Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: LMM on October 03, 2006, 04:40:50 pm
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(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l92/LarsMM/koepfe.png)
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l92/LarsMM/01.gif)
Hi,
this is my very first attempt in Pixelart... it is supposed to be the head of the mainchar from a computergame i work on. (sorry for my bad english). Befor going on it would be nice if there are any suggestiones how to make this better.
Why does it not show my pix???
http://www.directupload.net/show/d/839/3ezO76hI.png
http://www.directupload.net/show/d/839/4jKuvDsd.gif
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This is very strange. Did you use photographs for reference? It's just that in the animation it looks artificial. I don't mean it looks bad, but it isn't drawn at all in the way I'd expect something like this to be drawn.
Anyway, you have a very solid start here. I recommend cleaning up each frame a lot, focusing on keeping key details (eyes, nose) really sharp so it reads easily. The facing straight forward frame is by far the strongest. Also, we need to know how this is going to be used in the game to offer really good critique since above all else game art needs to be functional. What kind of character is this head going on? Or is it going to be disembodied in the game as well?
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I have to say i quite like the "motion" in the rotation, it looks like animated oilpaint. If you can keep this style consistent throughout all the other animations then I would say, go for it! If not then try to make it so that stuff does not jitter when it rotates.
FOr posting stuff here I would suggest http://www.photobucket.com, so you can make direct links to the images and it's also way more convenient to manange your pictures online like that, in case you have no own webspace.
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the reference where fotos of myself scaled down but i only used them to do the lineart. I then added colours pixel by pixel (it is more work than i thought) in a different layer using mostly my imagination (i did not want it to look to photorealistic, in my first tries i worked directly on the photos, that somehow looks good but it is not the style i wanted, here is an example:
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l92/LarsMM/phr.png)
(if somebody can tell me how to implement the link that the is shown directly in this forum... tried it with this mona lisa style button and then insertet the link inbetween.. but that semm not to work for me).
)
When i was ready i deleted the lineart.
The gmae is supposed to be an classical adventure style game (640x480 or 800x600.. i aam not sure) with some rpg elements and some actionelements. It is not isometric style. The Mainchar is scaled down belonging to the position on the screen (until it gains 1 pixel when reaching the horizon of the screen) It is approximate frontview (if the first tecdemo is available i will post a link here.. but it will take until end of month i think).
The Head is a different sprite than the body...it is pointed to the curser ever.
For a more smooth animation i cheated a little bit (the only part i did not set any pixel on my own). Every second frame is a blend 50:50 between the frame before and the frame after it.
I am not to happy with the animation and i will do it again i think (this time first animate the lineart and than do the color in one step)
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Well, good luck. I think you're heading in the right direction, and I think you've made the right decision in using reference but not tracing.
The Head is a different sprite than the body...it is pointed to the curser ever.
Ha, sounds great.
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thx for comments so far and thx for the hint with photobucket, that works :)
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The animation looks really interesting. One thing I'd suggest though is changing the way the hair ends. Right now it looks a bit like a blanket draped over the head. It would be nice to see individual hairs appear as they run out, something more "spikey", if you know what I mean.
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That is a good idea... i should do one body first and than fit the head to this body the next time (so i can see how the hair looks on the right ground)
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Long hair might be tricky, especially seeing as you've drawn it almost like it's resting on shoulders. You might need to tune it carefully to fit the sprite. I guess I don't know though since I haven't seen it.
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Yes... the real tricky thing will be, that a special range of frames must fit to a special range of bodyframes (different directions). I dont know if i will get this to work but it is worth a try.
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I am working on the body now, thought, that it was not easy to do the head... but the body is realy hard to build with pixelart (got a lot to learn about it). It is not ready but suggestiones and comments and critic is very very welcome.
The game is supposed to take place in the Lovecraftuniverse.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l92/LarsMM/Koerper.png)
- the trousers need some more shadow near the outline (sorry for the bad english, hope you know what i mean)
- the frills need more shadow an structure, also the shirt
After that I will do the jacket and the shoes.. but first I got to do homework now :/
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Just a quick thing, his body is leaning to the right (from my point of view) in a way that it looks like he's about to fall over.
Otherwise, I'd say I'm crazy impressed with you and your style. You've got talent, dammit. Lotsalotsa. :D
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Now when you say it... you are right.. think i will give him a cane to lean on^^. I am happy you like my work but when i look at some other artwork here in the forum i could cry because some of them are... incredible... it will be a long way to get even half as good (but i think a detailed adventuregame is a good project to practice^^)
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(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l92/LarsMM/Koerper01.png)
Done:
- the trousers need some more shadow near the outline (sorry for the bad english, hope you know what i mean)
- the frills need more shadow an structure, also the shirt
tomorrow shoes and jacket will follow and the i will fit the animation to the body...
then the ral works start.. the animation of the body *shudder*
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a good way to check if your image hsa a lean on it is to do a horizontal flip. the flipped image will be something you aren't used to seeing so it can help with seeing errors. Does that make sense? i'm a bit tired :P
nice work on rendering the face and pants. i'm assuming the rest is incomplete so uhh... continue!
