Spaceship c&c

[fred]

I'm drawing a spaceship that'll be part of my next game.  Here's what I got so far:



I'm looking for feedback on shape and shading. It would also be cool to animate the fire, but it seems difficult, so any kind of ideas and advice will be appreciated.

[Technocrat]

It's got a nice 1950's retro-future kind of feel. I personally would have given it more than two "fins" (either three or four), thinking of it sitting on its tail for lift-off. Just strikes me as that kind of rocket!

[Anian]

You can draw the thruster as some sort of glow then add just rays coming out or a glow changing intensity...there's not any fire in modern space travel anyway.  
If you wanna keep the flame, maybe add a couple of frames in which it changes size and make the edges of the flame wobble like waves a bit. That should be easy enough but effective.

Anyway, like Technocrat suggested, add a fin, or two, it'll look more stable (and actually useful if you want to draw it blasting of vertically.
or something like only keeping that cartoony look and keeping with the fact that your is more of a small type ship/shuttle while these are kind of bigger.

p.s. I like it btw.

[fred]

Here's an update:



@Technocrat - You're right - the third fin was supposed to be hidden behind the rocket engine, but the fin spacing was wrong. I added an extra fin in this update.

@anian  - thanks for the reference pics, and ideas for animation. I'll try streamlining the engine blast to make it look less like traditional fire.

[Wonkyth]

It need something pointy on the end.

[fred]

Very good observation

[Arboris]

if the engine is running with such a visible thrust, how can the darkest part of the "fins' be on the inside instead of the outside ?
Just nitpicking here, i know 

[Wonkyth]

....soot maybe....?

[fred]

Well, that's exactly the kind of shading I need help with, blending light from two sources. I guess perhaps giving each inner fin a grayish-yellow reflection streak would do the trick, I'll try a bit later today when I've reworked the engine blast itself.

[cat]

The main light source is now symmetrical to the front. I'd try to move it up and to the right for example.

[fred]

Here's an edit:

* Engine blast looks less like flame and more like glow.
* Engine glow now lights the hull and fins.
* Main light source has been moved a bit to the right.
* Pointy thing added

       

[Arboris]

That's a lot better, now for a bit of flickering effect on the engine glow and engine blast and I think you're set

[Snake]

Wow, I really like your last edit.
The only thing I don't like is the black outline.

You could animated the blast and glow with only 2 frames animating rapidly. I think that would work best, IMO.

[Andail]

Quick edit to give it a more metalic texture:



Added some light blue highlights to give it some shine
Added black areas for the same purpose
Brightened the flame and its reflection

Obviously you need to refine the pixel work, I did it very rough

[fred]

Thanks for the paintover and the good ideas Here's the latest, possibly final version.

               

* Added metallic highlights and shadow
* 2 frame engine flicker animation
* Rounded the tip of middle fin

I decided to keep black outline, since sprite will go on dark background anyway.

[Matti]

Lookin good 

[Arboris]

A bit of a late reply, but that's looking ace fred. Good job on that.

[fred]

Sorry about reviving this age-old thread, but with some delays I recently finished and launched the game that uses the final sprite, so thought it appropriate to post a link to it:

Play Space Madness

...or better yet, play it on NG and give it a proper rating:

Space Madness on NewGrounds.com

Thanks for the help back then!  

EDIT: Btw, am I the only one getting an 'Authentication Required' window from 2dadventure.com every times I check this thread? It's probably because Andail's linked picture is in a private folder on his server or something

[Matti]

Btw, am I the only one getting an 'Authentication Required' window from 2dadventure.com every times I check this thread? It's probably because Andail's linked picture is in a private folder on his server or something

No, you're not the only one Doesn't have much to do with this thread though and with Andail's server neither. It's just that the space on 2dadventure.com which many of us heavily used seems to have vanished (or at least requires some sort of authentication). All the threads where images are linked to that site gives that annoying popup window.

[fred]

Okay, I emailed the domain owner explaining the situation and he restored the folders - so now all the images should be showing again!