[WIP] Redwing Character Sprite (first attempt at spriting)

[Gus Griswell]

Hey everyone, this is my first attempt at a character sprite. Truthfully, this is my first attempt at any kind of pixel art at all. I've been interested in pixel art for years now but never had the gumption to delve into it. So last night, in an attempt to ease my boredom, I decided to download the trial version of one of the pixel art programs suggested on these forums. Here's the outcome of my first attempt at a sprite:

Let's call him Redwing:


Yeah, I decided to go with the 1800s Old West Genre, not really sure why...it just kinda happened.

I tried a few different approaches to perspective (larger head and torso, smaller legs, etc) but after a frustrating couple of hours I just decided to go with a more generic perspective. Maybe I'll tackle that challenge when I have more experience.

Like I said earlier, I'm very new to spriting and pixel art in general, so any tips/criticism you could throw at me would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and here's the image in actual size:



That seems incredibly small to me, am I doing something wrong here?? Should I expand my pixel count when I create sprites?

[Demon11777]

first off, Whats with the double outline on his moccasins? It makes his feet look very odd. Secondly his legs are very large compared to torso/arms. It seems like you have some sort of artistic background, but I strongly suggest this tutorial http://www.derekyu.com/?page_id=218. Also your using way too many colors for such a small piece. I was playing around with it and some colors that look exactly the same are slightly different shades, there is really no need of this. A controlled pallet would eliminate this. anywho Welcome to the forum i hope to see more of your work

[VDX]

Those legs looks to be done from Bass MM7 Sprite.
The eyes and the most of the sprite looks to be drawn or edited from MM7 on a closer view.
Ah the good old days. ^^

Let's begin with a small bone edit to give you an idea.


This should give you an idea of what you could change, the base of the limbs needs a change.
The legs/Torso size is fine within the standards of "Stylized", but the arms needs to be redone a bit, an idea for you is to stand up and then let your arms hang down on your side, this should give you the anatomy hints on how long the arms really should be.

Another thing that kinda gives me a weird feeling is the size of the head versus the rest of the body, it looks too "thin" compared to the more beefy legs/Torso.

Begin with the arms abit and then show what you have.

If you're knew, starting on 16 bit sprite is quite a challenge, but don't get discouraged.
It's better to start on actual sprites instead of going for instant scratch.
Gives you some good hints on what to avoid as well. From my own experience when I started doing sprites back in the days of BnG Comic 10 years ago.

[meissner61]

That is really good for a first attempt. Even though you mentioned you tried and then realised you did not want that stylistic look of the head being smaller and the feet larger thats actually what happened haha. However I think that is bordering on style and you could leave it as it is. What really isnt good though are those colors that you chose for his bright feather and trinket parts. You can have different colors just I suggest try to blend them in correctly.

Personally I think my edit is worse than yours but take it for what it is. I just wanted to correct some of the main points like readability, and colors:


Oh and sorry if i removed or messed with some of the stuff.. only reason i did that is because I couldnt understand what it was supposed to be.