Final Fantasy VI portraits [update]

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Hello Pixelation. Took me a minute to take in the beauty here....
Thought I'd post since I've been working on some pixel art myself recently.
____________________________I did all of them but Smash, also a member here and of FFHacktics.com, touched up the one of the empire soldier;  so I can't claim it 100%...
I'm Lijj from site mentioned above. I've done a lot of sprites for FFT since I discovered that site about 6 months ago. I just discovered this site and I'm blown away by some of the talent I see. I also have more of these but don't want to over-post.

[Chrispy]

Those pixels are nice. The old man's head tilt seems a bit uncomfortable and the first girls (I'm supposing is Terra) face looks a bit chunky

[Blacklight_Studios]

The blonde girl... the third one down... Her neck looks a little too long, IMO. Could just be the shading, though. Otherwise, very nice pixelling job!

@Chrispy: The old man looks fine, if you think of his head leaning back a little, as well as to the side. Think about it this way: if his head was strictly tilted to the side, there would be more shading to the forward side of his face (the one facing the audience), wouldn't there?

[EvilEye]

I think I recognize Realm, Strago and Celes. The soldier doesn't look familiar but I haven't played ff6 in ages.

A few areas where you could improve:

1. Work on a more neutral background color.



When I put your sprites against a more neutral color they look very faded and dull ( or at least they do to me ). This is likely because you didn't notice it working on a super dark background.

2. Lots of unclear detail especially on the clothing. Strago's cape for instance, he's got some kind of reflection on his lapel, or is it a design of some kind? I can't really tell. Or in back of Realms neck, is that hair or part of her clothes? Also a problem with some of the face detail like Strago's eyes.

3. Celes neck is curved and unnaturally long.

4. The soldiers shoulders are uneven.

Still pretty good work, with some basic pixeling knowhow from this site you should be fine.

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un-needed post

[Tourist]

Here's what i see:
Overall, head sizes are inconsistent.  This may be only be visible when the portraits are strung together.

Celes
Ear is too low.
Neck is too long, and bent strangely.
Torso is at roughly 3/4 view, head is in profile.  Certainly possible, but a bit odd, particularly with the neck.
Hair is good.
Inside edge of the nose and mouth should come into the face 1 more pixel.  Nostrils might be good too.

Soldier
Mostly good.
Head and shoulders are turned to our right, but the collar is centered directly at the viewer.  It should angle.

Relm
A center line through the nose and mouth doesn't match the profile of the cheek and jaw.  Or maybe it's the line of the cheek versus the near line of the jaw?  Something in the perspective is just off a bit.  Can't put my finger on it.
Pose is a bit of a neck-breaker, but not too bad.  There's no real transition from the jaw to the neck, maybe the neck is a bit small?

Strago
A bit noisy, but mostly good.
Neck is a lollipop stick.

Locke
Mostly good.
The nostrils need work.
The collar looks like it is off-center.  One edge sits halfway under the jaw, one edge curves in front of the face.  Ok if he is wearing the coat pulled to one side, or the collar is meant to be larger on one side than another, but this isn't clear from the image.

Terra
Overall very nice
Hair is very nice
Bridge of the nose is a bit high, but it's a minor crit

Edgar
Hair and costume are fine
Face is a bit basic
Could use a stronger jawline

So overall, necks and collars need work.  Noses in profile need work.  The rest is rather good.
Thanks for posting these.

Tourist

[EvilEye]

I decided to do an edit to point some things out. Everything was going fine until I realized Strago is really an old geezer with a bare chest and a mohawk Hard to imagine I played FF6 for years and didn't realize this.



11 colors ( I think )

In no way am I implying the above edit is ideal. I had to stop myself halfway because of time constraints. It still needs more work on the hair, beard, neck area, eyes ( I could mess with those eyes for days trying to get them right ), the costume and the colors need to be reworked a lot too.

The points I wanted to illustrate are:

1. Clarity, first and foremost. If you look at your version it is far less clear. Cramming all that detail into such a small area only makes things more confusing. You put dots here and there where you know there should be some detail but the problem is noone can really tell the difference when looking at it. Instead they see something vague distracting their attention from the main recognizable shapes. Keep it simple and clean.

2. Color picking. This is not my strong point but I know when I see some bad color picking. For instance Realm's hair. You have a dull brownish grey near a fairly saturated yellow. This looks ecky

Then you put two very similar colors together. Like Strago's face where you have 3 very similar shades of redish brown lumped together. When you do that they blend together to create a large brown area which doesn't look right. Way too thick and confusing.

