I need help <3

[TheMonsterAtlas]

Can you guys possibly help me out? I'm trying to design a game with 3/4th perspective for a game community a lot of you might know, known as BYOND. I have been spriting for 2 months and I'm not really sure what to do what-so-ever. I spend 2 days on 32x32 works and I'm never happy with what I make. I want to know what I'm doing wrong with the perspective, proportions, as well as shading.

[Seiseki]

Ok, first off let me say that if you want to improve, you need to live and breath sprites. Look at other peoples sprites. Edit sprites. Try to copy other sprites. Just making stuff from scratch won't get you far unless you're an expert on human anatomy. And then there's also basic pixel art knowledge.

Someone linked me this tutorial a while back, and I've been reading it several times, and it's only now after a few months that I really understand most of the stuff.
http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299

Now for this particular sprite:

- Lacks contrast
Needs heavier outline. More contrast between shading and highlights.

- Perspective
In a 3/4 perspective, you'll be seeing mostly the top of the head, and thus the shoulders should be closer to the head.

- Skin tones
Try to make the darker shades red and the highlights yellow. But don't overdo it.
Just using shades of brown makes it look strange.

- Jaw line
Looks kinda weird with the pixels placed like a L, try to avoid that.



I'm not that good at anatomy though, so my arms and legs might look strange. (I'm really bad with feet too)
I also tried to make him more square headed, but that's a personal preference I guess.

Edit: I should probably not have moved down the ears, because that messes with the perspective.

Edit: tweaked it further with improved perspective. (also removed mouth, personal preference for low res sprites)
I also thought the eyes were a bit too feminine on my edit, so I made a female version too with slimmer shoulders and no shorts

[TheMonsterAtlas]

So something more like this?

[Seiseki]

Yeah, but for increased perspective, you can lower the eyes and move the shoulders up.
That also looks less like a fat baby compared to my edits! ;DDD

[TheMonsterAtlas]

Yeah, but for increased perspective, you can lower the eyes and move the shoulders up.
That also looks less like a fat baby compared to my edits! ;DDD

Well I took the eye brawls from the one you did because it looked better and I took you advice on the L being near the jawbone and instead made the shoulders exist instead of mashing it into the side of his face. Then I rounded out the "shorts" put the crotch in there similar to yours and changed the arms to look less bulky? I also used the skin tone you used because it contrasts nicely :3



^ Lowered Eyes for better perspective

[Seiseki]

Well the thing is, you sorta need to mash the shoulders into the face if you want to get the perspective right..
Although a lot of games tend to screw the perspective so it's up to personal preference I guess

[TheMonsterAtlas]

Well the thing is, you sorta need to mash the shoulders into the face if you want to get the perspective right..
Although a lot of games tend to screw the perspective so it's up to personal preference I guess

Oh yeah, that does make sense, I see what you're saying!
Hmm...I don't really know how to do that though :'[ when I move the shoulder/head up/down a pixel it creates the L.

[Seiseki]

Well the thing is, you sorta need to mash the shoulders into the face if you want to get the perspective right..
Although a lot of games tend to screw the perspective so it's up to personal preference I guess

Oh yeah, that does make sense, I see what you're saying!
Hmm...I don't really know how to do that though :'[ when I move the shoulder/head up/down a pixel it creates the L.

Well, can you break up the L by using a darker/lighter color?
At least that's what I do, it might not be optimal or even a good idea

I'm actually a bit uncertain myself as to how much perspective there should be for 3/4 perspective.
I've tried googleing but without much luck.

[TheMonsterAtlas]

Well the thing is, you sorta need to mash the shoulders into the face if you want to get the perspective right..
Although a lot of games tend to screw the perspective so it's up to personal preference I guess

Oh yeah, that does make sense, I see what you're saying!
Hmm...I don't really know how to do that though :'[ when I move the shoulder/head up/down a pixel it creates the L.

Well, can you break up the L by using a darker/lighter color?
At least that's what I do, it might not be optimal or even a good idea

I'm actually a bit uncertain myself as to how much perspective there should be for 3/4 perspective.
I've tried googleing but without much luck.

Yeah not a lot is studied under 3/4th perspective, but this is my competition



I think I'll do fine haha

[jams0988]

Yeah not a lot is studied under 3/4th perspective, but this is my competition....I think I'll do fine haha

Their artwork is on about the same level as yours, but they have a lot more done, it seems. Better work fast to catch up!
If you keep on posting here, I'm sure you'll beat them, hahah. There are some true pixel-geniuses floating around these parts. =D

For the perspective, there's not really any set rule. Whatever looks good is fine. You just have to make sure that all your sprites share the same perspective. If they all look like they're being viewed at different angles, your final product isn't going to make sense obviously, hahah. Your last edit looks like his head is being viewed from above, while his body looks like it's being viewed straight on...but I honestly don't think it matters much with such small sprites. If you did want to fix it, you'd have to angle his body a tiny bit, so that his legs were a bit less wide than his torso. Move that vanishing point!

If you want, I mean. Like I said, I don't think anyone's really gonna care much. Even a lot of pro games have some slightly-off perspective sometimes. It kind of comes with the 2D videogames art territory, since a sprite's perspective obviously can't change based on it's position relative to the camera like a 3D model can. It's the style and charm of 2D that counts the most I think!