KOF Style

[Soup]

Update:

It supposed to be in King of Fighters Style.

[Alucard]

Odd piece of work you got there 

Its pretty good since it has a well done consistant shading style but it doesn't really look like snail is inside the shell more like it is its own being standing in front of a rock

[Cow]

I'm sorry.

[Ryona]

Hahaha! Hilarious, mccow. 

Oh, and cute snails, Soup.

[Opacus]

I think you need to make the spiral in his back, and the way his shell is shaded looks flat atm. But I like the character 

[Soup]

I'm sorry.

HAHAHAH. That is hilarious.
But I was wondering does anyone think it looks too blocky?

[TheAbyss]

Yes I think it looks too blocky. And the shell looks less like a shell and more like a potato sack.

[Soup]

Do you think this fixes up the blockeyeness.

[TheAbyss]

One question. What did you do to it?

[Soup]

One question. What did you do to it?

I posted the wrong link
But I redid it again, this time a human version of my character.
It is the Second Row First Sprite

[TheAbyss]

1.  I like those sprites. 2. So from what I'm understanding, the cactus/snail guy has been turned into the guy with the top hat....type thing on? ....I thought you were going to make it more roundish?

[Soup]

1.  I like those sprites. 2. So from what I'm understanding, the cactus/snail guy has been turned into the guy with the top hat....type thing on? ....I thought you were going to make it more roundish?

The style we were going for does not envolve snails. So I thought what would my character look a person.
Sorry for the confusion.

[Soup]

[yosh64]

hey

Looking at your latest update, I must say that it doesn't resemble the KOF style much at all.

I think the KOF style has quite noticable primitives in the way it's shaded. Well this is less noticeable in clothing, but I think you can kinda break the characters down into their primitives. I dunno, I'm no expert. The anatomy on the arm looks very odd, and the shading looks pillowy. Hmm, I think you should go for a distinct light source from above, rather than from the front.

Hah, been looking for a certain SNK/KOF character for the past couple of hours or so. Haven't managed to find it yet, takes ages on my slow 56Kbit dialup connection. Anyhows, I remember that this character shows what I think is the essense of the SNK/KOF style, so yea I wanna find it for ya. This character was like grey, with really big long arms, and bent/arched back, and was bald. Maybe someone knows who I'm talking about? but please, I don't mean to send this thread off topic, so if you know maybe you could PM me so I can confirm.

I think it's a great challenge to mimic the KOF style, as I think it's quite a brilliant style.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

edit
I don't mean to intrude on your workflow, if you have established one for pixel art. But I would advise that you complete your fighters design, pose and stuff before starting on the shading and such . Ohh, and if it's meant to be a fighter sprite, then I think it's a tad too large.

cya

[Kamae]

Hah, been looking for a certain SNK/KOF character for the past couple of hours or so. Haven't managed to find it yet, takes ages on my slow 56Kbit dialup connection. Anyhows, I remember that this character shows what I think is the essense of the SNK/KOF style, so yea I wanna find it for ya. This character was like grey, with really big long arms, and bent/arched back, and was bald. Maybe someone knows who I'm talking about?

Lin, maybe?

[Helm]

Soup, study anatomy and the fundamentals of art generally. Pixel art and 'KOF style' hold nothing for you at this time.

[Jad]

Helm, dangit, stop telling him to get off the board just because he hasn't mastered the basics. People learn stuff in the most wondrous ways. I've learnt a lot about how to make traditional art from pixel practise, mainly because in some aspects it has interested me more.

(ah, noticed that your point was not to stop him doing pixel art but study the necessary, I agree wholeheartedly (what a wonderful word.))


---


Anyways, Helm has a point. The way you construct your image is sure to render the result way different than you intended to.



This is non-anatomical as hell and made in a few seconds (plus I'm a lowdown regarding art right now, nothing seems to work out :\) but still manages to get a point through;

Get them basic shapes down before you do ANYTHING detailwise with your character. If you think you can have his anatomy and shape in your head and then trace it, detail by detail from a blueprint in your head, you're surely going to fail, at least if you're a bit like me.

So I say, get his WHOLE body shape down right now-

-or suit yourself   

[Helm]

Helm, dangit, stop telling him to get off the board just because he hasn't mastered the basics.

He's twelve. If you want to become a good artist, at 12, you don't utter the words 'KOF style'. You just draw, draw, draw, draw. Piece of paper, draw not until you're a master, but until you're okay enough to start bothering with learning a specific medium - in this case, pixel art.