3. FF6 portraits are actually pretty crappy

[Helm]

I'd like to mention that you won't be learning much if you're trying to keep to style that is reverse-engineered. The FF6 portraits are pixel versions of pretty artistic and stylized real life pieces drawn by that famous Japanese illustrator connected to the series. They're not realistic nor do they try to be. The pixel versions are bad pixel art, you won't learn good pixel art from mimicking them.

In all your pieces in this thread I see the signs of a potentially problematic approach to learning art: little fundamental knowledge, instead slavish attention to how a game did its art. Here's what's connecting you as an artist with the person that drew the original watercolor illustrations: fundamental knowledge on how art is made. If you don't go that route, you will never reach him. Even if you at some point are capable of 100% mimicking his style, you will not reach him as he'll have moved onwards through fundamental practice instead.

If you want my critique, and it's a hard pill to swallow, I know: Stop mimicking the end result and start learning the common throughout all artistry fundamental practice. Learn how to draw, not how to mimic pixels of something that was once drawn.

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Well Helm the whole reason I'm re-doing these is because it was decided that the original portraits suck for the reason that they took Yoshitaka Amano's watercolor or gouche works and tried to pixelize them. So I'm trying to come up with something different. I'm trying to make them in a style(true, though not Amano's) so they all match; which is hard for me. And I'm trying to give them depth.. shading etc. Not flat watercolor style. I haven't even used a single reference making these other than the little sprite itself so I'm not mimicking anything.
I actually quite dislike my Strago after seeing Evil Eye's haha. Only it's shape is a lot like the original; then, so is Terra's... So hopefully I can use that of course shaded a little more on the hair etc.
Thanks for the crits guys... currently trying to acknowledge them and apply changes.

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Here's Mog! I might completely re-do Celes again now...

[Kagebunji]

For some reason he looks like a cat to me. The face may be a bit too chubby too. Though this will be determined by experts here.

[Blacklight_Studios]

I agree. the ears are too pointed for a Moogle. and the Pompom's not red. that's a problem.

[sakket]

I'm getting the impression that the rest of the mog's body looks like Don's body;
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101110131419/theregularshow/images/2/24/Don.png

which is absolutely delightful.

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lol.. Odd character.
Moogles look different in every Final Fantasy but they usually look somewhere in-between a teddy bear and a cat. In FFVI the ears are actually small and pointy. So I don't know what to do just yet. Also the pom-pom is yellow in this game.. but Is red in most.
He kind of reminds me of Stimpy in a way also.

[Emtch]

Celes is tilting her head forward but her hair isn't falling down. That's pretty weird.

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  that just didn't look right.  I just re-drew the whole thing this time.
edit added another moogle:

[alspal]

Edgar looks like he's 11 years old in your portrait.

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Had some more free time and added another to the list. 


Still need
Sabin, Gau, Shadow, Setzer, Gogo, Umaro... let me think, Bannon, Ghost, Imp,
General Leo, Ultros and Kefka.
And many edits

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[Glak]

nice Setzer.  The chin freaks me out though, it makes him look like a woman.  Get rid of the point, maybe even give him a cleft.

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Ok I'll edit the chin.. I may go with the cleft even if it looks right. I'll also make Edgar have a more developed look; stronger jaw.
Also wondering about Evil Eye's Strago  should I edit that or use it as a base?

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Added a subtle cleft

 Also added Sabin.

[EvilEye]

Also wondering about Evil Eye's Strago  should I edit that or use it as a base?

I'm not sure what the difference is. My reason for making that was to illustrate a few key points which are hard to get across via critique.

The problem with using my edit as a base is it will look totally different then your own art, so you'll have this huge style inconsistency.

Your latest sprites still show the same problems. Poor colors which are too similar and dull to really give any clarity or life to the picture. Large areas of almost similar colors layered together creating indecipherable detail. Pillow shading. Areas which are too dark so as to draw your attention to them in a way that is distracting. Not to say they're bad, but they really suffer because of these deficiencies.

I recommend just trying your hand at one sprite, posting it here and letting us critique it, then improving it based on that critique.

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I recommend just trying your hand at one sprite, posting it here and letting us critique it, then improving it based on that critique.

