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The color scheme and the structure of the face needs work. As it is now, he looks like one of the Berenstain Bears.

Yes, but not every body has the cutest widdle snugglekins in da ho wide world... yes she is... yes she is!

Eloquently put, my man!

I think you should take out the signature and the date in the lower right hand corner. They distract from the realism of the scene.Ã, 

If this will be the first game you've made, it should be free.

...

Also, does anyone know if I can find a female template of the walking template at Kafka's Koffee?

Someone would have to make it first.

I think you meant to direct that at Seaduck (for the Mr. Punk comment). Unless of course, you wanted Oneway to cut you some slack because of your gender.

EDIT: Whoops. Owned by my little brother!

I think I see one that wasn't listed....

The Styx. (To the left of Matchbox 20)

You could represent the nose from front view by drawing the outline just under it. That is one possible solution.

In addition, I would change the outline of the hat from black to a dark red, just to keep your outlines consistent. Also, it seems like there's an extra shade on his pants in the front view. Also, try removing the shade between the lightest value and the shadow on his pants. Its value is too close to that of the lightest shade and its placement seems unclear.

Don't get discouraged, I think it's a very respectable try. Remember, there's always a bigger fish out there, so no matter how good you get at something, there will always be someone to look up to. And if any one person is quantifiably "the best", it's not a fun place to be, since everyone will be trying to top them.

As far as your sprite goes, I would focus on the outlines. There are a few basic approaches to this, each with it's own merit. It's mainly important to get them consistent throughout the sprite.

Here are a few ideas:

- Outline every area with a darker shade (not black)
- Outline every area with black
- Outline only the outside lines (that touch the background) with black
- Use strong shading instead of outlines (ex. King of Fighters 2002 character portraits)

Give it a try, and keep up the work!

Here's a link to some good tutorials on the isometric style:

http://www.zoggles.co.uk/asp/tutorials.asp?tut=1

I sort of purposefully did the color scheme differently than your original idea. The intended results are twofold:

1. You actually have to load my image into your graphic program and hand pixel over my colors (or at least adjust the palette) until you get the blue and white outfit. In the process, you get to see the technique I used up close.

2. It's more Christmas-y.

If I were to re-color it for you, you'd probably need me to make all the other angles, the walkcycles, and the rest of the characters for your game. And last time I checked, this thread was named something about "critique" not "do all the work for you". 

Nice recap! It sounds like you're going in a good direction.

Just a side note: isometric doesn't use any vanishing points or perspective. It's a flat projection with the illusion of depth.

After finding out how expensive it is to regularly drink good beer (microbrews and imports), I think you will get used to drinking ass. Call it an acquired taste.

[Basic:]

2x zoom, 9 colors (10 counting background color, which wasn't used on the sprite) Done during my lunch break


Merry Christmas. There's no need to thank me, you can just send me money. Tis the giving season, right? Well, I guess everyone's entitled to one free paintover.

Critique, huh? Ok, where to start…

Basic:

- First off, listen to Mr. Colossal/Helm. They are interchangeably God and His immaculate Son, Jeebus. At least around these parts, stranger.

- Never, never, never, and I cannot stress this enough, never save pixel work as a JPG. Evil demons that live inside your computer (know as compression) will nibble away at your work until nothing is left! Here's one more “never” thrown in for good measure: NEVER! Ahh…

- As mentioned earlier, pick one resolution for your image.

- Since your sprite will rarely (probably never) appear on a perfectly white background, you should draw it against a more neutral color. This will affect the colors you choose.

More Advanced:

- Changed the color from yours…actually there's too much to explain here, so just study the palette in my paintover. Mine uses 9 colors for the sprite rather than your 3.2 billion, but mine looks more colorful. This is due to the hue shifts I use between my shades. Like I said, study the palette. If you want, there's a way to easily reduce my color count down to 8 (9, counting the background). Maybe you can figure that out. If not,

Spoiler

Replace the darkest shade of green with the dark purple. Amen!

[close]

- Proportion: I tried to make her look more realistic (and less mirrored), while maintaining an ectomorphic look. It's something you pick up by drawing from real life and looking at enough porn.

Wow, I feel like Nick Burns: Your Company Computer Guy. “He'll fix your computer then he's going to make fun of you" (singing). Or maybe like I just beat up a little kid at the playground. How's that for a critique?

P.S. OMG LOL!!!two

With pixel art, you should generally stay away from completely desaturated colors. Grays will always look better if they have a slight tint to them (for instance, try using a gray with a subtle yellow tint for one end of the color ramp, and a darker gray with a subtle purple tint for the other end of the ramp).

One important concept to learn involves edges. The closer together contrasting shades are, the sharper the edge will look. Many of your edges in this piece look inconsistent.

As for dithering...I'd stay away unless you're trying to convey texture. This opinion can be highly contested by other pixel artists, but it's just one way of doing things. I recommend this approach for someone at your skill level. It's easier to get a grasp of things if you simplify.

It'd be easier to recognize objects if this scene was rendered in an isometric viewpoint rather than straight-on top down. With top-down, many objects need to be more iconic than representational so the viewer will recognize them easily.

[Mats]

Hahahahahahahahahahahhahahaha.....ahhhh

Seriously, I haven't laughed this hard since Dane Cook's Tourgasm. I think we should turn this into a weekly contest: Re-invent Mrs. Claus' Feet/Footwear. Or it could at least be a sprite jam. That would be such a great hit.

As for the sprites Mats (I put it in bold so everyone can see I spelled his name right, since this seems to be a very important thing to do) originally drew, I think he makes them flat on purpose. It looks much closer to DOTT style this way. 

Since this seems like a lighthearted game to begin with, you should keep Helm's elephants-as-feet. That would make for an awesome in-game joke. Like they could obviously be there, but with no explanation and all the characters purposefully overlook them.

What I want for Christmas:

flybar [300 dollars]

bike [300 dollard]

IpodÃ,  mini [250 dollars]

4 xbox games [ 200 dollars]

lacoste watch [150 dollars

gym membership [480 dollard a year]

2 dvds [50 dollars]

200 dollard cash

1930 dollard plus next years gym membership

Hahahahaha! Wow, Gregor, such a biting sense of humor. Maybe Dad can give you some dollards for Christmas.

Two words... childhood ulcers.

I'd hate to see this guy lose in real life.

Judging by the actions you already took, you demonstrated that you already know what you want.

From what you've said, living alone in an apartment takes priority over living with her in a house. If this is truly the way you feel, you need act accordingly. There's really no need for you to compromise if it will result in your misery.

Secondly, you need to involve her with your decisions. A relationship is about two people, so you need to tell her exactly how you feel and what you want to do. I will tell you right now, HER FEELINGS WILL BE HURT. I have personal experience with the whole "moving out" bit. There really isn't a way to stop living together without her feeling rejected. You will need to do a lot of talking if you plan to stay together at all.

From what I can tell, it seems like this moving out is a big test of your relationship. If it works out and she can accept it, your initial assessment could be wrong and your continued relationship could turn out very nicely. So I wouldn't say to break it off unless it's the only way you can move out, since that seems what this is really about (needing personal space).

Afflict, the shading on the hat in your version is very different from the shading on his face. It's hard for me to understand how the lighting coupled with the hat's shape could produce such a look (especially since the face doesn't reflect that lighting). Look at the hat in ProgZ's edit, I think he has the right idea.

Also, if you're planning on drawing a body to accompany the head, it's a good idea to draw them all at once rather than polishing them individually.