AuthorTopic: Turtle Sprite Help?  (Read 5745 times)

Offline ninhja

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

Turtle Sprite Help?

on: March 30, 2014, 08:26:37 pm
Hi,

I'm working on making a directly top-down sprite of a turtle for my game. I'm trying to use a style similar to the style used in the game Fez, but for some reason my turtle looks kind of weird. Can anybody help me out? I'm still a beginner

Here's my turtle:

Here's the character from Fez, with the style I'm trying to capture:

Offline Manupix

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 317
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • Pixeljoint gallery

Re: Turtle Sprite Help?

Reply #1 on: March 30, 2014, 08:48:33 pm
Please don't post images so large that they don't fit on the page.  :'(
Also even if the final art is intended to be upscaled, post 1x pixels because: 1- we can click-zoom in, and 2- people might want to make edits and this is difficult with upscaled pieces.

So far it's hard to see how this is inspired by the Fez reference, as it is a more realistic character.
The Fez angle of view + shading allows a somewhat 3D feeling; I don't know how you plan to make this work top-down.

Do you have other stuff to show? It might be wise to experiment with big options like this before committing too much work on a sprite.

Offline cels

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 380
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/32715.htm
    • View Profile

Re: Turtle Sprite Help?

Reply #2 on: March 30, 2014, 08:57:02 pm
Don't listen to Manupix, he's so grumpy.  :P

I made an edit of the turtle's eyes, using a slightly different colour.

Offline ninhja

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

Re: Turtle Sprite Help?

Reply #3 on: March 30, 2014, 10:31:33 pm
@Manupix: Haha, I'm sorry, what I did was I too a snippit of my piece, so it's scaled up. I'll post the original scale next time.
And I tried to mimic the simplistic style of the Fez character; there's no black border, and the guy is probably like 20x20, so very small. So it's very simple, whereas a pokemon sprite for example would have many more colors, a black border, and would probably be like 40x40.

@cels: Thanks for the help. What do you think of the shape of the shell? Should I keep it the way it is, or make it more like a rounded rectangle, kind of like the shape of the character's head from Fez?

Offline ninhja

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

Re: Turtle Sprite Help?

Reply #4 on: March 30, 2014, 10:35:06 pm
Here is the smaller image by the way. It's totally blurry...

« Last Edit: March 30, 2014, 10:38:31 pm by ninhja »

Offline HarveyDentMustDie

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 469
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • I dream too much.
    • View Profile
    • Deviant Art

Re: Turtle Sprite Help?

Reply #5 on: March 30, 2014, 11:04:58 pm
@Cels Hahahahah....  ;D

@ninhja Read this tutorial -> http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299  it contain a lot of useful information for you.

Quick edit (not as good as Cels but what can you do :))

Offline Manupix

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 317
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • Pixeljoint gallery

Re: Turtle Sprite Help?

Reply #6 on: March 30, 2014, 11:26:40 pm
It's totally blurry...

Not in Firefox  ;D (something about browser bilinear filtering vs website fixes; same thing over at Pixeljoint)

And I tried to mimic the simplistic style of the Fez character; there's no black border, and the guy is probably like 20x20, so very small. So it's very simple, whereas a pokemon sprite for example would have many more colors, a black border, and would probably be like 40x40.

There's more to the Fez style than this. A quasi-3D feel thanks to shading and angle of view, extreme stylization of character volumes, etc.


Don't listen to Manupix, he's so grumpy.  :P

Offline ninhja

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

Re: Turtle Sprite Help?

Reply #7 on: March 31, 2014, 03:40:45 am
@HarveyDentMustDie: Thanks for the link, and the edit! I really like the more realistic approach to the turtle (although I'm still going to try to keep a stylized look my my turtle)

@Manupix: This might be a better indicator of what I'm after: http://www.sketchypictures.com/1510/pixel-art-in-photoshop/
Since my image doesn't quite look like Fez in terms of style (which is why I'm here in the first place), could you suggest some improvements. Or will this style not work for a top-down view.

Offline Manupix

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 317
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • Pixeljoint gallery

Re: Turtle Sprite Help?

Reply #8 on: March 31, 2014, 11:44:00 pm
Yikes, the blasphemous ways of this tuto!  :o
I kid, I kid! If hybrid is what you want to do, go for it ;)

I can't really suggest anything specific, but I can say this.
As a beginner, you should aim to get a bit more experience before starting to work on a game. Take some time to experiment with various styles and techniques, study other artists, copy their work if needed to understand their choices. Then when you do start on your game, take even more time to try out several options before deciding on one.

If you don't do the first, you might find you noticeably improve after each new piece, and soon the early game assets will look bad compared to the newer work.
If you don't do the second, you will run into style inconsistencies. In both cases, discouragement will ensue, and you don't need that.