Top down skeleton [WIP]

[daimadoushi]

So I'm working on a new project, inspired by Alundra on Playstation. This is the first character and I am trying to match the original alundra style.


I am at the 9th iteration so far but it is still pretty rough. I'd love to hear some comment and feedback though.

Which one do you like the best so far ?

I found that the top down perspective is pretty tricky to create a readable pose, so I'd particularly love some feedback on that regard !

Thanks in advance !

[eishiya]

They keep getting better with each version :]

I don't think this 3/4 view makes it any harder to create readable poses, I think where you're struggling is probably that you're forgetting that these characters still exist in "3D" - bits can go forward and back. Your poses are all very symmetric, which looks stiff and uninteresting. The legs don't have to be next to each other, one can be further back, and that'll look both more interesting and help the character look more balanced. Similarly the arms and even the whole torso don't have to be so symmetrical and facing the viewer directly.

Alundra has 4 directions of poses I think, with the side poses being drawn as 3/4 poses rather than pure side views; if you're tempted into symmetry by the front view, perhaps the 3/4 side view poses might be better to start with?

[daimadoushi]

Thank you ! You make a lot of good points. I was mostly trying to keep the symmetry at first to work faster, but that may have held me back.

I actually thought about that, also having the light on the side rather than spot on, but I thought, since the character is suppose to turn from left or right to that pose, if the character is not centered enough, it will look odd I thought.

For the 3D I didnt really want to occlude anything as possible to see the silhouette nicely, but then I end up with a static pose ! I'll give some thought about your suggestion while I try to improve it on the next cycles. I'll post my improvements later

[daimadoushi]

So I took your advice and work more on it. Im not sure if it will work for my game, but it definitely made it a lot better thanks.

Time to go sleep for me, but I wanted to post the current progress before that.

[eishiya]

This pose is looking nicer, but watch out for the perspective - this is looking way more like a sidescroller sprite.

Try having a bit of floor (e.g. tiles or stone floor) that you draw the characters on, so you have something specific to plant their feet on when you block the poses in. I find it easier to keep everything else in perspective that way.

[daimadoushi]

Again spot on feedback thanks !

I did just what you suggested and redraw the character from scratch, this time I drew the other angle at the same time. Still a lot of work but I think it improved quite a lot already ! Thanks !