NES-style Rpg Character Critique

[Kunu]

I'm doing a personal project and creating an RPG for myself in the NES style (including it's limitations).
I've created this main character, and there's not much to her, but I'm sure I can improve her - I used some Zelda I and Dragon Warrior sprites as inspiration for her, and she is made up of 4 colors (including transparency as a color) and limited to a 16x16 area.

Any critique or advice, etc. on her style and cycles will be appreciated, Thank you.

Here is her sprite, and also her walk cycles.

[CFKaligula]

I think your biggest problem is that your colours arent picked very well. You should choose them so that you can use them so you can also use them for shading and highlights. Your sprite also isn't very readable, his left arm (our right) doesn't look like an arm at all. His feet also  point towards each other which looks very awkward.

Here is an edit I did with some differenct colours. YOu can see the purple is a darker colour than the pink so i could use it to shade the hair.


About your animations, they are very rigid, almost no movement, you should try adding some bounce and some arm movement. If a person walks he doesnt just move his legs up and down.

[Kunu]

I think your biggest problem is that your colours arent picked very well. You should choose them so that you can use them so you can also use them for shading and highlights. Your sprite also isn't very readable, his left arm (our right) doesn't look like an arm at all. His feet also  point towards each other which looks very awkward.

Here is an edit I did with some differenct colours. YOu can see the purple is a darker colour than the pink so i could use it to shade the hair.


About your animations, they are very rigid, almost no movement, you should try adding some bounce and some arm movement. If a person walks he doesnt just move his legs up and down.

Very straight forward points thank you, I'm happy that you pointed out the left arm and legs, as I realize now that I didn't properly convey them. As she is a medieval character, the part which makes it look like her feet point inward is the flap of a gambeson/leather coat and I didn't notice that before.

Here's a quick edit to convey those ideas clearer, and hopefully it does.

[heyguy]

Lost my message so I'll make this quick and blunt. Look up Final Fantasy 3 on the NES and other later end NES RPG stuff. You need arms swinging, an up and down bounce and secondary details. Secondary details like the sword swinging or hair bouncing.




I like the changes CFKaligua made, especially the eye details I recommend you keep. I like the little toes CFK made too. It's that kind of little details that can make a simple low res character that much more interesting.

[Sersch]

Your second version already looks better, her hair could be at least one pixel thicker at the top, right now it looks a bit like top of her head was cut off.

[Kunu]

Really appreciating the feedback on something not as complex and detailed as the rest of the posts here!

Lost my message so I'll make this quick and blunt. Look up Final Fantasy 3 on the NES and other later end NES RPG stuff. You need arms swinging, an up and down bounce and secondary details. Secondary details like the sword swinging or hair bouncing.




I like the changes CFKaligua made, especially the eye details I recommend you keep. I like the little toes CFK made too. It's that kind of little details that can make a simple low res character that much more interesting.

Thanks HeyGuy, yeah I looked at a lot of later era NES top downs, but felt like the style of the first few top downs just appeal to me a little more - I'm not sure why, maybe the simplicity or humbleness of the art that time. I'm trying to get a nice balance between not-too-detailed but still aesthetic, here are some examples I lean towards;




I really liked CFK's details too, especially the eyes so I edited it into a new one now, also I did make a more detailed movement animation to see how it looks, let me know if you like it more than the rigid animations and if it still fits with the earlier NES rpgs

Your second version already looks better, her hair could be at least one pixel thicker at the top, right now it looks a bit like top of her head was cut off.

Thank you, I agree on the hair, so I altered that, and tried to make her a little more defined, let me know what you guys think;











Also I made some variations, with equip-able/interchangeable helms and was wondering if giving her belt buckles or belt-slits would make her too detailed or if it works - let me know if you like any of them.