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Hello everyone, thanks to a suggestion by plebeo, I put together this little tutorial on how I did my "Adelaide" sprite.

I don't use anything fancy to create my sprites.Ã,  Everything I do is made in Microsoft Paint.
For this character, I just started drawing with colours I thought suited the character.Ã,  The proportions are way off, but you have to have a starting point.Ã,  This is my first attempt:



Once I had the basic idea (far left), I moved a few pixels around to make her look more realistic.Ã,  I made her arms straighter and her chest higher, for example.Ã,  I also added some basic shading.Ã,  For this, I used 3 similar shades of brown: one light, one medium, and one dark.

I tried to imagine the light source coming from the upper right, and used the light brown colour to "highlight" where the light would hit.Ã,  This was mostly guesswork (I fix it later on), but you can see highlights on the chest and right sides of the legs.Ã, 

The shadows are in the areas opposite the highlights, where something would cast a shadow.Ã,  These appear mostly under the chest and on the left side of the legs.Ã,  You can see I also did a bit of shading on the hat and arms (2 shades of blue).

In the third image, I added her long hair and a few other props, like the scarf and the strap from her quiver.Ã,  I also added some boots.Ã,  Some people find shoes difficult to draw, but just remember that if someone is facing you, their feet aren't pointing straight towards you or to one side.Ã,  They rest naturally at a 45 degree angle, with the heels closer together.Ã,  A mirror is a really valuable tool as you're drawing.



From the front view of my character I constructed this side view.Ã,  The red lines show how I lined up important body features, i.e. the soles of the feet, the knees, the bottom of the waist, the neck, and the top of the head.Ã,  You may notice that the eyes and ears don't match up exactly, but I liked them the way they were.Ã,  It's not really too noticeable, right?Ã, 

The other pictures show little tweaks to the sprite.Ã,  I made her feet bigger, gave her a rounder behind, added her quiver, and added her scarf and long hair.Ã,  I did the highlights and shadows the same way as before, with the light source at the upper right.



The back view was made by painting over the front view.Ã,  I just used the hair colour over her face and changed the shadows on her pelvis to look like a back view.Ã,  I had trouble with the shadows and highlights on this view, so I did a lot of experimenting and finally got something I was satisfied with.Ã,  I added the same props as before, and changed her feet to look like they were pointing away.Ã,  The shading on her hair is minimal at this point, just some darker yellow wavy lines.



So now I had a decent sprite, one I had worked quite a few hours on, and no idea what to do next.Ã,  One problem I noticed was that the colours were too bright (too saturated), and that her face had no expression.Ã,  Plus, the colour of her skin made it blend into her hair.Ã,  I also didn't like the look of the scarf, or the bright yellow hair.

I tried to make a decent face by using several shades of the skin colour, but as you can see the results ranged from mediocre to downright ugly.Ã,  :PÃ,  Frustrated, I gave up on the sprite for a while and worked on other parts of my game.

A week or two ago I decided I'd take another swing at this character, saving along the way so I wouldn't be "scared" of making it worse.Ã,  Pixel art is all about making mistakes.Ã,  One of the first things I did was change the colour of her sleeves, since the only reason I'd made them blue was to make it easier to animate.Ã,  I thought that you'd be able to see them swinging better in the walkcycle, but eventually I realized good ol' shading will accomplish that just fine.Ã,  I also darkened the pants, and got rid of that pesky scarf.Ã,  The result was this:



You may notice the shading is a lot different.Ã,  This is because not all rooms have a light source at the upper left.Ã,  It's a lot easier to pretend the light source is right overhead, not to mention more versatile.Ã,  Thus, the highlights on her torso became blobs on her upper chest and stomach, and as lines on the outsides of her arms.Ã,  On her pants they are patches on her thighs and lower legs.Ã,  The shadows wentÃ,  inside her arms, and under her chest, knees, and the edge of her shirt.

The face problem was solved by using pinker tones, and not being afraid to use one very dark colour to do the shadows.Ã,  In all there are 4 shades of pink for her skin.

At this point I knew I had done as much as I could on my own.Ã,  I offered it up for comments and critiques in the Critic's Lounge, and you can read the thread here.Ã,  Thanks to many helpful observations and paintovers, "Adelaide" was finally done:



Hopefully you found this tutorial helpful, and don't be afraid to PM me with any questions or comments.

Cheers!

~*~The Ivy~*~

Wow, thanks for all the votes of confidence, guys!    Microsoft Paint has never let me down.
I've never played LOOM, but I know it's mentioned in Monkey Island (tm).  One of these days I shall have to check it out.
I'm really curious: how long is the voting open on these competitions?   

Here's my attempt:





I tried using only shades of blue, and ended up with this quirky nighttime effect.

This is my first competition entry...I think punch is in order.

Thanks to all of you for your advice. Ã, 
Progz, once again, your paintover skills amaze me.Ã,  I really liked the way you textured the shirt, but I'm afraid I'll sacrifice that level of detail to be able to include lots of animations.Ã,  The hair edit was just the type of thing I was looking for.Ã, 

She looks kind of like Dart, eh? Ã, Well, the character is supposed to live in the Canadian wilderness, and I did notice Dart is from Canada too...(It's okay, so am I Ã,  )

Anyway, heeeere's Addy!





I'm not too concerned with minor differences in the position of the eyes or whatnot...I'm quite happy with the way she looks now. Ã, Here's what I did:

• Shaded the fur on her pants
• De-yellowed the hair
• Changed the colour of her eyes and gloves, just because
• Outlined her face a little
• Fixed the shading on the quiver
• Added another shade to her hat for good measure

Hm, looks like I forgot to make the arms wider...well, you guys are good at using your imaginations, right? Ã, 

His jaw seems to be too narrow, as does his chest.  Also, you might want to use at least three shades of colour for the face if you do so for the hair.  Also, something about the position of the closer arm makes it appear to be going into his leg.  I'd suggest making the pants looser or drawing a pocket.

