(WIP) Swordsman

[Mattastic]

I've been working on a sprite for the main character of my game, and I've decided to avoid messing about with pixels and mostly use the pen tool in photoshop for this one. The proportions are based on the Pocket Fighter sprites.

Problem is, I'm not entirely happy so far, so I thought I'd post what I have so far and get some thoughts and opinions before I go any further? Is the palette okay? Are the outlines all discernable? Also I'm not entirely happy with the outlined arm (which will hold a sword), and have no idea about how to pose the remaining arm, so suggestions on that would be helpful).

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8313/lanceec2.png[/IMG] http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5150/lanceag7.png[/IMG]
"Lance"

Thanks for all suggestions.

To do:
- Finish arms
- Add buckle on sash
- Do the arms
- Add a weapon
- Animate!

 

[Rye]

Ok, so he's not the sprite sprite? Just a concept for the sprite? Since unless you are doing pictures or plan on making a hard outline, it would be hard to use him for a battler who you animate--well, it might be. Unless you plan to import all of it right into RMXP without pressing the import/export button (that is, having NO background and just saving it in the right folder) then I'm not sure if it could be used for a battler. Then again, this may be just me since with that level of detail, I have a hard time making sure my animation doesn't jump at random intervals.
Onto the critique!

If so, he looks very nice so far. I actually enjoy his hair. His blue outfit is a little iffy, since it doesn't seem to be as well shaded as his hair. The highlights on the bottom part of his coat/tunic should not be highlighted that brightly, I don't think. Unless the material allows for it. The same could go for the pants. But they do look very nice.

In addition to the color of the pallete, I looks nice. I mean, the color combination has probably been used for god-knows how long, but you can't really escape that so far.

As for the arms, I imagine his arm would be like that if I suppose he was as brutish fighter for stabbing. If you want him slashing, I suppose his arm should be prepared to slash, if that makes any sense. I'll probably edit this later for some sword poses when I get home if I remember. As for the second arm, if he has a shield, he could have it sort of in front of himself, prepared to defend if need be.

Otherwords, it looks very nice so far.

 

[Mattastic]

Well, I was under the impression I could use an alpha channel for transparancies, so I could have a soft outline. I hope I'm correct on that, but if not I guess I'll just have to trace a pixellated version, but I'd really rather not. I'm actually slightly confused by your point about the level of detail. I wouldn't have thought how much detail is in a mere picture would cause any problems with the animation jumping. O_o

The blue is a bit bad. I've been messing about changing the hue of it though, and I think I've found a better shade that drifts further from purple and closer to cyan. This also softens the highlighting a bit, incidentally, and brings out the shadows (perhaps because it appears brighter, even though it really isn't).

I'll give the "holding a shield up" idea a try. It should be able to fit in the remaining space quite well. Which is why I didn't go for a slashing pose -- I don't think the sword and arm would have fit properly.

 

[Rye]

I hope you are too. I think I can do it with PICTURES, but I have never tried it with battlers. It would be so sweet if you could pull it off. And what I mean about level of detail is that at least with MY coloring, sometimes a color will be in one pixel, and other times for other frames I would have erased it. I dunno, it's probably just me being anal about it. If you can do it nicely without that, GO FOR IT! It would look better than pixels! (But don't underestimate the power of pixels, as they are much easier in some senses than that, if you know what I mean.)

Good luck with finishing it! It would be sweet to see more on it as you start to finish it.

 

[Mattastic]

Damn, you're right. I'm stuck with "transparent" and "semi-transparent". Damn!

I shouldn't have any problems animating it though. Without the shading it's not very detailed at all, and all of the shading is controlled by a large number of paths, so I can just edit those to get a smooth change.

Annoying about the alpha though. Grrr.

 

[Rye]

I know with pictures what I do is make sure I draw the lineart on a canvas with NO background (which means in Photoshop, that gray and white squared thing) and make sure that no color is outside of the lineart and save it right into the folder, without doing that import stuff (as a PNG of course!). Have you tried that?

Oh, and I just noticed the new WIP!
The lighter blue looks nicer. But my critique of the highlight on the part of the shirt against his leg still stands. Seems a little bright, but it may just be the fabric. IF so, shouldn't the area in a chest somewhere be as highlight in spots? Boots look pretty sweet, nothing objectable there. But, I just gotta point out, the pants make me giggle. They remind me of clown pants. XD They're so cute!

 

[bojox3m]

i think the swordie is a look alike of the master of yusuke in yuyu hakusho XD