Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Vinik on March 27, 2018, 08:25:14 pm

Title: Here goes a slime
Post by: Vinik on March 27, 2018, 08:25:14 pm: It is boring, It is dumb, its a slime minion (24x24ish):
(https://i.imgur.com/p53Ztpi.gif)
I tried to make the irises bounce to make him look dumber, but gave it a more human like face to avoid the typical green-ghost shape. This is just a minimal three frames cycle, how many do you guys think should be enough? Any general tips on where to start improving it? I am pretty green regarding animation techniques. I think it moves too much for the idle state, so this will probably become the south facing moving animation. Thank you all in advance, as always. :)
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: drax013 on March 28, 2018, 04:09:38 am: I found between 4 and 6 to look more fluid.

(https://i.imgur.com/a5SGWHb.gif)
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: MysteryMeat on March 28, 2018, 04:09:53 am: he looks like he's pressing against the edges of an invisible glass Because of the round disc base you gave him.

rather than fix it I'd roll with it, slime in a jar! WOO!
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: Vinik on March 28, 2018, 05:24:05 pm: Thanks @Drax and @Meat, I did this small update for the 8 directions before I got the chance to read your comments:
(https://i.imgur.com/oGYbzCZ.gif)
Do you guys think I should make him somehow translucent so that the eyes and mouth can be seen partially from the back of the slime? I dont know if I can pull that off.

@Drax, I will surely increase the number of frames, but I am not sure if I should put some easing or tweening on a simple bounce motion like this, and if I should, which frames should be added where :/

@Meat, this is a super cool idea, now I must definitely play with slimes taking shapes, the game will have some cross sections of pipes (like mario3dworld) and this would be a perfect twist, maybe even a slime-in-a-lab-tube as the armored version of the minion. I really need to learn how to draw glass ;D. As for the invisible wall effect you are absolutely right, and I have to figure out a way to fix it without exceeding width of 24px.
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: Kairos on March 28, 2018, 09:09:55 pm: I think he looks really well being opaque but the smoothness of the edges bothers me. I feel that the edges of the slime should have bubbles and globs
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: drax013 on March 29, 2018, 12:55:09 am: A very helpful person gave me this link about animation and I found it EXTREMELY helpful, I hope you find it as instructive as I did. ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQBFsTqbKhY
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: Vinik on March 29, 2018, 03:13:13 am: @Kairos: Yeah, all my stuff tends to the regular-geometric side of things, and since the game uses fake 3d on a topdown perspective I was until recently all about rendering the basic forms for collision in 2:1 ratio perspective, so I still gravitate to elipses, cuboid shapes etc, this is where the smooth circle shape came from. Making the border more blob like was my first idea for a solution to the invisible wall Mystery Meat mentioned. Maybe something semi-regular like this will work? I think it adds cuteness, which is not bad for minions. I'll just have to animate it somehow later:
(https://i.imgur.com/6jmEYDZ.png)

@Drax: Thank you very much man :), the video is super clear and I am sure I'll learn from it :y:
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: Vinik on March 29, 2018, 01:39:10 pm: I just thought that I should offset the position of the blobs on the back and diagonal sprites, so that they wont appear to remain in place with only the face turning around, and then animate them, with increased frame count, argh. And this is the simplest monster with no walk cycle and the same geometry across the directions, I might have played myself choosing this style :D. Any opinions on the blobbed edge before I start? Thank you all in advance.
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: Melodee on March 29, 2018, 01:53:05 pm: the style is really nice altho ye the design (slime) i dislike, is kinda boring. wouldn't really use that in my own game XDD i hate slimes.
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: Vinik on March 29, 2018, 02:47:10 pm: Blobbed up version, I think it removed the invisible container effect, needs some clearing up:
(https://i.imgur.com/n4K16Gj.gif)
@Melodee I hear you, I am all for averting cliches, but in this case I am playing with the tropes of jrpgs. I am also forcing myself to draw basic and commonplace rpg things my own way as good exercise.
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: eishiya on March 29, 2018, 02:48:57 pm: I think it still feels contained because the edges thicken up as the slime squishes down, instead of spreading out.
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: Vinik on March 29, 2018, 03:01:49 pm: Hmm, damn, back to it then :blind: I was thinking some superficial tension would justify puffing instead of spreading, and that breaking up rendered more spherical puffs than a contained goo. No escuses, redraw.
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: Zanorin on April 14, 2018, 06:38:11 am: I would really like to see it a bit translucent, with the eyes showing from the back as you said. Maybe it's not gonna work, but I think it could definitely add something :)
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: qbradq on April 15, 2018, 03:08:23 am: I really like this last pass. I really enjoy how the globy edges get bigger. It makes me happy :)
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: GoodyPundit on April 17, 2018, 02:18:41 am: It look awesome now :lol:
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: Decroded on April 18, 2018, 05:45:59 am: the jar effect is mainly from the edge highlights simply moving up and being filled with shadow underneath.
this creates a vertical plane.
try leaving the highlights around the same place but maybe stretch them upwards to form more of a bulge in the middle.
Title: Re: Here goes a slime
Post by: Vinik on April 18, 2018, 03:24:50 pm: Alright, thanks everyone, I'll give it another shot and post here!