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Messages - AlexWeldon
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11
Pixel Art / Re: RPG Battle Sprite (with paste-on expressions) [WIP]
« on: November 25, 2008, 03:52:04 pm »
Yes, I've noticed that one of the greatest challenges in pixel art is balancing definition vs. smoothness, especially in faces. For me, in my last project, it was a problem with eyes. If I made them too white, the characters had that wide-eyed, surprised look... but when I made them darker, the characters just looked like they didn't have eyes at all. I guess that's part of the reason anime style is so popular in pixel art... by making all the features either really giant or really tiny, you avoid the problem.

Anyway, she looks better now. Maybe you need the darker pixels at the side of the nose, rather than under it? I don't know. They definitely look okay at the side of the mouth... its just when they're above it that it really looks like a moustache.

12
Pixel Art / Re: RPG Battle Sprite (with paste-on expressions) [WIP]
« on: November 24, 2008, 05:24:30 pm »
Her upper lip is too dark - resembles a moustache.

The folds on the clothes are wrong because they're all the same size... you'd only see cloth rippled like that if it was lying on a flat surface. When it's hanging, you get longer, more parabolic folds down the middle, and small ones around the edges and at the top. It takes practice, though, especially if you're not using a reference... there's a reason why one of the things they make you do in fine art classes is to draw a sheet hanging on the wall, or draped over a chair, or whatever. Here's a study I did when I took a drawing class. It might help you a bit.

Edit: Also, I think ndchristie is right, that with a skirt wrapped around the waist like that, you'd get more folds running vertically than horizontally.


13
Pixel Art / Re: just Rat now... (v2)
« on: November 22, 2008, 03:20:00 pm »
Now he's definitely more rat-like, less squirrelly... and the pose resolves itself better. When I first posted, I was reading his legs as arms and vice-versa, probably because you said the word "ape." I saw him standing and kind of hunched forward, with big beefy forearms. Judging by Dogmeat's edit, he saw the same thing. Now I see that he's sitting down (before he had his hands beside him, now they're on his knees).

I don't know how to make him look like a chimp with a rat head... it will be very difficult with such a small image. Chimps are very close to humans, so it's tough to communicate "rat-chimp" rather than just "anthropomorphic rat." Extremely long limbs and shaggy fur, I guess. Right now he's too smooth and shiny to be a chimp. Rats and most rodents have short, sleek fur, whereas chimps are furrier. Might be hard to get a convincing fur texture with so few pixels, but you'll have to try.

EDIT: Oh, I see you've changed the thread title to "just rat now." That being the case, I think you've succeeded.

14
Pixel Art / Re: Early attempts at animation
« on: November 22, 2008, 12:23:28 am »
Quote from: Dr. Kylstien on November 21, 2008, 11:51:46 pm
The feet should be about under Oliver's center of gravity, which I imagine is directly under the hat. If the hat hides most of his body, which I imagine might in turn hide most of his feet, we probably shouldn't even see them.  It looks like the hat has grown feet, with no body in between.

The trouble is that if I don't show his feet at least a little bit, you can't tell which way he's facing. On the other hand, it doesn't matter in gameplay terms which way he's facing, so I might try it with and without the feet once I have a prototype put together, and see what people prefer. Since the colours of the feet are not used elsewhere in the sprite, deleting them from every frame of every animation is a few seconds of work with the magic wand, so no reason not to try it out.

15
Pixel Art / Re: Early attempts at animation
« on: November 21, 2008, 07:39:00 pm »
Quote from: Twinspiration on November 21, 2008, 07:32:13 pm
Quote from: Draco9898 on November 21, 2008, 07:30:39 pm
What...is it? some kind-of purple crab?

Looks like it's supposed to be a bird's eye-view of a wizard or something?
Purple hat, wand and scroll in hand.

Oh well... at least one out of two got it. Yeah, the game is birds-eye view and Oliver is a magician's apprentice. The choice of birds-eye view is because each sprite will need several different animations, and can be facing eight possible directions. If I was doing 3/4 overhead or something, it would require each animation to be drawn from scratch in each direction, which is too much work for the amount of revenue I'm predicting from the game. By doing full overhead, I only need to do two version of each animation - orthogonal and diagonal - and then change only the shading for each facing.

I think in context it's more obvious. Here's an early mock-up of what the screen will look like, though there will be a few more types of sprites and more variety in the floor tiles.



16
Pixel Art Feature Chest / Re: [WIP] Red Dragon
« on: November 21, 2008, 07:00:55 pm »
This is a good study in facial expression... looking at the sequence of edits in the original post, he went from surprised to suspicious to bored to smug. Later in the thread, he became proud and condescending. All perfectly good and cute in their own ways, but it depends on what you're trying to communicate, and it's good to look at them all and try to see what it is that gives them those moods.

17
Pixel Art / Re: Early attempts at animation
« on: November 21, 2008, 06:23:55 pm »
Oliver's animation:



EDIT: I think his feet are too long. Here are two more versions with one, and two pixels taken off the feet. Which is best?



18
Pixel Art / Re: Skulltree
« on: November 21, 2008, 05:33:39 pm »
I think it looks great, except for the thin swirly lines in the eyes. Everything else is so big and bold, these fine lines clash. I would either make them heavier, or remove them entirely.

19
Pixel Art / Early attempts at animation
« on: November 21, 2008, 05:06:40 pm »
I'm not completely new to pixel art (though I've only been doing it six months), but my first couple of games didn't involve much more animation. My current effort, Oliver and the Basilisks, is a top-down, turn-based game similar to Daleks, and will require more animation. Here's my basilisk's walking animation (I'll probably post Oliver's later today). Feedback greatly appreciated.

Looking at it now, I guess I should probably have the head move a bit.

In the actual game, though, the animation won't be looping. Since it's turn-based, the basilisks will only move one square at a time, and I think one eight-frame animation is enough for that.


20
Pixel Art / Re: Ape.. Rat... thingy?
« on: November 21, 2008, 04:46:47 pm »
Currently, it looks more like a squirrel. Mostly, that's because of the tail. Apes have short stubby tails, while rats have pink, furless tails. Rats also tend to have red eyes, though red eyes usually signify villains in video games, so that depends on what you want him to be. Apes also have much broader, blockier bodies. They also tend to have short necks and hunched shoulders... right now the arms seem to connect at the waist.

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