Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: ErekT on January 23, 2015, 12:36:03 am
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Hello community!
I'm trying to achieve a stylized, comic book-like look with large-ish heads, 6-head count for regular build (last two characters), and need some feedback on how that worked out. The first one is an old sprite I re-worked but the others are fresh. What I'm worried about first and foremost is if the proportions look okay, but all feedback and crits are welcome :)
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/foursprites_zpsdf480922.png)
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First I like the colors, same colors make characters look cohesive. :)
Second, I presume that this is still WIP. Here are some of my suggestions, there's more room for improvement but I hope this will be helpful. Also try to reuse colors more, for example from your pants on the skin and vice verse.
(http://i.imgur.com/k3Ge7c2.gif)
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Cool! That's a fine edit with much to like :) Looking at it I realize I might get a bit too hung up on pixel technique and maybe hurting structure in the process?
I think the touches you did on the muscles, and the big dude's pants, boots and metal jaw are especially nice. The legs got more volume now. I'll be back with an update soon-ish.
EDIT:
Here we go. I incorporated some suggestions from PJ as well. Been cross-posting and stuff.
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/foursprites_harveyedit_zps8wyjbjup.gif)
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cool sprites dude i rly like it :y:
dunno if this is the direction u want but just wanted to make the big guy look more staunch/steroidy.
(http://i.imgur.com/5rR4VDw.gif)
poses on the other sprites could loosen up a touch too but its not that big a deal really.
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Hehe, sweet :) Very nice touch with the backlit pants and fatless roid-muscle. I do want to keep his lumbering physique tho so I'll preserve that I think. Here's another update:
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/foursprites_final_zps5d526159.png)
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I do want to keep his lumbering physique tho so I'll preserve that I think.
Yeah I thought you might.
He looks cool, more of a throwback vibe :y:
And now his arm looks a bit more separated from his body in a good way.
That one missing pixel under corner of scientists right foot is odd compared to the other sprites.
It seems like if there was a perspective like that then that right foot would also be 1 pixel lower than the other foot, and would need to be applied across all sprites.
Either perspective looks good but I think you gotta choose one or the other, depending on what perspective you want on the ground tiles.
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That one missing pixel under corner of scientists right foot is odd compared to the other sprites.
Is that not the edge of his pants leg, not an indentation in his foot?
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That one missing pixel under corner of scientists right foot is odd compared to the other sprites.
It seems like if there was a perspective like that then that right foot would also be 1 pixel lower than the other foot, and would need to be applied across all sprites.
Either perspective looks good but I think you gotta choose one or the other, depending on what perspective you want on the ground tiles.
Yeah, it's the edge of the pants like PsylentKnight said. Buuut, since it's ambiguous I've added an extra pixel. The perspective is orthographic with some pseudo-perspective if I need it and can get it to look right. Here's an example:
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/scientist_n_lab_zpsca14fb96.png)
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i feel a bit dopey for not seeing that for what it was but it just looked a bit off to me so def think its better now.
mockup looks kick-ass :y:
good hue variation around the light on the wall :-)
it shows good restraint to suddenly drop from dark blue to black like that.
i probably wouldn't have been able to help myself continue to gradient :yell:
hoping there's more to see later :-)
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mockup looks kick-ass :y:
good hue variation around the light on the wall :-)
Thanks, that makes me happy :)
i probably wouldn't have been able to help myself continue to gradient :yell:
Mm yep, I have to admit I had the exact same thing happen with the wall there in the back. Colors are too close-together but I couldn't help myself :-[
Working on some animations for the sprites atm that I'll be posting later for crits.
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Made an intimidate anim and tried some subpixelling for an idle anim. Feedback/suggestions would be cool :)
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/bigpunk_intimidate_zpspsorsgpk.gif)
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/P2_Idle_zpsipv8vwi6.gif)
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animations look nice and fluid.
couple of things though that caught my attention
the big guy looks like he is wiping sweat from his chin. i think this is because the cutthroat movement he does is in his wrist instead from his whole arm. maybe also try using fewer frames for that to give it a faster and more threatening feel. currently it transitions too smooth from the cutthroat to the chestbump. a bit more impact would spice it up i feel.
Also his lower body doesn't move at all. especially with the chestbump you'd expect some movement in the hips as well.
The girl legs are stretching when inhaling, this feels unnatural. try instead to only move her upper torso. fill it with air so her chest bends outward a bit.
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His left (normal) arm looks like it's made out of rubber. Like on old sailor Popeye cartoons. Also I think that he is going to far with slice gesture, his knuckles are going past his ear which looks strange. Movement of his head, other arm and chest bump is great, maybe there should be two fast bumps, it will look more threatening.
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Thanks for the feedback both! Very nice :)
I tried to incorporate the things pointed out. I'd rather keep the slow drag of the finger since I'd like it to look over the top and cheesy.
Better?
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/bigpunk_intimidate2_zpsklt3yxkw.gif)
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/P2_Idle2_zpsnqrxo7dd.gif)
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Something still seemed odd about that girl. When looked at her more closely ( :D ) i've seen there's a lot of noise going on. it's not too visual in 1:1 scale so that's probably fine, but it seems overly subpixeled to me.
