GR#106 - Grimoire - Character Artworks / RPG Base

[Grimsane]

some progress, but I think you ignored the part about darkening the lower half, which included the legs. you still have the same issue, here:

you'll notice the colour alone is causing a depth effect, when animated compared to my edit, does it not look like hip thrusting?

also just showed what you could get away with highlight wise on the chest. keep pushing i'm sure it'll be a pretty solid base soon enough, and you seem to have the skills and potential to smoothly animate and fully realize some quite nice sprites, Interested to see what they'll look like with clothing and gear.

[Blaze Enigma]

some progress, but I think you ignored the part about darkening the lower half, which included the legs. you still have the same issue, here:

you'll notice the colour alone is causing a depth effect, when animated compared to my edit, does it not look like hip thrusting?

also just showed what you could get away with highlight wise on the chest. keep pushing i'm sure it'll be a pretty solid base soon enough, and you seem to have the skills and potential to smoothly animate and fully realize some quite nice sprites, Interested to see what they'll look like with clothing and gear.

Not entirely sure there is anything left that can be done to the base without losing any aesthetic lol

I decide to carry on with revamping the other states/animations, as well as an update on the race

- Yes they are no longer blue/purple, but who says they need to be? There are a variety of red creatures in the sea e.g. Crabs lol
- The eyes seem to give the impression of good sight, which I assume is a good adaptation when in the sea, as the sea tends to be very optically dense as you go down in depth.
- They do slightly look demonic now, lol which is my only con currently
- I relocated the fin to a more useful area, which is likely to increase the races hydrodynamics

[Seiseki]

I think it looks completely demonic now, there isn't even a hint of aquatic left..
If your inspiration comes from crabs, then he should look more like a crab, not necessarily with claws, but hard shell-like skin.
Although crabs only turn red when cooked, but that doesn't really matter because most people still relates red->crab.

PixelPiledriver, brought up an incredibly valid argument about function -> form.

And you need to ask yourself, who are you designing this race for?
Yourself? Did you make it red because you think that's cool/interesting?

You're messing way too much with expectations.
Imagine a typical players reaction   "oh cool, demon race!", 'This is an aquatic race',   "uhm, what?"
And 'Here we have the green race with vines as hair and leaf-like tatoos, they live in volcanoes'   "wwwuuuut?!"
Also, 'Here's a picture of an ice cube, it's used for fire spells',   "ok, that's it.. this is just.. too much.."



  "Now that I can tell is a fish-something! Or possibly a green dragon-man lol"

Also, if you really want to make them red, why not just make them into a demon race that lives in the desert?
Does it have to be an aquatic race? If so then why?

[Jeremy]

Yeah the red is definitely a step back. It kinda seems that your process is generic anime body + fish accessories. Look at amphibians/swimmers/things that do what this guy does.

[Grimsane]

whoa dammit ninja'd by Jeremy,

I agree with  Seiseki's points, and did this edit



completely agree with Jeremy he raises some good points on the anatomy too, but I can see how some aspects would clash to some degree with your anime aesthetic, but you can definitely adapt what he did to your intended style, (nice edits and design direction btw Jeremy )

with mine I just quickly was going to suggest a few more fins to reinforce what you were doing from the elbow
and larger webbed feet would be more practical, but if they are land walking a compromise between size and dexterity should be met.
some recommendations on the anatomical forms reinforcing certain muscles, you could argue that you want it to be flat for hydrodynamics etc. but as Jeremy highlighted strong muscular structure is required for swimming,

I think you should probably avoid scales as it'd introduce a few issues and possible style clashes, think more sharks smooth yet course/matte, and the tail could do with some work.

also on expectation I tend to agree, but if you do want to have a more red colour worked in, I recommend using the proven method of easing past expectation, if you Establish the expectations you can slowly introduce things that would out of context look jarring, so for example when you introduce them (the player's first encounter) you should have them bluer and after you have established what they are, you can introduce variations, and the variations (within certain boundaries of course) would look more acceptable and believable to the player.

also I should raise that pixelling or drawing on pure white is a bad practice, think about it, when are they ever going to be present against white? unless on snow or some crazy white dream sequence, never. so you should get in the habit of having a relatively neutral tone, if not one that would be along the lines of what the background graphics or tileset would be. Having White as your BG can alter your perception of contrast and colour values to some degree, something that looks perfectly balanced on white, may look entirely out of place in it's intended context and require avoidable tweaking

[Liksmaskaren]

Quick edit. I wanna see muscles and scales!

