Mini Insecticons

[drunkenmappy]

Have just gotten back into pixel art, came up with these RPG-character style Insecticons (G1 Transformers). I think they are more or less done but any c+c would be great.

[Ixis]

At that size and with all the dark they're pretty hard to read. Add some more contrast in the bodies and maybe work some dark de-saturated purples in there? Not too sure about that, hmm...

[drunkenmappy]

Yeah I should have blown them up before posting, I drew them with them being viewed at x2 scale in mind.

[pistachio]

Yeah I should have blown them up before posting, I drew them with them being viewed at x2 scale in mind.

Actually this forum has a zoom feature built-in already. It just doesn't work well with some browsers (images are blurred).

Your sprites do look better at this size, actually, but the difference is barely notable in my opinion. Sprites should be able to be viewed, without eye-straining involved, at any size. Additionally, there's still a lot of outlining. The palette could certainly use some work as well.

[drunkenmappy]

The palette could certainly use some work as well.

Could you please extrapolate on this? Palette selection is something I'm especially weak in and would love to know more. Now that I look at the pieces more, I'm thinking the light blue has too much red in it, and that the overall contrast should be turned down.

[pistachio]

The palette could certainly use some work as well.

Could you please extrapolate on this? Palette selection is something I'm especially weak in and would love to know more. Now that I look at the pieces more, I'm thinking the light blue has too much red in it, and that the overall contrast should be turned down.

You're right about the second part somewhat, but what I meant was... well, I was being a bit too general.

Hue-shifting is among one of the terms I was adressing. I also find that shadows slightly more saturated than lighter colors work well in many cases. Or, as demonstrated in this tutorial, lighter colors more staurated than darker ones can occasionally work too. It usually depends on the material, really.

[drunkenmappy]

Thanks!

I've adjusted the contrast and upped the saturation in the lighter colours, as well as an attempt at hue shifting: