[C+C] Character Sprite & Idle Animation - Native American Inspired Character

[ErekT]

The problem I think is that there's no clear markers to identify this as a native American fella, as opposed to say, a Celt for instance.

That's the point I took away from PPD's edit anyway. Simple symbolism is very effective at this res. Maybe try and find some middle-road?

[Friend]

Or study Native American warrior garb and go for an outfit that you find that somewhat diverges from the stereotypical

[PixelPiledriver]

But unfortunately it's a bit too stereotypical and I don't want to offend anyone!

Gah.
I was hoping you wouldn't say something like that.
Stereotypical?
Who would you be offending exactly?

It doesn't mean much, as I'm not very attached to my culture or offended by most things.
But I'm native american, and something like this doesn't offend me.
In fact a warrior like this symbolizes a stable and proud moment of that culture's history.

Maybe you could call it offensive if you drew an ugly man kicking his alcoholic wife and titled it:
"Just another day in the wigwam for TatankaFace and Pochajaundice"
Still I would find that funny.
So I'm not really the best person to ask.

It's ok if you want to do something that is inspired by native americans, rather than is native american.
But relax on thinking that it's offensive to draw something that closely symbolizes what it's supposed to be.
That is going to put a very thick mental road block in front of you when working with any sort of human/culture related art.
Smash it.

[wzl]

That is going to put a very thick mental road block in front of you when working with any sort of human/culture related art.
Smash it.

whatever you do in art, it is pretty much bound to offend someone. your character is to me not symbolizing a native american at all, it could be a hunter gatherer from any period or location. stereotypes are there for a reason. they exist because it is what we loosely identify as an ethnic group or ..group of people.. for lack of a better term. dont restrict yourself by that though. like ppd said. it will put mental blocks on yourself that will not help you.

if you dont want to go for the stereotypical depiction of a native american thats totally your thing though. just keep in mind that if you want to communicate a native american, something should be there to make the viewer recognize it. be it  the character, clothing, surrounding environments or skills/tools/weapons they use, or any combination thereof.

[pipster818]

I have a somewhat drastic suggestion, please feel free to disregard it. I think you should try making the character a woman. I thought it was a woman at first, and it seems like most other people did as well. But the thing is, I didn't think it was badly drawn. I just thought it was a well drawn female. So if you're having trouble making it look male, why not go the opposite direction, and make it explicitly female?


As for the discussion of what is offensive/stereotypical, I think you can't go wrong if you just accurately portray the appearance of an actual tribe. I think it's only really offensive if it's unrealistic and if it mixes clothing from two different cultures and pretends they're the same.


Or alternatively, you could leave the character's ethnicity ambiguous and just call it a "bowman" or "bow woman" or something like that. Right now it's in the slightly awkward stage of being called native american, but not actually looking much like it.


As for the animation and overall drawing quality, I don't really have anything to add, I think this is already quite good.

[lachrymose]

The irony here being that in an attempt to not offend anyone, you've basically whitewashed the character. An action that most certainly would offend certain circles. So I'd like to reiterate what others have already said. No matter what you do, you could potentially offend someone. Don't let that be a cause for you to limit your artwork though.

[tsej]

 
I think it still needs a LOT of work, I'm trying to refine it.
Hey! I was a little busy for the past few days, I'm back now. 

In hindsight, I should've phrased my post and title better, sorry.

@PixelPileDriver - I agree. I'm sorry. I have decided to be free, then! I tried to study your edit and remade the character.

@wzl - I agree. thank you.

@pipster818 - Hey! That's a very good suggestion, I'll do it with a different character (Basically, I'll try to make a male and female version). I don't want to give it up, if that makes sense? But I definitely see where you're coming from. Thank you.
I was helped by atnas and ambi, that's why it is decent

@lachrymose I agree, I will remember this in the future. Thank you!

[Ambivorous]

Useful discussion about stereotypes. Thanks everyone.

Tsej, you don't need to use outlines to define forms. Use your values.
I make edit.



So his chest and stomach I define using light. I also bulked him up a little and changed his pose to be slightly more edgy. Added the square chin for man points and when I think of native americans I think strong chin for some reason?
Reduced colours, added more contrast, corrected light source issues (keep in mind I didn't keep my lightsource too consistent in this one). The normal stuff.

Looking cool man keep it up.