[Blaze Enigma]

whoa dammit ninja'd by Jeremy,

I agree with  Seiseki's points, and did this edit



completely agree with Jeremy he raises some good points on the anatomy too, but I can see how some aspects would clash to some degree with your anime aesthetic, but you can definitely adapt what he did to your intended style, (nice edits and design direction btw Jeremy )

with mine I just quickly was going to suggest a few more fins to reinforce what you were doing from the elbow
and larger webbed feet would be more practical, but if they are land walking a compromise between size and dexterity should be met.
some recommendations on the anatomical forms reinforcing certain muscles, you could argue that you want it to be flat for hydrodynamics etc. but as Jeremy highlighted strong muscular structure is required for swimming,

I think you should probably avoid scales as it'd introduce a few issues and possible style clashes, think more sharks smooth yet course/matte, and the tail could do with some work.

also on expectation I tend to agree, but if you do want to have a more red colour worked in, I recommend using the proven method of easing past expectation, if you Establish the expectations you can slowly introduce things that would out of context look jarring, so for example when you introduce them (the player's first encounter) you should have them bluer and after you have established what they are, you can introduce variations, and the variations (within certain boundaries of course) would look more acceptable and believable to the player.

also I should raise that pixelling or drawing on pure white is a bad practice, think about it, when are they ever going to be present against white? unless on snow or some crazy white dream sequence, never. so you should get in the habit of having a relatively neutral tone, if not one that would be along the lines of what the background graphics or tileset would be. Having White as your BG can alter your perception of contrast and colour values to some degree, something that looks perfectly balanced on white, may look entirely out of place in it's intended context and require avoidable tweaking

Ok, lol I simply used your muscles as a template, hope thats ok.

Either way...

- Jeremy : I increased the size of the thighs 
- Ears, I have yet to add these lol.
- Colors, I went with a slightly shark like tone
- Face, those large bulges would decreases their ability to swim at a fast rate?

[ptoing]

You are coming along nicely.

Crits I would have are that we should see his other shoulder and part of his far arm as well and that the fin on his back does not seem to connect in any logical way, unless it has some really weird shape.

[Grimsane]

Ok, lol I simply used your muscles as a template, hope thats ok.

not at all. although I didn't touch the arm and it needs some work, now it's looking a tad out of place.

agree with ptoing about the back fin, but it's a cool idea, I left it in from  Seiseki's, which I based my edit on. his tail could use a tad more refinement but I doubt you've gotten around to that yet, my suggestion if you are going with a shark theme make the tail forked a bit like a shark's. and offering another idea for the head too tentacles/tendrils  



okay well was just gonna do an illustration on what you could do with tentacles, but got carried away was gonna leave the arm too but I'm inclined to believe I've developed some form of editing OCD  
also a suggestion of the background arm

[Blaze Enigma]

Ok, lol I simply used your muscles as a template, hope thats ok.

not at all. although I didn't touch the arm and it needs some work, now it's looking a tad out of place.

agree with ptoing about the back fin, but it's a cool idea, I left it in from  Seiseki's, which I based my edit on. his tail could use a tad more refinement but I doubt you've gotten around to that yet, my suggestion if you are going with a shark theme make the tail forked a bit like a shark's. and offering another idea for the head too tentacles/tendrils  



okay well was just gonna do an illustration on what you could do with tentacles, but got carried away was gonna leave the arm too but I'm inclined to believe I've developed some form of editing OCD  
also a suggestion of the background arm

Lol, I really like the edit/if I haven't said it enough I appreciate all the help you guys are giving, be it visually help or simply verbal everything helps ^^


Does the side match the other directions as of now?

- Trying to get the base out of the way, so I can focus on the variety of other things

@Ptoing
Yes, I fully agree lol the fin seems looks like some prosthetic attachment if anything, I will be sure to fix that in my newer updates