C&c for first sprite.

[Bookaholic]

It might not be much , but it's my very first sprite. It was originally going to be a Johnny English tracing, hence the pose, but I got bored and decided to experiment.
Comments, critiques and redraws are accepted, appriciated, and sorely needed.

[Babar]

errr...you'll have to upload it to the internet. We cannot see things off your hard disk.

Try uploading to here: http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/upload/upload.html

[ThreeOhFour]

Seems as though the URL is http://e/AAARGH.png

How interesting. Indeed, do upload.

[Bookaholic]

@Babar. Thanks for that. 
@Ben. Heh. It might not be as interesting as you think. I only put that in because that's all I imagine him saying, oddly enough. That and 'YOU!' in various tones of menace. I'll do another one soon enough, maybe a better rendition of AAARGH! 

[InCreator]

Not bad. I like the colors and overall feeling.

* Gun seems to be a little short. Don't know what's Johnny English, but it  really feels too small.

* Shade colors feel... random. For an experiment, it's nice but for a game, not too practical. You could do as well with less colors and stronger contrast -- I wouldn't dare to animate something so unreasonably complex, ever.

To improve, stick to 3 colors per colored part (shirt, pants, etc), but use colors of higher contrast and less scattering. Many classic games with outstanding graphics use three colors, and it's enough if done well (Gabriel Knight (uses mostly 3, sometimes 4), Full Throttle, Dig, Sam & Max Hit the road...) (those are links to good screenshots showing exactly what I'm talking about, so click, observe and learn) and for example, Day of the Tentacle, while looking faboulous, uses only two colors per color-part (body part wouldn't be 100% precise so I say color-part).

The key lies in well chosen contrast and partial outlines. I always wonder why new artists @ AGS try to get their shading as dithered and confusing as possible...

* Shade colors are uneven. Beard, for example, feels detail-poor with everything else shaded so hard.

[Bookaholic]

always wonder why new artists @ AGS try to get their shading as dithered and confusing as possible...

Ah. Sorry about that. I didn't actually mean to. I've never been particularly adept at shading, even on paper, and it's hard for me to get a good feel for contrast and shade. I'm hoping to remedy that with practise.
Too small? What size would a typical sprite be? I suppose it depends on the game, but a general size would be helpful.
Wow. These screenshots are amazing! *hug* Thank you so much! I've never heard of any of these, but the stuff.......
I have never felt so inadequete. 
Ah well. Thank you for the comments. I go to practise now.

[JuuJuu]

maybe re-do the beard? make if fuller?

and I do agree with the others. the gun seems a bit small for the guy.

But really, great job!

[InCreator]

Too small what? Character is out of proportions, but character size isn't something that's SET.

It depends on 2 things: your background graphics and game resolution. The first room you draw for your game, usually sets the size of character: The size of door must be so character could fit through non-scaled, and later, you draw other doors according to that. But for a 320x240 game, typical AGS game character height goes between 50-110 pixels (never more than 1/2 of screen height), larger if it's cartoonier style.

[Questionable]

The biggest issue I had with the guy was that the position he was in, didn't look natural. He's got a broken arm and he's holding a shotgun, this makes me think that he just kicked some ass, if he just kicked some ass, he 'oughta be tired, so he's not going to do zoolander poses with his shotty.



So I made his stance more relaxed. It could be better I'm sure but this isn't my sprite so i'll let you decide his final stance. After I got that finished his cast looked a little huge... in fact his right arm was being covered by it. I started trying to rework the cast, but it all looked like crap. Then I got to thinking; when I broke my wrist, elbow and forearm I had a giant cast all the way up to my shoulder. When my buddy broke his wrist he had a little wrist brace. When another friend fractured his arm they set it in a cast ONLY on his forearm. So why would he need a sling? A sling isn't for bone repair, it's for softer tissue repair, therefore his wrist doesn't need to be covered up. So I took off the hand cover, then I adjusted where the sling catches.

Then I sat back... and I thought "Is he in an Amish Death Metal Band?" Probably not. I don't know your character, so maybe the beard is essential, but I took it down to a #2 trimmer and cleaned him up a bit. He's holding a shotgun, so in an effort to make him more masculine I tried to give him a chin. Then I changed his hair all-over (beard and scalp) to a dark brown, nobody has naturally PITCH BLACK hair, but it's real close.

His eyes didn't pop out at me, so I changed them from the really light FLESH color you had to a really light yellow-green by being a color than those around it makes the eyes stand out more as a separate feature instead of just lighter skin. In retrospect I would have lightened them up even more. Changed the color of his nose to make it more visible. Gave him a neck, made him skinnier, and lastly I made the shotty a bit longer.

I tried to emulate your shading/coloring style, to horrible effect I might add, but the overall concept is the same. What do you think? What are you taking away from all of our comments so far?

[Bookaholic]

his cast looked a little huge... in fact his right arm was being covered by it. I started trying to rework the cast, but it all looked like crap. Then I got to thinking; when I broke my wrist, elbow and forearm I had a giant cast all the way up to my shoulder. When my buddy broke his wrist he had a little wrist brace. When another friend fractured his arm they set it in a cast ONLY on his forearm. So why would he need a sling? A sling isn't for bone repair, it's for softer tissue repair, therefore his wrist doesn't need to be covered up. So I took off the hand cover, then I adjusted where the sling catches.

Useful. I'll remember that in future. Excellent redraw, I must say.  Wonderful two tone shading on the legs. I didn't understand how that would work, but now I've got a starting point.

I don't know your character, so maybe the beard is essential

He's not actually a character per say, just a practice piece. The beard actually did have some significance, but I had actually given him a clean chin and handlebar mustace at one point, so I'll not dig myself in too deep. 

nobody has naturally PITCH BLACK hair.

Oops.  Eheh.

What do you think? What are you taking away from all of our comments so far?

I think I'm going to need a lot of practice.  :
What I have taken away from all your comments is that sometimes simple is best, look at screenshots of games and try some copies to get a feel for shade and contrast, practice incessantly, don't dither all over the place, and...... don't do zoolander poses when you're in an Amish Death Metal band? 

Also, You people are so brilliant and helpful, I love you all. 

[Bookaholic]

Okay, made some changes.

Hair colour un-blacked, trousers (marginally) un-randomised, pocket added, cast fixed, beard trimmed, stance changed, Weapon of Doom (tm) upgraded. 

As I was trying to fix the gun, it occured to me that the chances of him shooting himself with that arm were far more likely than anything he would be aiming at. So I put him on the Senior Citizens protection programme. I mean, if you were hypothetically bullying some helpless geriatrics, would you hang around if he came up behind you with two feet of solid oak?
*growls* "Get back here you little....."

[ThreeOhFour]

Giving him a forehead (most people have one ) can perhaps make him look a bit angrier - it lets you show eyebrows.

[Ubel]

I actually disagree with Ben on the visible forehead thing. I liked the longish hair that goes all the way to his eyebrows. I did however make his eyes one pixel lower so that his forehead wouldn't look too small.

This is my take on the shading and colors. Also modified the face and hair a bit.



You were using a lot of "useless" colors in your latest version. I took the colors down to the minimum amount that is required for shaded sprites. I also used a bit less saturated colors.

You're off to a good start!