[HK] Looking for a bit of critique

[Agent 47]

It's hard to get critique at a lot of smaller forums, so I'm hoping I can get some opinions here.

Spoiler: Completed Charsets

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/Agent_47_495/Markenson-1.png[/IMG]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/A ... nYoung.png[/IMG]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/A ... nSaint.png[/IMG]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/A ... 5/Kyle.png[/IMG]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/A ... pherus.png[/IMG]

Spoiler: Works In Progress

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/Agent_47_495/Meryl-1.png[/IMG]

 

[Prexus]

Don't Pillow Shade!

Go look at the shading guides in the Tutorials section. I remember HK and I think Tana made some that are very good.

On the bright side, your designs are pretty good.


Prex, despite your hatred for Pillow Shading, at least provide a defination, or a link to the wiki. - Tana


Click Me: [rw]Pillow Shading[/rw]

 

[badmonur]

One word, Contrast. The shading is alright but its only belittled by the light outlines.

 

[crazymew]

not bad, but personally i think HK is abit big for the 4x4 template size, ah well, yer really good, tho you may need to work on yer pillow shading abit, i love yer hair

 

[ZephyrSkye]

Since nobody else seems to be explaining pillow shading, I'll fill in with all that I know as of now. You must understand that I'm really new at this, too.

Pillow shading is having something that is only shaded on the outside. Look at your shirts. You would think they would follow the muscles of the body and they would also shade a lot smoother. There seems to be a lot of highlight and not too much shade. Remember that clothes wouldn't look like that when the sun is shining on somebody.

I would also try to pull the hair a little away from the scalp on the guy with hair covering his left eye, but that's just my personal opinion. I'm no good at HK's myself, though, so...

 

[Tohsaka]

Your line art is fairly good, but your shading lacks texture. Try to texture it like the material it is made of.

 

[Agent 47]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/A ... arison.png[/IMG]

So basicly, my images should look more like the one on the left side?

 

[ZephyrSkye]

You want it to conform more to the body and show wrinkles. I edited your character just a bit and it was really fast, so it's not the best edit, but I think it gets the idea across.

View attachment 1397

See how there are some harsher contrasts between light and shadow at some points? And there are wrinkles where the clothes are pulling at the body. I also added a blue tint to give your guy a little cool feel.

 

[Samboy]

The difference between the shading colours need to have more contrast.

Have a look at the HK's template. Look at the difference between the two colours used to highlight the tone on the body. See?

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/6669 ... merqa1.png[/IMG]
(The shading on the gun's a bit shitty, my fault.)

You are probably better than me at making hair and clothes, but shading is one of the most important parts of making a character set.

Here is a helluva lot of good drawing tutorials to get the gist of what i'm talking about.

 

[Lene]

EDIT:
http://i19.tinypic.com/49j4k0h.png[/IMG]
Okay, this is not much of an edit, but I redrew the sprite. I got bored though and I stopped at the hair, and I just realized I didn't do shoes. I shaded the pants properly on a layer underneath, but I found that when I put the coat over things, it got really busy. So I nixed the detail on the pants.

Colors, well, I know I'm really bad at choosing them, so I tend take colors off of Showkaizer or one of Tana's sprites.

This is not really the best, as I'm not that good at spriting yet, but hopefully you'll see what I'm trying to get at.


Original Post:

The big thing is deciding where to shade. For this sprite, I really don't think you necessarily needed to shade in all the places you have shaded in. At least judging from the way you drew the sprite.

And the color you used for the hair doesn't not mesh well with the template. Also like Zephyr mentioned you shouldn't use so much grey in your shading, especially when using white. Try using a desaturated blue or purple.

Also the shape of the coat (I'm torn between a labcoat or a very stylish Trenchcoat) is kind of off. Your corners are a bit too sharp. The shape of the hair is too much. You don't need to part the hair so much like that, less is more.

I'm assuming you don't mind edits of your sprite, because I'd like to try. I'll do it anyways but I won't post it unless it's okay.

Samboy- Not your thread, but I'd suggest a little more contrast in your sprite. Especially considering the template you're working on is cel shaded.

 

[Agent 47]

Thank you, Lene, that was the exact kind of example I needed to improve the shading. I'll see about trying that myself on some of the other sets.

 

[Jason]

Umm.. On the Second one down, on the Left and Right poses...
Has he got a Banana in his pocket, or is he really happy ?
I think you need to redo your shading a little, They look gradiented.
Other than that, Nice work, But see if you can loose the Banana in his pants. Hehe

 

[Lene]

Umm.. On the Second one down, on the Left and Right poses...
Has he got a Banana in his pocket, or is he really happy ?
I think you need to redo your shading a little, They look gradiented.
Other than that, Nice work, But see if you can loose the Banana in his pants. Hehe

OMG! I didn't notice it until you mentioned it, but looking back I would also suggest you do something about that. That's quite...erm, bizarre.

 

[Necrile]

LMAO! That's hilarious. I wonder what he's been looking at. XD

 

[Agent 47]

That was 100% on purpose, actually. Fits the character personality very well, I think.

 

[Jason]

So, your having a Character with an erection 24/7 ? Thats umm... Wierd ?

 

[Necrile]

Guess he just played imitation lover :P

 

[Anonymous]

Constant boner man?

Dear god, that is every kind of awesome.

 

[Ulqiorra]

Deleted

 

[Agent 47]

Simple story: The game is stylized, so there's no old women, no fat women, just hot women. Add in that the character used to be a pervert before he ended up mentally unstable and asexual, and it only makes sense.

Now, back to buisness, how is this shading?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/A ... ample2.png[/IMG]