moe's workshop

[moxie]

I'm far from being a pixel artist, so any critique that any of you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I've been trying to push to improve lately but it seems like I've hit a dead end.

Spoiler

(progression thus far)



part 3, worked on the hair, face, arms 'n shoulders some


part 4, legs 'n hair



startin sidewalk


part 2



normal standing, turning head, short chick, half-finished adult chick, and old/new sideviews



Tall and average dudes. blah blah unshaded, working on proportions first

Spoiler

yeah that is it fact two identical walls, one's gonna get a window/balcony thing soon :blush:

 

[Star]

Not bad for someone who says they aren't a pixel artist. I like the style, I bet working with smaller heads is harder to sprite. It sure looks tough. Two questions tho. What happened to the arms on the walking sprite?

And do you call those sideviews for real? I think they are quarter views :P

 

[moxie]

What happened to the arms on the walking sprite?

And do you call those sideviews for real? I think they are quarter views :P

her arms were severed in a tragic "my creator doesn't know how to animate"-related accident

and yeah, that sideview looks really weird with the diagonal legs and sideways head put together.

I've updated the sideview and the walk cycle, but it's obvious how much I struggle with arms and making them look natural. They're always either super-stiff or flop around like twizzlers.

 

[Jason]

When you're looking from the side, you shouldn't be able to see their behind leg, as the front leg would be covering it, and it seems you can see too much of her chest/stomach as if she's stood at an angle.

The updated walking cycle isn't bad, but the arms seem really stiff, like their arm starts at the elbow or something, you need to make the shoulders and upper arm move a lot more, it really looks odd right now.

 

[moxie]

updated again, 1st post, reworked the arms/shoulders area quite a bit - still need to do the torso. also messed with the sideview's legs

I think it looks a little bit better, but it still needs a lot of work. I might just take a break from it and move on to sideviews stance/walk.

 

[action]

For some reason, this style reminds me of SMT: Persona 1
Your animations are very smooth. But have you made a base for these sprites? It would be much easier to create a base, and start off of that, than to start from scratch everytime

 

[Daxis]

the sprite's cool and all, but the face is surprisingly undefined once you close up in it; basically, it's just eyes. I'm sure it's made to be this way, so no biggie, it's just something I noticed.

the tall and average dudes seem to have a bit of a straight shoulder. And honestly, there's only 1/2 pixels of difference and not it's not really noticeable enough to note them taller or averager.

The sideview seems to have shorter legs. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but that's the first impression I got. Additionally, the sideview girl looks a fair amount more feminine than the frontview.

 

[bacon]

hi moe. How are you. I know your secrets. I know what you are doing.

They are very cute, I like the style you are trying to pull and you do a very nice job.

I would work on the arms, I honestly think the arms should sway more. Its almost like stiff wet noodles with not real control. What i mean by this is that they seem to go all over the place very stiffly. I think they should swing a tad more, no much, but just a tad more. I guess its opinion based.

The side view legs seem a tad shorter that the front view. The arm in the side view is incredibly stiff as well. Try making it go in front of the body more.

I would also suggest trying to animate the hair a little bit more. Make it bob.

 

[moxie]

For some reason, this style reminds me of SMT: Persona 1

somewhere between persona 1/breath of fire 4 is exactly what i was going for, so thanks :blush:

the sprite's cool and all, but the face is surprisingly undefined once you close up in it; basically, it's just eyes. I'm sure it's made to be this way, so no biggie, it's just something I noticed.

I actually wanted to add more detail to the faces, but they're so small that when it came right down to it they ended up all weird and blotchy-lookin' when I tried

hi moe. How are you. I know your secrets. I know what you are doing.

don't make me kick your ass again(?) :pissed:


Thanks so much for the crits and comments everyone, they're all being taken to heart- it's taking a little longer for me because I got spoiled by graphicgale's ability to let me play out the animation for the gif as I edit it, and then my free trial ended :x

in the mean time uh have the early framework of a tileset (pbv not working in detail on it yet, mainly just trying to make sure it's an appropriate size and the perspective makes sense before i start shadins)

 

[Perihelion]

Woo, workshop! Okay, I'll do an edit/better critique later if I can remember, but in the meantime, let me point you to this. Also, a good trick for animation, particularly with a lot of frames, is to block out the different body parts in solid colors and get that animating smoothly and then go back and detail everything rather than trying to do the animation and the detailing at the same time.

