AuthorTopic: Sprite critique needed  (Read 2082 times)

Offline Cementovich

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Sprite critique needed

on: November 10, 2018, 07:53:08 am
My first time doing a 8 directional sprite. Could you please tell me what could I improve?

There is also a 3 frame walking animation on the second row.

Offline Zanorin

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Re: Sprite critique needed

Reply #1 on: November 10, 2018, 08:41:02 am
Looks good to me, except the guy's hood in the first row 2, 3 and 4th position, it looks flat and badly lit.

Could you please post an animated gif? It's difficult to judge an animation by just looking at separate still frames. :)
Half a noob figuring out stuff.

Offline Cementovich

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Re: Sprite critique needed

Reply #2 on: November 10, 2018, 09:00:33 am
Thank you for the feedback!
Animation. It actually looks strange that the hood doesn't move, but I didn't find any neat way to make it better

Also tried to fix the hood lighting
« Last Edit: November 10, 2018, 09:31:01 am by Cementovich »

Offline Zanorin

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Re: Sprite critique needed

Reply #3 on: November 10, 2018, 10:10:22 am

Cheap trick : moved the first and third frame a pixel down to get a bob-like motion.
I find the frames in which the two feet are on the same level weird, generally speaking one shouldn't use the idle pose as an in-between frame for a walking animation.

Edit incoming ! I got the impression from your hood shading that you were thinking "I've got the front-view that looks fine, so I'm gonna rotate that and try to keep the same shading". Instead, try seeing the side-view as a different object and shade it from scratch, sticking to your lightsource. Some parts were also a bit pillowshaded so I tried fixing that too.

The second row is the same spritesheet from which I've removed one color that was almost the same as another.
Pixel art follows different rules than traditional art does : few well-contrasting values > lots of slightly different values that create a gradient.
Half a noob figuring out stuff.

Offline pistachio

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Re: Sprite critique needed

Reply #4 on: November 10, 2018, 10:10:46 am
This little guy needs to throw his shoulders/hips into the walk cycle if he is not an action figure, some head bob is gonna add something too. When you've got that down the robe should follow that. Hard to play out the follow-thru of cloth in 3 frames so just exaggerate the shape of it  there I'd say.

You move with your body way more than you realize, animation is all about the big forces way more than it is about the little details.

Offline Cementovich

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Re: Sprite critique needed

Reply #5 on: November 10, 2018, 10:55:51 am
Zanorin, I actually tried to give the hood some kind of form using lighting, but as I see it's not the best idea with a picture of this size. Thank you for the edits, the sprite without one color looks much better.
That frame when two feet are on the same level makes sense for me, because there is a similar moment in a walk cycle, but I guess I should redact it a bit.

pistachio, I tried using head bobbing, it seemed to give too much movement. Also thanks you for the tips, just realized that the shoulders are on the same level on all frames, that needs an improvement too.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2018, 12:04:50 pm by Cementovich »

Offline Cementovich

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Re: Sprite critique needed

Reply #6 on: November 10, 2018, 12:18:05 pm
Adjusted the timings, changed the shoulders and used the trick that Zanorin showed


(should've added this to the previous message instead of creating a new one)
« Last Edit: November 10, 2018, 12:20:41 pm by Cementovich »