Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Zizka on June 03, 2014, 11:19:08 am

Title: Tentacle Perspective Conundrum
Post by: Zizka on June 03, 2014, 11:19:08 am
Hello guys!

I'm trying to sprite a walking tentacle (inspiration: Day of the Tentacle) for a game. I'm having a really hard time with the ''RPG'' perspective. I've done 4 different attempts:

(http://i.imgur.com/pTEUTG4.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/9HNRiLr.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/2sxJJ82.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/WLuYFrr.png)

I always end up spriting them from a full front perspective when it should be ''3/4'' if that makes any sense.

I would really appreciate your help with this!!!  :y: :y:
Title: Re: Tentacle Perspective Conundrum
Post by: astraldata on June 04, 2014, 12:38:13 am
I would suggest emphasizing the 'S' shape a bit more, with the tip of the 'S' top pointing out a bit. The 3/4 view really would work best here in order to convey the 'tendril-ly-ness' of the creature.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/aceallen/pTEUTG4.png)
Title: Re: Tentacle Perspective Conundrum
Post by: Zizka on June 04, 2014, 11:06:27 am
Hello!
While I like your edit, this isn’t what I’m looking for exactly. I misspoke, let me reformulate; I meant 3/4 from a bird's eye perspective, which is what I meant by rpg perspective  ;D.

What I’m looking for is for my sprite to be in the same perspective as Link in this screenshot:

(http://i.imgur.com/zc4ubWY.jpg)

The problem I'm having is applying this perspective to the tentacle.
Title: Re: Tentacle Perspective Conundrum
Post by: PixelPiledriver on June 04, 2014, 11:26:54 am
Build a simple low poly 3d model and pixel over it.
I recommend 3dsMax, but there's many other alternatives.
Or take a photo of a paper cube or a dude made of playdo from above with your phone.
Title: Re: Tentacle Perspective Conundrum
Post by: astraldata on June 04, 2014, 01:30:12 pm
Quote
Build a simple low poly 3d model and pixel over it.
I recommend 3dsMax, but there's many other alternatives.
Or take a photo of a paper cube or a dude made of playdo from above with your phone.

And if you're not *that* hands-on with your stuff, you can still use the 'S' idea (which I still highly suggest doing) but emphasize the bottom-half of the 'S' a bit less than I did in my edit. A straight line spine just makes your character look boring and completely unlike a 'tentacle' since people generally identify tentacles as wavy-wobbly tendrils, which emphasizes the 'organic' aspect of them I'm assuming you want. Emphasizing at least a slight curve, even from the front, helps a lot with this.

The biggest issue I had with making the form for my edit was your palette. Tweak that first. I had to tweak it a bit so that I could express the forms better.

Also there's no hueshifting in your sprite. I added some in my edit to make it a bit more interesting to look at. The difference is almost not noticeable -- but it really is.