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OT: are you making this adventure game in AGS? This character is huge! Will you animate him walking around in all 4 or 8 directions? it will be so much pain for you. Not to say you can't do it, just you know... I've worked in ags and i've made my share of games and I know the workload. Prepare for pain.
I love the pants, rendering style reminds me of Darkseed to a degree.
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I fear i want to use animation for 8 directions (128 frames in total looks good, have tried it with a rendered char... 128 frames is muuuuuuuch work, i know :) ) and i know about the pain... but i have no timelimit... If it takes me 5 years to have a little 3 to 4 screen adventure done, than it takes me 5 years^^).
I use the Sphere-Engine and did allot of coding work to make an adventuregame-engine out of it (and there is much more to do... planned some nice effects never have been used before *g*).
The main reasons for this decision is, that it has no graphical limits (even 1024x768 is no problem... and now, when i tried the char with body, it looks like i will use this resolution...). And there is only very little hard coded stuff aaaaand, i can do commercial games without paying any licence-fees. I dont know if i will ever went commercial but i want to have this option without to pay much for it.
If the last point would not be important, i would use the wintermute-engine
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I recommend AGS for everybody but people who want 1024x resolutions. So you are right to use something else. Good luck.
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Now have done everything but the shoes. Here i havent used the blended steps for the headanimation and that shows, that i should do use them in the game. (there eventually two per movement or three).
That could also be a way to reduce the walkingsprites.
The head should be 1 or two pixels lower and some images (sideviews) need some adjustment to the left btw. to the right.... i have to work with the hair on the shoulders, but i will not do that before the walkingsprites.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l92/LarsMM/preview.gif)
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The beard grows suddenly for full-left and rull-right frames. Otherwise, wonderful. I'd really be interested to see the animations in-game with the frame fades. It's an interesting effect. Good work so far. The jacket could use some folds at the joints of the arms and whatnot.
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the full render + animation is looking nice if a little creepy. another thing i've noticed is that a few strands of hair at the front of his head disappear in some frames. keep at it :y:
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i really like how this is progressing, and the animation style works so well for the lovecraft setting. i hope it does not take you 5 years, because i want to see where this takes you :P
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Hello to you,
i am Back. I was Ill a long time and had a lot of stress but now i have some time to work on with my lonewolf 1024x786 (or 800 x 600) horror-adventure-game.
Now i have my first direction for the mainchars-prite (me *g*) ready. It took me nearly 2 weeks to build it. I am a just a beginner (This is my first pixelart project and everythink i have ever done with this technic can be seen in this thread. Hope i will get better when doing more stuff), so C&C is very highly welcome (need help with it).
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l92/LarsMM/LarsSO.gif)
Sorry for my poor english :/
PS.: When the other directions are ready i will do some refinement (is this word correct). Only small changes but i hope with god effect (Hair is moving on the shoulder etc.) Now everythinks looks a little bit to static. But first i want the other directions (4 more because some can be mirrored) to be ready (realy hard and boring work *g*)
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Wow... that sprite is really nice, the arms seem... noodle-y. Otherwise you've creeped me right the heck out.
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Those legs look great. His right hand looks really bad, you should redo it. His hat is too small. Maybe his right arm should swing more. Did you use a program with 'bones' or 3d to help with
the legs?
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Yes, i used a 3d Program with a very simple model (two cylinders) and animated them with bones. Then I rendered 15 steps for each direction and use it as a pattern. Therefrom i "traced" the outlines of the legs. (maybe its a little bit like cheating but what counts to me more is the good result).
You are right :( The Hand is not good and the whole arm is not good, too. I will update it as soon as possible (so much work :'( ;D :crazy: ). When i will do this i could get some movement into the coat, too.
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Just something small, but walkcycles should always have the same amount of frames for each step, you have 15 which is uneven, one step has more frames than the other. Unless you want him to limp or anything (It's not very evident in this one tho) I would change it to 16.
I have not checked but I think his further leg when comming forwards again is a tad jerky.
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that's pretty cool, I would recommend you make bones for the arms as well as it looks so nice when you applied them to the legs. Good luck
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This looks really good! :y:
There is a part of the right shoulder that isn't colored in all the frames.
The back keeps changing, it's a bit disturbing.
There are 3 white pixels on the right shoulder
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hey
I think some things I'm about to say have already been mentioned.
Anyhows I think his head/neck look a bit stiff, and I see no great movement in his torso or jacket. Shouldn't he turn/sway from side to side a bit? and if you really want to get into detail, maybe you could add some slight breathing motion or whatever. I don't understand the shoes, looks to me somewhat like he is wearing shiny socks and slippers or something, and his right hand looks a bit odd to me. Finally I think his hat looks quite small, and his neck is rather bright, as I think some shadow should cast over it.
Hmm, I think that's it for now.
cyas
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I really like the striped clothing. Especialy the pants.
His shoes looks to modern compared to the other clothes.
As said before, the shoulder looks very different in different frames, maybe you just missed to color in the dark parts in afew frames?
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i love that smooth animations.
what software did you use?
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His hand is a little small, make it bigger :D