GR#108 - Wangsta Chick - Sprite Process

[Bissle]

Progress -- Last Updated 7/27/2012

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  (pre-thread)


Before I start, this lady has nothing to do with Lindsay Lohan.  

I started working on this a week ago and I'm a little lost and in need of advice.
Among other things, I'm stumped by the hands. I'm going for a Vulcan salute-like gang sign, but whenever I get to actually fleshing out the gesture it's a disaster. Also, I'm no good with jewelry--I'm going for something big and ostentatious, and while it's certainly those things... I just don't like how it's coming along aside from the detail on the eye.

I welcome all C + C given. I'll post more sprites once I'm satisfied with how I finish this one; don't want to get back into the habit of having a million unfinished WIPs.

[Boondocker]

The stance looks unbalanced, it looks like she will fall backwards, perhaps try placing her feet directly under her body or widen her stance.

[jams0988]

Well, just by looking at her, I want to punch her in the face, same as every other "gangsta" I've met. So I guess you're doing an accurate job. XD
I like the art, though! And I'm assuming her stance is a moving one, like she'll be dancing back and forth, so it looks good to me. The jewelry looks fine to me! A little weird, but it's a fighting game, right? Will it shoot lasers out of it? X3

[Lachie Dazdarian]

I kinda like her pose and here stature in general. Not too skinny. For my taste.

The face features don't appear enough clear to me. Dunno if that is relevant to you.

Not sure if this helps, but did you think of her wearing fingerless gloves?

[Bissle]

@ Boondocker: Balance has been a problem from the beginning. I was thinking of it being one frame of a drunken stumble, like she was trying to balance herself, but even so, it would have been best to start off with a neutral pose in the first place. I will certainly work towards widening her stance.

For what's it worth, here is what her pose looked like when I first started working on it, which was even more imbalanced.



@jams0988: Haha, just as planned. The medallion is just for show, but that is actually not a bad idea. XD

@Lachie Dazdarian: Thanks; the unclear nature of the face is concerning me; one of the reasons I like to make sprites of this size is to give my characters some individuality in their faces. I think her face was actually better in the first one--the cigarette adds more to the wangsta look I'm going for, but at the same time... eh, I'll just try for more extreme colors maybe. The fingerless gloves are a good call!

And here is what I have now. I actually put some effort into the hat (somewhere between a baseball cap and beer bottle hat), made another attempt on the hands, worked on the chain, and doodled some boots.


When I do finish this, definitely gonna see into reducing the color count. Right now it's about 40 after reducing the palette. 

[Cyangmou]

As already pointed out, she's completely out of balance - her weight passed both knees. Even if it'd be an extreme of an animation, it would be to much but you want to have a neutral pose. If she's be leaning against a wall, all would be fine, but for a standing pose it's simply too much. CHeck out some reference photos for a more accurate pose. You just have to re-draw the legs.
Another thing I just wanted to know: Is it intended that she has arms like a midget? I don't know but I think it's fun to draw gangstaz with arms like midgets and I really like it.

[AlexHW]

just because she's upright doesn't mean she needs to be standing straight. Bissle said it wasn't suppose to be a solid stance, she could be dancing or having some momentum involved with her position. We don't even know where the floor is anyways, so all these observations are only conjecture.
You're new edit Bissle look nice. The hat looks well rendered and the hands seem to be coming along.
While the arms look short, this could be due to how they are shaded(how the form is curved).. for instance the elbow closest to us- the shading on the arm near the joint goes this way ).. when I think it would look better this way ( ..
You may need to lengthen the top of the arm anyways as it is hard to bend you arm that far back like that.

[Bissle]

"Gangstaz need to be cool, they don't need balance!!"

Haha, love it!

I don't know; both Cyangmou and Alex have some points. I was definitely going for a drunken stance, so perfect balance is undesirable, but at the same time, there is something about the legs that make the pose not look entirely right to me. The original stance stance looked really really bad, hence why I changed the right leg. Now I'm not liking how the left leg looks; I have the feeling that if she were to be standing perfectly straight, one would be longer than the other. Either way, her legs require more attention.

Now regarding the arms, I didn't even realize it until it was pointed out to me! Even foreshortening doesn't excuse the length of the arms, particularly the right one. The stubby fingers are just me sucking at hands. XD

Back to the drawing board! Hopefully will be able to update this tomorrow morning. Thanks for the C+C so far!

EDIT 6/27/2012:

Finally able to update this.

I started off trying to figure out what was off about the balance. Cyangmou's edit gave me an idea, but I was still stumped. I did some more resrach on balance, posture, center of gravity. I tried to make that pose myself in a mirror. I took off the clothing layer and made a line of balance myself. (Underwear added because I don't feel like adding a [Barbie doll nudity] tag.  ).

   

Which led to...



I lengthened the arms, changed her left arm entirely, and modified the legs and feet to put them on the same plane. The changes I made to the legs are kinda subtle; I don't want to drastically change the pose, but if it needs to happen, it needs to happen.

[Cyangmou]

Definitely better than before. Usually if it's a stand it's always balnced. Even drunk are balanced in some way, but they are walking in small steps at their place, or so. I don't have exactly your picture in my mind, but I think it'd be better if you scribble your animation with line-drawings first, before you carry on with drawing out your sprite, because otherwise it could be that you have to rework all again.

Also some vids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yg7KL4v1w0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SPjy5RlqFE

They are out of balance, like yours, but the walk backwards... my edit is maybe not the best if you imagined somewhat different.

I simply balanced your sprite more with the steps I showed you in the scheme above (red arrows, a bit exaggerated, just to make it clear). This would be more neutral and static then.
Her hands are a bit big. making them smaller would give her a more lady-like appeareance.
It's also herd to see how her arms are bend, but usually the handwrist is at the same height level as the end of the torso in a static front view.

[Bissle]

I hate that it got to the point where you had to edit the sprite for me to understand, but I appreciate it beyond words. In addition to being more balanced your pose is more pleasing to the eye than mine. Her arms are supposed to be partially stretched out, and none of my attempts really make it look that way at all. Time to dust off the sketchbook and do some heavy referencing before I continue.  Those big hands and stubby fingers are going to a nightmare to get right!