AuthorTopic: [C+C] Adventurer girl idle, running, blocking... Any advice?  (Read 4309 times)

Offline ChromeWisp

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Hi, everypeople! I'm trying to figure out this whole pixel art thing for a small game project. After consuming a few tutorials I've made some adventurer/warrior girl sprites, but I thought before I go too far I should ask other people for their thoughts on what I can do better (and hopefully on something I'm doing right? ;D) and I would be super grateful for any advice on anything here. So here's what I have so far, with and without outlines for comparison...

Idle

Running

Blocking

Offline aamatniekss

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Re: [C+C] Adventurer girl idle, running, blocking... Any advice?

Reply #1 on: February 06, 2016, 08:50:53 am
Looks pretty cool! I think it looks better with the outlines, much more readable. Maybe you could try implementing coloured outlines. Like in places where it's lighter make the outline be a lighter colour, but in places where it's supposed to be darker, make it darker.

Offline pipster818

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Re: [C+C] Adventurer girl idle, running, blocking... Any advice?

Reply #2 on: February 06, 2016, 09:01:50 am
Looks good, but I am not sure if I like the way she holds her sword when she runs. It seems unwieldy to hold it behind her like that, and to let it flop around so much. Seems like it would slow her down and hurt her wrist. It also leaves her vulnerable to attack.


I think it would look better if she was pointing the sword at about a 45 degree angle, up/forward from her body, and holding it taut.

Offline ChromeWisp

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Re: [C+C] Adventurer girl idle, running, blocking... Any advice?

Reply #3 on: February 07, 2016, 03:42:31 am
Looks pretty cool! I think it looks better with the outlines, much more readable. Maybe you could try implementing coloured outlines. Like in places where it's lighter make the outline be a lighter colour, but in places where it's supposed to be darker, make it darker.
Thank you! Do you have any examples I could maybe look at that are like you describe? I tried what I think you meant but I'm not sure I have the idea right. or maybe

Looks good, but I am not sure if I like the way she holds her sword when she runs. It seems unwieldy to hold it behind her like that, and to let it flop around so much. Seems like it would slow her down and hurt her wrist. It also leaves her vulnerable to attack.



I think it would look better if she was pointing the sword at about a 45 degree angle, up/forward from her body, and holding it taut.
Thanks! Ah, yeah that makes sense. I think I was trying to have the sword out to her side but yeah forward seems much more natural now that I think about it. So, something like this?: Or more like another 45 degrees up from there?

Offline StarRaven

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Re: [C+C] Adventurer girl idle, running, blocking... Any advice?

Reply #4 on: February 07, 2016, 10:42:38 pm

The boundary between her hair and face is really indistinct, and her face seems really empty. There's plenty of space there for more features, but there are none. Some of your colors really run together -- don't be afraid to push up the contrast! Anyway, this is far from perfect but maybe it will give you some ideas~

I like your run and idle animations! The blocking one just looks like she's posing with the shield though.

Offline Kazuya Mochu

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Re: [C+C] Adventurer girl idle, running, blocking... Any advice?

Reply #5 on: February 07, 2016, 11:52:01 pm
Yeah adding outlines as darkers shades of the sprite colors, or some selective outlining would bring the sprite into a new level. Animations look good. sword looks a bit stiff though
Image size doesn't matter! It's what you do with your pixels that counts!

Offline pipster818

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Re: [C+C] Adventurer girl idle, running, blocking... Any advice?

Reply #6 on: February 10, 2016, 07:09:30 am
The new sword position is definitely better. I was imagining it pointing towards the upper-right corner of the screen, but the way you did it works fine as well. The most important thing is for it to look natural when she runs.

Offline ChromeWisp

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Re: [C+C] Adventurer girl idle, running, blocking... Any advice?

Reply #7 on: February 13, 2016, 12:46:17 am

The boundary between her hair and face is really indistinct, and her face seems really empty. There's plenty of space there for more features, but there are none. Some of your colors really run together -- don't be afraid to push up the contrast! Anyway, this is far from perfect but maybe it will give you some ideas~

I like your run and idle animations! The blocking one just looks like she's posing with the shield though.
Oh man, I totally see what you mean now. I messed around with the colors, the shades are a bit further apart, and the hair colors look more natural than the previous neon yellow. Hopefully blends in with the face less:
I know yours still does that much better but I'm kinda stuck because I like the skin as it is now even though it still doesn't contrast too much with the hair! I dunno, I'll keep messing with it... As for the face-blankness, I admit I kinda wanted that on purpose because I like the look of characters like from Journey or Konjak's Iconoclasts() with just the eyes visible most of the time - though your version with the nose looks super cute I have to admit, and I also added just a bit of an elf ear sticking through the hair on the left. I floofed the hair out more too, and while I think it looks better overall I kinda worry the head's too big now, crossing into a more cartoony look than I'm after. Maybe I'm just being dumb and I'll get used to it, lol. Also, any ideas on making the shield block look more like blocking, other than adding frames for actually taking a hit with the shield?
Yeah adding outlines as darkers shades of the sprite colors, or some selective outlining would bring the sprite into a new level. Animations look good. sword looks a bit stiff though
Outlining has been the hardest part for me to figure out I think. That's why I thought I'd cheap out and just use a solid color all the way around, and give each player character a different color (blue, green, etc.) and then I could even have the outlines flash to a brighter shade when they were near death or something neat like that. But either way I do still want to make a better natural outline without having to tack that on. With the sword stiffness, would it help if I added a third frame for it to bounce a little further down?
The new sword position is definitely better. I was imagining it pointing towards the upper-right corner of the screen, but the way you did it works fine as well. The most important thing is for it to look natural when she runs.
Phew, that's good to hear. I was also considering having her sword arm swing up when she runs to look more like actual running - if the sword turns up more when she does that maybe it'll look even better than what I've got now.  ::)

Offline Unnamed1334

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Re: [C+C] Adventurer girl idle, running, blocking... Any advice?

Reply #8 on: February 13, 2016, 03:16:41 am
Also, any ideas on making the shield block look more like blocking, other than adding frames for actually taking a hit with the shield?

I made some edits to the final blocking pose to try to give you some ideas about what you could edit:


What I edited was:
1) Using the new sword. I think the position looks more combat ready.
2) Moving the head down 1 pixel to  try to give a stronger idea of hiding behind the shield.
3) Moved the front foot back by 1 pixel. It looked weird to me for the character to be blocking and sticking her foot out so far.
4) Moved the eyes to the right to try to make it look more like the character is focusing on the thing that is being blocked.
5) Added 2 pixels to the back foot to try to to give a stronger foot position.

Most of these changes were to try to rotate the character towards the incoming attack and away from the player so that could be something to change.

Offline StarRaven

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Re: [C+C] Adventurer girl idle, running, blocking... Any advice?

Reply #9 on: February 13, 2016, 03:33:43 am
Well, the character in Journey both isn't human (probably?) and has a hood and scarf obscuring their features. That character there has a much shorter/lower face. It's not so much that there's no features, but that there's no features despite the fact that there's room for them.

I think the sprite is hugely improved.  :y: :lol:

Here's some more ideas to consider: