Tribes of the North pixel art

[Chtomorc]

I explain the whole Tribe of the North thing in this post : Factions of the North.

I'm using GIMP for a week now, and it keep is magical secrets away from me, so i need some advices to make good looking sprites.

Here comes the warrior branch of the Barbarians, it will give you exemple of my "art".

Lvl 1 barbarian fighter.

01002_northbarbarian.png (2.84 KiB) Viewed 5021 times

Lvl 2 barbarian warrior. Evolve from the fighter

01009_warrior.png (3.14 KiB) Viewed 5021 times

Lvl 3 battlemaster. Evolve from the warrior. He use a large mace and a sword.

01012_battlemaster.png (5.23 KiB) Viewed 5021 times

Lvl 2 fury warrior. Evolve from the fighter. He's a berzerker. No evolution.

01013_fury.png (3.27 KiB) Viewed 5021 times

Lvl 2 Barbarian leader. Evolve from the fighter. Evolve to lvl 3 lord and maybe a lvl 4 king. I need inspiration for them :p

01006_leader.png (4.05 KiB) Viewed 5021 times

They are all made from frankeinsteining an recouloured. I want to give them a unity looking. They only wear fur, in grey and brown tones. But with their pale skin and blond hair, it may not be very readable.

Do the levels 2 look like they're evolutions? Do the leader look like it is a leader?

General advice on colour theory, postures, drawing techniques are welcome !

[SFault]

I really like these because they are clearly more than just some paintovers.

Do the levels 2 look like they're evolutions? Do the leader look like it is a leader?

The evolution seems good, except for the warrior. The fighter looks bit bigger and has more TC, so he looks higher level than warrior, if the weapon is not taken account. Leader looks like a leader to me.

The battlemaster could have similar hair instead of the helmet. It looks bit too much like a dwarf head now.

There are several transparent pixels in places where they shouldn't be. Use fully opaque brushes and avoid (or clean after) rotations/scaling.

[Chtomorc]

Thanks for comments.
I was thinking just as you for fighter and warrior. But I made the fighter first, and I prefer the warrior anyway. I will cut the skirt (it really look like it :p) of the fighter to reveal it's legs. Maybe you have advice to give more TC coulour to the warrior and not make it a christmas tree ?

I'll try a battlemaster with hair only (The helmet give him a cool looking IMHO, but it definitely reveal the dwarf origin of the frankie part).

About the transparent pixels, it's an issue I have difficulty to deal with, I do't know how to visually identify them. I'll pay more attention to it for the furtures sprites, but is there is an easy way to select them in GIMP 2.6 so I can fix the work I have already made ?

[Reepurr]

Stop beating yourself up over your sprites (which are awesome by the way). The only real problem with them is there's a few anatomical issues - but that's understandable, 'cos they're frankies.

[Chtomorc]

Glad to read your comments Reepurr

I'll try to give the sprite an immediate feeling to situate them in the hierarchy ... And it is also an exercice for me to discover sprite art (I have no real skill in drawning though). It's mean I'm relatively requiring with myself. So, every comment that can make me better is more than welcome

Modifications i've made and some cleaning :

Little modifications added to this branch.

fighter_evo1.png (9.21 KiB) Viewed 4939 times

Speaking of anatomy, wesnothians have a particular looking, so can you point out what in particular seem weird in order to try fix it ?

Also a female version of fighter, work in progress.

A female fighter i'm working on.

bar_fighter_fem.png (2.97 KiB) Viewed 4939 times

[Crendgrim]

I'm using GIMP for a week now, [...]

Wow!
After a week of GIMP I finally understood how to use the tools ...

[...] and it keep is magical secrets away from me, so i need some advices to make good looking sprites.

Just continue as you started.

Of course, it's obvious that most of these sprites are frankensteined and recolored if you know the originals. But ... each of these units just fits your theme.
If you continue to do so great stuff and once start to make sprites up on yourself, I'm quite confident that they could become top quality if you stick with it.

Well, I'm not really an artist, so only a nitpick from my side:
On the Level 1 Barbarian Figher, the Level 2 Barbarian Warrior and the Level 2 Fury Warrior, the breast is lined very strong. That's not the fact for the Level 2 Barbarian Leader, though.

Concerning the anatomy, I think some of your units have too short legs. But better wait for some more reliable input here.


Crend

[Zerovirus]

Aha, frankenspriting that doesn't look like frankenspriting! Your sprites' individual parts work together with a flow that I haven't seen in many frankensprites. This is an example of what every frankensprite should aspire to be. Nice work!

[SFault]

Maybe you have advice to give more TC coulour to the warrior and not make it a christmas tree ?

I rather would adjust the fighter. Less TC at head and perhaps reduce the size a bit.

I'll pay more attention to it for the furtures sprites, but is there is an easy way to select them in GIMP 2.6 so I can fix the work I have already made ?

I don't use GIMP, but I believe that the magic wand can be used by selecting transparent pixels. What I really recommend is to use different backgrounds (e.g. pure black and white) to see the dark and light stray pixels that might be hard to spot otherwise.

Speaking of anatomy, wesnothians have a particular looking, so can you point out what in particular seem weird in order to try fix it ?

