Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: rengowrath on January 12, 2018, 11:17:03 am
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Hey everyone, just looking for any feedback on the general design, shading, colors, anatomy, etc. Mostly I'm looking for any ideas on improving the design, Thanks!
(http://www.stormbrewers.com/Art/FireMage.png)
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Great design. The main thing I see is I had to enlarge the sprite quite a bit before I saw the shading on the scarf over the face. Maybe try and make the the shading have more contrast?
And otherwise I'd see how the line in between the boots looks if it's a little lighter. But also I see it can't be too light. My eye is just drawn to it a little more than I feel like I should. I'm not sure why.
Colors are great and proportions look good to me too.
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In addition to the above, you have a lot of banding going on, notably on the arm. Try to work on that area, keep pixels clustered and colors limited for clarity!
An example of a place you could reduce colorcount is the highlights on the legs, they're not really visible at native resolution and when zoomed in kind of "clutter up" the sprite. Also doesn't conform to what's expected of cloth, which usually isn't that shiny unless it's a special material like silk or latex.
At this resolution it's readability over all else.
Also, is she supposed to be wearing a coat? What are those blue bits to either side of her?
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Okay I didn't realize that I should have posted the image at resolution of what I was going to use it for instead of just 1x. So here's a scaled up version with some edits. I removed the mask because I thought it looked odd and added more of a neck line, adjusted the boots, and reduced the color count in the shirt. It's supposed to be more of a coat or cape but it's not selling well since the color changes. Maybe I'll try an edit with the pants blue and keep the exterior of the coat orange.
(http://www.stormbrewers.com/Art/FireMage2.png)
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I would say the blue on his/her legs looks like an additional piece of fabric that expands a bit from the belt, overlays the pants and ends up inside the boots, that may not be what it was supposed to but I like it.
The mask removal looks better, but I would have kept like some sort of blue scarf / turtleneck that hides his neck and comes up to his chin.
Overall it's not perfect yet, but it's got potential, I really like the character design :)
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i'd actually reccomend making the shirt blue, give it kind of a military coat look.
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Agree on making the shirt blue, maybe keep the sleeves orange? You should do 3 different edits and compare!
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Thanks so much for the feedback friends! Okay I've done some more iterations on the outfit. None of them really feel awesome to me, but I think I like the blue pants one the best by a small margin. A lot of these concepts cool the image down too much I think.
(http://www.stormbrewers.com/Art/FireMageBlueCoat.png)(http://www.stormbrewers.com/Art/FireMageBluePants.png)(http://www.stormbrewers.com/Art/FireMageBlueShirt.png)(http://www.stormbrewers.com/Art/FireMageOrangeCoat.png)(http://www.stormbrewers.com/Art/FireMageTurtleNeck.png)
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I have a soft spot for the first one. but if you have to pick one with blue pants, last one is better imho.
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Yeah, I say the top or bottom rightmost works best.
Something that may help is going for more of an ashen color, give the impression of smoke rather than going for a straight blue.
Also, post at native resolution still, don't upscale! Makes informational edits easier for the critics to pull off.
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Looks great! If anything, I might recommend considering a more dynamic pose. I get a circus vibe from the colours and costume, and that's something that can really be brought forward in the mage's post. Quick edit with one idea here:
(https://i.imgur.com/kE6SN3m.png)
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I'd disagree with that, honestly. The current pose could be pushed a bit more sure, but that change loses the stiff, almost militant air about them in favor of a far more aloof look that might not fit the design as well.
I imagine fire magic would take a lot of strict discipline to keep all that power from literally exploding in your face
Blue flames do work as a concept there though, since those tend to burn hotter
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I'm back with some more work! Here's the design I ended up going with:
(http://www.stormbrewers.com/Art/FireMagePose.gif)
I think the red pants keeps the color temperature where I want. I've also done some work on animations!
(http://www.stormbrewers.com/Art/FireMageIdle.gif)(http://www.stormbrewers.com/Art/FireMageRun.gif)
Any feedback is appreciated, but I'm mainly interested in addressing these points:
1. At this resolution, adding ambient motion to the idle for breathing looks bad because it causes way too much movement. I think I need to convey some kind of sub pixel movement, but how do you make that look good?
2. The coat looks stiff in the run cycle. It's supposed to be pretty heavy so I don't think it should be fluttering a lot, but I'm not sure what it really should do.
Thanks!
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Try a gentle billowing movement! Rather than flailing wildly, treat it more as a gentle bobbing cloth.
Also instead of a breathing motion you could try emphasizing rigidity and discipline by having only the clothing move for the idle. For example, some subtle flutter on the edges of the coat.