AuthorTopic: [C&C] Basic Platforming Handyman  (Read 3324 times)

Offline bigjimbeef

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

[C&C] Basic Platforming Handyman

on: February 15, 2012, 01:20:24 pm
Howdy folks,

I'm new here, so just a quick bit of background about me. I'm a games coder by trade, and am also working on a game in my spare time with some friends. I'm an ok artist, but I'm really interested in getting better. I've been reading pixel art tutorials and doing a little practice for a while now, but I'm finding I tend to hit a point with all the sprites I create.

Case in point, this guy here:



So the idea is that he's the main character sprite for a 2D platformer we're working on at the minute. He will be presented on the screen at 2x zoom (aiming for an overtly retro kind of look). I'm quite happy with how he's turned out personally (I know it's not exactly amazing, but it's a personal thing!), but the problem I have is that I've reached this sort of stage with a bunch of sprites. I know that there's something a bit amiss, but I can't quite work out what!

If anyone could help me out with a bit of C&C, that would be really very helpful. I'm just not quite sure where to go from here.

Thanks very much!

Offline michelcote

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 56
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: [C&C] Basic Platforming Handyman

Reply #1 on: February 15, 2012, 04:04:05 pm
Cool design idea! I think the lack of contrast and hue shifting in your color ramps hurts the character, especially in the skin tones. It's hard to notice the highlight on his head and in the mustache and hair, for example.
Also try to manage your palette better, there are some pixels in the face for example that change color very slightly and is near impossible to detect anyway. Stick to 3-4 colors per ramp to kind of unify your sprite.

A rough edit, only on the head to get my ideas across. I resized to make it easier to work with, and you can zoom in/out by click/shift-clicking images here.

Offline bigjimbeef

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: [C&C] Basic Platforming Handyman

Reply #2 on: February 15, 2012, 10:04:24 pm
Thanks so much for the help michelcote. That really has helped me think about it in a completely new way (and hopefully a better one!).

I've updated him a little bit, see what you think:

Firstly just the edit:



Then the edit with slightly tweaker brightness and contrast:



(Remember that I'm working on these at 200% zoom, because that's how he'll end up.)

Now, I didn't even realise (laugh away) that shifting the hue for shading was a thing until a few hours ago. I'd just been picking a colour, then using progressively higher brightness values to get highlights. So these are the first edits of these kind I've made. Really good fun, but opens a whole bloody world of thinking, heh.

Any feedback is more than appreciated.

Thanks again for taking the time to look!

Offline 9_6

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 416
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: [C&C] Basic Platforming Handyman

Reply #3 on: February 16, 2012, 11:58:38 am
You're confining yourself into thinking that each part needs its own colors.
You can recycle colors as sometimes all you need to convey something is shape, not color.
Doing so will also make your piece look more unified as the palette can breathe through all of your piece.
Do not think in terms of "pants color, skin color" etc. Grass is rarely ever green and the sky is rarely ever blue. Those pants don't need to be blue to appear blue.
You will use less colors more efficiently that way.

You should also always keep the position of the lightsource in the back of your head.
It's not always clear where the light comes from in your piece (the right leg says from the right, head says top right, stomach says bottom right etc).

Oh yeah and the contrast is way cranked up in most colors.
Tone that down a bit and also pay attention that none of your colors are too similar in value if used to as a shading tone of each other.
Turning the picture into grayscale helps seeing that a bit better.
Does scaling an image blur it?
Opera fix Firefox fix

Offline bigjimbeef

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: [C&C] Basic Platforming Handyman

Reply #4 on: February 16, 2012, 12:23:01 pm
Wow, that edit is really impressive!

I find the colour recycling you mention quite difficult to envision when I'm working, but I'd never really had it explained with clarity - so thanks very much for that. It's really very noticeable how much more unified the sprite looks in your edit. I suppose I hadn't really thought about the fact that it might not be necessary to represent everything with the colour I picture it as being! I'll certainly have a go at that when I can next.

You're completely right about the light source too. I tend to get a little distracted when I zoom in and out and end up shading stuff in a way that I think looks good, rather than bearing in mind what it would actually look like. I'll work on that. I haven't really done any real art in about ten years, so I'm... a little rusty.

I hadn't really thought about putting the sprite into greyscale, but I totally see what you're talking about when I do. My version is still quite muddied and difficult to read when viewed in greyscale.

Unfortunately I'm going to be away this weekend, but I'll try to get an edit done for Sunday evening.

Thanks again for your help - it really is fantastically useful :)

Offline bigjimbeef

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: [C&C] Basic Platforming Handyman

Reply #5 on: February 20, 2012, 08:08:18 pm
Right. Finally had a bit to work on this.

Frankly, I don't have the artistic ability / practice needed to make something as good as you did 9_6, but I took your advice to heart and made this:



I think this is the best one I've got so far, and I'm quite happy with it really. I know it's not exactly amazing, but comparing it to the original, it's a great improvement (in my opinion).

If you've got any more ideas of what I need to work on, I'll happily hear them. Otherwise, this is probably done with for the time being :)

Thanks for all your help, and I'll post more stuff soon if I don't get any more advice in here!