As the title says, and I based the character structure off the Mighty Final Fight design. Sorry for the long read.
See, I say 'structure' because I still wanted the freedom to not make the character into a full-blown anime art style.
I wanted to keep the western art style origins, but still incorporate the exaggerated amount of muscles.
The way I went about this is that, using the Hagaar sprite for example, instead of making patterns with two pixels, I used three in some areas. Because of Johnny's design, I refused to use any kind of 'optical illusions' and made sure to make it clear that his legs are stick thin.
The character doesn't 'fit' in a violent video game. He'd definitely be a comedic choice, being a great contrast to the genre and the other characters, thus the pose.
I always envisioned Johnny as a tall person IRL, so I made sure to make it clear that his legs have more pixels in them. If you could make it out, his legs would be 8 pixels tall if his arms weren't in the way.
I based his pose on an Arnold Schwarzenegger pose. I chose it because, to me, it speaks to his character - Johnny's more interested in his muscles than he is beating up other people that are going to hurt him, which is within his character, I feel.
I used my own sketch and Arnold's pic for reference, a Johnny Bravo picture, and I mainly used the Hagaar sprite for general guidance in terms of the height of the character.
This sprite proved more difficult than I thought, but problem-solving the shapes was easier than expected.
Please give me any critiques you can find/think of.
I'm taking a break for a little while now. Gonna be playin' Spider-Man PS4! (Please, no spoilers for ANYTHING!)
Johnny Bravo sprite:
Johnny Bravo pic:
http://hindimecartoon.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/johnny-bravo.jpgArnold's pic:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81T-pmhNYFL._SY679_.jpgHagaar sprite used: