Love the sprites, you've got a lot of character into those few pixels.

My eyes get a bit freaked out by the transition between the ceilings and the floors. Depending on where I look the ceiling is either one unit higher than the floor or on the same level.



I (very) quickly added the edges you placed next to wall units around the other areas that the ceiling meets the floor. To my eyes this looks a lot more 3D. It's still not quite ideal though, and the points in the previous comment will probably help as well.

What is happening with that chest? Is is embedded in the wall, or is it incredibly narrow, or is it mounted on the wall about a foot from the floor?

I feel like it should be taking up much more of the square tile it's placed on. Just moving it down a lot basically. It could be bigger in that case, too.

Edit: I see what's going on with the chest. I thought the floor behind it was a continuation of the wall from either side of it. That kinda says something about the color hues and values. In that case it is a pixel or so too far down...

Try doing a quick Google search for "how to draw folds in clothes". Or "wrinkles" or "creases". There's a lot of information out there about the direction that the fold lines follow, given different material thicknesses and areas of the body.

While the lower arm is showing marked improvement, right now a couple of the folds of the upper arm are in parallel to each other and don't seem to marry up with a crumple zone or a stress zone. To me this gives a slightly unnatural look to the material, which has taken on the feel of mud flowing over an object in that area.

What happens if you make the creases more at right angles to the arm? That might give more of a "leather" look. Or alternatively, find the points of stress and follow those radially. For example, the elbow would be catching and stretching the cloth, but you only have one crease coming from that point. The rest are at different angles. What would happen if more creases radiated from that point? Or if you radiated out from the arm pit where the material would be getting stretched?

Here's a quick reference on Deviantart:

https://www.deviantart.com/cgcookie/art/Clothing-Wrinkles-and-Fabric-Folding-Reference-413780588

And one on Pinterest. (Sorry. I can't find the source right now):

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/358106607850492533/?autologin=true

There's lots more out there!


Above all, don't be discouraged. Necessarily everything on this board will come across as negative, but my first reaction to your original post was "wow, that's pretty cool!"

We're just trying to help you make your art the best it can be!

I'll have a go if I get some time, but I've been caning this forum recently and I have my own sprites to get into Unity! I might wait until you specifically ask.

I'm certainly up for Unity talk, but I can't talk for the rest of the board. This section is more about technique, there may be a different area on here? Maybe "Devlogs and Projects?"

No need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Chris2Balls' version was much more realistic (and body realism is a worthy objective) but I know you're going for a more idealistic style. However, look at this:



It kinda looks like a man and a woman when you don't have any sexual characteristics to give you cues.



This is my attempt at blending Chris2Balls' arms and legs into your torso. I think the result is more appealing; the arms and legs are a little more shapely.

I also added a shadow on the face from the hair. If you play it right you can get a bit of 3D information into face shadows. And a little shadow definitely makes a female face more appealing to me, YMMV.

You could probably go darker still with the face shadow, looking at it now I've been a bit light-handed.

OK, this is a bit of a mess but all I can hope is you get some ideas from it.



I tried to lift the saw blade and handle away from the body by lightening the color values. It was blending in a bit. I also added shading to follow the light source. The rear of the handle I made darker to place it behind the figure.

If you look at the feet, the rear foot is darker so looks more in the background.

With the hat, I tried to imply texture without drawing lines all the way across. Also, the shading follows the light source.

There are specular highlights on the saw blade, the gun barrel, the hair and the tape on the handle. Also on the buttons.

The rest is an abortive attempt to smooth out the jacket. Ignore.

When it comes to the pose, I cheated and very roughly traced an action figure, then filled the areas with color:



Then smoothed the lines:



Here I've started to add some detail. Where I'm adding creases to the cloth, I'm roughing up the outline appropriately.



In this one I attempt to add an internal outline to the arm and part of the side:



Edited to add:

This is my first attempt at a 256x256 figure. I'm normally at 64x64 or less. Working at this scale is very different!

Also this is my first attempt at a detailed character and folds in cloth. Thanks for the challenge! I may even finish this guy.