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Pixel Art / Re: [C+C][WIP] Character Battle Sprites
« on: October 13, 2017, 04:07:34 pm »
Love your last edit. I would add one more frame for better cape anim
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thx going to try fixing it right away and can you please tell how the posting images on this site works?
That's still a cast shadow rather than a form shadow, but it does help.
Take a look at the first of the examples you posted. That's also mostly cast shadows, but look at how much more contrast there is compared to yours. It's super-clear what's in shadow and what's in light. That helps a lot.
The new scarf colour has the same value as the shirt, so it blends in. Make sure important things have different values (darkness/lightness), to avoid this blending together. Always preview your work at 1x (or 2x if that's as small as it'll be in game). What's clear zoomed in might not be visible at all zoomed out.
Create larger-scale forms with your shadows, don't worry so much about detials. All of these scarves have nice details, but the sprite still feels very flat because there are no form shadows. All of your shadows are detail shadows and small cast shadows, you have no form shadows. The contrast is also very low.
I think an important part of this look is to not rely on outlines. Outlines take up pixels that could be put to better use creating detail, shadow, and motion. Avoiding outlines means designing your characters in a way that allows important parts (e.g. arms and the torso) to be separated by value and/or hue, without need for outlines. With your character's hoodie, that might mean either colouring the sleeves another colour, or posing the character so that their torso is more in shadow (i.e. with light only on their shoulders and arms), so that the arms can be lit against it.
Having interesting poses and bright, contrasting lighting is also important. Dull lighting and a plank-like pose are not conducive to the style you're aiming for. Moreover, such posing doesn't communicate anything interesting about the character. What is the character like? How would they stand? How would they summon up their powers? How would they strike? Think about this. It might seem easier to do a dull standing/walking pose, but it's actually harder in some ways, precisely because it doesn't give you opportunities for interesting overlaps and playing with light/shadow. If a character's arms are stuck to their sides, then of course they're going to be lit about the same way and are going to blend into the torso. If you can pose them in another way, then light/shadow will create the contrast you need.
The floating book animation is good (but it might be enhanced by having the character move a little, to show he's reading from the book).
In the walking animation the front view looks unnatural: the character seems to move only his toes, with heels sticking together on the ground.
Maybe spreading apart the legs while walking would enable bending the knees in the front view too, with enough difference with the standing frame.
The tree and the fence have very good shapes and proportions, but they are shaded very flat. Can you adopt an oblique light source from the front?