Video game characters*Updatered*

[Mike]

[edit] added old version of characters.
After reading Helm's ramble thread(see "re-reading") I decided to work on 2 old characters of mine.  Here are my results.

Old


New 02/11/09

Newer 02/12/09



and
Old

New 02/11/09

Newer 02/12/09

My main goal was to work on anti-aliasing and eliminate as much banding as possible(within reason)  Not sure how I did so here I am for critiques and comments.  Oh and

[PypeBros]

and ? ...

btw, it would make more sense if you showed us face to face former look and updates of your character ... unless I've misunderstood the point of this thread.

[Jad]

I'd say you've done what you've could with the style and ideals you've went for! As it is right now cocky-guy relies very much on outlines with color fill and then the shading sometimes feels like more of an afterthought; not that it IS but that's how it comes off.

I think translating shadows and highlights into larger volumes than 'a tight band that hugs the outline in the appropriate direction while trying to avoid banding happening' and breaking up outlines a bit to help that cause would present you with a more doable and definitely more delightful challenge when it comes to placement of pixel clusters, AA and banding.

Well, you definitely did much of that with the girl anyways, the biggest crit I've got for her is that her darker skin shade is much too sickly yellow, more pinkygray please!

Also I reaally dig the lightness of the top of her head, would you try to apply the same effect on other things that face directly upwards too? hands or even arms, and the little ponytail.

Anyways nice to see you working on your pixels manmandude!

[Helm]

There's a little banding left but what's more important is that you need to balance your mids-shadows-highlights. Right now you pixel with all three in equal exposure on the piece but that's not a good way to light stuff I think. Highlights should be much smaller on the mids, and shadows should have a working relationship to punch out the mids, the mids are the color identity that's what you need. Use shadows to sculpt and show depth, use highlights to show edges and flats towards the lightsource as well as to suggest the texture of the surface. Also, noodly arm, look how much strength a few 45 degree lines give to the character, how much more he emotes 'I'm cocky' now. Also the lessons you seem to be digesting on the smaller sprite about outlines that are colored according to the lightsource could really be applied to this sprite as well (as I tried). Look at the shoulder where I omit the outline halfway, how that suggests a slight swerve of the arm etc. Know when to break your outlines. You're making good progress, keep at it.

Don't bother so much with detailing all the accessories of a dude like this. Good flats and volumes are always a priority for believable looking sprites.

[Mike]

I'd say you've done what you've could with the style and ideals you've went for! As it is right now cocky-guy relies very much on outlines with color fill and then the shading sometimes feels like more of an afterthought; not that it IS but that's how it comes off.

I think translating shadows and highlights into larger volumes than 'a tight band that hugs the outline in the appropriate direction while trying to avoid banding happening' and breaking up outlines a bit to help that cause would present you with a more doable and definitely more delightful challenge when it comes to placement of pixel clusters, AA and banding.

Well, you definitely did much of that with the girl anyways, the biggest crit I've got for her is that her darker skin shade is much too sickly yellow, more pinkygray please!

Also I reaally dig the lightness of the top of her head, would you try to apply the same effect on other things that face directly upwards too? hands or even arms, and the little ponytail.

Anyways nice to see you working on your pixels manmandude!

Yeah I agree I was using the outline as a sort of a style crutch.  It used to be black but I changed it to a red shade and when I did that it made it look hotter/warmer/neater so I kept it but really what I want is to have believable lighting that make sense.  I'm definitely gonna be editing this until it's perfect.  I'm in no hurry to have it fixed either like I normally am since I'm not working on the actual game currently.

Oh and for the girls lighter colors on the head, it appears I forgot I did that so it only appears in one place.  I'll make an edit of where I think those highlights should go on other places.  Probably the hands, and pony tail.  I'm really horrible at lighting though :/

There's a little banding left but what's more important is that you need to balance your mids-shadows-highlights. Right now you pixel with all three in equal exposure on the piece but that's not a good way to light stuff I think. Highlights should be much smaller on the mids, and shadows should have a working relationship to punch out the mids, the mids are the color identity that's what you need. Use shadows to sculpt and show depth, use highlights to show edges and flats towards the lightsource as well as to suggest the texture of the surface. Also, noodly arm, look how much strength a few 45 degree lines give to the character, how much more he emotes 'I'm cocky' now. Also the lessons you seem to be digesting on the smaller sprite about outlines that are colored according to the lightsource could really be applied to this sprite as well (as I tried). Look at the shoulder where I omit the outline halfway, how that suggests a slight swerve of the arm etc. Know when to break your outlines. You're making good progress, keep at it.

Don't bother so much with detailing all the accessories of a dude like this. Good flats and volumes are always a priority for believable looking sprites.

