Metal Gear Solid 4 Sprite Help

[skeme_IN5]

I was just wondering if any body could give me any C+C on my first 'proper' sprite. It is Solid Snake from MGS4 for PS3, im quite proud with it at the moment but I can see that it needs improving but I dont know what. Any ideas? ALL suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Here it is:


EDIT:
And here are the outlines ect to make it easier if you wish to edit it


NOTE: I need the light source to be above and in front of Snake(so he would be facing towards it)
You guys are amazing and I cant wait to hear some C+C or see some nice edits

Reference pic:

[Terley]

Do you not think you're making this sprite too large? Animating this would be a nightmare for any pixel artist, surely if you're set on this sizing you should steer clear of this method entirely because pixel art focuses on usually detailing smaller sprites. I would of thought you'd be doing this maybe even half this size.

Atm parts look very unclear and all in all it looks kinda flat, I think you'd benifit from concentrating on the levels before adding in any textures or anything fancy. Whats with the pillowshaded-banding everywhere, work on its depth, and don't rely too heavily on in-game screenshots as main reference because you won't get the desired level of detail thats truely attainable then if you took the time to see real life people. With anything in art real observation is necissery, even just to push you in the right direction, you should see every piece as a learning experience and something to constantly improve on.

If I were you I'd strip this down to easy to desifer linework and gather a palette ranging from light to dark and concentrate on it's depth, stick to a light source and shape this guy. It's no colour by numbers. His armour is made up of different materials to, parts will reflect stronger. Worry about the texturing and finalisation till the end.

edit - HAHA

[Rydin]

I like the concept.  The biggest problem right now is that it's far too big--32x100 would be more than enough canvas space for you, I feel.  With a big sprite, like you've got, things like animating and detailing start to become a hassle....so yeah, I suggest a resize quick before you go farther.

Besides the size, I'd say you should look at the lighting too.  Right now, you are just coloring in each section, like a coloring book...sure, this gets it colored, but it leaves the whole piece feeling rather flat.  Instead of the coloring-inside-the-lines approach, I'd suggest picking a light source, and going through the lines--they aren't borders .


Good luck!

EDIT:  Terley, you got in before me .

[skeme_IN5]

OK, thanks a lot for your suggestions. I have to agree with both of you on everything that was said although i do really like this size. I will do what you suggested and post it up later then hopefully you can give more C+C. Atm im pretty set on this size and yes i do realize that it will be a nightmare to animate but i have a LOT of free time and patience lol! Saying that though, I will resize it down 50% and see what it looks like. Thanks again for your help.
 
Anything else I could make better anyone?

[Terley]

It would be awfully awkward playing a character that large also, find me a top-down game where that has worked sucessfully. It would seem your main character would take up half the screen. And think, if your character is twice the size, everything else will need as much attention. All in all making it most probably too busy. But I suppose if you've got the time and dedication it'd be worth seeing, its just leaving a lot of room to slack on the 'pixel-art' side of this pixel art game.

[skeme_IN5]

Yes your right Terley, as much as I like this size and have some level items and different views of snake almost finished I think it might be easier if I shink it down about 50%.
I will post a screen shot up in a bit of how it looks in game atm at full size.
To counter it being awkward to play and getting too busy I was going to design it so that the screen was limited to about 4-6 enemies on screen at a time and the view would follow the main player.
Thanks again

EDIT: Here is the ingame screen as it is atm, Its a VERY early WIP so ignore the fact i used textures from screenshots of the game and pasted them on the pillars,barrels and grey floor. Also the shadows were just quickly thrown in last minute, this is just to show how big the view would be(In the game this fills the whole screen). I will post the new screen with the smaller sprites once i have done them. Right, ive got a lot of work to do so im off, dont forget to give C+C
Thanks

[Feron]

it seems very silly to be using pixel-art for a game of this size.

that is all..

[skeme_IN5]

it seems very silly to be using pixel-art for a game of this size.

that is all..

Yeah I know, thats why im resizing all my sprites down 50%. I realized that it would be quite hard shooting enemies that are above or below you. Besides just being harder to do(animate ect) that is the main reason im resizing. As I said before, I will post the new resized sprites up when they are done(maybe a few days)
Then hopefully I can get more C+C from you guys
Thanks

[Terley]

are you just going to squash your existing sprites to 50%? or start pixelling anew with a more practical sizing?

[Lawrence]

If you you're going to resize it, use a nearest-neighbour filter and do it asap. You'll have to redo a lot of the work you've already done, so the sooner you work on the final size the better. Ideally you should work on the final size from the start.