Majors Art

[Major]

Hows the berserkers fist now?

[Frogger5]

Brilliant
Nw I'll pick up another problem. The cape. It looks very organized. Like its been sewn that way. Fewer, bigger, and more natural shadows and folds are needed.

[Major]

EDIT: One new cape has been served.

[Frogger5]

Thats a lot better. But there is an awkward little point that goes up in between his legs...

[Major]

[someone]

To me, it doesn't look like he has pupils.

[Issyl]

I can see where Major placed the black on the eyes when viewed up close, but overall on the sprite, it doesn't appear that way due to the outlines of the nose piece being too close in color.

You could:

- Lighten the border of the nose piece and see how that looks
- Make the nose piece thinner so that there is space between the left eye or both and the nose piece.
- Simply get rid of the nose piece.

A few more things about this sprite:

- I would try turning the body and head slightly to his left so that he's facing more towards the bottom right corner of the hex.
- The shield is rather high for a resting position - although so is the axe. You may want to use this as a base for the attack animation and make the base frame more of an "at rest" position.
- You have a tendency to make legs rather short, and it shows in this sprite as well.
- The viking would logically hold the axe closer to the bottom of the shaft to get more power out of a swing.
-The ridge on the helmet points straight down, while the rest of the head seems to be pointing slightly to the right.

The cape looks great to me at this point.

Great work

[em3]

- Lighten the border of the nose piece and see how that looks

That reminds me about something I've noticed but forgot to mention... You use black outlines everywhere, including around bright areas and within the sprite image.

I believe that current mainline trend is to use outlines that are just a somewhat darker shade of color they surround. Also, the lines within the sprite (as opposed to the contour lines) are kept to the minimum. Please see this Elvish Hero sprite:

Notice especially bright outlines around weapons.
Then again this might be more a question of preference and personal style.

[Cloud]

Please see this Elvish Hero sprite:

Notice especially bright outlines around weapons.

Bad example

This:

Is a much better example (I have it on good authority that the current elves aren't pure pixel art).

[em3]

Bad example
[...]
This:
[...]
Is a much better example (I have it on good authority that the current elves aren't pure pixel art).

OK... so I guess I didn't make a case then.
Anyway... brighter outlines are or are not preferred?

[thespaceinvader]

Are preferred - the example you gave was OK, just not as good as the one Cloud showed.

This tutorial http://www.natomic.com/hosted/marks/mpat/softening.html explains more.

[Cloud]

OK... so I guess I didn't make a case then.
Anyway... brighter outlines are or are not preferred?

My bad, didn't mean to put it quite that harsly to you. Sorry about that.

[em3]

Cloud: No feelings were harmed, man. I'm not a kid.

tsi: Thanks for clarification.

Major: Sorry for nitpicking so much in your art thread. I really admire the quality of your sprites. I really try to comment only when I have something constructive to say. Results do vary.

[Major]

Thanks, no harm done. If I got offended easily I probably woulden't have said that I wanted critique.

EDIT: Most of the critique has been acted upon but not all and I still want to make changes, so what needs improving on now besides different axe positioning?

[Frogger5]

Man, I preferred him with the nose guard. Makes him look more tough and angry. Like a berserker. Even though the original berserkers didn't wear armor.