Also, your avatar is intriguing. Where's it from?

 

[moxie]

updated again. the legs are still wonky but obviously my main issue is the arms - how do you made them look natural when you have about a 3-pixel width to work with? For some reason I really struggle with them. In the sideviews it looks like she's dislocating it to walk. :I

Also, a good trick for animation, particularly with a lot of frames, is to block out the different body parts in solid colors and get that animating smoothly and then go back and detail everything rather than trying to do the animation and the detailing at the same time.

Also, your avatar is intriguing. Where's it from?

That's an excellent idea, which I didn't realize to do until after I made a bunch of progress on the first cycle :blush: it's making everything a lot easier now

Also thanks for that tutorial, it's amazing. oh, and the av is by Kazuma Kaneko, main character artist of the Shin Megami Tensei series

 

[action]

I never knew you like SMT.
Great taste

I think the tiles you've got going will match perfectly with your sprites once their finished.
If you turn these into a game, I will play it for sure!

 

[Perihelion]

Oh, right, I was going to critique this!

Focus more on the form than on the texture. Imo you could stand to heavily revamp the shading. Start with just two colors and make sure the underlying anatomy and shape of the body is conveyed, then add more detail as it's necessary, trying to keep your pixel clusters solid and smooth as much as you can. The skirt is a good example of a place where you've prioritized texture over form. Make the folds closer to the edges darker so it looks more three-dimensional. Also, arms are muddy. Don't have the lightest pixels right next to the edges there; some kind of outline would be advantageous. More contrast in your palettes, too--it's on the dark side right now. As far as anatomy goes, I think you could stand to make the legs a bit more shapely, and the torso's a bit long.

I dig the style, though, and this will be quite cool with a bit of cleaning up! Hope this was somewhat helpful.

 

[aprillove20]

I like the design and the sprite is cool.

 

[Ynlraey]

Reminds me so much of SMT/Adventure Game Style games :D I'd love to see more of this!

 

[ultimaodin]

Obviously all the environments are WIP.
So far you have a good grasp on pixel art and honestly your characters have a 1up resemblance to them.
I have to say though that bed does not look long enough.

I also must note your "side-view." Your sure that's not meant to be an angled/isometric view? The reason I ask this is if those side-views were to walk perfectly horizontal across the screen it would look messed up because as earlier stated they aren't facing directly to the side.

It's a good start nd keep up the hard work!

 

[moxie]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the crits and compliments. The first template/sprite thing was fun but I've decided to scrap it and start from the ground up, being a little more careful and methodical with the basework. Plus I'm gonna try making it a wee bit bigger so I can fit a few more details.

attempt at animation v.1 :down:

the stiffness and skinnyness is a problem I'm unfortunately aware of, but at the same time I'm not too worried about it because I'm just going to be using it as a base and spriting a variety of different body types over it so all the characters don't look samey and template-y.

 

[Jason]

The arms seem too high on the sideview, well, the shoulders really, like the model is shrugging, and with the front movement, it looks as if the arms are sliding around the shape of the body instead of actually swinging back and forth.

 

[Jason]

Oops it doubleposted... my bad.

Edit---

Actually I'll use this post to point something else out on the sideview. The top half of the body looks as if we're seeing it head on, while the lower half seems to be at a slight angle, remember, if we're looking directly at the side of someone, only their front foot (On our side) would be visible.

Another Edit---

Hope you don't mind but I did a quick edit to show what I mean, it probably looks weird and such because I'm really tired right now...



I also lowered the shoulder since like I said before, it seemed a little high, although I think it could do with being moved in a pixel now (Just noticed)...

Oh well, I'll leave you to it and I'll check this tomorrow, I'm tired D:

 

[moxie]

nah, of course I don't mind man - I appreciate it. The shoulder looks waay better. The lower body does too, but the only problem with that is that it makes it look like a sidescroller/platformer type of perspective. Idk, the 3/4 rpg perspective is kinda weird - if you do it too realistically it looks like they're sliding off the screen or something. I'll tweak it.
e; oh I just re-read what you said and absorbed it, yeah you're right the torso area does look straight-on. I'll try and fix the shoulders so it fits the perspective better. The head'll probably get enlarged slightly but not that much, so I can put emphasis on hair/hats/whatever instead of tiny sprite faces