Basic pixel art guy

enkerro · Wed 30/12/2009 01:00:32

Hey all.

So I've whipped this guy up and I'm turning to you guys for some ideas and so on. I debated a bit with myself about posting this here, but then I figured what the hell, why not. So here!

This is the non-coloured version

And here's a coloured one, done quickly with the paintbucket tool.

Sorry about the messy look, I was too lazy clean up the rogue outlines there.

Basically I'm looking for some advice from those more experienced in pixel art about basic anatomy, how to go on about colouring this fellow, the works. I'm a bit new in this, so I'm open to suggestions

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: And uh, if I'm violating some unwritten rule or rules in the forum, I'll say sorry in advance and ask this to be removed then

(It's late, so my mind is a little foggy.)

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Wed 30/12/2009 02:04:49

Overall I think the anatomy looks good. At a glance his shoulders seem to be one head in width, his left arm seems to reach about mid-thigh (with the hand flat against the leg). The only thing that looks off to me is the right arm, which seems rather too long. The elbow should be at or around the belly button line, though that's not easy to tell with a shirt overlapping the pants which I think is the case here. I think reducing the upper and forearm lengths on the right arm slightly should take care of it. Nice work!

SpacePaw · Wed 30/12/2009 07:03:57

He should have bigger, more masculine hands. I know one of them is hidden in the pocket but that doesn't save the other one

Also the knee on the left side of the picture seems to be a bit too low

enkerro · Wed 30/12/2009 12:36:09

Ok, I think I see what you both mean. I'll try improving on that guy and post the results later on.

enkerro · Thu 31/12/2009 01:29:07

Ok, so I've tinkered with the picture a bit.

I made the man more slender, in the original pic his shoulder were massive. I tried to correct the arm lenght, make some sort of hands and also make the legs a little different (Tho I'm still unhappy with mostly the hands and legs, I'll probably see it a little better with fresh eyes)

The red cross on his face is just to indicate where he's supposed to be looking.

I know the guy still has a few issues, and is pretty much a work in progress, as he's void of any real detail (I added some minimal shading just to prevent him from looking too flat.)

Just thought I'd post a little status update on this

TOASTASAUR · Thu 31/12/2009 01:58:16

Now it looks like basic pixel art chick.

SpacePaw · Thu 31/12/2009 02:27:04

The first version was better. His shape and pose were more interesting. He does look more feminine now. Too slender. Don't be afraid of massive shapes. Proportions were great earlier. Now he's too narrow and looks weak. Also his hands and feet are way too small. He's a male - his hands and feet should be almost the same size as his head! If you don't believe me put your hand against your face

Covers almost all of it I bet. Then look at your feet. Bigger than hands (in most cases

).

If you don't want him to look so masculine as in the first version just narrow the shoulders but just a little bit

, no need to make the whole body thin.

Also narrowing the pants as they go down isn't a good idea either. You lost the knees completely

I liked how they were slightly apparent in version 1.0 (just bit too low though)

Sorry for being harsh

Version 1.0 looks more like refined 2.0 to be honest

not the other way around

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Thu 31/12/2009 08:53:19

Yeah, don't reduce the shoulder width because they should be one head in size on either side of his head (so the upper width is 3 heads, taking into account foreshortening when applicable). Females abide by this rule as well, bear in mind. It might help if you raise up the shirt to where it meets the top of the pants so you can visually see where the individual parts line up since his thumb is resting about where his waistline should be. If you do that you'll probably find that the legs are a bit too long for his torso and arms.

Jim Reed · Thu 31/12/2009 11:17:07

Khris · Thu 31/12/2009 12:57:03

Somebody will say it sooner or later, so here goes: this isn't Pixel art.

The main question is if the sprite is supposed to have human proportions or not (think MI3's Guybrush).
The other question: the sprite is ~250px high, what game resolution are you going for?

SpacePaw · Thu 31/12/2009 14:40:51

Quote from: Khris on Thu 31/12/2009 12:57:03
Somebody will say it sooner or later, so here goes: this isn't Pixel art.

Um no? This IS pixel art. No one ever said anything about this being actual game character sprite. Visit pixel joint page for examples of pixel art

not all of it can be used in games but people still do it

It's just another style of art.

Besides he can use it for cut-scenes, title screen or even dialogue graphics (for example one character on the left side of the screen and another on the right)

And who said no one can do high resolution pixel art game? I say it would be very interesting indeed

enkerro · Thu 31/12/2009 15:42:55

Hehe, I had a hunch I might stray a bit. Also, don't worry about being harsh, I've got way too many bad habits in drawing as it is and I appreciate all input

Something just kept bothering me about the first version, it had this overly clunky feel. Now looking at the second version, I see I might've gone a bit overboard. I'll see if I can work on it more. Thanks again

Oh, and please don't turn this into a debate about what is and what is not pixel art. I only named the topic because this was drawn with, as you can probably see, pixels!

Scarab · Thu 31/12/2009 18:04:52

The main problem I see with the original image is that he has stick-thin arms relative to his other proportions (in your second image you went the other way and made the shoulders narrower instead). I think you need to send this guy to the gym a bit and pad out those biceps and forearms.

Also, perhaps the crotch of the pants should be lowered slightly; he seems to be 'riding high' as they used to say back in the old country

enkerro · Fri 01/01/2010 23:53:06

This is only a mini update of sorts, as I won't be able work on this guy for a few days, and I wanted to post the current progress:

I removed all torso colouring (and removed the big turtleneck also). Now it's a blank(er) slate, and easier to work on. I left the legs out for now.

I gave him shoulders once again (checking the width according to the head), and (hopefully) fuller arms. I also made some sort of hands, but they're still a nightmare to draw, and those seem more like paws anyway

I shortened the torso, which seems (to me, anyway) to make a big difference. In the earlier pics, I didn't intend the shirt to overlap the pants, thus making the torso too long. Thanks to Progz's heads up I noticed that if the shirt did overlap the pants, it would mean that his legs would be comically long

So, what I'm doing right now is trying to achieve a (more or less) natural-looking figure and anatomy for a person's upper body (Arm lenght, torso size, shoulders, head etc.)

I'll try to get some done on the legs the next time I'm about.

And yes, he has a lean/slender figure on this one.

edit: I'm also hoping to get a nice "in-between" (if you get my meaning) compared to those earlier pics, because in the first picture, the guy looks a bit like a chunky slab of meat, and in the second one he's as thin as a twig, so right now I feel like I've gone from one extreme onto the other