My first sprites--feedback requested

[Nathaniel3W]

My game Himeko Sutori can't use RTP resources, so I got started on some half-Kaizers. I think credit goes to Showkaizer for inventing the sprite and Tana for the template.

I bought a Wacom Bamboo last week, read some tutorials, and got to work. The hair was the very first thing I tried. Its lighting is inconsistent with the armor and it uses a hodgepodge palette that I didn't save. The armor is a little more put together, but I couldn't decide on how to do the lighting from the sides. Please let me know what you think. And be brutal. I'm shooting to reach professional quality in one week, and I don't want to waste time. Thanks for taking a look.

Oh, and ignore the horse at the bottom. I would like to do mounted versions for everything, but that's going to be too much for now. I might come back to that eventually as a stretch goal when I eventually run a Kickstarter.

Edit: I'm not sure if I'm putting that image in right. It should be bringing up http://postimg.org/image/5ldrdge61/. Help with that would be welcome too.

 

[Xilef]

You needed the link for the image itself, the link you used is for the webpage it is displayed on.

On Google Chrome you can do right-click, open image in new tab and that will give you the correct URL:

Spoiler

http://s28.postimg.org/6awjptepp/First_Sprite.png[color=#000000][[/color]/img]
[img]http://s28.postimg.org/6awjptepp/First_Sprite.png

 

[coyotecraft]

It's hard for me to give color palette advice because it's just something I've learned to do intuitively. With shadows, you generally want to hue shift and not just use darker values. I think it's important to use a neutral grey background because it's easier to judge contrast. Don't forget to hair casts shadows on the forehead too. And cloth should have creases if you have a large enough area.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Thank you very much for the pointers! I'll try to shoot for more contrast, hue shift in the shadows, shadow under the hair, and creases on cloth... more attempts coming up soon. And thanks Xilef for the info on linking pics.