Otherwise, this is a neat sprite.  I like the colours and the way you did the hair.  The detail in the shoes is quite impressive, too.

Nice work Stu!Ã,  I love the quirky sense of humour you've got going...I imagine the moral of the story to be, "See kids? Job dissatisfaction can be fun!"Ã, 

Spoiler

I also loved the headbanging animation of the janitor.Ã,  It totally made my day.

[close]

Hey all, here's a sprite for my game:





Her name is Adelaide, and she lives alone in the wild.  Hence, her clothes are supposed to look like animal skins and furs (with the exception of her hat, unless she killed a muppet). 

Any crits are welcome, although I'd appreciate help making her hair less "yellow" and more "blonde."  Also, I'm not quite happy with the front view of her face.  I kind of want her to be wearing a scarf the same colour as her hat, but I haven't found a way of drawing one that I'm satisfied with.

Thanks!

Congrats on a great-looking game, simulacra.  I really look forward to the "psychological thriller" side of the story.  To do a game with depth isn't easy, but everything you've posted here indicates you've got it nailed.  Looking forward to its release, and good luck with your little ritual.   

Nice work!

I really like the way you did the colour gradients in the wings and stomach.  I'd like to see more attention paid to the creature's eyes, because right now they look empty.  Maybe pick a certain colour, add a highlight, and define some sort of eyelid.  I'd stay away from the black altogether.

A sprite like this, with so many colours, would probably be difficult to animate.  It might be easier to go with fewer colours but make the shading more distinct.  For example, pick only 3 or 4 shades of green for the body, with one to be a "highlight" colour.  Right now it looks like there's too much of the lightest green colour, and all your shading goes darker.

A "realistic" criticism is that the Dwan has no back leg.  From this angle we should be able to see it.

Once again, good sprite, and good luck with your game!

Hey guys.Ã,  Here's a walkcycle for "Jessie" that I've come up with:







I know the gif quality isn't the best...is there a better way to save little animations like this?

As for the sprite, I'm hung up on how to animate her hair.Ã,  I know it needs some little flippy motions when she steps, but I'm not sure when.Ã,  Any and all crits welcome!

Thanks for all the critiques, guys.Ã,  The feedback is really encouraging.Ã,  I tweaked a few things with the sprite and here's what I came up with:



Yes, she is supposed to be wearing combat-type pants and boots, and I'm amazed that you picked up on that.Ã,  I tried to make them look "baggy" without making her appear excessively chubby.Ã,  Also, I added that trendy arm cuff, moved around some shading, fixed some of the irregularities with the hair and belt, and made her a bit slimmer.

There was a rather lively discussion about her butt.Ã,  There were a lot of good suggestions, and I know a few of you would like to send her to the "Sprite gym."Ã,  Sorry, but no.Ã,  She's not a model, she's a teenager, and there's nothing wrong with having a bit of a swing on your back porch.Ã, 

I'm really happy with the way she turned out, and once again thanks to you guys for your input.Ã,  Now, onto the rest of the game.Ã,  8)

Hey guys, here's a character from the game I'm working on.Ã,  Her name is Jessie and she's an angsty little punk.Ã, 





I know the shading leaves a bit to be desired, but I think I have her "personality" captured pretty accurately.Ã,  She's supposed to look about 18 years old, and if it's at all relevant, she's a fashion design student.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions...I tried to implement as many as possible.Ã,  Here's version 2.0 of the cafe:





Here's what I did:

• Took out the lamp post (let's face it...it was none too pretty to begin with)
• Evened out the texture of the sidewalk
• Made the grass more grassy
• Added highlights to the windows
• Fixed the curb, seat cushions, and roof shading (somewhat)
• Added shadows to interior of cafe
• Got rid of the sun and clouds

Of all the suggestions, I'm having the most difficulty with InCreator's.Ã,  I'm not sure how to address the palette problem.Ã,  I like the high-contrasty look, although I noticed that the colours are a lot more subdued on my laptop, where I create my graphics, and a normal PC monitor.Ã,  I apologize for any resulting retinal damage.Ã,  Ã, 

I'm not too sure what I can do about the horizon, or if I even have it in the right place.Ã,  Any comments on that would be most welcome.Ã,  Also, ideas about how to make the roof more "realistic" would be awesome.

Thanks guys!

This is most excellent.  I just have a few nitpicky comments.  Jac's right hand seems to lack detail at the beginning of the animation, at least compared to the rest of the sprite.  Also, the starting facial expression makes him look a little confused; the eyebrow might be a pixel too low or too far forward or something. 

I don't think you need to add any movement to the legs, as it doesn't look "weird" without it. 

I love the little jacket sway at the end.  It's realistic and it adds to the aura of "cool" that this character has.  Now I'm wondering how a shootout with him and the "hooker" would end...

Hello everyone!

Here's a background I've been working on for a little while, lovingly rendered in 256-colour glory.Ã,  It's supposed to be a cafe on a street corner, with an art gallery in the background and some mountains on the horizon.Ã, 



Aaaaand a little bigger:



I can't seem to get the highlights on the glass right, so I'd appreciate any C&C on that.Ã,  The textures of the sidewalk, grass, etc. aren't really to my liking, but I'm not sure what to add to them.Ã,  I haven't had much luck with the shadows yet either.

I suppose I should make some comment about this being my first post, but instead I think I'll go celebrate with a bowl of ice cream.

By the way, I've been reading these forums for a while, and I know there are some amazing artists among you.Ã,  Thanks in advance for your help!