Minimalist Platform Characters

[TheSilentRoomate]

I'm working on a platform cave adventure game!@ I'm using few colors in my pixel art but im not really restricting myself to a pallet.
Anyways critique would be greatly appreciated



I need pixelations help! I've been trying to make my character punch with stretchy arms but whenever I draw them they come out pretty strange looking! such as:

Anyways if anyone can help me figure out how to draw tis correctly it would be soo much help!

[Avocado]

Have you posted the running character anywhere else or under another alias? I'm positive that I've seen that exact sprite before, and probably on this forum, but I don't remember exactly where.

[Dusty]

I kind of like this a lot. The kid has a lot of charm, however a lot of contrast issue as well(All I can really see at first glance is a bright blob of pixels. Colors don't immediately break apart the various definitions of the sprite like they should. It's a lot of similar colors going on). I also like the crow. On the animation, the hair is way too exaggerated. 2-3 pixels of movement translate to a lot of distance at this resolution. Could be toned down a lot and still have the effect you're looking for.

I think the weakest is the rhino. With the larger size, the style doesn't convert very well. It looks very unrefined and the simple shading doesn't help portray what needs to be communicated. Also, the head is WAY larger than the body. This can work with humanoid characters because of the weight is distributed amongst the body, thus we can picture it working out physically. However with a horizontal build like that, the first thing I think is... "whoa, how the hell is it holding that thing up off the ground?"

Cave Story is a game with the same resolution and simplistic style, yet it manages larger sprites(much larger than the rhino) very well. It may benefit to take a look at that game to see how it did things.

[TheSilentRoomate]

Have you posted the running character anywhere else or under another alias? I'm positive that I've seen that exact sprite before, and probably on this forum, but I don't remember exactly where.

I'm pretty sure I have haha I used to have another username on here but that was ages ago and I've forgotten it: (

[TheSilentRoomate]

I kind of like this a lot. The kid has a lot of charm, however a lot of contrast issue as well(All I can really see at first glance is a bright blob of pixels. Colors don't immediately break apart the various definitions of the sprite like they should. It's a lot of similar colors going on). I also like the crow. On the animation, the hair is way too exaggerated. 2-3 pixels of movement translate to a lot of distance at this resolution. Could be toned down a lot and still have the effect you're looking for.

I think the weakest is the rhino. With the larger size, the style doesn't convert very well. It looks very unrefined and the simple shading doesn't help portray what needs to be communicated. Also, the head is WAY larger than the body. This can work with humanoid characters because of the weight is distributed amongst the body, thus we can picture it working out physically. However with a horizontal build like that, the first thing I think is... "whoa, how the hell is it holding that thing up off the ground?"

Cave Story is a game with the same resolution and simplistic style, yet it manages larger sprites(much larger than the rhino) very well. It may benefit to take a look at that game to see how it did things.

Alright! thanks a bunch!
Yeah the hair is kind of going crazy now that I look at it and acting more like a... very floppy hat? than hair! I'll work on that in a bit!
Yeah I got the same impression about the rhino but I'm not really sure what to do that would stick with my style! I'm a big fan of cavestory but who isnt? But cavestory's graphics are a bit more cluttered looking than what i was going for. Do you have any suggestions on how to do this without looking all cluttered like that?

[Larwick]

Yeah I got the same impression about the rhino but I'm not really sure what to do that would stick with my style! I'm a big fan of cavestory but who isnt? But cavestory's graphics are a bit more cluttered looking than what i was going for. Do you have any suggestions on how to do this without looking all cluttered like that?

I would suggest simply making the head smaller. I quite like the body as it is. Perhaps make the head more fixed to the body - ie. loose the neck. That way the large head will not have as much of a 'will fall off at any moment' feel to it.

[TheSilentRoomate]

Yeah I got the same impression about the rhino but I'm not really sure what to do that would stick with my style! I'm a big fan of cavestory but who isnt? But cavestory's graphics are a bit more cluttered looking than what i was going for. Do you have any suggestions on how to do this without looking all cluttered like that?

I would suggest simply making the head smaller. I quite like the body as it is. Perhaps make the head more fixed to the body - ie. loose the neck. That way the large head will not have as much of a 'will fall off at any moment' feel to it.

I tried removing the neck which i think looks way better though im not really sure if it fixed the problem. I messed around with more colors and patterns to put on him to make him less bland but none really worked well..
Anyways i added a frog! and his jumping sprite! I'm not really sure if i like his color

[TheSilentRoomate]

Okay I did a pretty big edit on the rhino, he`s a lot less cartooney and his head is actually a reasonable size! Thoughts?

[Malor]

I think you've lost a lot of the character is this new rhino. The color scheme is better, but it's got no pizazz anymore, no pop. I would use the same head shape, but maybe make it a bit smaller. I really like this though, it's looking wonderful ^^

[TheSilentRoomate]

thanks! Yeah I do realize it's lost a lot of character but i think it sort of suits it being the first game because before it didn't really look intimidating or anything! I'll try an edit though!