AuthorTopic: Castlevania style player character  (Read 1859 times)

Offline DSSirius

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Castlevania style player character

on: March 19, 2019, 04:03:06 pm
Hi guys,

I'm pretty new to pixel art in general (or at least doing it properly) and art unfortunately doesn't come naturally to me. I'm in absolute awe at some of the work the people on here manage to make!

Basically I have a very large ambitious project underway for which I'm responsible for producing all the art assets. I'm having to study and learn the correct way of doing things as best and as quickly as I can. I've been working on some practice pieces to try and hone my skills somewhat and here is an example of something I made recently.

If people could critique this sprite just to let me know on different areas to improve, that would be greatly appreciated:



This was made using Gimp, however, I'm looking to transition to ProMotion. Does anyone have any feedback on this program or whether there is a better alternative?

Many thanks!

« Last Edit: March 19, 2019, 04:06:51 pm by DSSirius »

Offline strawberry

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Re: Castlevania style player character

Reply #1 on: March 20, 2019, 05:48:51 am
Use GraphicsGale! It's free and made especially for pixel art.  :y:
In your sprite, you use a lot of pillow shading, making it hard to read. I can't quite tell what's happening in the arms. Also your colors don't have a lot of stable value to them. The lighter color in the hair is too light to really see, while the dark purple in the cloth is too dark to use as a shade.
Also congrats on starting to make a game! Pixel art has a lot of technicalities to it that can make it seem daunting when you first start out, but practicing will help you understand them quickly. Everyone here started out as a beginner one day!

Offline DSSirius

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Re: Castlevania style player character

Reply #2 on: March 20, 2019, 08:19:44 am
Hi strawberry thanks for the advice, I did check out GraphicsGale, but hadn't made my mind up over whether to use that over ProMotion.

Can't believe I've used pillow shading without realising  :-[ I'm well aware of how terrible that is, but it just seemed to sneak in. I can see it now on the right part of his lower coat. Is there any other places I've done it?

Indeed, I struggle a lot at the minute picking a good palette. I've read the guides on contrast and hue shifting etc. but it appears as though I've perhaps used them more extremely than intended.

Thanks very much by the way, I'm about a year in to production really. Not really as far ahead as I would have liked, but unfortunately I have to accept I'm not really a great artist and have to pick that up from the beginning as a novice. I'd practically finished an entire player sprite sheet before I came to realise it was too low of a standard for what I wanted to present. I'll get there in the end though, just might take me a really long time  :lol:

Edit: made a slight amendment to the sprite:



Is this on the right track? It's not perfect, but I'm probably going to move onto something else soon.

Created a new sprites for a cloaked fish man:

« Last Edit: March 21, 2019, 04:27:36 pm by DSSirius »