C&C on a new Template.

[Jason]

--- Unnamed Template ---

Hi,

So the other day I got bored, opened MS Paint, and started to doodle a character, and eventually it turned out as the guy on the left, but only in plain black and white with no shading of any sort, which then gave me the idea to draw ANOTHER character, whicn ended up being the dude in my Avatar (B&W Art Style),

I opened the first character up today, and thought "This time, I'll add shading etc. and give it colour", so I started shading the character, which eventually turned into the naked man that stands before you, as incorrect as the anatomy may be, I kinda like what I've done with the chap, so I was kinda pleased with the end result, even though it could do with a little shading here and there. So within the last 10-20 minutes I've basically thrown a robe over the guy (It took me three attempts to get the robe to look right, I never thought of them to be so annoying on a bigger sprite as opposed to the small RTP sprite, even though this isn't that much bigger).

Any C&C on the Anatomy or Shading is welcome,
What d'ya think ?

 

[Mr_Smith]

It's pretty good, I dont know anything of spriting, but the guy with the robe looks better then the armoured one.

 

[Perihelion]

Why Arshes? Why?!

Not a bad start, although the palette needs more blue in the dark tones, and the stance and face remind me strongly of a monkey. Also, there's very little contrast in your shading and a lot of unnecessary tones as it is, and the legs in particular look a little pillow-shaded. I recommend defining the musculature more, particularly the shape of the limbs, as he looks kind of tube-y right now.

 

[Jason]

Why Arshes? Why?!

Not a bad start, although the palette needs more blue in the dark tones, and the stance and face remind me strongly of a monkey. Also, there's very little contrast in your shading and a lot of unnecessary tones as it is, and the legs in particular look a little pillow-shaded. I recommend defining the musculature more, particularly the shape of the limbs, as he looks kind of tube-y right now.

Why NOT Arshes, thats the question, I mean, if it's bad, he can't look any stupider than he does anyways, and if it's good, well that means Arshes has moved up in the world, lol.

Like I said, I like the Anatomy of it, cause it doesn't look real, which I wasn't going for a realistic, I don't know what I was going for... Just wondering, should he even have the button nose, or should I just deprive him of that ?

Yeah, I'll admit I sometimes get lost as to where shading should go, so I try to take shortcuts by pillow shading, but in this case I have a reason, I have NO idea how to shade muscles (I'm never too good with human anatomy anyways, lol).

But thanks for the feedback and I'll see what I can do to make amendments.

 

[waby]

Some nice work man well done keep it up

 

[waby]

Now try iso sprites :P

 

[Jason]

Now try iso sprites :P

Maybe I should finish the basic four directions first :thumb:

And nice doublepost :wink:

 

[waby]

heh nice of you to notice but originally my game was gonna be iso but i dunno now.

 

[Perihelion]

Hey, waby, double-posting is okay only if you have a substantial thought to add to your first post. Since neither post in this case has a substantial thought (by which I mean specific critique, which this board is for), I'm gonna have to ask you not to do it again!

jbrist, this template will be a lot better with some musculature. There are tons of anatomy drawings around the Internet; I recommend looking at some artists' resources. It'll help you out a lot. Even something as simple as defining the shape of the arms and legs more would be incredibly beneficial. If you ask me, the best way to improve your pixel art skills is to improve your art skills in general, because pixels are just another medium. So yeah, definitely brush up on your anatomy. I'm sure you can do it with a little practice!

And I'd axe the button nose, personally. It really doesn't look like a human nose; like I said, that in combination with the stance really makes him look like a monkey to me. If you want a button nose, try having a more flesh-colored shadow under it (perhaps extending across all three pixels, idk) instead of a solid black dot. I will say that the button nose and huge eyes strike me as a little out of place on such a large and relatively anatomically correct template, but maybe you were going for that, idk.

 

[Jason]

Hey, waby, double-posting is okay only if you have a substantial thought to add to your first post. Since neither post in this case has a substantial thought (by which I mean specific critique, which this board is for), I'm gonna have to ask you not to do it again!

jbrist, this template will be a lot better with some musculature. There are tons of anatomy drawings around the Internet; I recommend looking at some artists' resources. It'll help you out a lot. Even something as simple as defining the shape of the arms and legs more would be incredibly beneficial. If you ask me, the best way to improve your pixel art skills is to improve your art skills in general, because pixels are just another medium. So yeah, definitely brush up on your anatomy. I'm sure you can do it with a little practice!

And I'd axe the button nose, personally. It really doesn't look like a human nose; like I said, that in combination with the stance really makes him look like a monkey to me. If you want a button nose, try having a more flesh-colored shadow under it (perhaps extending across all three pixels, idk) instead of a solid black dot. I will say that the button nose and huge eyes strike me as a little out of place on such a large and relatively anatomically correct template, but maybe you were going for that, idk.

Yeah I don't know WHY I did the nose, it was one of those moments where you do it, then think "Why am I doing this ?... Oh fuck it, let's do it anyways.." but yeah I think I'll get rid of it, and as for the eyes, I've always done my eyes like that, I've just always thought they look good and match with the sprites I make.

I'll have a second attempt at the shading and whatever else after I've had something to eat, lol.

 

[Perihelion]

The stark black of the eyes looks out of place on a template that otherwise has soft shading. Use other colors from the template (say, the outline color) instead; it'll look much better. Also, I'd recommend at least trying to make them smaller and see if you like it. You won't grow much as an artist if you don't try new things sometimes, after all!

 

[Jason]

The funny thing is, the original one was actually bigger than that, but I ended up cutting it down as I was spriting my first character onto it, and it stuck from there, lol.