Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: artisan on July 03, 2009, 10:56:33 pm

Title: Mr.Boo... has come to see you! and now hes walking too!
Post by: artisan on July 03, 2009, 10:56:33 pm
ok so im working on a mock up of a game concept of mine revolving arround my character Mr.Boo and need some help

The game is a platformer and is based on two of my old pixel works to create a new concept. here are the two refrences if you like of my old pixel art i am basing this on. The first being Mr.Boo and the seccond my concept of the world.

(http://www.xaoss.com/portfolio/mrboo.gif)
(http://www.xaoss.com/portfolio/zombie.gif)

Here is where i am so far with the mock up

(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/mrboo.gif)

And last but not least this is what i am stuck on...

It seems that my choice in character doesnt work well with the enviroment i want. I think he seems to blend in way too much too the background. i have tried messing arround with colours and such but it just doesnt give the atmosphere i am after. any ideas?

Also im mainly working on the final character design for mr.boo and any comments or crits on how to improve him is much apreciated. i am not happy with him at the moment and i will have to make my stage much larger to accommodate his size but im happy to do that anyway, what im realy after is ways to improve the way he looks, shape shading and all that. any advice, crits etc?

so what do you guys think?

thanks much in advance by the way!
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: pixelarg on July 04, 2009, 01:51:16 am
a lil edit  ;D :
(http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/71/paisajewip.png)

i change some colors and the Background is digital :P

^^
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: artisan on July 04, 2009, 09:52:20 pm
Thanks Pixelarg your edit was a great help!!!... not too fond of the white outline idea, however it doesnt look bad in this case i guess but im still up for listening too any other sugestions?

anyway i have an update, i am about 100 times more happy with mr.boo but still think he can be improved. here it is.

(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/mrboo2.gif)

thoughts folks?
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: ndchristie on July 04, 2009, 11:13:44 pm
Thanks Pixelarg your edit was a great help!!!... not too fond of the white outline idea, however it doesnt look bad in this case i guess but im still up for listening too any other sugestions?

Personally, I suggest any other that the white :P.  Color/hue separation is a really easy way to do this.  If characters darken towards red and backgrounds darken towards blue (for instance), they can have violets that unify but don't merge.  Similarly look at your contrast changes; one should usually be high contrast and the other low contrast, one tight detail the other broad, etc.

EDIT - because these are all relative terms, you only need there to be a clear difference between them, i.e. one should be significantly lower contrast than the other, though both may be high or low contrast.  remember also that the edges must always be clear, which white accomplishes, but white doesn't move beyond the edge and it becomes it's own jaggy, disconnected form.
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: pixelarg on July 04, 2009, 11:32:01 pm
other suggest: see the color of the rips in my edit, and of the tiles :P
and you need add a BG :P

you have to remove the white outline, that is good in the "Big monitors" but that is bad in the "lsd monitors" (or plasma? liquid glass?) anyway :P

and 4 nothing ;) you are a pixelartist whit future :)
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: artisan on July 05, 2009, 12:37:05 am
hey guys, really appreciate your help and im having trouble trying to follow it...

ignoring the fact i don't have a proper background and stuff i know separating Mr.Boo from the background is a very important part and is something i think i should figure out now before i start on much else.

Here is what i have come up with attempting to use your advice...

(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/mrboo4.gif)

i have made a hue shift plus a contrast difference between Boo and the background but still i am unsure if it stands out enough. and i actually think that stylistically the white surrounding gives a better result still.... but honestly i do want to avoid it... what am i missing about separating my elements? i don't think it would be as hard if i didnt want to create a certain environment and use this character, but both are quite important for the concept and so i am still having trouble.

Am i getting your advice wrong, or do you think theres still a better way to do this?.... i am going to keep experimenting i might come up with something that works but if you can see what im doing wrong or have any other advice i would apreciate it. Thanks!
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: blumunkee on July 05, 2009, 01:29:11 am
This is very well executed. I like the style.

