[J.A.B] Journey of JAB the Video Game.... [pre sprite orientation ^_^]

[Gil]

I see a lot of pillow shading, might want to redo shading on your characters. All your sprites have it I'm afraid...

[Mistajaye]

define "pillow shading" I've never heard of that terminology? But you are aware that there are different types of shading styles out there~and if pillow shading has anything to do with; cartoony, or iconic , or old NES-reminiscence type of shade, than actually that was trying to achieve ^_~. Do you have any more of a detailed crit? perhaps which shades or colors you might see out of place, or should I enhance the frame animations or is something feeling miss-placed? ?? Sorry but I am just not familiar with the pillow shading word, heh, could be because I am still a newb to these forums, so if anyone could explain about what exactly that is I would definitely appreciate it ^_^.

[Gil]

Well, basically, instead of having a lightsource, you just shade lighter when you go inwards. Consider the big pig's jacket. The edges are dark blue and once you go inside the shape it becomes lighter. None of your highlights on any sprite touch the border of the sprite. You need to choose a light source and shade accordingly.

It's also happening on:

The main character's pants, socks and face
Link's clothing
The burger's bottom bun and hands
The big police pig's clothing and right hand (holding the flashlight)
The big fist icon
Your avatar actually

[Mistajaye]

all of those shades were intentional  ^_~ and actually i did choose a light-source, notice how the right side is darker than the left side. Again all of those crits are nice because I know your trying to help out. But as I stated in the beginning of the post

Here is a couple of sprites I would like you guys to view. Remember when criticizing these pieces just know that colors and choices were made for a reason and also there is a certain style; so any critiques staying true to the style would be awesome ^_^ if you know what i mean... if you don't then just comment away~ I love insights ^_~.

heh

[ptoing]

Well, you ARE pillowshading, and in general that is not a style but just sloppy/bad practise. There is no clear lightsource, straight on flash photography one would look different even.

I made a quick edit to raise some suggestions:



Do you really need the triple outlines? Everything looks like fridge magnets and super flat, not matter how you shade em.
I made the outlines change lightness depending on the direction of the lightsource which is top above (I know they would flip when the sprites turn but that usually still looks fine)
I mixed the ramps a bit, like the darkest colour before black can be used as outlines on the blue fine and be used as buffer from black to skintones.
Reduced colours by cutting out the grey, I don't think it's needed, tho that might be preference.
Added some dither for clothtexture and blending.
In total my edit has 15 colours.

[Ben2theEdge]

Judging by the two mockups you posted I would say you need to reign in your values and establish dominance over them.

Quick graphic design lesson: White and black are bitter rivals and any time you put them together on the screen they will violently and lustfully compete for the affections of your eyes. Your confused eyes will then race to try and separate the white and black into logical sense. This makes your eye feel like it's driving a sports car down the autobahn and 200mph in the middle of rush hour with Dragonforce blaring in the stereo while holding its head out the window and screaming at the top of its lungs.

Consequently any subtlety or information you're trying to convey is going to get ignored as the eye simply tries to sort out what is happening to it. You have a ton of visually stimulating things but none of them communicate anything, they are completely out of your control.

Here's an example to show you exactly what I mean. Now mine is just blobs but that's kind of the point; forget about details and just look at the whole image. Which one is easier to read without straining your eyes?



Keep in mind that I'm using more or less the same shapes as you, the only difference is that I'm using the values (light and dark, and contrast) to sort the information logically.

[greenalchemist]

For the run, the arms should alternate with the legs. Left leg forward, left arm back. Right leg forward, right arm back. Right now he seems a little awkward.

In addition to alternating the arms and legs, I think you should make the left arm swing a little more when it comes to swing forward, and have the right arm swing a little less when it swings backward. Try moving your arms like that in real life, and try to note just where your range of motion lies.

Also, did you intend to make this character look as though he is leaning forward all the time? It doesn't look bad, per say, I was just curious if the leaning was on purpose, or simply an over sight. The leaning makes him look like he really wants to go somewhere, in my opinion, and also makes him look a little unbalanced.

[Mistajaye]

thanks for all of the wonderful suggestions ^_^, yeah i see what you mean by pillow shading. And I love your version of the pig cop. However the shading was intentional , and their highlighted to make it look like paper cut-outs or magnets lol. But I shall work on the shadows a bit more. Again thanks for all of the comments! Keep them coming! I will utilize this information to revise my work right now! hehehe...