Messages

MadReizka - Thanks for your kind words man. It's interesting to experiment with changing shape with light and shade.

I've done a bit more work - touched up the middle trees, done the lone tree and the rock;



...is it just me, or does the rock look like pre-chewed grape chewing gum?

[EDIT]: - Here's a bit more stuff I've done. I couldn't figure out a good texture to use, so I went a bit silly with lines. Any suggestions would be cool.

Cobra - you posted while I was doing my edit man! See what you think, though this was a really quick lunchbreak one.

Rockeh - I've done a shamefully quick edit - is this a better style?



Obviously needs more work than my lunch break allows....

[EDIT]: Just a quick update to show you guys how the things are coming along. Have shaded the centre trees:



This time I've tried to keep to 4 shades per colour (on the trees, anyway) so that it matches the characters a bit better. Will be working on this fella, and will keep you updated.

All crits appreciated.

Zabnat - Head bobbing always seems to be a bit of a point of conflict. I know that when walking in the game the up/down movement of the character can look a little distorted, so if the head bob isn't working when I get it loaded into the game, I'll get rid of it. If it works, I'll keep it. Thanks for the tip anyway.

Akatosh - Thanks man - glad you like the shape they're taking. I'm currently working on the side sprite, so expect to see me posting a version of it up here soon for some crits.

gASK - Unfortunately all of my orange spandex was in the wash. I was gonna give him pec bounce, but I didn't wanna get the jiggly man-boob effect. Because nobody likes jiggly man boobs.

...ok, so not many people like jiggly man boobs  .

Anyway dudes, you've been absolutely awesome so far. I honestly cannot believe how far these have come since asking your advice. If someone had shown me the current sprites a week ago and then told me that I would draw them in a couple of days, I'd think they were being very silly indeed. I've got some more stuff I'm working on that I would absolutely LOVE your crits on, so thanks for your support so far, and please keep an eye out for my other stuff.

[EDIT]: Ok, guys, you know how the deal goes. I post a crappy sprite, you keep throwing suggestions at me until it looks good.

Round one:



Ok, couldn't find any good reference pics for the side view (unlike front one which I found a great one). Cue standing in front of mirror in boxer shorts, staring at where my big muscles don't seem to be. Hope this is at least a fairly accurate start....

Hopefully the looking better each day thingie is gonna be a trend I continue today  .

I've done some reworking of the groin and shoulders.



And I've been so impressed with GraphicsGale that I took the plunge and purchased the full version. $20AU (not much really) and I think I shall make a pact to never ever ever ever ever ever touch MSPaint again.

Except for the MSPaint game. During which I shall be completely frustrated by it. What was I thinking, using it for all those years???

Hey everyone,

As some of you may have seen, I've been working on getting some sprites crankin (if you haven't, they can be seen here for  comparison. ) but my backrounding skills still suck. So I want to improve them.

Please help me out - the progress I've made with my sprites have given me confidence that you guys have the best suggestions out there, so here is what I've been doing style wise:



Rough draft



More contrast



Project Sphinxey

I'm not actually sure what the backrounds should look like. I want the characters to fit in well with them, but I don't know if any of these will do that. Any tips you have that could point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Please note I don't have Photoshop or Paintshop Pro or anything fancy, so I can't use filters or anything.

But I have patience  .

Thanks guys.

You mean like this?:

Ok, less hyperactive??

Quick edit I did in my lunch break (who needs to eat???)

-Head adjusted
-Little shading thing in torso that was annoying me fixed
-Hands fixed - when slower they looked wobbly. Turned out I'd done two frames in the wrong order!!!



Is good?

Zabnat - The pallette I've been using is really high contrast AND really high saturation. I think that's what give's them the shiny look. But I likies!

Now, I KNOW I was supposed to be looking at proportions and stuff... but I thought I might have a little bit of fun with this guy. Yes. I referred to animation as fun. Perhaps I have lost my mind - who knows? The basic animation I had done earlier - I adapted it with shading and improved it and stuff.



You know what? I'm proud of it. Damn proud. Hell yes, it needs some more work. And hell yes it is animated too fast (will be slowed down in AGS). But for what its worth, I am proud of this little animation right here. It took me a fair while. I've stared at it for so long now that I've done the last frame that the little stomach line's movement reminds me of a metronome.

Please tell me your thoughts. Please limit the mocking - I may weep openly  .

Hey Cobra,

Thanks for the tutorial man. I shall go through and check all my proportions.

Until then, I've tried reshading to make him look a bit less muscular, because I want him thin. I'm not too keen on the stomach still. Also did the shoulder highlight as you suggedsted.

Cobra - Glad you like the shading. I'll have a shot at reworking the first one. I don't intend to use the 2nd one - I just wanted to have a shot at shading something a little more adventurous to improve my understanding of the shading. Glad you find it ridiculous  .

