Sprite

[valkryz]

I tried pixelling yesterday, and the above figure is the result. Since this is the first time I did spriting, so can you guys give me some comments? Thanks in advance ~'  '~

[Mike]

I don't have much in way of critique but I just want to say that I love the colors and the character.  Although I have no idea if this is fan art or not.(not that that is a bad thing)

[dekutree64]

Awesome, and even better for a first pixel work. Kind of reminds me of Mint from Tales of Phantasia. The only thing I can think that I would change is to add a bit of shading to the outlines (also known as sel-out), since they look a little flat right now. But I love the overall style, and the light shading of the solid areas.

[valkryz]

@Dekutree64:  Thank you. The sprite indeed looks kind of flat, but I'm not sure I know how to add sel-out properly. Would you mind instructing me more about it, or sending me a tutorial?
@Mike: She's an OC in my game

[dekutree64]

This is a pretty good sel-out tutorial: http://pixel-zone.rpgdx.net/shtml/tut-selout.shtml

I'm not too experienced with it myself, but I decided to try doing an edit anyway, if nothing else to make sure I know what I'm talking about
I think it does look better:


I also tried adding a shadow color for her pupils... not sure I like it though, it kind of changes the overall personality/impression of the character. But I thought I'd leave it in for comparison anyway.

It looks like you've actually done some sel-out already around her chin area. Basically just letting the shading continue to the outlines. It makes sense why it would look better, since a single outline color will look darker next to bright areas, and brighter next to dark areas. It helps define the shape of the object a lot better too, since the surface near edges is generally angled more away from you, so the light hits differently than in the center. And with so few pixels to work with, that one extra line at the edge can give a lot of information.

There seems to be a bit of a black art to it too, like dealing with the steps in curved/angled lines. Sometimes it seems to look better with the lighter shade going to the "inner" corners and dark on the "outer" corners, and sometimes the other way around.

Any sel-out masters around here want to give us both some better tips ?

[valkryz]

I guess I got it, thanks to your instruction and the tutorial. Here's Aya Moon running around again:


Your edits look real nice, too. Though I guess leaving her eyes as-is fits here personality better ^^

And also, I did a small sprite on another OC of mine, Hecates Crowell. Here she is, awaiting for C&C as usual

[McClaneGames]

The new sprite is good, but it's hard to tell if that's a sword without zooming in.  Making the blade silver would probably make it more recognizable.
FYI, this board has a built-in zoom feature, so that when you click the image it zooms in.  So you don't have to add the huge image

[valkryz]

If I change it to silver blade, I will have to do blood too since she's holding the blade that way xD Is there any way to make the sword more distinguished?
Also, a new sprite. The base was made by Hollinesskiss at http://hollinesskiss.deviantart.com/art/Standin-Icon-NA-110275098



I'm not very happy with Aya's hair though ;_;

[balls01]

play around with your outlines more, think of more than just one color for it.

[valkryz]

You mean the Hecates sprite? That's because the sprite is going to be used in cutscenes in my game. Many of them takes place in the night, so I guess leaving the outline black is for the best.

Thank for your comment thought