Steampunk Explorer Type Gentleman Guy 13 colors 16x48 - would love some C&C

[Savick]

Hey, I think I've posted here before, but I haven't been working on much lately. His cane is probably more mysterious than he is, etc.

I think he's at 12 colors right now and I'm pretty pleased with how he looks. I'm still pretty new to the pixel thing, but I've been practicing.
With some suggested tweaking - like shading the skin tone to give the impression of a jaw line maybe.

[rivet]

Hmm I'm new to pixel art too. I noticed the shading on the side of his face makes his face look a bit flat. I like where this is going and hope to see more edits.

[edu1337]

I suggest getting rid of the outlines and just have flat color and shade

[pistachio]

I suggest getting rid of the outlines and just have flat color and shade

Agreed. Sprites at this size, and of this manner, are way too small for outlines. Try to define the main shapes and details of your sprite with "clusters", or basically, don't use outlines.

There's another big mistake you're making here. Huge mistake, in fact--never save your pixel art as JPEG. Save it as PNG instead. Saving as JPEG adds dozens of unneeded colors and makes the whole thing uglier.

...Also, is that some sort of mask he's wearing?

[Geti]

This is in no way too small for outlining, it just needs a softer touch.

Some thoughts on where you might next take the design, and an edit:

-Added a backpack because it makes the guy feel more like an adventurer, he's going somewhere.
-Straightened the cane. Without a shitload of antialiasing I don't think the angle will cooperate at an angle.
-lightened the sleeve, indicating that he's wearing a waistcoat
-added a patch to the knee
-cleaned pants
-fiddled with colours
-lit the face to indicate where the masses are.
-added a hint of backlight to the hat but didn't light the front; not sure what to do with that actually.

issues with the edit
-bottom of the sleeve is now banded
-legs kind of nobbly
-blue still needs tweaking.
-face lighting still needs more contrast.

It could still use a lot of work but it should give you some idea of my thoughts on the matter..

Click the image to zoom in to get some idea of where I was going with the edit.

Hope this helps!

[Savick]

@edu1337 - Instead of getting rid of the outline all together I made it so there's a light source to where the blacks are now - better? Or should I eliminate the blacks and use just a near black color instead of that?

@pistachio - I don't understand why it displays as a JPEG, I saved it as a BMP. O_o
I tried to lessen the outline and make it more of a shadow on the body.
Yes, he's wearing goggles. Not an entire mask, but just goggles under the top hat. I made the goggles bigger to show off visibility of the item?

@Geti - I had a back pack on him before this and thought, "What other way could he carry items besides a backpack?"
Then I thought of the bag of holding from D&D and combined that with his top hat. Top Hat of Holding. How does that work exactly?
Well, it's like a magician's top hat in where nothing will come out of it if you shake it right side up, but if you turn it upside down and reach into it, you can pull out a number of items (yes, maybe a rabbit). I also appreciate your edit. I want to keep the colors similar to the way they are now, so I just gave him red pants. I agree that the cane looks better straight. He did need some knee pads. Lord knows all the kinds of caves he'll be crawling through.

Thanks to everyone so far for your informative responses~! Oh and here's the most recent version before I forget.

[Savick]

So I was thinking about the menu system and how it would work out since our yet to be named hero owns a hat that's bigger on the inside than the outside ^see above post^ - Anyway I want the brim of the top hat to be a different color besides black, maybe grey not purple. There are "Cane Tools" and "Items". The cane tools are things that can be screwed onto the curved top end of the (wonderfully mysterious nearly magical) cane to modify it's function besides that of just plain cane use. For instance if you screw a light bulb onto it you get night vision as well as other wacky things for other items. Items would just be things like food items to restore health, crafting materials, and maybe a key card or two. Okay, maybe not key cards.


What I mean by crafting materials is that I want there to be some item collection going on, but not just with the purpose of "yay I got this thing". Something like you have to collect a certain amount of materials from piles of junk or something to craft your own save point/marker. There would be a limited number of materials to find to be sure and you would probably be able to buy some for a higher price.   

The outer brim of the top hat would be similar to a "ring menu" in that you would select options from the center point at the bottom and they would rotate according to selection. I think that would take care of the pause menu.