AuthorTopic: SkullgirlS fan sprites  (Read 13648 times)

Offline pkmays

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 336
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • dawn patrole mole
    • View Profile

SkullgirlS fan sprites

on: January 20, 2007, 08:41:16 am
I was quite taken with the character designs from Alex Ahad's journal and his SkullgirlS website, so I made some sprites and played around with alternate color schemes.



These are the three done so far, in the order they were made.



Top one uses a ton of colors (around 4 shades per color), lots of AA, and took over 2 hours from start to finish. Not very efficient even for a practise piece. Bottom two are more streamlined and standardized with 3 shades per color and went much faster. They all break the 16 color norm for fighters, but meh, it IS a new millenium.



Saved the major steps for the second one. First step is line art (from this scan), next step is lay down colors, then add some shadows and finally smooth stuff out.



Some experimenting with the sprite. The lines looked too thick and I felt they where giving the impression of a scan that was just shrunk down and turned into a GIF instead of genuine pixel art. So I eliminated all the black and replaced it with the darkest shade, but the results felt too soft and I couldn't bear to lose so much definition.

I took a look at some Darkstalkers sprites and found Capcom seem to have encountered the same problem and relied on selout/inverse anti-aliasing/devil worshiping to deal with the problem. Mwahahaaa!!!!! Basically they found a way to keep most of the comic book style outlines but used some black magic to thin out the lines and keep them from getting to bulky.



Here's what I'm talking about. Still has a good deal of definition but the lines aren't so bulky and IMO looks much better. I tweaked several other areas as well, like the eyes, fingers and toes.



Hot off the heels of the second sprite, this was basically approached in two big steps. I first drew the outlines over the sketch and used the AA created by shrinking the sketch as a guide. Then I went in and selectively destroyed the outlines and there you go, same result. Worked out pretty well especially since I'm generally terrible at manual AA (which hurts my selout too)    :'(

Anyway, I want some thoughts on the style, if the choice in lines works, etc. I'd also like to see if someone could come up with a better solution than using broken black lines. There's a way to get that nice cartoony feel that stays true to the style without relying heavily on selout, but it seems to be beyond me...

Update 2007-01-03

Painwheel WIP

« Last Edit: February 04, 2007, 05:05:43 am by pkmays »

Offline TheAbyss

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 48
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: SkullgirlS fan sprites

Reply #1 on: January 21, 2007, 12:13:09 am
Soo, you made those COMPLETLY by yourself? (exept the "skull girl" concept)
Japan + Canada = Japanada

Offline Cow

  • 0011
  • **
  • Posts: 528
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile

Re: SkullgirlS fan sprites

Reply #2 on: January 21, 2007, 01:13:22 am
I like the second one a lot, especially the black/red/green palette. The face on the third one bothers me (although the bunny is adorable, besides on the black/red/white palette :B).

You selectively destroyed the outlines very well, if I can say so myself.

Don't think I can answer any of your questions. I can only offer my respect and the following emoticons:  :) ;) :-* :yay:

Offline Conzeit

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1448
  • Karma: +3/-0
  • Camus
    • conzeit
    • View Profile
    • CONZEIT

Re: SkullgirlS fan sprites

Reply #3 on: January 21, 2007, 02:17:57 am
Soo, you made those COMPLETLY by yourself? (exept the "skull girl" concept)
yes he did...C_C you obviously dont know who he is do you? his avatar is just a big joke.

Offline eck

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 322
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • But why is RUM gone???
    • View Profile

Re: SkullgirlS fan sprites

Reply #4 on: January 21, 2007, 03:08:31 am
sorry for the OT, but...

@ the person above (pk feel free to answer this too), who exactly is pk? I'm a bit confused.  a while ago i figured out his avvy was a joke, but Ive never really seen any of his work other then that sexy avatar and these sprites
...
*examples pl0x?*

anyway, these sprites are nice, i like them a lot.  not much to crit on because its late, and i feel like going to bed. 

perhaps tomorrow when I'm slightly more awake and... erm....  awake...?  ill make you an edit
untz untz untz?

Offline Godslayer

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 369
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: SkullgirlS fan sprites

Reply #5 on: January 21, 2007, 03:51:40 am
Soo, you made those COMPLETLY by yourself? (exept the "skull girl" concept)

Chucklesnort.
How long can the floor creak before it loses its voice?

Offline Opacus

  • 0011
  • **
  • Posts: 971
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • Entangled
    • View Profile
    • www.jimjansen.net

Re: SkullgirlS fan sprites

Reply #6 on: January 21, 2007, 10:04:24 am
Soo, you made those COMPLETLY by yourself? (exept the "skull girl" concept)
yes he did...C_C you obviously dont know who he is do you? his avatar is just a big joke.
It's no joke, it's godly  :wah:

Offline TheAbyss

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 48
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: SkullgirlS fan sprites

Reply #7 on: January 21, 2007, 11:18:44 pm
No. I don't know who he is. And the reason I asked was his avatar ('cause ya his stuff is "godly")....... >.< Should I know who he is?  ???
Japan + Canada = Japanada

Offline JonathanOfDrain

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 292
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • Lonely
    • View Profile
    • TheyWillEat.Us

Re: SkullgirlS fan sprites

Reply #8 on: January 22, 2007, 02:19:35 am
Wow, these are really good. I Miss Fortune came out well. Are you going to do Umbrella?

Offline robalan

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 337
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: SkullgirlS fan sprites

Reply #9 on: January 22, 2007, 02:30:44 am
TheAbyss: He was a member on the /old/ pixelation, and if you've been lurking around here, you have probably noticed him giving critiques, being helpful, etc.  On a side note, I'm curious why you question him based on his avatar, since I seem to recall that you didn't make yours...

Anyway, the sprites are nice.  A couple things bug me, though:
-The left big arm on the first sprite looks flat on the bicep; maybe you could use the first buffer shade to give it a highlight.
-The face on the third one looks squashed; maybe it's intentional, but it looks a bit weird.
-Also, the second one's head looks like it extends too far on its top-right corner.

I'm vaguely curious how the shadows were made; did you just take the sprite and stretch+skew it, then make all the colors the same?  Or did you draw them out separately?  Anyway, cool sprites.
Always remember: a preposition is not something you should end a sentence with.