Creamdonut's Workshop - I Can't Believe This Ain't Dead

[creamdonut]

New update, after more than a year long absence.

Spoiler: Previously on CD's workshop

Hum... so yeah... I'm alive. In short: my PC burned down and I was computerless for about 6 months. Now, I have a new laptop, so it's time to get some work done. This also means I've lost all the pixelart I had. What I have from then is what you can see here, in the spoiler. However, I wouldn't bring this back if I didn't have anything to share, or for that matter, to try and get some crits.

The right arm is bugging me. If someone wants to give me a lil' help here, feel free to bump in.  :rock:

Spoiler: March 31, 2008 Update

:boo:
That's it! I haven't got the time to actually finish anything today, so I'm posting WIP's. I have to post at least something today. Hope you guys like it... The rest won't take much longer though...

These have names of spriters and templates. I call it the Templar Team based on that. There is still one sprite missing, but this team won't be final. I will be making teams of four, and only three of these sprites are on the same team. Those will be Cucumber, Breeze and White.

Comment people!  :rock:

 

[Grathea]

Very nice stuff. Have you thought of joining the HKCP?

 

[creamdonut]

Yes... I've actually talked with Venetia about that as well. I'm right now finishing the kaizer character spritesheet. After it's finished, I'll release his parts for the HKCP, making a total for entering the HKCP. Which is what I'm aiming for. So, 'till then, bare with these  :lol:  :crazy:  :dead: :thumb:

Oh, and sorry forgeting: thanks you for your opinion! You also have very nice sprites!

 

[Grathea]

Thank you, creamdonut. I have no idea where you've seen my sprites, since I mostly do tilesets, but thanks anyways.

 

[Danny]

You have some lovely sprites, but I think your a little weak when it comes to the shading of armour. On the Geredreth character, his blue plate seems very inconsistent when it comes to the other shading, it appears very blocky, you should keep in mind the shape of the material as you shade, don't be afraid to go collect some references before hand. I also think the shoulder armour appears pillow shaded, I totally understand how difficult that area can be when it comes to that area, so I'd give it a little trial and error to see if theres room for improvement.

 

[Venetia]

I'm loving these. Especially Tana. I think the contrast on Kaizer's hair may be a liiiiittle high, I'd recommend avoiding bright, bright whites, but otherwise I think they look solid (I already told ya that :wink. I think Hydrolic's critiques are good, and to remedy those problems I'd recommend reworking some of the outlines, esp. on the armor and Kaizer's legs/boots--that should take care of the seemingly pillow-shaded areas. By reworking, I mean lighten them to 1-2 shades darker than the fill color they're touching.

 

[creamdonut]

You have some lovely sprites, but I think your a little weak when it comes to the shading of armour. On the Geredreth character, his blue plate seems very inconsistent when it comes to the other shading, it appears very blocky, you should keep in mind the shape of the material as you shade, don't be afraid to go collect some references before hand. I also think the shoulder armour appears pillow shaded, I totally understand how difficult that area can be when it comes to that area, so I'd give it a little trial and error to see if theres room for improvement.

Yeah, I suppose you're right too. I haven't been working much on him, I have the other ones at first hand, but I don't quite seem to get that body armour to work my way... shiny metal sucks... xD
Anyway, I need to add shades to it, and change a little the brightness, so to give more volume instead of just looking like a bent thrash can dish. As for the rest of the armour, it's not even close to what I'm after, but it didn't seem that bad for me at first glance. I'll fix that as well.

I'm loving these. Especially Tana. I think the contrast on Kaizer's hair may be a liiiiittle high, I'd recommend avoiding bright, bright whites, but otherwise I think they look solid (I already told ya that :wink. I think Hydrolic's critiques are good, and to remedy those problems I'd recommend reworking some of the outlines, esp. on the armor and Kaizer's legs/boots--that should take care of the seemingly pillow-shaded areas. By reworking, I mean lighten them to 1-2 shades darker than the fill color they're touching.

Yeah, that's the off thing about the Kaizer character. His original sprite also has those high values, and I've been dreadful about changing those. I'm in fear of ruining the poor thing. But since you told me to do it, I will!  :thumb: Gotta rework the number of colors on both the boots and the hair. I'm gonna start working on that, since it's the character I'm working right now.
You can find the reference for his character here.
Smell ya l8r!

 

[FlippyD]

You have some inconsistencies in style, mostly between Tana's hair and Kaizer's hair. Kaizer's hair is shiny and more anime-like, Tana's has a couple highlights on the top parts of her hair and more realistic. White's hair is also similar to Kaizer, but is also in a slightly different style (the shades don't conform to the shape of his head as Kaizer's does.)

I'd work on the color palettes. Cucumber, Tana and White are good, but beef up the saturation on some of Kaizer's colors and see what happens. Also Geredeth is pretty boring color-wise. He's mostly blue, the opposite of that on the color wheel is orange, so you could play around with that. Other suggestions would be blue/yellow/grey, blue/white/red, blue/green, blue/brown/white, etc.

Everything below this line is hardcore C&C, use it if you want, though it aint' imperative ------------------------
Note: this also takes into account the problems with the HK sprites as well, so if you wanna go this route you'll be making yourself custom HK's (though, sexier and better in all regards.)

