AuthorTopic: just Rat now... (revamp)  (Read 11322 times)

Offline Rosse

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just Rat now... (revamp)

on: November 21, 2008, 01:41:16 pm
Hi fellow pixlers

I did this sprite with a ape/rat hybrid in mind, but didn't work well. I thought rat head, ape body. Didn't use any references, tho :(

Things I'm unsure:
- ape body?
- colors. Neither monkey nor rat it seems. Any ideas?
- highlights or not?
- rear leg, position?


(currently 7 colors, max. 8 intended)

I hope you can help me with this small varmint.



[edit]
History (old to new):








« Last Edit: November 30, 2008, 01:01:11 pm by Rosse »

Offline AlexWeldon

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Re: Ape.. Rat... thingy?

Reply #1 on: November 21, 2008, 04:46:47 pm
Currently, it looks more like a squirrel. Mostly, that's because of the tail. Apes have short stubby tails, while rats have pink, furless tails. Rats also tend to have red eyes, though red eyes usually signify villains in video games, so that depends on what you want him to be. Apes also have much broader, blockier bodies. They also tend to have short necks and hunched shoulders... right now the arms seem to connect at the waist.

Offline Madre

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Re: Ape.. Rat... thingy?

Reply #2 on: November 21, 2008, 05:40:03 pm
the background color dont let me see the sprite
could you remove that?
seen a new world

Offline Dogmeat

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Re: Ape.. Rat... thingy?

Reply #3 on: November 21, 2008, 06:16:11 pm


I definitely thought it was a squirrel at first glance due to the head and tail. Rodent qualities. I thought your leg placement and color choices needed the most work, so In my edit I offer some suggestions on lightening up your palette while showing you what i thought the leg should look like. It currently looks like he is trying to squat to go to the bathroom or is a stuffed animal just kind of sitting there.

Even with my quick 10 minute edit, there are still some issues with anatomy and whatnot, but I wanted to give you my impression of your cute critter. Can't wait to see some updates :)

HOpe this helps.
Daisuke Nagano Yokoyama

Offline Rosse

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just Rat now... (v2)

Reply #4 on: November 22, 2008, 03:06:22 pm
I throw the idea with the ape/rat hybrid away and made it to a rat only (kinda)

Currently, it looks more like a squirrel. Mostly, that's because of the tail. Apes have short stubby tails, while rats have pink, furless tails. Rats also tend to have red eyes, though red eyes usually signify villains in video games, so that depends on what you want him to be. Apes also have much broader, blockier bodies. They also tend to have short necks and hunched shoulders... right now the arms seem to connect at the waist.
Yes, you're absolutely right. My first problem was my wrong idea about a "ape". There are primates, and what I had in mind was a chimpanzee. And those doesn't have any tail at all. When doing a image next time I really should use reference pics when not knowing how something looks like.



I definitely thought it was a squirrel at first glance due to the head and tail. Rodent qualities. I thought your leg placement and color choices needed the most work, so In my edit I offer some suggestions on lightening up your palette while showing you what i thought the leg should look like. It currently looks like he is trying to squat to go to the bathroom or is a stuffed animal just kind of sitting there.

Even with my quick 10 minute edit, there are still some issues with anatomy and whatnot, but I wanted to give you my impression of your cute critter. Can't wait to see some updates :)

HOpe this helps.
Thanks for your edit. I hope I have the problem solved with the unclear animal form and everybody sees a rat now. Your palette is much brighter, but I'm not sure how to do it correctly. I kinda like the nearly black outline. It makes it look unrealistic, cartoon-like. But I'm still not happy with the colors. Maybe the shading is the main problem?
About your altered posture. It's more realistic for a rodent, but I intended a more cartoony look (didn't mentioned it, sorry). With the unnatural posture I tried to give it a more personal posture. It should be a real character and not just a generic rodent. I'm not sure if I achieved that, tho.
 
new <-> old

(8 colors now)
« Last Edit: November 22, 2008, 03:23:17 pm by Rosse »

Offline AlexWeldon

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Re: just Rat now... (v2)

Reply #5 on: November 22, 2008, 03:20:00 pm
Now he's definitely more rat-like, less squirrelly... and the pose resolves itself better. When I first posted, I was reading his legs as arms and vice-versa, probably because you said the word "ape." I saw him standing and kind of hunched forward, with big beefy forearms. Judging by Dogmeat's edit, he saw the same thing. Now I see that he's sitting down (before he had his hands beside him, now they're on his knees).

I don't know how to make him look like a chimp with a rat head... it will be very difficult with such a small image. Chimps are very close to humans, so it's tough to communicate "rat-chimp" rather than just "anthropomorphic rat." Extremely long limbs and shaggy fur, I guess. Right now he's too smooth and shiny to be a chimp. Rats and most rodents have short, sleek fur, whereas chimps are furrier. Might be hard to get a convincing fur texture with so few pixels, but you'll have to try.

EDIT: Oh, I see you've changed the thread title to "just rat now." That being the case, I think you've succeeded.

Offline Madre

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Re: just Rat now... (v2)

Reply #6 on: November 22, 2008, 09:37:01 pm
some parts of the tail and the hear need more curves work.
seen a new world

Offline Rosse

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Re: just Rat now... (v3)

Reply #7 on: November 24, 2008, 06:46:35 pm
Thanks for your critiques. I know criticize such a small sprite is hard, but I'm thankful for every small crit.

some parts of the tail and the hear need more curves work.
I tried to adress your crits. I'm not sure about the tail. I think it's better but I'm not sure how to make it more curvy. I don't want to AA into the background (it's a sprite), and I think I need the negative space to show it's a tail (seperate it from the body). Any ideas to solve this problem?

I made a slightly palette change, not sure about it too.

new <-> old


I don't mind nitpicks, please help me with this small sprite. It's very hard to be objective about the own work when working that long at a single piece.

Offline NaCl

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Re: just Rat now... (v3)

Reply #8 on: November 25, 2008, 08:53:22 am
Hey Rosse, cute sprite

The only issue I have with it, is that the front leg seems kind of disconnected from the body. It is difficult to see his pose because of that. I believe I created another problem or two in this edit, but sort of solved the disconnected leg problem, at least enough so you can understand what I mean.



All I really did was reduce the lighting on his front leg, so it looked more connected to the rest of the body.

Offline Rosse

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Re: just Rat now... (still v3 + Paintover)

Reply #9 on: November 26, 2008, 09:33:48 am
Hey Rosse, cute sprite

The only issue I have with it, is that the front leg seems kind of disconnected from the body. It is difficult to see his pose because of that. I believe I created another problem or two in this edit, but sort of solved the disconnected leg problem, at least enough so you can understand what I mean.



All I really did was reduce the lighting on his front leg, so it looked more connected to the rest of the body.

Thanks, I see what you mean. The leg looks really disconnected, but I kinda like how "it goes into the space". I tried to paint the problem:





Your version looks less interesting but correct illuminated, while my version looks disconnected and wrongly illuminated. I think a hybrid version between the two would be the best. Any ideas how to achieve this?