I think the Fighter's left arm is in very awkward position. I think it could be fixed very easily just by moving the shoulder back (behind the torso).

[Chtomorc]

Thanks Zerovirus But the others lines of the factions are not so good for now, mostly recoulour, i'll post them when I consider the fighters branch good enough.

I tried fixing fighter by reducing the size of his right arm muscle structure, but it look kinda odd.
I'll try your idea, Sfault, by reducing the size of the hairband and hiding his rleft shoulder. And as Grendgrim say, i'll give more outline to the leader breast, for unity looking.
About transparent pixels, I just made as you say (changing background colour) and had clean the sprites.

[Chtomorc]

It's me again.

I have made some modifications to those sprites.

Modified lvl 1 fighter

fighter.png (2.87 KiB) Viewed 4769 times

Modified lvl 2 warrior

warrior.png (3.26 KiB) Viewed 4769 times

Modified lvl 3 battlemaster

battlemaster.png (3.85 KiB) Viewed 4769 times

Tattoos on the warrior's arm are really great with the different team colour in game.

Maybe lvl 1 and 2 could be more different, but I don't have any idea for that, and I like them as they are :p

[em3]

Fighter and battlemaster look much better.

There's something about warrior's weapon that seems off to me. Like either some shaft should be visible between upper hand and the steel part, or the steel part should be hidden somewhat behind the upper hand (by one-two pixels)...

OR maybe just the perspective of the steel (stone?) part of the hammer does not match the direction that shaft implies.

[homunculus]

Fighter and battlemaster look much better.

There's something about warrior's weapon that seems off to me. Like either some shaft should be visible between upper hand and the steel part, or the steel part should be hidden somewhat behind the upper hand (by one-two pixels)...

OR maybe just the perspective of the steel (stone?) part of the hammer does not match the direction that shaft implies.

Steel part? Judging by the shape it looks a bit like a book.

Bit more seriously now, I think the center line of the fighters body could be a little bit to the right in the picture, to give the impression of curved barrel chest, and his left hand shoulder could be slightly more hidden behind the body.
And I would also suggest a little bit full shadow at the fighters ribs or even the whole side under his right arm.

The fighters right arm has a kind of shadow where I think there could be some more light
I mean, the outline (right side in the picture) of his right arm seems to be merging into the highlight in the center of the arm with a gradient, but shouldn't the highlight continue straight to the outline without this soft gradient?

Overall I think those sprites might look quite good in game.

[Chtomorc]

Thank you for your comments.

I also think that the warrior hammer as a bad perspective, but it's from frankie, and I think he will be good and stay as it is :p

I have improve the fighter, and it seem good to me now.

So, the ice mages branch is now subjected to your appreciations :

lvl 1 shaman

shaman.png (2.86 KiB) Viewed 4674 times

lvl 2 blue mage, evolve from shaman

blue.png (2.39 KiB) Viewed 4674 times

lvl 3 prist of Vah'lal, evolve from blue mage

ice.png (3.4 KiB) Viewed 4674 times

Those 3 are classic mages who master ice. The lvl 3 is also a healer. It is a resize and recoulour of a druid I found in ageless era, from the wood warriors faction. If someone now the name of the artist who made it, i'll be glad to know.

In the mystic branch, there is also mage-fighter, cause barbarians like fighting :

lvl 2 ice dancer, evolve from shaman

dancer.png (2.74 KiB) Viewed 4674 times

lvl 3 priest of Sacha, evolve from blue mage

blood.png (3.6 KiB) Viewed 4674 times

I've made a version of the blood mage, aka priest of Sacha, with a blue steel toned axe, but I think the original colour of the Draug axe fit well with the aspect I want to give to him.

What do you think of them ?

[Dixie]

I understand these are frankies and that choices are sometimes limited, but while your mages certainly say "mage", they definitely don't say "barbarian", and I personally think they would look out of place in your faction.

Edit:

Some ideas to fix the issue: I'd drop the robes and rather think about native sorcerers feel. Like, animal hides, various tatoos and trinkets, etc. Maybe make them barechested too (for lower levels at least). But not the robes, seriously. And the Lv1's saber looks way too much civilised, imo. It might be better with hatchets and the like. Or just staves with colors, baubles and trinkets on it.

[Chtomorc]

@ Dixie : thanks a lot for ideas You're right, apprentice should be closer to barbarians, and I try to show that in a new shaman based on your suggestions.

shaman_alt.png (3.08 KiB) Viewed 4635 times

But I like my lvl 3 as they are (I mean, for the concept). Don't you think the blood mage look like a wild mage ? He havn't got the insane feeling I want to give him, but look pretty barbaric to me !
In the faction, mystics are very distinct from normal members of a tribe. They don't really belong to one of the numerous tribes. Maybe they have contacts with regular mages of wesnoth... Don't know how I'll explain that lore-wise.

Anyway, i'll try to make a lvl 2 who fill the gap between the shaman and the priests.

For the dancer, I tried give him half transparent ice blades (that was my fisrt concept), but the result was ugly. So i'll finish the hunter branch before trying improve the dancer.