ignore the guy on the left, that was just a quick sketch for the approximate size and shape and all tha and to play with some of the colors

any potentially constructive comments or critiques you may have, please post; i want to try and make sure the sprite is as good as it's gonna get before I move onto animations

or alternatively if you have any questions, feel free to ask away

right now, areas that feel strange to me (please elaborate on these if possible) are the legs/hips, arm and neck/head in relation to the torso.

palette is supposed to be desaturated and a little dark, but if you think this is a little too much  then feel free to bring that up and maybe alternative ways to achieve the same effect

thanks in advance for any comments you might have!

Inconsistent lightsource. The stairs/stonework and general highlights on the edge suggest that the lightsource roughly south east from the objects position, but the shading on the house itself (by having the south east side of the house darker then the south-west side) indicates the opposite. Same with the chimney.

It also looks like you used neutral gray on the stonework, (grey that lacks any saturation or tint what-so-ever) which is generally a bad idea as it doesn't really exist in nature. Tint your grays slightly (about a saturation of about 5-10) and it should look better. (I'd suggest following general hue-shift doctrine for that; tint the darker ones bluer and the lighter ones yellower)

Still working on it. I've made it smaller and a bit more streamlined, also a little bit less soft, which is all a step in the right direction. I've also fixed up the stance and posture slightly, but it's still bothering me a lot. Could somebody with a better sense of anatomy (and less attachment invested into the sprite) try and point out any errors they may see?

I also can't seem to get an arm right; my best attempt thus far has been this:

but I'm still not happy with it.

I've also noticed that while it may look relatively fine here, when put over a dark background it doesn't look nearly as good/defines.

C+C on the progress thus far or ideas/edits on how to potentially fix these issues would be greatly appreciated!

crab2selout >> very interesting edit. You did lose the character somewhere along the lines of doing it, but even despite that the design stayed strikingly similar, and has also inspired me to try and make a new one.

A lot of the issues resulted from the fact that the sprite is essentially the umpteenth alteration of a sprite that was originally around 2 years old, and due to the fact that the more and more I edited it, the more and more I felt 'constrained' to keep the alterations minimal and within a certain style. I couldn't bring myself to edit like things like the front of the vest/coat for whatever reason.

I decided that the best way to try and remedy the situation was to simply start from scratch again.

Thanks to both crab2selout and Helm for responding and critiquing.


I decided to try and make a new version of the sprite due to general dissatisfaction with the original. I'm not really happy with how its coming out, though; I'm trying to get a somewhat stoic/reserved stance and form, without making it too lazy or alternatively too 'stern'. In general I'm not sold on the way the legs and upper torso are connecting. It feels as if there's some kind of anatomical perspective issue going on.

I've made it larger, and in the process somewhat taller. I may end up making it a little shorter, though. I've varied the palette a little more and increased the contrast and tone slightly, although I ended up slacking a little bit on the 'reusing shades' aspect of the shading brought up before.

I'm most conflicted about the head/hair, and the legs.

C+C and edits would be heavily appreciated!

EDIT:

Slightly altered version. Red jewels on the knee pad return, better leg design imo and a few minor improvements. Something still feels off though.

I'd definitely say stick with the purple-yellow palette - it looks much more interesting.

Though I would still work a little bit more to balance out the contrast; the dark shade sticks out a bit too much, causing the creases and back-end to look almost out of place.