See my sprites and tell what you think

[Dark_Cover]

these are my charsets...
I want to improve and I need help finding anything wrong...

better boots and some animation
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... proved.png[/imgzoom]

OK, I had fun with the HK but now im ready to go back to RTP style

This guy is for my game
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... mphony.png[/imgzoom]

Some other finished stuff for my game

Spoiler: Icons

A blade
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... de_001.png[/imgzoom]

A potion
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... potion.png[/imgzoom]

A bag
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... ny/Bag.png[/imgzoom]

A wand ting
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... y/wand.png[/imgzoom]

A sheild
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... ld_001.png[/imgzoom]

And a recolor
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... ld_002.png[/imgzoom]

And a green one
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... ld_003.png[/imgzoom]

I decided to make another sword
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... de_002.png[/imgzoom]

 

[Grathea]

Well, for one, I'd fix up the hair a touch by adding highlights in a halo, and fixing the depths. The armor in particular needs to be selouted, and you should leave some space for his neck. The armor at the legs is just horrible pillow shaded. Give me a few minutes and I'll whip up an example.
EDIT:
http://bb.xieke.com/files/demoknight.png[/imgzoom]
This is what I meant.
See how I changed the shading a little? The main issue was that the legs were pillow shaded, and the chest was shaded...oddly. I also sketched out a quick draft of the armor and where heavy shade would be (red and blue, respectively). Hope it helps. The hair is just a quick one minute fix - ignore the shading, it's the concept I'm trying to show you.

 

[Dark_Cover]

well i started with a Halo lighting on the hair but i ended up with that, you acn kinda see where i had a halo that i somehow ended up bluring...Im confused with armor as its shiny and im not good with shading folds in clothes.
thanks for advice

 

[Tindy]

Don't be afraid to look at uses of textures in RTP.  There's loads of armor, cloth, hair, shoes, etc that you can get the gist from.

 

[Dark_Cover]

thanks, im also looking into making actual art for a game(faces, battlers) but first i was hoping to get the basics...Thinks for the advice, ill post a new sprite later to see if ive improved any.

 

[Dark_Cover]

I added this little guy this time.
the strap things are supose to go to a backpak but i dont know is i got it right
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... prite2.png[/imgzoom]

*update*

I tryed the HK
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... prite3.png[/imgzoom]

 

[Ludocaine]

The first one RTP style has sort of a hunched head and the downshading is bad

 

[Dark_Cover]

yeah, the first one was a test so i dind't cre to change it specificly because i dont think im good enough to do armor yet, so i tried one with cloths and a HK as well

 

[Ludocaine]

they are both downshading so try using a diffrent ligth source maby?

 

[Dark_Cover]

not to be a pain but coud you better explain plz

 

[Ludocaine]

Ok Bad Mockup but i think it shows my point... shading from the fron like you are doing and also shading down is bad... Shade from diaganal directions.

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/2236/exampleti7.png[/img]

 

[Grathea]

Generally, light sources come from the upper left, yeah.

OK, the main thing I notice about your HK sprite is that you don't use enough colors.
Ease up on the dithering, and up the colors. You should probably be using say five or six colors for each swatch in that robe. Maybe two or three, perhaps four, for the trim, but that robe is definitely undershaded. I'll try and whip up a mockup for you sometime today, and show you what I mean.

 

[Dark_Cover]

I kind though the dithering was a bit much but i cant find a good color pallette and i suck at making them myself...Im use to the RTP style so i have less room to work with, im working on another HK with more colors. I hope i can get the diagnol shading right...I dont know if ill post it tonight

 

[Grathea]

Well, for palettes, I highly recommend you take a look at the ones in the HKCP gallery, as they're quite decent. Not perfect, since a 'perfect' palette would be customized for the material, etc, and for optimization, but they're quite good if you're just starting out.

 

[Makasu]

Actually on the HK one its not bad at all. Using three colors you can get the effect you need quite well. It'd be along the lines of


http://www.spriters-resource.com/squeni ... nigami.png[/img]

there are only three colors used for each part, shirt, pants, and the belt.

@Ludocaine: There is absolutely nothing wrong with shading from directly above. If you think about it actually seeing as how the perspective is in RMXP it would seem that light would come from overhead. Of course thats just my opinion. I could be completely wrong. I don't see anything wrong with using a light source from directly above. I mean the lighting from my monitor isn't coming from a diagonal angle y'know? It just depends.

Shading from below I'll give you. But up above makes more sense in my opinion.

Good work nonetheless keep at it and you'll get the hang of it. Everyone has to start somewhere y'know?

For one when I sprite [[or draw for that matter]] I always lay in a base dark color and pick out the highlights [[after acquiring a lighting direction of course]] that may not be your style but just something to keep in mind. Go dark to light and experiment with trying folds as well!

 

[Dark_Cover]

thanks for all the replies...I finished a new robed guy...I worked harder with the hair and i tryed to get folds right with out over dithering it...

http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... be_guy.png[/imgzoom]

 

[Makasu]

Now I've never been good at hair. I can't sprite it to save my ass but one thing is you need to throw some dividing lines in there. Like separate sections of the hair that ways it doesn't look that flat y'know? Unless thats the style you're going for?

And folds. You need folds. Especially towards the botom of the robe. It'd make it look at least 45% better if you did that. Even if you're not comfortable. At least give it a try.

But not bad.

Are these concepts off of the top of your head or are you using reference or something?

I do like you use of the dot type shading style. Just keep at it and put some lighting on the bottom brown part of the robe. It just looks thrown on there for no real reason.

Good stuff!

 

[Dark_Cover]

I am just making up things that seem "cool" and i try to shrink them down to "pixel art" but i still dont get the full concept of folds...

I edited some things and i tryed folds

http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq26 ... _robe2.png[/imgzoom]

 

[Makasu]

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/6/5 ... 20copy.png[/imgzoom]

These are some of my older works. Way old at that.

If you notice through my horrible example that there are folds simulated. It may not be perfect but it keeps your work from looking flat and drab.

And I still think you should work on that hair a little. It has little to no definition to it at all...

But good work so far. You'll get better and better just gotta keep at it y'know?  :thumb:

 

[Dark_Cover]

im not to good at folds. but ill practice somemore and I should have anoth KL sprite up sometime today