AuthorTopic: Brock Samson  (Read 7052 times)

Offline aniljp

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 7
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Brock Samson

on: September 23, 2010, 08:18:19 am
 

I recently saw a video clip of "Venture Bros " on youtube ..... it was amazing ... like watching retro Johnny Quest  ...
 This guy - "Brock Samson" is a character in that show .... really cool guy ...

 I took this pic as reference ... 
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/94/l_0ed10aeab40d4cc186e284993a15587e.jpg

So waiting for c&c .....  :D

Offline .TakaM

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1178
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • Fetch Quest

Re: Brock Samson

Reply #1 on: September 23, 2010, 11:32:41 am
You have the base for a nice sprite, there are some inconsistencies and parts don't capitalize on the Venture Bros style, here's a quick edit:

I spent most of the time on the face, I think it's quite important to get the longer square jaw emphasized and how curly(?) his mullet is, I also changed the legs to be more like the official design, the 70's flair pants kinda take the whole thing in the wrong direction. Everything else is mostly pixel work, you don't need to use black outlines for everything, they can be far too dominating over the details you're trying to convey. Also when using a lighter colour to outline details I don't think you should ever let the line continue to outline that part, it just looks weird.

Ignore what I did to the hands/arms, I don't know what I'm doing there.


You've picked a good source for this, I'd love to see some of the other characters.
Life without knowledge is death in disguise

Offline aniljp

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 7
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Brock Samson

Reply #2 on: September 23, 2010, 12:50:04 pm
your version of the sprite looks amazing .... and thank you very much for the critique ... This is my very first pixel art ... I'll definitely try and make corrections .... and hopefully put up the edited sprite ...  :) ...

Offline aniljp

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 7
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Brock Samson

Reply #3 on: September 24, 2010, 08:13:25 am



I have edited the sprite , mostly following @.takaM's design .... :-[ ....
The pants i drew was wrong ... I googled the image and corrected the pants .. hopefully this is better ...
I also changed the position of the hand and the knife .. still it does not look perfect ....

If there are any corrections to be made plz do tell . I'd like to see this one made as perfect as possible ... and like i said before, this is my very first pixel art ... I'm not an expert ... plz bear with me...  :)
« Last Edit: September 24, 2010, 01:21:24 pm by aniljp »

Offline .TakaM

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1178
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • Fetch Quest

Re: Brock Samson

Reply #4 on: September 25, 2010, 09:16:10 am
You're making good progress but there are a few pixel-sins being commited.
You may not even know it, but what you've done with the outlines on the pants is called "sel-out" (selective outlining), it can work in controlled environments where the sprite will always be up against a specific coloured background but ideally you want your sprite to be as versatile and efficient as possible, which means a more consistent outline is the way to go.

Here you can see the effect when put up against different colours, in some cases the edges are smooth, but in most they are made rougher. The same issue persists with his right shoulder and to a slightly lesser extent- his hair. There are a few spots on his arms where you've broken the outlines with selout but for the most part you've done them well.
I can see you don't quite understand how or why anti aliasing works in pixelart, this should help a little:
Anti aliasing:

Step 1:

Here is a selection from your line art, you need to think about the information that these pixels represent.

Step 2:

Here is roughly the information the above pixels should be trying to convey.
You'll notice that even though the image is still broken into "pixels" the actual detail does not obey the restrictions, this is to accurately represent the information and basically how it should be received.

Step 3:

The image is now obeying the restrictions of the pixels, each pixel that from Step 2 that contained X% one colour and X% another is now those percentages put together.
This is perhaps the best way to sum up anti aliasing.

Step 4:

Cutting down on the colour count, there's no reason to have dozens of colours that are essentially the same.



This isn't the work process for anti aliasing, and the final product isn't ideal. This is just roughly how you should be thinking while anti aliasing.
It's not quite as simple as "adding buffer pixels" you need to know how many, what intervals the ramps may be at, etc, hopefully this has helped with that. :)
You may also want to reconsider the shading on his arms, there isn't much of that in the Venture Bros and what's there is usually part of the character design (Brock's eyes etc,) however- this is your sprite and you should really run with whatever changes you'd like to make; but try to keep it consistent as there's no other shading to speak of at the moment.

Keep up the good work.
Life without knowledge is death in disguise

Offline aniljp

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 7
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Brock Samson

Reply #5 on: September 25, 2010, 09:49:17 am
thanks .TakaM ...  I really have to work on my AA ...  and also change the selective outlining .... I'll try and make changes to the pic ...

 PS: Is there any particular method i should follow while doing AA .... I mean how will u choose the required colours for the outlining? I read about taking x and y % of the colors in a grid square .... but how can I get the required colour from the two??

Offline .TakaM

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1178
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • Fetch Quest

Re: Brock Samson

Reply #6 on: September 25, 2010, 09:59:32 am
I'd recommend just working with a colour halfway between the outline and the interior for now, that way you don't have to worry about getting the right ratio to your gradient ramps.

If all you're using is mspaint and you want the colour to be absolutely in the middle you can make a small area consisting of the two colours concerned dithered together checkerboard style, then press ctrl+w and change both percentages to 50%. But you shouldn't really worry about getting it to be the exact right shade, as long as it helps make it look smooth it doesn't matter too much.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2010, 10:08:04 am by .TakaM »
Life without knowledge is death in disguise

Offline aniljp

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 7
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Brock Samson

Reply #7 on: September 25, 2010, 10:06:38 am
hmmmm.... i might need some time with this one ... but i get the basic idea ..... will try and make corrections to the pic now ....  :)

Offline aniljp

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 7
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Brock Samson

Reply #8 on: September 27, 2010, 08:44:31 am


 ... I've tried my hand at anti-aliasing .... not sure if it's correct or not .. and also avoided selective outlining ... 

Offline .TakaM

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1178
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • Fetch Quest

Re: Brock Samson

Reply #9 on: October 02, 2010, 02:03:53 am
Looking pretty good, remember your outlines don't need to be one consistent colour, you can have it get lighter in parts to give off the illusion of a thinner line or to imply light effecting it. Same applies for letting parts get darker, it's just something to help pixelart feel a bit less methodical and freer.

Wanna take a swing at any of the other characters?
The monarchs would be pretty neat. :P
Life without knowledge is death in disguise