[WIP] small ninja-like sprite

[JaViS]

Hi people!

I'm trying to do a small sprite I had in mind for a while, I've been wroking on the design for about 2 days and now I'm looking for some C C. I need help choosing colors, for instance.
What do you think about it?

Original:


Last edit:


Thank you in advance

[Ryona]

I think you could go with a lighter tone for the outfit. It's too dark to read the lines. However, if you add contrast, lights & shadows, then you could keep the dark outfit and it would look good.

And a personal preferance... I think you should give him a propor ninja sword so that he reads better as a ninja rather than some ghoulish monster with a huge knife.
I personally have never been a fan of the "penis-sword" <=(swords that are as large as or larger than the person weilding it). It always looks silly and it makes it look like the character is compensating for something else...
There's enough anime with penis-swords already. lol

[JaViS]

Thanks Ryona!

I've updated a little bit the color as you proposed. the result is the following:



I'm not  sure about the color of skin of the character, should be white or have a real skin tone?

Regarding your freud-ish relation between the shords and penis, well, any sugestion is wellcome. do you have a good design in mind?

Thanks!

[Tremulant]

The darker colour on the sword is so close to the lighter that it's nearly invisible now. It's funny, because the darker tone you've used on the face is better in terms of contrast. You might consider reusing it on the blade (that way you'd reduce your palette size as well). It's just a thought, but you might try playing around with the rest of your palette, too. True gray tends to leave the eye a little under stimulated.

As far as an alternative to the massive sword, why not do as Ryona suggested and give him the standard katana? Stylize it, make it interesting, but keep it slim, and more.. I dunno... believably manageable. If you do want to stick with the over-sized sword, I'd say try to steer clear of the now ubiquitous buster sword look. Again though, it's your sprite, so take it where ever you like. 

[Ryona]

Just did a quick edit on the sword. I did away with some extra colors you had on the sword and used the greys and crimson from the little guy.



And Tremulant is right... Steer clear from the penis-swords such as what we see in Final Fantasy 7 and Bleach. Poor guys in those anime must be so "small". lol

[JaViS]

Wow that catana is surely very good loking!

I wish I could be a good pixel artist like you ^_^

You were right about the sword size. What I thought when I've drew it in a paper was "it's a superdeformed character, if I draw a standard sword for him then it will be so small" but I think I was wrong

I'll continue playing with the colors, and then I'll do an animation of this sprite running

thanks! I'll keep you posted

[Tremulant]

I was just playing around with some stuff, and this is what came of it. The main thing that bothered me was the lower body. I found the pose kind of confusing, and had a hard time telling which leg was behind which. I darkened one of the feet and the attached leg in an attempt to make it more readable. Same goes for the arm wielding the sword. Also, I changed the angle of the front-most foot based on how I read the back foot. I figured at the angle we're seeing him from, the sole of his front foot would be visible, rather than the top.

The new sword is directly modeled off of (and crappier than) Ryona's, so if you decide to rework the sword, use her edit.

Colours you can leave or take. I was just  messing around for the hell of it.

[JaViS]

hehe great edit! I like the colors you have chosen. Althought, I wanted to see how your sprite looks in black, also I've made some little changes.

[$ymbol]

Aren't edits supposed to be for reference? :l

[JaViS]

Aren't edits supposed to be for reference? :l

Sorry, I don't understand :S