new marauder axeman - aka turin's first scratch-built sprite

[turin]

For a while I've been (slowly) tcolorizing and biggerizing the Marauder sprites (for the Marauder faction from the Imperial Era). Today, inspired by Shadowfarer's art tutorial, I decided to try my hand at making the new Marauder Axeman sprite from scratch, rather than "Extreme Frankensteining" (my usual method, in which I frankenstein the different body parts/weapons together but take great pains to make everything fit seamlessly).


Anyway, what I did was:

* draw an outline in pure black
* fill in the regions with the appropriate colors
* shade using three values for each region
* replace the black with appropriate really dark colors
* dodge and burn the hell out of it

The image in the lower-left is the original, which I used for reference only; the upper-right is the result of the above method.

So - Comments? Critiques? Should I return to extreme frankensteining?

[scienceguy8]

I like it.

[Flametrooper]

Not bad at all for a first scratch built sprite. If I remember mine was way worse - wait - yeah, here it is.

For some reason it looks a bit dark/blurry - maybe you wanted it to look that way, though. And the elbow - on the left side of the image, so his right elbow - looks weird. I can tell it's an elbow if I peer closely, but from first glance I don't know what it is...try removing that little dark bit you've put in the middle. Then again I haven't sprited in a long time, so don't take me too seriously - my best from-scratch work would probably be my avatar.

Generally good work.

[JW]

Wow!! Turin, I'm impressed!!!

[turin]

OK, I think I've fixed what Flametrooper was saying regarding the elbow.

And I've decided this guy looks too level 2-ish - so now he's the hunter, and this new sprite's the Axeman. I'm not really happy with the Axeman, though... he looks off, though I'm not sure why.

[Boucman]

the axe head is too bright (might be due to a white background in web browser)

the two levels are too similar and might be confused

your new method is waaaaaaay better, please continue that way

[Shadow]

Your first scratch build sprite I feel offended.
What about his one?


Now serious. I like the direction. Cough perhaps I'm biased.
Though I also thing that the axe head could need a bit definition. Just do it the way you did it with you dwarf and don't forget the brushes they are sometimes more useful on smaller areas than the doge tool.

[thespaceinvader]

The axe blades come out of the handle at the wrong angle. They should be a little more foreshortened and come into the middle of the handle to avoid the impression that they're coming out downwards. The hunter's right leg is not long enough, nor is the axeman's left upper arm. His right lower arm is too narrow and spindly.

This is great work from scratch. A little tweaking and cleanup is needed to make it perfect, though. Also, dark/game background shots would be useful so we can actually see the axe blades. They look a little small, to me, but that could just be the light backgrounds.

[turin]

Do these address your comments adequately?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Your first scratch build sprite I feel offended.
What about his one?

Whoa, looks like Davy Jones got ahold of a pickaxe.

turin: I think it would look better if the axe was...well, more impressive. It looks like a hatchet, at the moment. If you could stylize it a bit, such as curving the blade, perhaps, or giving it an explicit point, or even making it a double-headed axe, that would be good.

[JW]

The axeman looks funny, I think, because he is facing his enemy to the SE square on. It's like he's greeting him to say hello while carrying an axe. If he were in a battle stance he would be more sideways and would probably bend his knees a little bit - though this is exactly what you've done for the L2, so you don't want to give him the exact same stance. Still, it is this stance that helps make the L2 look so good in addition to just how well it is drawn.

ps, the L1 is also drawn well, it is just his stance that I am commenting on.

[thespaceinvader]

Looks better, but i'd still prefer more foreshortening on the blades. And a little more length on the leg i mentioned. The arms look better.

[Sapient]

The axeman looks funny, I think, because he is facing his enemy to the SE square on. It's like he's greeting him to say hello while carrying an axe.

It looks like he's about to say, "Hey there, mind if I Axe you a question?"

[Flametrooper]

Elbow looks better.
I don't quite see much difference between the two (if one's a lvl-up of the other). It's there, definitely, but could be emphasized.
Those are both really good sprite work though. The level 2 especially.

Hmmm....what if the level 1 held his axe in a more relaxed pose, while the level 2 held his axe in the badass ready-to-chop pose you've got him in? That could work to differentiate them.
Example:

[thespaceinvader]

Try holding an axe like that. That's an impossible, not to mention horribly impractical, pose. No offence, but it does not look good. The ready stance of the current sprites is a good one. A good alternate would be axe on shoulder, or axe held at waist level.