Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Jakten on September 21, 2009, 12:37:24 am
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Named aptly for the shape of his helmet.
I haven't Pixeled in awhile so I figured I should shake off some rust. This is what I produced, please leave some critiques or comments for me. Thank you!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/MANDRAGGANON/knightsprite.gif)
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His sword doesn't look very sharp, and also his hair could maybe use some highlights? :-\ You should add an almost white spot on his helmet and some other places on his armor
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Not enough contrast between the purple and blue.
Slightly off-topic, the title walknight made me think more of a combination of 'walk' and 'knight' rather than 'walnut' and 'knight'. Probably not really an issue, though.
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I saw walk knight when i read his name
maybe a little less blue?
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the hues seem too close together for the hue shift to work
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I also expected a walking knight. I like the design a lot. The helmet doesn't imply walnuts. It looks like a normal medieval helmet shape. Lack of contrast in body fights against sword's and helm brush thingy's contrast. I'd like to see the body's contrast match that of the sword and helm brush. Right now it looks like the accessories are receiving daylight and the armor subtle night lighting.
If you intend for the armor to be dark metal, maybe try some bright speculars here and there just so it doesn't look like you forgot to fix its contrast.
Feet almost point out at a 180 angle, more of a 90 would be expected. What's this sprite for?
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Any inspiration coming from "Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors" cartoon of the 80s?
If so you're missing the "grid" for the eyes.
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the hues seem too close together for the hue shift to work
quite the opposite actually, there's a stair-step both in hue and saturation between the violet and blue shades that's too far for the eye to make the leap.
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i really think the pose and lines are looking great. and the sword looks fine with all the jaggies on the side, makes it look war torn. you could just sharpen the tip with some anti-aliasing.
as far as colors, you should consider using sel-out to really add contrast in between the tones, like on the chest-plate for example. the hair could have more of a hair-like texture and not necessarily realism, more like ariel from the little mermaid. anyway, keep at it man, i'm really digging this.
btw, do NOT look up jayce on google images...eww
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btw, do NOT look up jayce on google images...eww
I did that earlier. :'(
I personally love this piece. It does need hue shift like stated other then that I love the cartoon feel to it.
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What looks strange about the colourramp is that you shift to a certain hue and then change direction. You start at 243° (at the brightest part) and shift to 236° (the saturated blue), which is a shift from a colder highlight to a warmer shadow, which is not that common but can work. Then you shift back to 312°.
Here is a little edit that has a more straight forward ramp:
(http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/9161/knightop.gif)
This is not the way it has to be done, I just wanted to show this as an option ;) Also as the ramp in the edit still crosses 240° its still perceived as being warmer in the darker regions.
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Thanks for the comments guys! I think I addressed most of the issues. I'm just doing this sprite to refresh some of what I know so that I don't lose my skills. I might make a mock up or something though. As for Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors I've surprisingly never heard of this. It looks hilariously bad though.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/MANDRAGGANON/knightsprite03.gif)
I'm wondering if there is a guide or formula for picking a colour ramp? I'm not entirely sure what you mean by the degrees, is that the supposed temperature of the colour and how can I find out what the temperatures are if so?
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Holla. Looking good. You fixed anything I saw as "wrong" with him, even the stance angle. And it looks like you're embellishing with some distressed details - sword knicked, right? I'd recommend carrying over some light damage indication to the armor, too. I love the chainmail texture; great little detail, and not overlooking the vent holes in the bottom half of the helmet either. Those speculars worked out well, which I'm sure you would've added sooner or later.
It would create a less cartoony style, which may be bad considering your design is cartoonish-based, but I wonder if some ramp mixing is possible here, for color homogenization.
This is one of those sprites you want to see animate, come to life.
I think philipptr is simply referring to a radial color picker, where the angle basically translates to a hue value. Notice the color picker on right, see the angle field towards bottom right? :
(http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2004/Week_21/nc0ef014/story/01-wheelcompare.jpg)
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He seems to be missing a specular shine on the helmet. Nice work though.
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You can find some advanced analysis of hue ramps in this thread:
http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=1025.0
Non-linear hue progressions are not bad really and can give something a very different mood.
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Thanks Gil, I got to read a bit of it but apparently, the images from goats posts have been removed.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/MANDRAGGANON/knightanimation.gif)
I started an animation of him doing a sword slash, ignore a lot of the mess I haven't cleaned a lot of it up yet. I've only set up an idea of how he is going to move. I need to add some flow to his hair as well. Also I've been struggling to make the shine on the top of his helmet look any good lol.
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umm, thats a pretty weird slash. its just an odd motion, almost more like a taunt than an attack
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Could you elaborate better, I can't really see it as a taunt. Though that's completely not the idea I'm going for so I would like to try and quell it
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Not enough anticipation/windup in the animation. It looks like he's quickly pointing his sword to the heavens, rather than making a chopping motion.
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I don't think the animation is bad. Perhaps it like a quick defensive move, reacting to some attack. You could do another kind of swing for a more aggressive attack.
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I disagree. Even a quick defensive swipe has more anticipation you know.
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its just a strange position, almost like he stopped halfway through a diagonal upwards slash
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the animation is good, but very kirbyish, he should be cutting into the zaxis (away/toward the screen) instead of what hes doing now tho, since it comes off as a upper slash, instead of what i believe you were trying to show as a foreshortened horizontal slash.