AuthorTopic: [WIP] Space Guerrilla Character  (Read 2311 times)

Offline irmaocalado

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[WIP] Space Guerrilla Character

on: May 16, 2019, 02:58:32 am
Hello everyone. That's my first post here. I'd like some advices about a character that I'm working on for a game idea. I'm specialy thinking about why the leg's and chest's shadowns seem somewhat wrong, but every critique is welcome. Sorry for my bad english, i'm new at this too.


« Last Edit: May 16, 2019, 05:37:13 am by Kiana »

Offline Kiana

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Re: [WIP] Space Guerrilla Character

Reply #1 on: May 16, 2019, 05:55:13 am
Welcome! :) Your images weren’t showing up since you had the album URLs listed rather than the direct links to the images, so I fixed it for you.

I think you’re on the right track with this overall. The hue shifting you’ve done with the colors looks nice. All of the main shapes of your character are clear; you can tell what’s what.

The reason the shadows on the chest seem somewhat wrong is the positioning of the highlights. You’ve placed them directly in the middle of the shapes, but the way you’ve drawn the shadows and everything else imply the light source is higher up. It’s a simple fix - just move the highlights up a little bit. It’s ok if they touch the shadows on the front view since the 3D form is going in and then out again.

For the legs, the reason it feels off may be that you don’t have any shading right underneath where your character’s knees would be. Even though you’ve stylized the legs to be simpler than real legs so they work as pixel art, you can help the viewer fill in details by implying forms that would be there if your character was a real person. You could also increase the contrast between the two shades of black on his pants so it’s easier to see the shading.

You may also want to consider making the highlights on the arms slightly smaller, just on the front view. If you were to remove the bottom few pixels of the highlight, you could emphasize the bicep muscles more. Hopefully that makes sense - it’s a bit tricky to explain in words so if it’s unclear what I mean just let me know.

Nice work so far and good luck with your game idea!
To achieve mastery is not to be able to work without thinking; rather it is to have total control of one's choices.

Offline irmaocalado

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Re: [WIP] Space Guerrilla Character

Reply #2 on: May 16, 2019, 03:23:05 pm
Thanks for replying. I think i can understand everything you've pointed. At night i'll try to implement these tips and post again.
About the images, i'm using imgur to host them, but i was confused about which link i should get. If i took the right link, the image should appear on preview?

Offline Kiana

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Re: [WIP] Space Guerrilla Character

Reply #3 on: May 16, 2019, 11:53:24 pm
Yes, it should show up on preview. For Imgur links, you want the link that has “i.” at the start and a file extension at the end like “.gif”. It’s referred to as the “direct link” to the image. For example, https://i.imgur.com/O9ncbfV.gif would be a direct link to the image whereas https://imgur.com/O9ncbfV is the page that the image is on. You can copy the direct link from the menu that comes up when you right click on the image.
To achieve mastery is not to be able to work without thinking; rather it is to have total control of one's choices.

Offline irmaocalado

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Re: [WIP] Space Guerrilla Character

Reply #4 on: May 18, 2019, 04:46:26 am
Thanks, now i think i got it. It took me a while to get back because I was redoing some things and making new ones.
I have some idle animations now, and a new 24px version of the character.

The idea is that the larger one only appears on the camera when the character is selected. Then all other animations (run, shoot, etc.) would be made in that larger one, to represent the state of the character. While the minor would always be on the board, to mark the position. I made a prototype of what this visualization can be.

In general i'm still dissatisfied with the new big sprites, where he's on his back. I'm not sure if it's the position of the arm or the shading of the trunk or both, but I could not make it look nice.
Thanks for the welcome and onceagain, sorry for my bad English, today i may have made more mistakes, because my translator is Google, in the absence of an English speaking friend.



« Last Edit: May 18, 2019, 04:48:58 am by irmaocalado »

Offline Kiana

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Re: [WIP] Space Guerrilla Character

Reply #5 on: May 20, 2019, 10:28:22 am
Much better! Don’t worry about your English - I can understand you just fine. :) I hope my comments are easy enough to understand with Google translate.

In reference to the new big sprites, “3/4 back” view (where the character is turned away from us, but not completely) is considered by many artists to be the most difficult angle to draw. I think you could lower the position of where the arm attaches a little bit, so we can see more of the area between the neck and shoulder (there is a muscle called the trapezius here).

For the shading, be mindful that the spine has an “S”-shaped curve to it. Under standard top-down lighting, the top of the shoulders will usually be lit, and then underneath it will be a shadow as the spine curves forward. This might be more subtle depending on how puffy the clothing your character is wearing is. You might be able to find some reference material if you search the keywords “3/4 back view” with Google. Or you could try looking behind yourself in a mirror.

Consider darkening the lines for the nose and mouth in the large sprites so they’re easier to see. You could recycle the color you used for the hair for this since it’s sufficiently dark.

I like the new small sprites. Your character is easily identifiable from them. A minor thing you could adjust is making the head bob more subtle, or making the body move more. The motion feels slightly unnatural when the head is moving much more than the body is.

The prototype is very cool! I like the hi-tech look. Although the floor tiles are a bit visually busy, the character stands out very well thanks to the high contrast. The green and yellow colors you used complement the color palette of your character nicely. Good job!
To achieve mastery is not to be able to work without thinking; rather it is to have total control of one's choices.