AuthorTopic: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite  (Read 12875 times)

Offline Linaru

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #30 on: September 27, 2015, 12:47:55 am
I wanted to give this a shot for some time since i'm a fan of unnecessarily long legs for female characters. (or generally disproportionate but still kind of working anatomy)

I think the lack of contrast in your piece is not just a matter of value (lightness) but also of color.
I'm no expert on the topic but as far as i understand it different hues at the same value (in HSV) can appear darker or brighter, so choosing a different color(hue) at the same lightness can increase your contrast as well. Combining those will create contrast not just in color but also brightness, or some-such. The theory is really weird for me, but i think i sort of start to get a feeling for it anyways.

Your skin  currently is very light and flat, the shadow turns towards grey which doesn't make it feel very alive. Also the way you shaded creates only a sort of banding gradient towards the furthest distance from the light. it seems very generic and doesn't play with the forms of the anatomy or pose.

finally i felt it is really weird that the body seemingly faces straight forward (towards the viewer) while the head and the arms suggest an i'm going right motion.



I quite like the hair and upper body on your version tough I feel the skin has way to much contrast.. it almost looks as if she has some kind of skin rash?
its certainly given me some ideas..   

as for lighting that's something I was trying to keep out of the character at this level.
this character has become a very early rough version / practice for a game project and our programmer wants to add dynamic lighting.
so i have been trying to draw the character without any directional light on them, that would probably be layered on top somehow.
i admit i have not really worked out the mechanics of it one of the reasons I am sharing and trying to get peoples opinions .

the pose is definitely wrong, when you strip away the baggy trousers the long leg shape has caused me some issues working out poses. id like to build her up as a sort of ,metroidvanian style sprite sheet, left and right movement of walking running jumping etc.
so i guess this pose better fits some sort of idle stand.

as i mentioned earlier in the post my experience in pixel art is quite limited and this kind of proportionate character is new to me.

I have been working on a level mock-up for a day or so to get a better feel for how the character should look and I am experiencing similar issues with colour and contrast there.
it seems my opinions on what looks right conflict with alot of peoples advice, maybe the style i'm aiming for does not fit the colour pallette.
Linaru Greyfall

Offline Linaru

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #31 on: September 27, 2015, 01:38:26 pm
did a rework using the new colour palette i have worked out.

and took some inspiration from wzl's example to improve the shading in a few areas.

Linaru Greyfall

Offline lachrymose

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #32 on: September 27, 2015, 02:31:47 pm
It has certainly come a long way.  :y:

It would probably help to get rid of that background though, switch to the background you are using for your tiles in the other thread of yours.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2015, 02:40:01 pm by lachrymose »

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #33 on: September 28, 2015, 07:38:04 am
Remember that you don't always have to unify all ramps. In this case, keeping the skin ramp separate seems to work for me. It delineates different body parts nicely.

Offline Linaru

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #34 on: September 29, 2015, 02:26:04 pm
Well I want to say thank you to all of you for helping, I have learnt allot developing this character. there 's a lot of difference from those 8X and 16X sprites i have done before.

now that I have an idea of the overall style and how to draw it I want to work on making up a character sprite sheet and animating it.
as the characters for a side on metroidvanian type of game i am not sure the initial pose is right to use for a standing angle.
i am also thinking the main character should use a bow, with diagonal and straight aim, tough i am not sure how to animate a firing animation while the character is moving etc.

I am also aware there are different animating techniques some which are handled by the engine.
example: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/33829
not sure what would work best for this art style.

if you have an advice or thoughts before i get to deep into it id appreciate the input.


Edit:
Started mocking up a new archer character sprite base.

a few variations as i am still a little sure which looks bits look best

have also been researching different animating methods
« Last Edit: September 30, 2015, 01:37:16 pm by Linaru »
Linaru Greyfall

Offline Ambivorous

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #35 on: October 01, 2015, 11:34:53 am
My thoughts on this:


I changed the light source and worked with the silhouette a little. I also changed the colours used because I could not get a happy medium with the pallet provided.

Legs were too thick, pants only needed two colours and the hood looked odd (as well as the hair coming out of it).
Changed the hands a little and I was removing string pixels as I went and didn't bother re-adding them because you actually can't see the string normally as it crosses over people.

I actually do archery as an aside, but this pose is good enough to fool someone who doesn't, so don't worry too much about it.
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