[WIP] Sprite (maybe for SideScroller game)

[Elfuun]

Something like this?

In fact, legs are there (in red)

It's approximately the middle of the body, but it's not very visible.

[jams0988]

No, alex meant "the legs are the same height as the rest of the body including the head." You could make the legs about twice as long as they are now, and they'd still look natural.
The height from the bottom of your character to his crotch should be the same as the height from the top of him to his crotch. Just remember, the center of every man is his junk! =P

And I like the color palette you're using. It's pretty cool looking!

[Elfuun]

Mhh... You mean something like this? (Don't worry, it's a sketch)

But, you know, my sprite has to be a SD (Super Deformed, or chibii, as you like).
So, I don't know how to change the legs to seems more real but keeping the ratio 1:3  (hard to say... It's right in English? Tell me if you don't understand )
The sprite with longs legs looks better, but in fact I have to extend legs to have 1:3 (it's something like 1:2.5 now)

[PypeBros]

I think one thing that doesn't work with your super-deformed proportions is that the body of the character is roughly the size it should have for a normal-proportioned kid. Chibby typically shorten the body as well, so that the head is emphasized.

[Elfuun]

Maybe he looks like a child because he is a little too packed (?). Should I make him leaner?
By the way, he doesn't seem very manly/masculine or strong. Maybe more raw (hard?) shapes for his body?

-----------------------

Il me semble que tu es Français, et comme mon anglais est très approximatif, ca m'arrange un petit peu
Peut être qu'il à l'air d'un enfant vu qu'il est un peu (trop même) tassé. Je pense que ca s'arrangera si j’agrandis les jambes et si je le rend plus svelte!

[PypeBros]

oh. I see the legs better, now. Don't hesitate to use colours to depict the trouser-to-shirt transition.
Also, I encourage you to sketch more poses for your character and see whether his "chibbiness" will still allow it to move as you planned. Only then, you're ready for spriting.
Going for full-detail (pixel art) before animating usually leads to dead ends.

[Elfuun]

As you adviced me, I tried to animate him walking (just the legs, without arms) and I did two sketchs. Well, it's a bit hard (for my first try), and I advanced the clothes (pants are something like dragon scales, or fish scales). Any comments?

[jams0988]

Again, the coloring is awesome, but his legs are way too short! You even have him numbered by heads right now, so it's obvious his legs only take up a third of his total height. They need to take up half to look natural! And your arms at rest reach halfway down your thigh. Look up Loomis's anatomy books for a quick and dirty beginner's guide. A lot of people seem to love them, and I can also personally vouch for them. =)

[PypeBros]

Here's another that has 1:1:1 proportion for head, torso and legs. Actually, that's a fairly common recipe for cartoon characters. It doesn't make them necessarily look odd, just young. Something else goes wrong with your character (as, imho, there's something wrong with Link's short legs in the last DS art)
- hands typically go *past* the belt. If your character cannot take something in his pocket naturally, something needs to be fixed.
- legs have more uniform width. Tu lui a fais les cuisses super-larges, et les tibias super-fins. He looks a bit like a chicken, here. Plus, you put the belt in the "legs" part, while it typically belongs to the bottom of the torso part.

HTH

[Phlakes]

I think you might want to try staying closer to your sketch, mostly with the legs. In the sprite, it looks really strange that his thighs are as wide as his body but his calves are tiny little stumps. That's also probably harder to animate.

Plus, the curves of the sketch make it feel more dynamic.