low-res character sprite

[pslim]

This is the main character in a science fiction game I'm working on. He's wearing a space spandex uniform (mrrowrr). The cuffs are actually part of the overall top, they're just there to indicate rank, in addition to the collar which serves the same function. Any constructive comments would be most welcome.

I suspect he's overly symmetrical. He's not the straightest arrow in the arrowbox by nature, but I also don't want him slouching all over the place like some characters do. He has to make a cursory attempt to keep up appearances on the job. Draw overs are totally welcome, but I'd hope they would be kept in the same style since I won't be able to use suggestions that are too far outside of that.

[Ace_Gamer]

i dont really see any probs with these drawings. the only thing i can comment on is the laces on the front facing image. they go straight across the boots. try to leave a gap at each side of the laces. I know im being picky but never mind. maybe you could draw and behind view?

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I did a paintover to show you some issues that could improve your sprite even more.

1.  Corrected the stilted pose in the front and angular views.  His legs were too bandy in the first view and spread apart, and in the angular view his pose is too flat.

2.  Increased the contrast between shades and made the skin tone more earthy.

3.  Applied shading approximately top-down.  Your version uses shading and highlights that have light sources coming from all sides, which generally is not a good idea for a sprite.

4.  Shrunk torso height by a few pixels.  His torso was far too large in proportion to his legs.

5.  Made his shape more natural and reduced the size of his hips in the front view somewhat.

6.  Made facial features consistent between views.




This sprite was a good start, but you need to pay careful attention to the human form if you want to do semi-realistic sprites as well as use consistent shading.  Hope this helps!

[pslim]

Ace_Gamer: Thanks and... they're not laces, they're a futuristic metallic velcro fastening system (tm). <g>Ã,  And I have a back view but I'm unhappy with it so I didn't post it. I was hoping pointers on these views would help me fix it up a bit.

This sprite was a good start, but you need to pay careful attention to the human form if you want to do semi-realistic sprites as well as use consistent shading.Ã,  Hope this helps!

I appreciate the paintover. It looks great, of course. He kind of lost the skinniness I had going, which I don't want my sprite to lose, but other than that it was really helpful.

I really don't understand shading at all. I've read some general art primers and some pixel art shading tutorials online, and I try to use references for everything, but it hasn't really snapped into place yet. It sort of boggles my mind the way some folks seem to know exactly where to put which tone on a sprite, and I'm not sure how to make that jump myself.

I'm going to study your sprite and see if I can modify mine. My only concern is that I don't change him in a way I won't be able to keep up through the rest of the sprites and artwork or he'll just make the rest of the game look bad by comparison.


EDIT: I just played Mind's Eye, prog. Those sprites sort of vaguely remind me of Blue Byte's
Albion, even though the perspective in Albion is done from somewhere overhead. Part of it may be just that both styles have a little bit of a console art flavor. Anyhow, I thought I'd mention it.



EDIT2: Okay, I spent several hours revamping him. I used prog's repaint as a reference, but changed a few things like making his limbs a bit skinnier and his chest a little less broad. I'm not also not a big fan of the dithered, high-contrast look, so I kept close to the original colors, including the more olive skin.

Oh, and I added a back view which is really poorly shaded. I found a few pictures of people's backs for reference but I still wasn't sure where to put the highlights. 

[Damien]

I like it, here's a paintover to help you decide what to do next:



Steps:
1.original sprite with it's pallete drawn out
2.pose tweaked a bit
3.removed the big eyes, fixed the hairline to match the south view, tweaked the head in 45 degree facing position
4.some shadow tweaks
5.reduced the palette for a few colors
6.reduced the palette for some more colors (overdid it), made shadows more blue and highlights more yellow (shifted the hues)

I hope you find some parts of this usefull.
Keep it up.

[pslim]

Damien: Your paint overs have really given me some stuff to think about. I really like the way you were able to soften the face without changing it very much. I'm kind of torn between small eyes and clearly-defined eyes, but now I have an interesting example to compare mine against.

The blue highlights in the last one are neat, too. I'm going to have an interesting time trying to assimilate all of this information.


Here's a revamp of the face incorporating some of Damien's ideas. I like it much better than what I had before, and it bears a stronger resemblence to the dialogue portrait I made for him.