Requesting Crit for frontal sprite

[Xellie]

Hi there

I'd like some advice and tips on improving this sprite. Some of you might recognize who I tried to pixelate.

[Jim Reed]

Please use .PNG or .GIF when posting images. .JPG images leave artefacts we need to remove before editing.

You needn't resize images by hand, here's the easy way.

[Xellie]

Please use .PNG or .GIF when posting images. .JPG images leave artefacts we need to remove before editing.

You needn't resize images by hand, here's the easy way.

Thanx Jim, been a while since I posted anything. Replaced the JPG with GIF. Hmm... Does look better already, with more contrast. Note sure about the folder flaps though... but does make the sprite more interesting. Thanx again.

[Xellie]

This is the edits I've come up with so far:

[Questionable]

I think you could stand greater contrast. At natural size it all gets muddled, zoomed in it looks great!

I think the reason Jim put those shoulder flare on him was to give him the idyllic T -shaped body of epic heroes! Nobody like a bland protagonist...

All I did was recolor him. I mainly just replaced the palette with higher contrast colors & colors of lower saturation:

I took away his mask, to see how he looked without out...  I think I like it better on. I don't really like the way it stops halfway. I think the diagonal lines need to go all the way across his mask. Also, I might consider making them mildly transparent. I had a problem with his feet too, but I wanted to focus on colors more than anything else.

[Xellie]

I think you could stand greater contrast. At natural size it all gets muddled, zoomed in it looks great!

That's true, I'm realizing more and more that i worked too zoomed in all the time, losing sight of the way he would look at 'normal' resolution. I have already increased it, but point taken, contrast needs to be even more, as your rework illustrates.

I think the reason Jim put those shoulder flare on him was to give him the idyllic T -shaped body of epic heroes! Nobody like a bland protagonist...

Also true, and I like that look. However, the T-Flash shoulders doesn't go in the direction I'd like... maybe I'll use something like that on a similar character, if I ever get to one.

All I did was recolor him. I mainly just replaced the palette with higher contrast colors & colors of lower saturation:

Understood; and it does make a huge difference. I'm just a bit worried by having the darker areas TOO dark, which could cause problems if he's moving in front of a very dark background. By having him either on the light or the darker side of the spectrum as a whole, I imagined that it might be easier to manage his appearance. I.e. if he on the lighter side, I just need to keep my backgrounds darker to keep him standing out. Maybe that's a stupid idea... any suggestions?

I took away his mask, to see how he looked without out...  I think I like it better on. I don't really like the way it stops halfway. I think the diagonal lines need to go all the way across his mask. Also, I might consider making them mildly transparent. I had a problem with his feet too, but I wanted to focus on colors more than anything else.

Yea well, I attempted a glassy kind of look but didn't quite get there. Any thoughts on making it look better would help a lot. If the lines go all the way (which I tried) then (for me at least) it starts looking like these white lines just running across his face itself, and not like a mask anymore. But if there's a better way, I haven't found it yet.

Regarding the transparency, I'm trying to stay with a specific look, i.e. no transparency and not too much dithering. If I make the white lines semi-transparent, I'm worried that it might interfere with that. Once again, thoughts are welcome regarding better ways to solve this.

Thanks Questionable, for your effort and suggestions!

[Calin Leafshade]

what about something like this for the mask?

[Xellie]

what about something like this for the mask?

Hmmm. That might work. I'll have a look at it, maybe with a lighter shade of blue and keeping some of the white lines. Thanx!

[Jim Reed]

The shoulder pads I put were actually for making him able to move his arm upwards, and not hinder him while doing it. I think I saw that when I was reading up on medieval armour, if my memory serves me.

Understood; and it does make a huge difference. I'm just a bit worried by having the darker areas TOO dark, which could cause problems if he's moving in front of a very dark background. By having him either on the light or the darker side of the spectrum as a whole, I imagined that it might be easier to manage his appearance. I.e. if he on the lighter side, I just need to keep my backgrounds darker to keep him standing out. Maybe that's a stupid idea... any suggestions?

Try using tinting, it might help.

[Questionable]

Understood; and it does make a huge difference. I'm just a bit worried by having the darker areas TOO dark, which could cause problems if he's moving in front of a very dark background. By having him either on the light or the darker side of the spectrum as a whole, I imagined that it might be easier to manage his appearance. I.e. if he on the lighter side, I just need to keep my backgrounds darker to keep him standing out. Maybe that's a stupid idea... any suggestions?

Well in most cases you're going to have backgrounds that are lighter than your character AND backgrounds that are darker than your character. The easiest thing to do in this case is take his "outer lines" and lighten them up to the point where even if he's on a dark background you know what is part of his leg and what isn't... I'll see if I can come up with something quick.

[Questionable]

Not a good edit, but i'm pressed for time (I <3 IKEA SALES! FTW?!)



So again, high contrast on the one side, original on the other.

I edit Calin's edit. Lightened up the mask a bit... he switched some pixels around and so I decided to MOSTLY leave them. took a piece of an old background I had and threw it in there, blurred it out a bit.

Overall I lightened up all the pixels a tad, re-darkened some key spots that I thought worked best and that's kind of it. Really quick, really sloppy.

If you isolate your background and setup various background colors and textures it can help you get an idea of how a character like this is more diverse. DO NOT use my edit, retouch your own lol with more time and care!  I'm interested to see what you do with this, GOOD LUCK!

[Dualnames]

I'd use cyan for the mask.

[Captain Ricco]

Master Chief is in da house!

[Xellie]

Master Chief is in da house!

Not qute the Master Chief no... but close!

I'd use cyan for the mask.

Thanx for the suggestion... I'll have a look.

So again, high contrast on the one side, original on the other.

I edit Calin's edit. Lightened up the mask a bit... he switched some pixels around and so I decided to MOSTLY leave them. took a piece of an old background I had and threw it in there, blurred it out a bit.

Overall I lightened up all the pixels a tad, re-darkened some key spots that I thought worked best and that's kind of it. Really quick, really sloppy.

If you isolate your background and setup various background colors and textures it can help you get an idea of how a character like this is more diverse. DO NOT use my edit, retouch your own lol with more time and care!  I'm interested to see what you do with this, GOOD LUCK!

Thanx for taking the trouble to rework. I tried making it darker and still keep things in balance and also changed the feet. Added left and right side view also. What do you think?