People learn stuff in the most wondrous ways.

Some of these ways lead to artistic stagnation and self-entrapment. Like some people who learn from copying KOF sprites, and all they end up doing is... copying KOF sprites forever. Not understanding why KOF sprites are as they are, but aping how they look. For one, I wish for people to have the proper ways to grow as artists. That's through fully-rounded studies in art. So if someone asks me my opinion on this, I say, fully indulge yourself in drawing for a long time, actively study aesthetics, composition, anatomy, so on. And then look at a KOF sprite for what it really is: professional aplication of those same skills.

[flaber]

not to counter point you helm
but dropping it altogether isnt necessarily the only route.
I agree with you on your points except for

but until you're okay enough to start bothering with learning a specific medium - in this case, pixel art.

I originally joined pixelation when I was 12, 4 years ago.
I found pixelling to help me learn more about colour theory and linework.
Even if you are unable to pixel well, you may still be able to take something away from the medium.

I do strongly agree with you though, about dont just study KOF sprites and mimmick them. Rather, learn true anatomy and real proportions in order to understand why the designed the sprite the way they did. Once you understand what is real and proper can you then exagerate and form a style from. Dont study someone else's style because then your adaptation will be that much further from real, making it look awkward and unproportioned.

I just wanted to say, not to be fully discouraged from pixelart as it can still serve a purpose in the learning curve, but the majority of your time as helm mentioned should be on paper studying realistics, and practicing and drawing over and over.

[Helm]

I'll give you that some people can start pixel art at 12 and benefit from it. I guess pixelation helps in that regard. My art when I was 12 was in such a preliminary state I just cringe at the possibility of pixel art versions of it. But then again I joined pixelation when I was about 16... 7 years ago, gosh, and I it did help me lots then.

But if I were to be brutally honest, had I spent those 7 years persuing real media and proper graphic arts studies and were I to start pixel art now as a 22 year old person, I'd probably reach my technical level in 6 months... plus, I'd be more skilled in said graphic arts and real media.

There's not much to pixel art. The only thing that cannot be attained in 6 months by a talented and studied person (like say, Snake, who had this sort of evolution while he's been here) in pixel art, is the time spent thinking about the aesthetic implications of the medium.

[yosh64]

hey

Well I think this thread has gone wack. I do agree with things Helm has said, and I think that I myself may have fallen into some of the traps he has mentioned, but I dunno. But yea, I also advise not to focus on the style, but rather on what brings them to life, or rather the fundementals. Hmm, I think that if you enjoy pixelling more than drawing or whatever, then maybe you should learn through pixelling.

But yea, I think what Helm has said applies to any art form, well I think particularly digital art. I think people are much more inspired to make digital art, even though it may be the harder road in the end.

@Kamae: I think it may be Lin, but not completly sure. Well I actually came across that Lin sprite when looking earlier, but I ignored it because it wasn't the sprite I was looking for. The sprite I'm looking for has a front view of the character, and he had grey skin.

AND even another edit, added some finishing touches, and then a bit of contrast, and a bit of shadow, and some more polish

Here is a sucky attempt at making your avatar character into a fighter sprite, although I did end up spending a few hours on it, hehe. Yea, I just felt like making a character for ya is all, I don't mean to highjack your thread or anything :\. I won't call it finished yet, but I'm not sure if I will come back to it or not.

cyas

[Soup]

I thought I was getting better. So I should just draw over and over and over?
Will do.
I guess you can lock this.

[Luminous_Reaver]

Don't think you're working on pixel art. See something you want to make, then translate it from that three-dimensional figure inside your head, and put it on the screen. That is to say, depth, and form, and stuff, those are important. Even if you're drawing a profile, if you just start drawing it, it'll probably end up looking wrong because you drew something two-dimensional.

The reason so many "How to draw" books tell you to block out a stick figure, or some balls, and cylinders, and cones and stuff, is so that you can think of what's there before you start drawing it. It makes you think about what you're drawing in three dimensions easier, and stuff. As you get better, you'll probably be able to think, and draw three dimensions, on a two dimensional plane without even having to think too much about it.


This is my first ever attempt at a smart sounding post, how'd I do?

[silent sniper]

I'll give you that some people can start pixel art at 12 and benefit from it. I guess pixelation helps in that regard. My art when I was 12 was in such a preliminary state I just cringe at the possibility of pixel art versions of it. But then again I joined pixelation when I was about 16... 7 years ago, gosh, and I it did help me lots then.

