GR#010 - Ogre - Sprite Process

[samw3]

I'm starting a new baddie.. an ogre.  This is another stretch for me.

How's the anatomy?  He's supposed to be fat but muscular.  His pose is a hunched, lumbering walk.. kind of like he's going to slowly steamroller you down.

C+C welcome as always.

EDIT: btw, this is an initial sketch and will be shrunk down and reworked for 128x96 like my other baddies.

[EyeCraft]

Got a nice old school vibe to it. However, I think the pose should be reworked:

[samw3]

Thanks for the edit, eyecraft.  I like the lean you have there.  Problem is this will need to go in a horizontal frame.

The final piece has to fit in a box with this aspect ratio.  I feel like what you've got will have the hammer off screen.  Am I right?

[EyeCraft]

Yeah I figured that might be the case. Well he can still have the lean and be drawing the hammer back (ie have that shoulder line), but is holding it more out to the side/behind him, rather than above his head. Basically have the hammer in a `ready to unleash' pose rather than the `needs to be pulled back' pose. Basically you could have the hammer at the same angle (viewed from the front) as you have now, its just further around behind the ogre.

[samw3]

I just couldn't get it EyeCraft.  I struggle with foreshortening and what I have already here with the feet is a real stretch for me.

So.. I just ran with what I had.  Thanks for the pointers.  I guess I just need more practice.

Latest update.  Still a work in progress.  How's the translation so far?  I know it's kind of monochrome still, I'll fix that later.

You know.. looking at the post's preview.. the hammer looks wonky.. perspective is off.. I'll fix that.



Updated :


Final:  (gotta move on)

[st0ven]

hmm its a shame you have to move on so fast. i wanted to give you some quick comments on some things i think might give it a bit more form.

First i think that your general color choices are nice - a bit monochromatic, im not sure if thats on purpose or not but the colors chosen are interesting. i appreciate how the shadows feel really warm with the magenta hues, makes it feel like hes being hit by some sort of torch light or campfire light or something like that.

i think the figure itself could use a bit more form though. i went through the sprite quickly with some larger color replace brushes and then a pixel brush to rough in some detail to illustrate what i think could help kick this sprite to the next level.

First off sorry it was a bit sloppy i was doing what i could in the time i had this morning.

Now one could argue this as a style choice here, so it really depends on if youre trying to keep the sprite look kindof cute and iconic (flatter, less contrasting/saturated values), which if so i think that this is quite a cute style. If youre hoping to add a bit of ruggedness and form to him, i think you can stand to go in and really carve out another layer of highlight on the skin - add some more contrast to the metallic parts in the helmet, and really not be afraid to darken areas that should really be dark. Dont be afraid to allow your appendages to cast shadows on the body either, these kinds of detail are ultimately what will make a sprite really take form.

I like that your latest update you are integrating some more hue choices to vary up the greens a bit. Watch out for keeping those colors isolated to one region however. a truly integrated piece will work in those other hue values into the image in other less obvious ways so that it doesnt read to the eye that there are sectioned areas of color that are completely separate from another.

one last point - no ogre is complete without a pair of ominously glowy red eyes, lol.

[samw3]

Fantastic edit, st0ven!  The muscular form really pops!  I've learned a bunch from it.  You're right.. I do struggle with higher contrast.  I might try a piece that is purposefully very stark just to practice these deep shadows.  Thanks a lot for the pointers!

BTW, sorry about moving "so fast" on these.  I'm actually still really slow.    It's just that I'm focused and really cranking on each one.  From sketch to final that ogre took about 12hrs.  Atrocious, I know. 

[st0ven]

Fantastic edit, st0ven!  The muscular form really pops!  I've learned a bunch from it.  You're right.. I do struggle with higher contrast.  I might try a piece that is purposefully very stark just to practice these deep shadows.  Thanks a lot for the pointers!

BTW, sorry about moving "so fast" on these.  I'm actually still really slow.    It's just that I'm focused and really cranking on each one.  From sketch to final that ogre took about 12hrs.  Atrocious, I know. 

Awesome - this could be quite a fun thread if you keep going with it i think

Dont worry about the time it takes to do something, you get faster as you go - but one thing that looks like it took a lot of (unnecessary) time was the huuuge sketch in pixels that you did for your initial pose and concept. Notice in Eyecraft's post with the quick sketches hes done hes using a larger brush to do so. You will get much cleaner results much quicker using appropriate sized brushes in your initial stages. Something you could do from eyecraft's sketch is size it down to the size you need and start coloring on top of, or perhaps even reducing the scaled sketch down to a 1 bit image and youd get a much cleaner rough pixel sketch outline than you would starting from the size canvas with pixels that you originally had to work with.

From there, blocking out shapes and form, keeping in mind depth and form should be a pretty loose and fast process - then once youre at a point where even in its rough state youre happy with all of those factors, then its time to get into the blending and the subtleties.

We all have our own processes of course, but i find that most of the artists out there that are really good and can make some pretty stunning stuff in a relatively short amount of time all seem to follow that same general workflow.

regardless, looking forward to seeing more stuff.