NOOooooooooooo I fell for the dreaded pipe arms!!  *ahem* anyway that's a really awesome edit Helm.  Oh man it's so freaking beautiful!  I'm jealous  It's amazing that even though it's been edited so much it still retains the same idea/style that I'm going for him.  I don't know where to start listing off all the great changes you made.  The light source is definitely not following video game standards but I don't care looks sweet!!  Oh and great job on bringing out the shape of the legs, I tried doing that but I failed.

A few questions,

So the middle shade say for the pants is really only used to suggest the actual color and as long as that's been established I can use shadows without fear of losing the form?

What do you mean by flats?(my lack of traditional training is showing )

Do I need more green colors to outline the pants to match the skin, boots, jacket and hair?

Oh and one last thing about the pipeyness of the arm.  I wasn't sure how big I could make it without it looking too big but what you have is the perfect size.  I normally don't like working with 45 degree angles when it comes to body parts but I can see I'm gonna have to forget that stupid rule.  I picked that up from a tutorial that said it was awful to use them for characters(I can't find the tutorial though sorry)

I'll be updating later today tomorrow, bye for now.

[Helm]

So the middle shade say for the pants is really only used to suggest the actual color and as long as that's been established I can use shadows without fear of losing the form?

Yes. Also a good idea to have the middle color be the overal saturation and lightness you need for your character, and then the highlight and shadows can tint towards whichever direction. As long as the middle color is the most prevailent, it will hold together.

Flats I mean just flat space, don't overcomplicate the design at this resolution. You'll notice my edit *took away* much more pixels than it added. I tightened the forms (pixel clusters, in pixel art lingo) but I didn't actually add that very many new ones. If you don't go wrong with a piece that's made out of 3-4 colors *then* adding more faces and gradiations with more colors is easier. Here your forms were pretty messy, so I was just suggesting, work more minimally, add 'one more triangle to the mesh' that looks good rather than 30 that look wobbly.

Why would you need another green to outline the pants? Isn't the global saturated red doing it fairly well? You could, but especially if the piece will be in motion and the eyes of the viewer won't catch such slight alterations as 'oh the pants have their own outline color', what are you gaining?


I don't know about a general rule about no 45 degrees for bodyparts. I can see cases where it wouldn't work but I wouldn't hold it as law.

[Mike]

Updates



I'm not sure how well I did on this, I tried my best to emulate what Helm did without copying directly.  Hope I did well.



And here is the edit of the girl.  I highlighted all the areas where I think the light would hit.

oh and I have a request.  Can someone make an edit that makes her chin less sharp?  I've tried multiple ways to get it less jaggy but I failed  

[Jad]

> D >

< D <

ARGH

I REALLY want to give a truckload of crits but I'm just feeling giddily happy over how much you're improving and how hot your pixel art has become @ __ @

The only things I can say at the moment:

1. KEEP ON TRUCKING

2. ANIMATE THIS SHIT (then post it here)

<3

[Rawsushi]

oh and I have a request.  Can someone make an edit that makes her chin less sharp?  I've tried multiple ways to get it less jaggy but I failed 

[Mike]

2. ANIMATE THIS SHIT (then post it here)

Oh I plan to, which leads me to my next question.  Whats the best way to go about animating an idle anim?  Should I make superfulous bounces or should it be more realistic and have them shifting their weight every so often, maybe crossing arms some times.  Whenever I have to stand that's what I do.  I'm thinking that will work for the guy but not so much for the little girl.  Hmmmm...  I haven't started on either of these animations yet so I could definitely use some ideas

Here are some character traits for each character oh and they are from 2 different games.  I should've mentioned that sooner.

The guy:
1.One of three from a band of down on their luck thieves
2.Lives inside an old abandoned dilapidated warehouse.
3.Is confident in his skill but isn't completely full of himself.
4.Cares for his 2 companions and would do anything to keep them safe.
5.Even though he seems like he may be a leader he's second to another.
6.Has no formal training in the martial arts, more like a very unrefined street brawler
7.He's pretty much wearing clothes he found/stole and is wearing fancy white shoes he stole from a truck while it was unloading.
8.For as long as he can remember he can create and control fire(original I know)and his fighting style is based on that.
9.His friends think his pants are ridiculous looking but to him they are his cherished one of a kind item he stole off a psychedelic clown from a traveling carnival.  Originally they were too large but he had them tailored to fit him.


The girl:
1.She lives with her grandpa
2.She is a bit shy, timid one might say
3.Shes the kind of girl to play with a bug and afterward with shifty eyes >_> <_< possibly eat it.

I don't know that much about her since I just designed her, it's my friends character personality wise.


Oh and thank you for the edit Rawsushi much smoother than what I had!  Hope you don't mind if I just use that.  Kinda hard for me to make my own edit based on that.