But if I were to be brutally honest, had I spent those 7 years persuing real media and proper graphic arts studies and were I to start pixel art now as a 22 year old person, I'd probably reach my technical level in 6 months... plus, I'd be more skilled in said graphic arts and real media.

There's not much to pixel art. The only thing that cannot be attained in 6 months by a talented and studied person (like say, Snake, who had this sort of evolution while he's been here) in pixel art, is the time spent thinking about the aesthetic implications of the medium.

helm, theres something about you that I don't like... ah, yes. I've found it. It's that you think people need to study art to make it. Like me, I'm 12, pixel art is just my after school hobby. The closest I've ever studied art is looking at a few MLSS, Sonic and anit-aliasing tutorials, and one of the teachers in my school (has 3 degrees in art) says I have potential, and that great art can be anything you can see or hear.

and soup, i like it so far, and is this for mugen?

[Xion]

I'll give you that some people can start pixel art at 12 and benefit from it. I guess pixelation helps in that regard. My art when I was 12 was in such a preliminary state I just cringe at the possibility of pixel art versions of it. But then again I joined pixelation when I was about 16... 7 years ago, gosh, and I it did help me lots then.

But if I were to be brutally honest, had I spent those 7 years persuing real media and proper graphic arts studies and were I to start pixel art now as a 22 year old person, I'd probably reach my technical level in 6 months... plus, I'd be more skilled in said graphic arts and real media.

There's not much to pixel art. The only thing that cannot be attained in 6 months by a talented and studied person (like say, Snake, who had this sort of evolution while he's been here) in pixel art, is the time spent thinking about the aesthetic implications of the medium.

helm, theres something about you that I don't like... ah, yes. I've found it. It's that you think people need to study art to make it. Like me, I'm 12, pixel art is just my after school hobby. The closest I've ever studied art is looking at a few MLSS, Sonic and anit-aliasing tutorials, and one of the teachers in my school (has 3 degrees in art) says I have potential, and that great art can be anything you can see or hear.

and soup, i like it so far, and is this for mugen?

What are you talking about? Potential may be innate, but it still has to be nurtured in order to reach its fullest. If you go through life not studying art, your potential will remain but will your actual art will probably stay at a basic level or simply advance (painfully) slowly. I've been drawing since I was 3, almost every day of my life, but until I started actually looking not only at art but also simply trying to imitate the world as I see it, about 2 years ago, my progress had been incredibly slow. I was still at the top of my art class, but if I'd kept on looking only at video games and such, I would have taken like, eight more years to reach my current skill  level, which is still quite rudimentary, honestly. It's true that you don't need to study art to be good at it, but you do need to study life to be good at art, and you need to study art to be great at it...at least if you want to get great in this century.

[cryssy]

Soup, here are some tuts I used in the past that have helped me besides just studying people and art class

http://www.rebekahlynn.com/free/tutorial/gettingsketchy.html just the idea of how to start

From her To Consider section

Observance:

   I know I've gone over this before but here I go again.  It's this simple: you can only draw what you know.  You must observe your subject.  The more you observe, the better you'll get.
   Do the same when you are drawing from a photo.  The number one culprit for poor drawings in my opinion is a lack of attention on the artist's part.  Observe every single detail of your subject.  From that tiny hidden mole next to their nose, to the funny crook in their eyebrow, to the cupid's bow on their lips.  Notice how the shadow's and highlights define a person's face.
  Sit up, pay attention; watch that your pencil doesn't continue moving without your thoughts leading it.  You'll see an amazing progress in your art.  Believe me.
 

References:

   Other artist's examples have been so important in the past to my improving.  Studying someone's work allows you to to understand their techniques.
   I've just lately been learning more about the human anatomy, and you would not believe how quickly I learned after looking at good artist's depiction's of the body.
   There are tons of excellent artists out there who know a lot, and there is no reason you shouldn't absorb their knowledge.  They've done some hard work, and you can learn from their work and what they've discovered.  Pretty nifty.

Also this site I adore
http://www.polykarbon.com/tutorials/

I know they are for drawing but the concepts can be applied just the same to pixel art

[TheAbyss]

I thought I was getting better. So I should just draw over and over and over?
Will do.
I guess you can lock this.

See what you've done!?!? You've stopped him from pixeling! I thought he was doing OK for 12, andgetting a bit better.....but then again what do I know? I'm only 13.

[BadMrBox]

Keep on struggling Soup.