Female sprite

[OneDollar]

Hi all, it's been a while since I posted anything in the Critics' Lounge. I've been trying to pixel a female character and got as far as a turnaround for the head. I also did a couple of pallet swaps for her hair colour, though I think the brown one works best.

[imgzoom]http://www.onedollarproductions.co.uk/uploads/PixelLadyHeads1.png[/imgzoom]

Personally I'm fairly happy with the front, back and 3/4 views, and not too sure about the side views. I'm also really not sure when it comes to shading and lighting, especially at low res. The light source is supposed to be above and to the left of the character. And there's the ponytail, which could use another pass.

What do you think?

[cat]

There are many colours in the skin tone but they are barely distinguishable. I'd increase the contrast of the colors and maybe reduce color count.

While the skin tone itself fits the black and brown hair, blonde people usually have a lighter skin tone, unless maybe she is supposed to be a surfer that is permanently in the sun.

A bit picky, but I'd also make the top most pixel in her neck in the hair color instead of skin.

Besides that, I think the sprite is a good start!

[Lasca]

It looks like the distance nose-eyes is wider in the quarter views than in the profile and front view. Also the hairline feels litte low in the profile. Otherwise, good work!

[bicilotti]

I second what cat said about the face colours, also I am trying to find reference pics on how a ponytail looks from 3/4. It seems to me the tail is too visible (i.e. placed too far externally)  as now.

While the skin tone itself fits the black and brown hair, blonde people usually have a lighter skin tone, unless maybe she is supposed to be a surfer that is permanently in the sun.

Maybe they dyed their hair!

[OneDollar]

There are many colours in the skin tone but they are barely distinguishable. I'd increase the contrast of the colors and maybe reduce color count.

Yeah, you're right. I've been looking at the sprite zoomed in, but when you pull back the skin just blurs into one colour.

While the skin tone itself fits the black and brown hair, blonde people usually have a lighter skin tone, unless maybe she is supposed to be a surfer that is permanently in the sun.

Maybe they dyed their hair!

I was too lazy to pallet swap anything beyond the hair colours. That's kind of like dying the hair?

It looks like the distance nose-eyes is wider in the quarter views than in the profile and front view.

The problem might be that she's still looking at the camera/screen/whatever. Maybe she should be looking left or right in the 3/4 views.

Also the hairline feels litte low in the profile.

Noted.

It seems to me the tail is too visible (i.e. placed too far externally)  as now.

Yeah, I think you're right. I'm still not happy with how it looks in the side views, so I didn't really fix it in the 3/4 views. I think in reality you'd barely be able to see it, if at all.

Thanks for the critique, once I get a free evening I'll have another go at it.

[ThreeOhFour]

Hey man, cool to see you're still around, I haven't seen anything you've drawn in ages.

I agree with Cat about the fact that you've got loads of shades you're not doing a great deal with. Contrast is really helpful for distinguishing features. I also think an issue you have here is that your sprite isn't uniform across directions; the eyes are higher in the angled views, the ears change height across views and stuff like that. I almost always like to keep everything uniform or it jumps around when a character changes direction.

I've tried an edit of the side profile because I agree it's the one that stands out, and I always have trouble with side views myself:

[imgzoom]http://imgur.com/AEpCdaG.png[/imgzoom]

I changed the structure of the head to be a little more realistic, while trying to keep your cartoony feel, but a few other changes include:

-Shaded the head more like a ball, according to your described light source
-Defined the ear more explicitly with highlights & shadows
-Edited the colours (using photoshop because I'm lazy )
-Tried to give the ponytail some weight and clearer definition
-Shaded the neck and angled it slightly

Maybe you can find some worth in the edit, and again, it's cool to see you still around and doing stuff!

(special thanks to Nemo who taught me how to post images again )

[OneDollar]

Ben, your edit is amazing (and more than a little intimidating ). I've not yet figured out how to work on the side view without actually copying you, so I'm reworking the 3/4 view. I was hoping to have another edit for this post, but it's not done and free time is proving elusive.

[ThreeOhFour]

I'd say a really good starting point is just working on making it look like she has a jaw, rather than a plain ellipse - this involved making her chin come out a little more and defining the underside, basically. This is easier to do in the side view, but will also help your angled view to look better as well.