AuthorTopic: [WIP]a warrior  (Read 4759 times)

Offline LoMastul

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[WIP]a warrior

on: April 02, 2011, 11:18:05 pm

a battler i started working on yesterday.
i would love to get some c+c on this piece so i can improve it before i start animating it.

Offline Sagesavvy

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Re: [WIP]a warrior

Reply #1 on: April 03, 2011, 04:27:39 am
I LOVE it. The only thing I would think about changing is the sword or pant color. They share a similar hue, and it's a bit difficult to tell them apart at first glance.

Offline AlexxShadenk777

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Re: [WIP]a warrior

Reply #2 on: April 03, 2011, 10:39:23 am
I think it's perfect the way it is. The sword will stand out by sheer movement once you animate it. Reminds me a bit of... ah, the kid from Shadow of the Colossus, I forgot his name.

Offline Helm

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Re: [WIP]a warrior

Reply #3 on: April 03, 2011, 12:44:45 pm
"I think it's perfect the way it is" is not what we do on a critique forum :P . I don't mean to rag on your praise, but think harder on how this could be bettered, be brave! Sandwich critique with encouragement.

LoMastul, hi. Welcome to Pixelation. Your sprite shows a lot of good knowledge of pixel art. However there's quite a lot you could do anatomically and technically, to better it. If you don't mind, I made an edit to illustrate my critique for as you know, a picture's worth several dozens of words:



I. This is the original.

II. This whole critique started innocently enough, I just wanted to elongate the legs. So I did. Then I noticed the palette and the way your pixel clusters are shaped and I fiddled more.

III. I added more contrast on this stage but I have not yet started to mess with the colors. You had 37 or so colors on this piece. I realized you were doing 2-3 color ramps for every little accessory or detail on the sprite, kinda like Tenshi did on his sprites, thus creating huge color redundancies and complicating your anatomy process. I could have stopped here if you don't mind large color counts but I wanted to illustrate the purpose of a unified palette: control.

IV. Here is my final edit, 23 colors out of 37 and I don't think it looks worse for it. Every accessory and item retains their identity and information is there. Anatomy is better I think, there isn't any dreaded selout to be found anywhere and I even did a few fancy color tints on the boots and elsewhere to show you what careful palette control allows for.

If there's any terms that you're unfamiliar with, please search the forums for them or ask me directly and I'll reiterate. There's a thread called "Ramblethread: Brainstorm Approaches!" in the general board too you might be interested in if you're dead-set on improvement. Even if you don't like the "Helmy way" so to speak, at least keep the lesson of palette control anyway, try not to overaccessorize your sprites and think like a painter. Would a painter open up a whole new tube of paint just to paint three splotches worth of yellow mid-way on his painting, or would he have used forethought when selecting his initial, controlled palette? There's a reason artists far better than us don't throw every color they could on a canvas!

Offline AlexxShadenk777

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Re: [WIP]a warrior

Reply #4 on: April 04, 2011, 01:38:00 am
Quote
"I think it's perfect the way it is" is not what we do on a critique forum
Sorry, I couldn't think of anything technical to add,  and very obviously I'm not well versed in pixel art, so at this point there really wasn't anything I could've said of that kind. I just formed my post based on the aesthetics as they were originally.

Anyway, I can understand right away that you contrast the colors in a very successful manner, while it did improve the sprite on a technical level, maintaining more harmonic spectrum can't be bad, since the original doesn't look in any wrong, just generally brighter; except perhaps the legs, I somewhat agree that they should be a little longer just like you drew.

Well anyway it's up to the TC to decide all this, of course, I just wouldn't pick up a dude's sprite and decide to add contrast to it, I'd rather suggest it instead, though I'm not saying you shouldn't have, as you clearly know what you're doing.

Offline pistachio

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Re: [WIP]a warrior

Reply #5 on: April 04, 2011, 02:13:40 am
Well anyway it's up to the TC to decide all this, of course, I just wouldn't pick up a dude's sprite and decide to add contrast to it, I'd rather suggest it instead, though I'm not saying you shouldn't have, as you clearly know what you're doing.

The problem with this is, sometimes an idea isn't clear enough through words alone. Too many words, and it can get confusing. That's why we pick up sprites and edit them to be "better", per se. (?) It helps us get a point across.

On topic now, Helm pretty much hit the nail on the head. Only thing I would fix is the mouth--it seems to be a pixel or two off to the right.

Offline Jad

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Re: [WIP]a warrior

Reply #6 on: April 04, 2011, 11:00:20 am
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I just wouldn't pick up a dude's sprite and decide to add contrast to it, I'd rather suggest it instead

This is the golden thing about pixelation in my opinion, we just edit the hell out of things here, with no remorse. It's a tradition that's been going on for a long time by now and it's led to some people improving dramatically.

The thing about just having your sprite picked up and contrast added to it is that you see the difference IMMEDIATLEY. It's very good for the brain! : D so don't feel shy about making direct edits yourself, it's never hurt anybody. And those who get hurt take it the wrong way. <3 Critique and feedback is all about love
' _ '

Offline AlexxShadenk777

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Re: [WIP]a warrior

Reply #7 on: April 04, 2011, 11:58:31 am
I see. Awesome.