One thing to understand is that animation changes things a lot. The white outlines are a drastic way to address the contrast issue, and may not be necessary when the characters are moving. Personally, I think the non-outlined version will look fine once it actually graduates past the static image stage.
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: artisan on July 05, 2009, 10:54:31 pm
good call blumunkee i think this works now

(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/mrboo5.gif)

Do you guys think he stands out enough to be a playable character?

i think i will start to work on the background and tiles properly now, what do you guys think about the tiles and gravestones..? any crits are welcome. Thanks much
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: Elrinth on July 06, 2009, 09:08:49 am
not sure if I like the character. I'd like to see you did some changes in the palette.

The grass is the same colour as the character. that's always a bad sign. maybe saturate the character loads and make the background tiles slightly more bleach?
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: artisan on July 06, 2009, 01:23:09 pm
I have attempted some brighter pallet changes in mr.boo on the left is the first on the right is a bright blue pallete and in the middle is an attempt at making the blue one a bit more atmospheric...

(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/mrboo6.gif)

i think i like the old one more however it has more of a mood to it.... what do you guys think? anyone got any suggestions to help me make a better pallet or do you think one of these works fine?

thanks
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: Pawige on July 06, 2009, 02:47:03 pm
I also like the older one better, but I think you could make it work a lot better by reversing the color ramp on his suit. Make it go from dark dark blue to a purple, instead of purple to green. You could even darken the darkest darks a bit on him. That will offset it more from the purple-to-green background. Alternatively, you could do something different with the background. Just change it a bit so that you don't have the purple-to-green on both.
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: artisan on July 06, 2009, 05:04:06 pm
SOOoooo manny colours yet there are not enough to please me :(

what do you guys think of these... which ones are better... what can i do too improve etc etc etc.

(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/mrboo7.gif)
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: Pawige on July 06, 2009, 05:35:00 pm
I would suggest something like this:

(http://www.gerla.us/paul/edits/mrboo6.gif)

Did a little bit of tidying up and added a few details but nothing major. Mostly just a palette edit. My impression is that suits and generally rather drab, as opposed to the bright colors you've got right now, with the contrast between the face and the body it would work on just about any background too.
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: artisan on July 06, 2009, 07:24:03 pm
Oh contre!

the suit is not supposed to be drab at all! infact the character himself is wacky always happy... but scary in appearance.. he is not an evil person as a drab suit might portray. He is the main protagonist and seems to bring a bright fun weird side to what otherwise seems scary and horrible things.

think of a mix between willy wonka, jack skelleton, the cat in the hat and Oogie Bogie!... yeah odd i know. hard to explain.

anyway i think i have my final design and pallet unless anyone can sugest otherwise.

and thanks a bunch Pawige your edits helped improve him even more, redone the tie animation too.

here is where i am at this is my final screen size too i think
(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/mrboo9.gif)

now tiles!
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: eckered on July 06, 2009, 08:45:34 pm
what about giving him a different color shirt, perhaps plain white?
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: artisan on July 07, 2009, 12:26:55 am
Unless your talking about his suit blazer im not sure what your after? you cant really see his shirt...

anyways i have a tile update, what do you think of this.

(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/mrboo10.gif)
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: Atnas on July 07, 2009, 01:14:08 am
Despite Mr. Boo's mood, I agree with Pawige that the drab suit works better. At the very least it's the smoother rendering that helps distinguish it from the background. Mood can be portrayed through the animations, in fact I'd say clothing has not enough to do with mood to warrant a decision that will confuse the player's eye. Expression is much more effective. Although with the mask, it's a bit hard to tell if Boo is truly happy or not. But I'd say the idle is rather... Energetic.  :)
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: artisan on July 07, 2009, 01:52:17 am
(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/mrboo11.gif)

I honestly cant make up my mind about this... do you defiantly think that the drab suit works better here? because i think it works better in some ways and yet still i think maybe the drab puts it into the background a bit too much compared too the other :/

i want to make this decision now and have it done with.... if people think the drab purple works better i may keep it but his suit was originally supposed to be blue (not that i cant change that)... but aahhh someone decide for me :( i hate choices like this now im just typing and typing cause i dont know what to do... help? anyone?...


too drab or not to drab... that is the question? or alternativly any other ideas O_O... (hopes not)



EDIT
_________________________________________
how about you've been tangoed here? no?
(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/tango.gif)
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: Atnas on July 07, 2009, 02:34:27 am
Tango is certainly an option. The problem was the suit sharing the greens of the grass. I think either tango or drab purple will work better than the green. Personally I would go with purple because it links Boo to the background without making him stand out or stand back too much. I don't think you'd want to make him green, blue, or dark brown, as those are the dominant platform colors. The purple works well because it's never used as a primary, only as a transitory blending color. The green/blue boo shares two of the most dominant colors.

The goal would be to select a color scheme which renders the character independent of the background while maintaining an anchor to it through a shared characteristic.
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: Scribblette on July 07, 2009, 08:29:39 am
Tango or purple, depending on the backgrounds used and colours dominant in enemies as you'd want him standing out from them. Definitely not green, as the contrast is too strong, or some such. And all the things Atnas said.

Tango could always be appropriate after a TANGO POWERUP or as your evil half brother or some such. :)
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: Jad on July 07, 2009, 10:47:54 am
I personally like how the purple corresponds to the background and such - it also feels 'black' in a certain way which is nice for that kind of suit. ... I should've spoken up WAY before but his whole anatomy still ails me  ... his neck is one million meters long! grrrarar. Oh well.

also .. Tango is a colour?
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: Atnas on July 07, 2009, 11:15:50 am
The neck kinda makes sense and is proportional when you consider the length of the limbs.

tango is not a colour. It's a dance, but.... tangy+mango..?  :P
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: artisan on July 08, 2009, 01:50:34 am
lets just go with the neck being fine cause i want to move on for now  :'( ....

yeah..

anyways i have gone for the purple suit for now!

been working on a few individual things..

the big thing, the fence and the clouds is what im working on atm...

the clouds and background i know i will have problems with its not my forte... i tried two different ideas (rough of course) on the clouds one left and one right, what do we think...

any ideas?

good refrences?

what do you think so far?

(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/mrboo12.gif)

thanks much :)
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you!
Post by: artisan on July 10, 2009, 12:15:26 am
Ah yeah, Hi..

Anyways here is another update.... clouds are getting there but theres still so much more i can do too them im sure.. any ideas folks?

also done a random gate but will probs be changed.

(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/mrboo13.gif)

Also i have started on a walk animation, just the legs so far... thoughts?


(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/boowalk.gif)

thanks :)

quick update (its the same but easier to work out the frames for you)

(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/boowalk2.gif)
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you! and now hes walking too!
Post by: Atnas on July 10, 2009, 11:43:30 pm
Ack, I did this last night and forgot to upload it.

(http://www.lolipopsicle.com/linky/help/crazywalk.gif)

ABSORB THE PSYCHO ENERGY

It's crazy! It's out there! It's incredibly fast, sloppy, it probably doesn't make any sense, but it's FUN! I look at your idle and I'm quite impressed. I mean, if his curled pose isn't enough, his fingers are bristling with what I would expect to be boundless energy. So turn that potential into kinetic! I really think a boring walk doesn't suit him. It's your character, but I'm the audience and I'm expecting him to do something wacky. If he can't stand normal, I don't expect him to walk normal!
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you! and now hes walking too!
Post by: Jad on July 11, 2009, 11:26:23 am
STRONG AGREE WITH ATNAS!

I'd say the first thing to do is just draw the whole thing all over again. No 'keeping the torso', just do it sillhouette style or lineart style or whatever, do it over from a blank canvas ..

.. and NICE THINGS will happen * u *
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you! and now hes walking too!
Post by: snowsoft on July 13, 2009, 08:11:21 pm

(http://www.xaoss.com/portfolio/mrboo.gif)


I like the feel of what is going on in your very top pic of mr. boo. Try doing like a creepy walk with that hands up in the air "I'm gonna get you" look to them. I imagine almost a sneaking, or stalking type of movement to him.
Title: Re: Mr.Boo... has come to see you! and now hes walking too!
Post by: Feron on July 13, 2009, 11:45:25 pm
http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=1510.0

especially look at adamtierney's abd turbo's.


I like where this is going, great little character.