Thanks for the comments peeps...
I hoenstly think that this business about 'pillow shading' is a little obsessive though... surely, it's a style choice in some instances?! - sure agreed, it ain't the most asthetically of pleasing for the most part, but, design wise it can be used effectively. Take those stars for instance - you're not actually seeing them as they were meant to be seen in game...
here...
take a look...
(Super bonus, to give you additional powers... how to make them more 'spangly'- color cycle them!)
and these too...
(placed UNDER the player sprite to indicate invincibility)
these wouldn't work of they weren't 'pillow shaded' - so as a technique, it does have its uses...
One thing I think a lot of the guys on this forum seem to forget is that the reason the sprites are pillowshaded is because in an actual game it'd greatly increase the number of sprites required to keep a consistent lightsource, from a production standpoint pillowshading makes a lot more sense...
That ain't quite true reydragk, - Pillowshading, Lightsource? Neither of these bear no relevance to me when I'm knocking out sprites... I've never insisted the lightsource remain consistent in the games I've been involved with... it can't be... not in 2d sprite based games at any rate... this is an obsessive thing you guys get all flustered about... not that there's anything wrong with if you're created one off pieces of work... but making a game with all those sprites, and background tiles etc etc... is time consuming enough with havgin to worry to much about shading it "correctly"... (note the inverted commas)
Having said that consistency IS important though... in most games one has to limit the amount of graphics one makes because of space limitations (on the cartridge for example) - or time restrictions (reduce frames, colors etc to get all the work done in time) - and here's the BIGGY - the one that makes me not overaly concerend abou tthe consistency of the light source is .... drum roll... THE X-FLIP!! - that's to say that all animations would be created facing in one direction only (if it's side on view), sure, we'd keep the lightsource consistent, (I normally put it top right, with my characters facing right) - and then x-flipped... so what happens then...? - all the shadows flip too (obviously) - "his gun's just swapped to his left hand" - " his eyepatch has swapped sides" (Sagat) - yes the x-flip... that's what saves time... no point in developing sprites in both directions, with 'correct shading' when you've a game to get out in 3 weeks...
I'm sure most of you know this? and I can hear you say...well put the shadow directly above the player.... yack... not nice... sometimes asthetics takes precedence over 'reality'