To outline or not

[Vivace]

I wanted to try my hand at the Castlevania DS style of character sprite
But I'm not sure if I should use a hard outline with it.

With the outline the sprite looks crisper and clearer.
Without the outline I fear the sprite might be lost or hard to read against a detailed background.

On the other hand, there is something about the outline-less sprite that draws me towards it.
So I'm stuck - what do?

[PypeBros]

black outline create such a contrast that everything else looks pale against it. So yes, it's easier to read, but its internal details got lost. Imho, the outline-less sprite is superior.

It somehow require that the background is adjusted to the contrast of the sprite, that's granted. The pale blue shirt might bring you really hard time to that regards (in outdoor scenes, that is), and it would be worth to investigate more vivid tones so that your palette of lower-saturation colours available for background don't turn all greys.

If somewhere in a castle's interior such a character became lost on a detailed backgorund tapestry, I'd be tempted to add a shadow sprite behind her that reduces constrast of the tapestry nearby.

[Vivace]

What a wonderful idea! Thank you.
I will go with the outline-less sprite and also play with the palette some.
I appreciate the input.

[Arne]

I like to do a shadow type outline when I'm unsure... i.e. a darker outline at the bottom of the forms and a colored one at the top, or a lost one (partially none).

The problem with this approach is that the figure can look like a cardboard cutout if the internal details are low contrast.

Quick PO. Couldn't really tell what was going on with her garb.

[alex pang]

I like to do a shadow type outline when I'm unsure... i.e. a darker outline at the bottom of the forms and a colored one at the top, or a lost one (partially none).

The problem with this approach is that the figure can look like a cardboard cutout if the internal details are low contrast.

I agreed, shadow outline (nice word btw) looks great!
To avoid cutout look the thing to do is to have a high dynamic range in sprites. That means, that you should try use more varied palette, making some colors darker and others lighter.