I know the HK's come in a style, but honestly, I find them dreadfully bland and pillow-shaded, but if you're gonna use em' you might as well rise-above kaiser's mistakes and go with a good uniform shading style. Check the pixel tutorials on http://www.geocities.com/skulkraken2002/ for more information. Basically you're going to need a central light source for your characters as it's kind of all over and awkward. Limit yourself to 6 colors per character with 3-4 shades to make the sprites look cool, lower file size, and help avoid pillow shading.

The eyes in the original HK model are too close together. Use selout on the character outlines too (what's "selout"? http://pixel-zone.rpgdx.net/shtml/tut-selout.shtml) Geredeth's chestplate armor (as stated) isn't realistically shaded, nor does it look like it conforms to his body. Use actual metal reference on google or something.

All the HK feet are awkward and pointed outwards far more than they should. In the spinning Tana animation watch her hip and groin area... It's awkwardly magnetically attracted to the camera. Geredeth's waste is also too low. White's armor needs better shading and more saturation. Kaizer's shirt has weird dents/shading near his stomach. His sword goes up and down animation-wise strangely in the animated graphic. Add soft highlights to Kaizer's model.

Cucumber is cute and perfect in every way other than needing some more saturation. She's a shining pixel goddess.

That's all, good luck with the HK stuff!!

 

[Venetia]

You have some really solid commentary there, ixis, but a lot of it is recommendations for her to change the template, which isn't an option if she's submitting them to the HKCP. I agree, though, on most of your crit's on shading and lighting.

Honestly, though, if everyone spent 10 years on every sprite making them absolutely perfect, nothing would ever get done. I'm not saying it's preferable to ignore some things, but it's perfectly fine to just move on when you're happy with something--esp. when you're the sole artist & developer on something. :D

Also I thought the color use was almost bordering on too saturated, not the other way around. It's a general preference I've noticed (for myself, too), that people like slightly more desaturated sprites.

I'm certainly not trying to diminish your critique ixis, because it's great, I'm just letting creamdonut know that she's awesome :thumb:

 

[FlippyD]

Desaturated stuff looks more realistic, but sometimes saturated can work if the color scheme is right.

Saturation can make all the difference in the world,

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~kcampb22/ ... sphere.png[/img] http://studentpages.scad.edu/~kcampb22/ty-lee.gif[/img]

 

[creamdonut]

Ixis, I thank you deeply for your critic. You really brought it over to me. I can only assume these can really be upgraded to top-notch quality, or you wouldn't give such an extensive critique and you would only say 'it sucks'.  :lol: Just joking. Anyway, you really showed me some points I actually missed, and great eye to it. I'm currently fixing kaizer, making his hair less saturated, and trying other values for his boots. As for the saturation overall in the character, it's kinda difficult to change to less saturated values, specifically regarding shorts and boots, since the reference itself is very anime-like. But once I finish the sprites, I'll play with the palletes to achieve better colour. I still haven't quite mastered the shading direction stuff. I'm used to making smaller things, which some times don't give a margin to make something besides pillow-shading. After I finish kaizer, I'll play with him to make his shirt and stuff less pillow-shaded. Thanks for the support guys, you rock  :thumb:

P.S.:

I'm certainly not trying to diminish your critique ixis, because it's great, I'm just letting creamdonut know that she's awesome :thumb:

I'm actually a guy, but that's cool  :dead:

 

[Venetia]

O_O;; OOPS! Sorry ^_^;;;

It's just ... You know ... The avatar >_>

 

[illustrationism]

I really like these. They remind me of Chrono Trigger sprites.

I think someone mentioned this, but the hair is a little inconsistent with the shine and contrast. I'm not the best with sprites, in fact, I suck... So I'm pretty impressed with these. ^_^;

 

[creamdonut]

O_O;; OOPS! Sorry ^_^;;;

It's just ... You know ... The avatar >_>

Yeah, I know... but Tana is also my favourite ^_^

I really like these. They remind me of Chrono Trigger sprites.

I think someone mentioned this, but the hair is a little inconsistent with the shine and contrast. I'm not the best with sprites, in fact, I suck... So I'm pretty impressed with these. ^_^;

Thanks a bunch... I wish I had more time to sprite :'( No time today either...

 

[creamdonut]

Bumping myself so that someone sees this :dead:

First post edited. Check it out please.  :thumb:

 

[coyotecraft]

Sorry to hear about you computer. You had a lot of nice things I hope you didn't lose too much.

By right arm, you mean it's right and not our right, right? Cause the one on our right looks fine.
I think the top of the arm is going to be behind the body, while the forearm will come out a little more. like this:
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134 ... change.png[/IMGzoom]

I think you should spread the legs out more next, it doesn't looks like it's holding it's weight naturally.

 

[creamdonut]

Hey, thanks a bunch coyote! That was precisely my problem. Gonna edit it so that the arm can fall into that position. :thumb:

 

[Venetia]

creamdonut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy to see you <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Also, extra cool at ISO HK's. I kept thinking about doing it, but was too lazy.

 

[Despain]

iso hk looks really stiff bro

 

[creamdonut]

iso hk looks really stiff bro

Changing the arm and widening the legs is on the order of the day :thumb:

creamdonut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy to see you <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Also, extra cool at ISO HK's. I kept thinking about doing it, but was too lazy.

Hi! I'm so glad I wasn't forgotten into the nether realm xD
Really glad to see you too! :D
It's time to get some serious stuff done. And remembering Stan's famous words, 'nuff said!