My first icons. Looking for critiques!

[I_Love_Cubia]

I think they mean less shading on the one side that seems so gradient to make it look less dark on one side and to give it more definition. And sorry for getting you into trouble. ^^;

And I guess they just like cartoony style...but I like your more realistic approach. It's rare to see that in icons.

 

[zenrdy]

Its rare but, most games have a cartoon style.

 

[I_Love_Cubia]

I'm a fan of both. Mikee, it would be cool if you could see if you could do some cartoony-type icons though. Just to experiment.

 

[zenrdy]

Yeah, That would be great. Check your Pm Mikee

 

[Mikee]

Spoiler: Better?

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/my7evendazelater/GoldDragonBlade-1.png[/img]

 

[zenrdy]

Now we are talking. Those are Great! I hope you can sprite more like these.

 

[I_Love_Cubia]

MUCH better since you can see it clearly defined now! You're really progressing quickly...I wish I learned as quickly as you. I'm still finding my niche in spriting styles.

 

[American Hero]

I am impressed. If you can make charset as good as these I would love to see some. I have millions of requests if everything goes good. Really nice :thumb:

 

[Mikee]

Awesome, thanks so much everyone.  I have to agree that the first set was really blurry.  I need to outline them in darker colors next time.  Alright.  I'm on my way over to start a request page.  I'll link it here in a moment.  Thanks for the inspiration!  I'm also going to try out a RTP (Even though I don't know what it stands for... I'm pathetic) character sheet.  But I do know that I like the looks of the default character sheets the best, so that's the style I'm going for, and I think they're called RTP's.  He he. 

 

[Mikee]

Requests page - http://www.rmxp.org/forums/index.php?to ... 65.new#new

 

[Shizu]

I personally like that black/red sword and the newest one, they seem more symmetrically logic. ^^

 

[Shinigami]

Those look great but the new one not so much

 

[Mikee]

Shini, what don't you like about the new one?  And Shizu, do you like the ones that are more... I guess.... physically possible?  Is that what you mean?

Also, there is a request page, ( http://www.rmxp.org/forums/index.php?topic=38165.0 ) and I have a larger weapons sheet now for the exchange of credit. ( http://www.rmxp.org/forums/index.php?topic=38216.0 )  Thanks for the feedback. 

I'm improving every with every sprite I do, so I'd love some work if someone's got some. : )

 

[Onideus Mad Twatter]

I would try using less fill/filter effects or at least use some kind of texturing filter so they don't look so flat/plasticy.

EDIT
----
Layoff the shadow filter too.  I think the main problem with your work as it is, is that you rely too heavily on filter effects, you seem to over use them without really knowing HOW to use them, or WHY you should use them and WHEN you should use them.  You should use filters VERY sparingly and if you do use them the end result shouldn't LOOK like you've used them.

 

[Mikee]

Yeah... well I've used 1 filter effect.  And it's on the red and black sword.  That's all.  Besides that, on some of my earlier stuff I used the blur tool, but I've stopped since it takes away from the cartoon style.  So now I don't use any filters or other tools besides the pencil and I hand shade everything.  I just use darker colors because it's my style.  I'm not a fan of the happy-go-lucky games,  my weapons are more serious and actually look like something you'd see in a time with dark magic.  Look at my newer stuff and let me know if you still think I'm using too many filters... though I'm using none...

Spoiler: Swords

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/my7evendazelater/FightingStick.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... tSword.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... gBlade.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... Katana.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... eBlade.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... wBlade.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... lBlade.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... raitor.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... eCrest.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... nBlade.png[/img]  http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... lade-1.png[/img]

Spoiler: Spears/Polearms

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/my7evendazelater/Spear.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... rSpear.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... eSpear.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... olearm.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... ngPike.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... kSpear.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... eStaff.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... nBlade.png[/img]

Spoiler: Miscellaneous Things

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/my7evendazelater/StoneStaff.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... edWhip.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... custom.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... roll-1.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... ilyBow.png[/img] http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/ ... ngShot.png[/img]

Lol, the katana looks like crap, but I figured one man's trash is another man's treasure.  So just in case someone needs it before I try to fix it, there it is.

 

[Venetia]

Hey this one {http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/my7evendazelater/AngelBlade.png[/img]} is pretty snazzy :D

 

[Mikee]

Lol, thanks.  It's my favorite.

 

[Onideus Mad Twatter]

The newer ones are definitely an improvement, only the red/black gradient shaded one with the drop shadow (or blurred edge) looks overly filtered.  You are doing quite a bit of pillow shading though, you should try being more variable with the shading to give them a better, more natural looking texture.  The only other critique I can think of is on the boomerang, which has very jagged edges.  The red whip has a similar problem.  Instead of blurring the edges what you should try doing is to create a 32 bit alpha transparent image.  First make sure the color mode is maxed and that the starting image has been promoted to a layer, then delete the background.  Then create a few extra layers, each with a different level of transparency (say 25, 50 and 75).  Then fill in a few pixels on those edges on each of the layers, which should give you something like this:
http://www.backwater-productions.net/RM ... merang.png[/img]
Then just merge the layers (except for the background, cause that'll wreck the transparency).  Kind of a quickie sample, but you can get the idea.

EDIT
----
Comparison:
http://www.backwater-productions.net/RM ... erangs.png[/img]

 

[Mikee]

I see what you're talking about, however; I like the darker shading.  The edges could be a little smoother for sure though. : )  Thanks for the critiques, and thanks for the technique, Onideus.

 

[Shinigami]

Shini, what don't you like about the new one?

What i mean was the new one was less gradiant-ed from the old ones