the colors and make it like mine only better!(kind of like your paintover but with some features like the words on the tee like mine and make the shoes boots like mine and blues and white) Im trying to make some different options so i can "paintover" them!

Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, Thanks,
Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Taylor

P.S.- Yes my name is Taylor....lol

[Oneway]

Mr. Punk, i'd say that a pretty rude request of you.

Big Brother put some real effort in doing the paintover AND explaining what and why he did what he did. He's trying to teach you something that will make you a better artist. And in turn you don't even try to learn but instead you try making him do more work.

First you try to understand and WORK WITH what has been tought to you, then you can get cocky.

[seaduck]

Wowee! Big brother, your paintover rocks! Great job! Really adorable.

EDIT:

to Big brother: Oh, the creator of the Apprentice series himself.. that explains a lot! Truly outstanding games, I love them!

to Mr. Punk: You should really REALLY listen to this guy's advice, he's the best, you know ~_o.

[Stefano]

I guess it all depends on what you wish to do. I can make a good paintover for you, but how would you animate it? Would it fit on your backgrounds?

I guess nobody has the obligation to do his/hers own art, but I assume that, since you've posted it on the 'critics lounge' you must have some wish to learn and improve your art skills, heh? Again, I can make a paintover for you, if that's what you want, but know you're missing a great part: the thrill of getting it done right by yourself! 

[big brother]

I sort of purposefully did the color scheme differently than your original idea. The intended results are twofold:

1. You actually have to load my image into your graphic program and hand pixel over my colors (or at least adjust the palette) until you get the blue and white outfit. In the process, you get to see the technique I used up close.

2. It's more Christmas-y.

If I were to re-color it for you, you'd probably need me to make all the other angles, the walkcycles, and the rest of the characters for your game. And last time I checked, this thread was named something about "critique" not "do all the work for you". 

[mätzyboy]

The double meaning of "HO" is so funny...

Cred to BB for the excellent character template he so kindly supplied. I never stop admiring how well you create images with very few colors, and highly interesting color values!

[scourge]

Nice big brother. Nobody will be mad if you win all the sprite challenges, you must once again return so we could all learn how you tackle each individual challenge . It has to be illegal to be that good