Alright this one for now:


The palette has been edited mostly

[EvilEye]

Well what I meant was starting a new sprite and posting your progress on it. It would give me a clue as to how why it's so messy. Or maybe you saved your progress on that one? If so post it.

[PocoLoco]

I find your work to be quite good

I actually did a few pixel mugshots/portraits myself

here is one I did of Vargas



and here is a WIP version of Shadow

[Emtch]

Setzer is an albino, which means his skin should be lighter, almost white.

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A little bit updated progress... been working on an animation

[PocoLoco]

thats a much better Sabin

I suggest tweaking Setzer a bit more though, his face seems a but too chubby and he looks a bit off

I also suggest making his scars a bit darker, instead of a light a gray make it a dark peach/apricot color

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Good thinking.. I'll do that. thanks Poco Loco

[Kagebunji]

Those are some nice updates, Lijj. But there are some things that need to be fixed. For example Shadow's chin is looking too square, make it rounder and smaller. Cyan's eyes are way too dark, I can understand big black eyebrows, but his eye should be visible, haha. Current version of Mog is on the right track, just shade it more all around, cause it looks very flat now. Sabin looks way better too, but he looks kinda chubby, not a top priority issue to do, but make sure you fix it once you get to it. And I see you are starting Gau too, good luck, hehe.

[PocoLoco]

no problem bro

I look forward to seeing it

I would also LOVE to see an attempt at Kefka and Emperor Gestahl/Gastra

[Gamer36]

Well I've no idea who is who in your sprites but Celes (I'm guessing) has a flower in her hair (is it a flower?) that looks ALOT like an ear, maybe make it less skin colorish?

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Well I've no idea who is who in your sprites but Celes (I'm guessing) has a flower in her hair (is it a flower?) that looks ALOT like an ear, maybe make it less skin colorish?

And "I use a lot of colors" .. Well I don't, nor can I, 15 maximum for this project so stfu. No it's obviously not an ear or a flower.

[Solluxx]

these are very nice and you are doing an awesome job
however a few things i thnk could use some improvment are

-The moogles head comes down to a point giving him a very feline look, i think rounding out is head and shortening his ears will make him that much more perfect.
-The man with black tied back hair has some strange shadows that make him less look stressed or sinister and more like he is spitting or sucking on a lollipop.
-And finally i think the blond haired jungle man has a tad small face for his head and body,mabye space his features out allittle or make them larger if possible.

hope my opninions help at all,  you are very talented! keep at it 

[PocoLoco]

hey I just decided to throw up another FF6 mugshot, this 1 is currently a WIP but its mostly 4 Lijj 2 see :p



its a cultist from FF6

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Oh boy here we go... (always nervous posting here) UPDATE:ty for posting these portraits Poco Loco and thank you for the encouragement Souluxx.

[alspal]

Looks like a lot of them have a very small jaw/chin. 

[Corinthian Baby]

Locke and Gau need the most work imo.

Locke looks like a 10 yr old. Why? Ill-pronounced chin and big eyes, with big ear as well. His bandanna should be at the same slope as the rest of his head/face. His hair strands are too big and clunky. Look at Terra's hair and the hair on the orig Locke face. Smaller strands, more shaggy will make it look more natural. Get rid of those 2 vertical pixels at his nose. Pronounce his jaw/chin and make his mouth wider. Also another detail from the orig face, he has beady little eyes looking to side, insinuating that he is clever and mischievous, matching his personality in the game. I know you're putting a new style on it but if you study certain elements that worked, you can convey them in your own as well.

As for Gau, the orig face was really strange and awkward pose, hunched over, but it conveyed his animal instincts in a way. The hair also lacks flow, again the strands are too large, making it look DBZ-esque. His jaw is angular to the point that he has no chin practically. His eye-ridge is rounded to the point where it is taking over the rest of his face and thus the head volume looks wonky. To portray his characteristics more closely, again look at the subtleties of the orig. A 2 vertical pixel smirk, curved eyebrows and eyes looking off to the side. That, combined with a posture of being hunched over gives the idea that personifies his aboriginal demeanor.

I hope this helps.

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Alright.. I agree with you on a lot of these crits Corinthian. I think I'll keep Lockes bandanna at the angle it is but try to implement everything else. I'll work on Gau too but I like the hair as it is.. ergh.. I'll see what I can do.
Anyway also have a Strago WIP:

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Ok I edited Locke a lot and Gau some.. Also added Gogo and Kefka: