Metal Gear Solid 4 Sprite Help

[skeme_IN5]

I was just wondering if any body could give me any C+C on my first 'proper' sprite. It is Solid Snake from MGS4 for PS3, im quite proud with it at the moment but I can see that it needs improving but I dont know what. Any ideas? ALL suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Here it is:


EDIT:
And here are the outlines ect to make it easier if you wish to edit it


NOTE: I need the light source to be above and in front of Snake(so he would be facing towards it)
You guys are amazing and I cant wait to hear some C+C or see some nice edits

Reference pic:

[Terley]

Do you not think you're making this sprite too large? Animating this would be a nightmare for any pixel artist, surely if you're set on this sizing you should steer clear of this method entirely because pixel art focuses on usually detailing smaller sprites. I would of thought you'd be doing this maybe even half this size.

Atm parts look very unclear and all in all it looks kinda flat, I think you'd benifit from concentrating on the levels before adding in any textures or anything fancy. Whats with the pillowshaded-banding everywhere, work on its depth, and don't rely too heavily on in-game screenshots as main reference because you won't get the desired level of detail thats truely attainable then if you took the time to see real life people. With anything in art real observation is necissery, even just to push you in the right direction, you should see every piece as a learning experience and something to constantly improve on.

If I were you I'd strip this down to easy to desifer linework and gather a palette ranging from light to dark and concentrate on it's depth, stick to a light source and shape this guy. It's no colour by numbers. His armour is made up of different materials to, parts will reflect stronger. Worry about the texturing and finalisation till the end.

edit - HAHA

[Rydin]

I like the concept.  The biggest problem right now is that it's far too big--32x100 would be more than enough canvas space for you, I feel.  With a big sprite, like you've got, things like animating and detailing start to become a hassle....so yeah, I suggest a resize quick before you go farther.

Besides the size, I'd say you should look at the lighting too.  Right now, you are just coloring in each section, like a coloring book...sure, this gets it colored, but it leaves the whole piece feeling rather flat.  Instead of the coloring-inside-the-lines approach, I'd suggest picking a light source, and going through the lines--they aren't borders .


Good luck!

EDIT:  Terley, you got in before me .

[skeme_IN5]

OK, thanks a lot for your suggestions. I have to agree with both of you on everything that was said although i do really like this size. I will do what you suggested and post it up later then hopefully you can give more C+C. Atm im pretty set on this size and yes i do realize that it will be a nightmare to animate but i have a LOT of free time and patience lol! Saying that though, I will resize it down 50% and see what it looks like. Thanks again for your help.
 
Anything else I could make better anyone?

[Terley]

It would be awfully awkward playing a character that large also, find me a top-down game where that has worked sucessfully. It would seem your main character would take up half the screen. And think, if your character is twice the size, everything else will need as much attention. All in all making it most probably too busy. But I suppose if you've got the time and dedication it'd be worth seeing, its just leaving a lot of room to slack on the 'pixel-art' side of this pixel art game.

[skeme_IN5]

Yes your right Terley, as much as I like this size and have some level items and different views of snake almost finished I think it might be easier if I shink it down about 50%.
I will post a screen shot up in a bit of how it looks in game atm at full size.
To counter it being awkward to play and getting too busy I was going to design it so that the screen was limited to about 4-6 enemies on screen at a time and the view would follow the main player.
Thanks again

EDIT: Here is the ingame screen as it is atm, Its a VERY early WIP so ignore the fact i used textures from screenshots of the game and pasted them on the pillars,barrels and grey floor. Also the shadows were just quickly thrown in last minute, this is just to show how big the view would be(In the game this fills the whole screen). I will post the new screen with the smaller sprites once i have done them. Right, ive got a lot of work to do so im off, dont forget to give C+C
Thanks

[Feron]

it seems very silly to be using pixel-art for a game of this size.

that is all..

[skeme_IN5]

it seems very silly to be using pixel-art for a game of this size.

that is all..

Yeah I know, thats why im resizing all my sprites down 50%. I realized that it would be quite hard shooting enemies that are above or below you. Besides just being harder to do(animate ect) that is the main reason im resizing. As I said before, I will post the new resized sprites up when they are done(maybe a few days)
Then hopefully I can get more C+C from you guys
Thanks

[Terley]

are you just going to squash your existing sprites to 50%? or start pixelling anew with a more practical sizing?

[Lawrence]

If you you're going to resize it, use a nearest-neighbour filter and do it asap. You'll have to redo a lot of the work you've already done, so the sooner you work on the final size the better. Ideally you should work on the final size from the start.

[skeme_IN5]

are you just going to squash your existing sprites to 50%? or start pixelling anew with a more practical sizing?

Well both really, heres what I have so far(and yes I know its really bad atm but its just the line art with colour)
Is this wrong to do Terley? If it is what would you suggest?

