TY for the honest crit. Though I disagree with part of it. (uhoh!)

I'm learning a lot, and if it wasn't for the tweaky fix approach I don't think I'd be getting as far. The crit on small elements is getting me to notice things I hadn't before, and Fool's edit made me realise some things I can improve easily. I don't like the pillowshading, but I can, and will improve that.. You guys have much better trained eyes for this stuff than me. (for example the contrast thing really hadn't occured to me until you just mentioned it.)

Saying that - I've probably been posting updates too frequently. 

I have a lot of other zombies and monsters to draw, so if I can do a lot of learning on one or two of them (even if they potentially look duff in the process) it's going to save me having to throw out loads of them once I'm better at this. At this stage, my "new amazing next edition Mk.2 zombie" could  be just as bad, because.. I suck a bit. I'd likely have to tweak him lots too.

The question was "is this improving?" not.. "is this worthwhile?".. I don't want to give up on him yet, but I can certainly post less about him. I know he's not perfect, but I can't do that yet. And though it'd be bold to just ditch and do it all again, I think It'd also be a waste, considering he's the best little zombie I've made, hehe. I might well discard him once I've improved.

I think: is a marked improvement anyway. (no more dither, more colours) And pfft, I'm proud of him sofar. No darling killing! *strokes zombie*

..
PS: I totally see what you're getting at though, and see how you're trying to help, I'm just not ready yet.

-----

So as to not double post, here's a near final edit.. Just tiny tweaks left now. (fingers etc)

Thanks everyone.. I'd not have done a lot of the stuff without your suggestions/edit... I think i've done an okay job against the contrast and pillowing, and given it more of a consistent (above) lightsource.. It's still wonky, but it's been good experience. Hopefully he ready better now too. I think I've got him as good as I can, anyway.

Do the new shadows look like a complete afterthought and detract from the image? I tried to add some texture to the big spaces, hopefully decreasing the pillows.. I think I've made his animate a little smoother.. Does it look any more/less like a walk now though?

Here's a page i made of his various stages sofar..

Actually I'm not so bothered about the animation as I am the look of him. Try to ignore the moonwalk It looks better in game than it does just stood still!

*Gah just noticed a really obvious flash in one frame of the back of the collar.

Well, at least MJ+Zombies isn't totally unprecedented, hehe.

Sharm: I'll try experimenting with less dither.. Thanks for pointing out the leg length thing too, I'd imagined his legs going quite far up his shirt, but in retrospect it doesn't look so much like that!

Jad: ty.. I dont know if i should fix that or not.. I'll try and see what it looks like. I'd 'seen' him being tense and rotating his arms with his body.. I don't know if i can pull it off though..

Like Fool: said, it does look more like a moonwalk, hehe. Yeah I have a big pillowing problem. I'm finding it hard to unlearn. I'll resize his head a bit along the way and and try moving up the knees!

TY all, that's exactly what I needed. Might be a bit before I can post an update, hopefully soon though.

.. Here's the first little edit:

- I moved his knees up 2 pixels and got rid of what looked like his ass, so hopefully his legs seem longer now. I've also started resizing his head.. Thanks for that Fool! I still have to sort out the pillowy stuff.. And yeah he still moonwalks.. I'm really not sure about a light source.. i should probably have lit him from above.

Completely OT, but Fool, your avatar reminds me of Black lamp..

It's my first time posting sprites here. I guess this is a WIP.. every time I think I'm done I spot more mistakes at least..

Zombies are integral to a game demo I'm working on, and I just redid some 'bog zombie' sprites I'd been sitting on for a while. Wanted to ask for C&C and see if people like them..



Ed: Original / First edit / maybe final edit.

I think I still have some work to do, one frame his leg jerks back (too?) fast, but I convinced myself it was the judderiness of undeath - does it look really bad? What other things have I missed? I know the head is massive too, that's a stylistic choice.

I've used a lot of v boring dithering, but i think it might add to the texture and make him look sort of grotty? In a good way..?

Here he is doing a more head-on pose..

- I should probably make him breath or something.. Or sway back and forth..

I started redoing the zombie right after finding Pixologic and reading a lot of the crit here.. Before I 'redid' this zombie, the sprite I was "happy" with before looked like: ... He was way too short compared to the player.. And too cute! And pretty terrible.

You guys blow me away btw, some of the art here is insane.. I doubt I'll ever be that level, but I'm certainly going to try to improve!

I'm new! I'm Michael Dawes.. 27, doing a degree in Games Design in Leeds, England.. Been spriting (badly) since umm.. 1990ish, then using DPaint - making lame games in AMOS/STOS.

Interests: Games (Guilty Gear, Guitar hero, Silent Hill, Turrican, RE4, Soul Calibur, Castlevania series), 3d modelling, painting, posing/dressing up, Oekaki.
Pets: 3 cats and 3 rats.
Music: (eclectic). Fields Of The Nephilim, Artrosis, Pearl Jam, Children Of Bodom, Guns n' Roses, Nobuo Uematsu, Akira Yamaoka, ManOwaR.. (mmm cheese) etc.

Only found the board a few days ago (someone linked to it from an Amigaworld.net) - Came here as I'm always working on game stuff and have been meaning to improve my pixel-art forever, but didn't  know there were places like this! After reading peoples crits I've already learned a lot, I think! So I thought I should join in properly.

Helm.. I envy your hair.. Mine was that long but I cut it off.. (twice!) Pre hair cull (with comedy sword!).. vs Recently.. But it'll grow back!