Furthermore it seems like wave going through the whole, offsetting pixels seemingly at random.
Also i tried to give her a bit more inhaling motion:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12237727/Sprites/wotp/ErekT_girl.gif)
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Maybe let his finger stay there a bit more after the drag.
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intimidate is great idea.
i don't think head rotate is appropriate.
more like he should life his chin to expose his throat while maintaining intimidating gaze directly at opponent.
then perhaps slow down that animation a little bit and as mentioned pause at the end for effect.
during the throat slit I dont think the metal arm should extend/move much, just to make it clearer what is going on.
u effectively have 2 actions here so they should be treated with separation.
I personally think it would look clearer if his hand didnt rotate so much too, resembling more of a solid knife object either by running the back of the thumb or a stiff finger across the throat
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Haha, this animation is so cool.
Okay I went in and edited it, and then I read Decroded's comment after; I had the same ideas.
(http://i.imgur.com/dSpGBKQ.gif)
I also played with the timing a little. After the slit gesture I wanted a pause to imply direct eye contact, since that can't be fully achieved in pixels. Also tweaked his jaw in the anim, maintaining the alternating colors.
I really like that chest pound, it's so aggressive.
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Here's my edit. It's not polished but idea is there. :)
(http://i.imgur.com/ftGRKjd.gif)
Edit: or this, first he is calling the opponent near and threatens that he will slit his throat. :)
(http://i.imgur.com/hSErWMb.gif)
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Thanks for the helpful crits all :)
wzl:
Good thinking, new version:
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/P2_Idle3_zpsvnnffxal.gif)
Nirel, Decroded, Joe & HarveyDentMustDie:
Good points, here's another go with less head rotation and tweaked timing:
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/bigpunk_intimidate3_zpsaevdco81.gif)
I want to keep the impression of eye contact too so I'll try another version with the raised chin Harvey and Decroded suggest. The double chest bump is charming but feels like it diminishes the testosterone overload situation he's got going there. With one bump, he's all tensed up and insane-looking. With two, he's more like a primate marking territory. Also a good fit, but not quite what I'm going for.
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Nice improvements there.
I like how he bends forwards, gives a nice intimidating effect.
I noticed that his jaw, while looking pretty manacing, is totally unused in the animation.
You could make him say something before the chest bump
Also when he does is cutthroat move his chest and back muscles dont move at all. he could use some slight tweaks there.
Quick and dirty edit :D
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12237727/sprites/wotp/Erekt_brute.gif)
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I like the animation, but I just think its weird how his arms just settle down into that neutral position. I think they should swing back a little then come back to that position. They should have some momentum.
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Thanks for the crits :)
Ooo, I'm thinking I'll go with just silent for now. He's not the talky type :P I should find some kind of use for that jaw later on tho.
Fahrenheit:
That's a good suggestion that is. I'll have to see how I handle that when I make an idle animation for him, but yeah, it looks abrupt at the moment.
Right now I've been leaving the big man alone for a bit and tried some animation for the others. Best way to get a feel for whether the proportions work. I'm still a bit leery of em, heads seem big.
A shooting animation for the soldier man. Mostly done but still a bit sketchy in places.
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/serg_shoot_zpsvlkmzimz.gif)
I sketched out a walking animation for the girl as well. Walk cycles are the trickiest. Also not so sure about the sideways facing head.
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/P2_walk_zps4p5gfrvu.gif)
I also tweaked the palette to get rid of some of that goldiness in the skin tone. They're all looking a lot more pink now. Little piglets. Better? I don't know. The palette is more balanced at least.
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/foursprites_final_colortweak_zps9bcfce8a.png)
Crits and suggestions welcome. Thanks a lot again all who've been posting. It's been very helpful :)
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Soldier man's arm looks a little too high on the elbow. A slight bend won't hurt. Dynamic tension!
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Soldier man's arm looks a little too high on the elbow. A slight bend won't hurt. Dynamic tension!
I thought exact same thing.
first i noticed the animation looks sick and then thought it doesn't seem quite right that elbow is raised that high.
I'm only viewing on my phone but a niggling thing I see is that the gun drops back at a regular rate and could probably do with a touch of slow-in perhaps?
might need some other opinions but cant hurt to make a couple of variations to compare.
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If one arm is fully extended holding the gun, shouldn't the other arm also be? I tried to do this pose and found it awkward.
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is the torso isn't rotated yes, they should be stretched to a similar pose. but if the torso is slightly rotated towards then there can be some difference.
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@Dr D Pose is just as it should be, but I agree with other comments elbow on the straight arm should be a bit lower.
(https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/instructors-corner-weaver-stance.jpg)
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Cool, how about this?
(http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz263/ErekT_Pixel/serg_shoot2_zps63ictoal.gif)
Yep the torso is rotated, like in the picture Harvey posted more or less.
I'm only viewing on my phone but a niggling thing I see is that the gun drops back at a regular rate and could probably do with a touch of slow-in perhaps?
Might be I misunderstood, did you mean the recovery part or the firing part of the anim? I tried to add another in-between for the recovery.