Knight sprite

Bodrius · Mon 25/04/2011 00:20:39

I started this game a few years ago, and for a long time I stopped working on it. Now I'm back in this project and I don't like the sprites I did back then, so I'm trying to improve them a bit.

This sprite is supposed to be a knight in his armor, but it just doesn't look good. Any ideas on how to improve it? Any critics are welcome, thx.

Anian · Mon 25/04/2011 02:00:35

Hmm, looking at the backgrounds you posted, I assume this is like Arthur/Merlin type of a knight (which doesn't really pinpoint anything) or in practical terms late 14th to early 16th century - full plated armour knight? So that's where you need to start from - first sources in movies I can think of - A knights tale and Excalibur.

- is that supposed to be a golden helmet on his head and blond moustaches or is that all just his hair? It's kind of hard to tell, thus that's something that might need tweaking, but first of all you have to give the info about what you're trying to draw

- it seems you've drawn two sets of shoulder plates (you probably didn't mean to and the right arm looks fine if only a tad short, but his right (our left) arm looks strange), which makes his shoulders look weird, I'd lose the bigger plates and attach the rest of the arm to the torso, try to visaulise where his collar bone would have to be and how his neck would look without the armour on and you'll notice it'd be a little weird. Also try shortening the shoulder plates a bit

- the pelvic area looks weird, many Warhammer and other sketches show knights with a banner like piece of fabric going down the middle (it looks cool, it's somewhat saves on detailing everything in that area), but realistically there would've been metal or leather sheets on the side of the legs for a very practical reason -> when you ride a horse somebody might shoot an arrow or stick you with a spear in that part of the body but it's also felxible enough so you can ride and walk.
It took me a while to see what you actually drew was trousers beneath the armour but his thigh armour is on the side of the pelvis are and on his left (our right) lef, the armour is seems detached from the leg.

Here's a short bad redrawing (it's 3am so I'm getting slightly tired), but I don't want to intrude on the style of the characters, so I suggest you try to draw a basic look and proportions of his body (no shading needed, just basic limbs and torso, then decide what armour you want (copy and mix a few from movies or pictures, nobody will really notice if it's generic enough, it's all refference).

Bodrius · Mon 25/04/2011 04:04:05

Thanks Anian for all your advice, I redraw it completely following some of your tips, and here it is what I came with, although I'm still not satisfied with it, I think it looks much better now.

Completely new armor, new face and I changed the hair color (Haven't noticed that it could be confused with a golden helmet).

As always, any critics and advice is gladly welcome.

Thx!

Damien · Mon 25/04/2011 18:14:25

A great sprite.

I made a small paintover reworking the head and it's shading:

It's just a basic shape + some shading with a light source above the sprite. Now that I look at it, the brightest highlight should be toned down more.

One version with the smaller eyes keeping the resolution in mind.

Sephiroth · Mon 25/04/2011 22:05:24

The two versions are completely different and both look good to me, but I prefer Anian's edit, I like the red pants under the armor. I also like the first armor texture better.

Maybe you could use them both as different characters? Would be a waste to throw one away. Cheers.

Tuomas · Mon 25/04/2011 23:00:44

I think it's better without the pants. I first wondered why the knight was bleeding from his upper body. The red hair seems a bit odd too. Unnatural at least, when so bright.

Hudders · Mon 25/04/2011 23:24:34

The left arm now looks much shorter than the right and is held at an angle that suggests that it is prosthetic.

Khris · Tue 26/04/2011 11:25:55

Here's a paintover of a knight I did some time ago:

As you can see, this uses a whopping 4 shades of grey.
What I'm saying is, you should greatly reduce to number of colors for now and fix the anatomy, then go back to shading and details.

-His left arm should be behind the chest
-shoulders are too low compared to the head's position
-arms have no elbows and aren't connected to the torso
-I'd also move his waist upwards a bit or lengthen his legs

quo_sp · Tue 26/04/2011 12:26:02

In this page http://www.juniorgeneral.org/load.php?Period=2 you can find a lot of historical samples of medieval soldiers and knights, poses, weapons, armors and helmets. Those samples are not sprites but can be used as a basis for creating new sprites.

Bodrius · Thu 28/04/2011 03:49:59

Quote from: Damien on Mon 25/04/2011 18:14:25
A great sprite.

I made a small paintover reworking the head and it's shading:

Thanks. New face looks great, but I still prefer mine... I like the big nose. I'll keep it though, I think I know in wich other character I'll use it.

Quote from: Sephiroth on Mon 25/04/2011 22:05:24

Maybe you could use them both as different characters? Would be a waste to throw one away. Cheers.

That's exactly what I'll do. Now I'm back on this proyect I'm re drawing and recycling lots of sprites and backgrounds.

Khris and Hudders, I'm aware of the anatomical issues you point, I'm working on that. Thanks.