Now, I've had a shot at redoing the muscles on the orange man. I've put him right next to the old version for comparison. I am worried that I have gone back to this pillow shading by making this edit, but I guess I've gotta start somewhere. I've altered the gloves, legs, arms and torso. Boots, head and belt remain unchanged for now.



I've Googled this 6.5-7.5 heads rule but cannot find it yet. Perhaps I shall try and find a good proportions tutorial that might have it hidden in there somewhere.

And you had me worried that I'd nicked someone's spaceship unconsiously, Cobra! I googled this Ferengi glider - am I right in thinking that's the one with the big U shape, and that mine is different because the cockpit comes forward? I don't want to nick things of people!

Hmmm - I shall have to investigate this 6.5-7.5 heads rule. I'm glad you think they're getting better - its a bit of a relief.

I know it is a little bit offtopic, but I was wondering if I could get any feedback on these two - I've been trying to put that shading idea to use in other situations:



These two took me a fair while, but it was interesting to play around with the stuff I've learned.

I shall go and look up this 6.5-7.5 heads rule and get back to my sprites!

Thanks guys!!!

Medical Waste - Good point - I think I screwed up when shading his left side, and it makes his head look offcentre. It is on the "to fix" list. Cheers man.

Cobra - Thanks, man. I am really enjoying doing this - it has been very educational, and I think that this is the best I've ever gotten sprites to look. Quite excited about it, really.

Progz - Again, thankyou for your advice. I shall go back and try and adjust my outlines to reflect your example. I must admit that the example pic you drew has been an enormous help and the hands - I think my hands finally look like hands!!! The thing that amazes me the most, however, is your boots. They rock in ways that mine do not. I am very interested in the way that you use the shades of colour to emphasise the shape of things, and hope to improve on this on my sprites.

For now, here is the first draft of all the sprites done in this new style. I personally love the shape they're taking, and am pretty pleased with the progress. The only things bugging me at the moment is green dudes stomach, the top of big wingy dude's head and the shirt of mr lizard man.



And I added in little shadows for fun. The pallettes I've left up - I did them up because I took all the shading and outlining away completely before reshading, and didn't want to lose my colours.

Cobra - Glad you like the new one - I've redone the old ones in the style of the new one, because I think I like this colouring a bit better.



ProgZmax - Thankyou for this great example! I see what you mean by the lighting. I shall be giving this sort of lighting a shot - I hope I can make it work. Just a quick question - I noticed you've not used outlines as much on this image. Are there set rules on the sort of outlining to use when doing a sprite - I am kind of new to the whole pixel thing, but if I'm not mistaken I think I can see you using selective outlining on your example. Should I stick with outlines or get rid of them completely?

I must admit, I am learning a lot doing this. I never thought that redoing my characters would be helpful, but I think I am getting better. These are probably my best sprites to date, and I'm looking forward to improving the lighting and shading on them. Thanks a heap everyone - you've really kept me encouraged and inspired!

[EDIT]: I've had a shot at doing the first character with proper lighting - which I relied very heavily on Progz's example for reference, and this is what I've come up with so far. I'm gonna tackle the next few - I hope this is looking better.



I admit it might need some work. Perhaps I'll see it better tomorrow... after some sleep.

[EDIT2]: And another one....



Not completely satisfied with it, but not sure where to go from here.

[EDIT3]: Meh... one more can't hurt...

I like them dude. They are very cool. I'm glad you want to finish this game - we want you to finish it as well!  .

Look forward to seeing some more stuff.

Cobra - gASK is right - they are horn appendage thingos, not a crown. I intended him to be skinny, again, as gASK said, he's meant to be skinny.

gASK- I tried doing the big dudes a bit wider in the middle after reading your comment, but it made them look flat and kinda 2d. I got the idea from those comic book characters with massive chests and tiny abdomens - I thought I'd give it a shot. But I can't get them to look right when they're wider.

Pesty - I thought I'd avoided pillow shading! Please tell me I haven't!!! I don't really know how to make the two fellas look tough without all the lines - the muscles don't stand out when I get rid of the lines and they look like star trek characters or something. I am going for the superhero look. And *MORE* contrast? *sigh* 

Here is a new character I coloured just now with LOTS more contrast even than the others. Can I get some feedback on whether this is better than the others and whether I should redo the other ones in this style? I'm a bit worried that the contrast might be too high...

I must admit I was a bit nervous about increasing the contrast of the shading. But I've given it a shot, and I must admit, I am rather pleased with the result.



Hopefully this is a bit better.

I see what you're getting at with the shading - I've adjusted it a bit to look a bit more rounded and hopefully I won't have to fiddle with her breasts anymore ( )

Also, one more character.



Let me know what you think.

Ok, I adjusted the breasts.



My "artistic reasons" were a tad too shallow....

Thanks for the comments guys - I've edited the following:



-Character 1 - Breasts lowered, torso shortened
-Character 3 - Crotch adjusted, hands adjusted, hair and suit outline colours darkened to give more contrast
-Character 5 - Wing adjusted, shoulder adjusted, ankle adjusted

Let me know what you think.