If you you're going to resize it, use a nearest-neighbour filter and do it asap. You'll have to redo a lot of the work you've already done, so the sooner you work on the final size the better. Ideally you should work on the final size from the start.

Im not quite sure what you mean by 'nearest-neighbour filter' could you explain to me please?
Thanks again

[Sherman Gill]

Nearest neighbor is an interpolation filter that doesn't smooth (and thus add about twenty thousand colors random colors in order to blur) what you're trying to resize. It's pretty crappy for retaining likeness, but it's the best for resizing pixel art.

[skeme_IN5]

Nearest neighbor is an interpolation filter that doesn't smooth (and thus add about twenty thousand colors random colors in order to blur) what you're trying to resize. It's pretty crappy for retaining likeness, but it's the best for resizing pixel art.

Ah ha I see, I must not have used that then because I had the twenty thousand colour thing going on lol. What program does nearest neighbor filtering?

[skeme_IN5]

Hello again, ive now decided to shrink my original sprite down 30% instead of 50%. I think this size will be just right for my game and allows me more room for detail(im a noob!lol)while being easier for me to draw, although I realize it may be time consuming and difficult to animate/shade ect due to it still being quite big. I have have quickly shaded it and as you can tell, shading is not my strongest point. If any one could find the time to do a quick edit I would be really grateful. As I said before, I want the shadows to be coming straight down so the light source would need to be in the direction Snake is facing and above him.
Here it is:




EDIT: I will post the resized level items and a new screen shot of what it looks like in game tomorrow 
Please give C+C
Thanks
 

[Sherman Gill]

Oof! You're pillowshading! Pick a lightsource! Up is the standard for videogames as it allows you to horizontally flip things without having to remake them, and because most lightsources are upward.
Also, it's etc. not ect. because it's a shortening of Etcetera, which means "and the rest" in Latin.

[skeme_IN5]

Oof! You're pillowshading! Pick a lightsource! Up is the standard for videogames as it allows you to horizontally flip things without having to remake them, and because most lightsources are upward.

OK I will try that and post tomorrow 

Also, it's etc. not ect. because it's a shortening of Etcetera, which means "and the rest" in Latin.

...omg! dont I feel stupid?! lol!

[ndchristie]

et cetera actually .

there's little enough reason to do pixel art at this size, especially when the work here is not really paying attention to pixel details.  I wouldn't work at 50%, i would work at 20%.  And even that's on the big end of things.

[Sherman Gill]

I think it's actually a good size. It's not good productivity wise, yes, but it's got enough clarity that any mistakes in anatomy or forms he makes will be largely visible.

[skeme_IN5]

OK here is another one of my attempts at shading and as you can see I need a lot of practice so I probably wont be posting any more updates for a couple of days until i get a little better and understand more of what I am doing. I must say that I find it a lot easier shading when my light source isnt where I need it for this game(above and in front)
Here it is:


Is it REALLY important for the shadows to match where the light source is coming from?
Example:(Cant remember who's sprite this is, sorry)


Or could I get away with this?


Keep in mind that the light source/sun wont be visible in my game.
Please give C+C but please dont just say "Its too big", I know you guys know your stuff and I respect what you guys say because your a million times better than me at pixel-art but Im pretty set on this size and like it for a couple of reasons, the main one being that I think any smaller would look too small on the screen, another being that I like working in a bigger space(yep, im a noob!) Anyway, im off to practice.
Thanks

[Rydin]

I think the size is pretty good now

This is coming along very nicely.

While it is a mild step up from pillow-shading, the lighting is still pretty "meh".  I'd go with a corner-based light source like in your example.  And remember: light doesn't care if it's hitting a calf or a leg or a chest or an arm--it just hits everything as a whole.  You seem to be shading only within the "lines", does that make sense?

I really like where this is heading.  Plan on using a dynamic engine for his headband?

[skeme_IN5]

please ignore this post/thread

[Helm]

On one side that is the most disturbing thing I've ever seen. On the other I'd like you to qualify why you resurrected your old thread to post this, or face immediate consequences. Thank you.

[skeme_IN5]

On one side that is the most disturbing thing I've ever seen. On the other I'd like you to qualify why you resurrected your old thread to post this, or face immediate consequences. Thank you.

im just using this thread to get some pictures off photo bucket because the page wont load up for me on there so im pasting the img url on this thread and getting them like that, i will delete the images/this thread when im done.

[TrevoriuS]

PM yourself, works.

[skeme_IN5]

PM yourself, works.

ok thanks, i will try that...as soon as the paste option works again! i dont get it, its not letting me paste anything, anywhere! arghhhh its never done this before, why now?
anyway, like i said, ignore this post, i gave up on it a long time ago, i see know how bad it was!