[WIP]ISO tactic sprites (C&C Welcome!!:D)

[Ixis]

A while ago I made a post in general about tactical iso maps for a game I'm working on for XBLA with a friend, and now I'm at the point where I can start thinking about character sprites (and I usually take forever coming up with base/template sprites.) ISO makes what's already a challenge ten times harder, lol.

So this is what I did first,


It was based on FFT/TO/FFTA et al, and looked... horrific. There was no way to really adapt that style and not look like I was ripping Quest off anyway.

So I decided to make the sprites similar to some other RPG sprites I've done,


Better, but it still needs a LOT of work. In the end I want them to look similar to the sprites I've done in the past (or better), samples below,


But ISO, obviously. Anyone have any ideas/suggestions?
The biggest issue I can see right now is the left-leg on red up there. It's not really iso to the look of it, but no matter where I move his leg or how I reshape it it simply doesn't look right.

EDIT:
Checked out some of Kenneth's iso sprites and tried something in that thicker, cartoony style.

[michelcote]

Made an edit last night but was too sleepy to upload and post, here it is.
drawn at 3am yesterday, excuse any errors of my own lol
I started off just trying to note and fix certain things like banding and the such and ended up having more fun than anything. The eyes in yours popped out too much with the grey, so I removed that completely. The pixel cluster you had there was distracting more than adding to anything. Your template isn't so small that you can't add detail, like I did for the arm. Also, ignore my palette and shading choices 
You're definitely on the right track already, I hope this helps at all!

[Ixis]

Thanks michelcote

I worked on them a bit more last night too, and just tried getting rid of some of the banding and adding a little more detail. Those eyes were pretty wonky too
(That's what I get for copying Akihiko Yoshida )

Here's what I got (also tried making a female too because I'm a glutton for punishment.)

[ndchristie]

Be careful of your perspective lines.  You've got a lot of things approaching straight horizontal.  in this perspective, though that's generally forgiven and you don't have much space, you really don't want to get more shallow than 1/3.

Also take a keen eye towards body language; females should be obvious from pretty far away even without details.  lastly, watch your shading methods - you don't want the female shape, though it's more complex, to become significantly darker than the male.

Here's my attempt at guiding these points, see if you like anything that's happening :

[Ixis]

Those edits actually make things a lot better. I tried to go in a different direction as much as I could but it's hard at such a small size. I did do some work with the arms and rounded out the faces slightly.

[ndchristie]

I tried to go in a different direction as much as I could but it's hard at such a small size.

Yeah at this size, there's very few options without making things look strange.  I was sorta forced into my version.  If I was concerned about you borrowing an edit at this scale, I wouldn't have made it .

It's still on you to animate everything...I do not envy the job

[Ixis]

Haha, well that shouldn't be too bad. I'm not going super overboard with that (and I might do the tactics trick of splitting the character into upper and lower bodies and animating them independently since the legs are the hardest part imo).

[Ixis]

Alright, with the weekend I finally have time to start attempting some animation. I'm taking it slow and easy since I haven't ever really done this before (especially in ISO, haha). As usual, thoughts and crits are welcome.

[RedKnight91]

I suggest doing a 4-frame walk cycle, which means, base position, right leg forward, base position, left leg forward.
as it is now it looks like he's repeatedly kicking something : p

As for the sprite itself, the 1px vertical gap of the eyes makes them look as if they're tilting their head, the perspective is different from the body's.

Here I tried to do something about it: