Mainline campaign sprites and animations needed

[Gyra_Solune]

It's a little hard to show progression with dwarves: they're the smallest of the major races and their proportions make details a little tough, and their universal beards means detail on the chest, a typical place to expand on, gets obscured, leaving few places to signify changes - it's probably why so many of them get those big capes upon level up.

The Witness line is more or less a Dwarvish White Mage so I'd emphasize making it look more ornate and magical as it goes along. The headgear is a very good way to do this. I think the level 3 should be in rather resplendent robes and have a big, obvious circlet of sorts, with wings at the ears and maybe a big eye-like motif on the forehead. Should be clear the Loremaster is like, the kind of person you'd expect to be sitting right next to a high king, or perhaps even BEING a king in their own right.

[Vyncyn]

It probably be better if does not have it's arms get naked from lvl2 onwards.

They were supposed to be covered in a white/grey fabric. I changed it to light blue to make it more visible.

It's a little hard to show progression with dwarves: they're the smallest of the major races and their proportions make details a little tough, and their universal beards means detail on the chest, a typical place to expand on, gets obscured, leaving few places to signify changes - it's probably why so many of them get those big capes upon level up.

Agreed. Most mainline dwarves even have the same pose and size upon advancement. Somehow they still manage to look different.
Anyway, here are the new drafts.

witness.png (1.02 KiB) Viewed 4448 times

annalist.png (1.05 KiB) Viewed 4448 times

loremaster.png (1.15 KiB) Viewed 4448 times

If possible I'd like to keep a similar pose for all advancement to make animating easier.

[Eagle_11]

Seems ok, but came to me as if his weapon hand seems to be bending the weapon's shaft, it may be just the perspective though, or you simply havent edited it yet. Nice touch with the asterix feathers on circlet of lvl3.

[Vyncyn]

Seems ok, but came to me as if his weapon hand seems to be bending the weapon's shaft, it may be just the perspective though, or you simply havent edited it yet.

Shading is finished, this hopefully fixes this problem too.

witness.png (1.25 KiB) Viewed 4368 times

annalist.png (1.27 KiB) Viewed 4368 times

loremaster.png (1.37 KiB) Viewed 4368 times

[Eagle_11]

Hmm, perhaps you can darken the gold lines a little bit at lvl3 as they blend in too much with the white skirt thingy.
lvl1 on close examination seems as if torso sprouted up right over the knee-caps.
Adding and moving 1-2 pixel up the waist would probably fix it without the sprite becoming too tall for an dwarf.

[Vyncyn]

I tried two different approaches with the loremaster to increase the contrast. One with a bit darker robe and black line under the gold and one with darkened gold lines.
Also new witness.

witness.png (1.26 KiB) Viewed 4281 times

original-darkened skirt-darkened gold lines

loremaster3.png (1.93 KiB) Viewed 4281 times

[Eagle_11]

lvl1, looks ok now.
at lvl3, use the middle one.

edit: so, what happent to this guy ?

[Vyncyn]

edit: so, what happent to this guy ?

Wanted to do animations for him, but never had the time (or will) to do so. Hopefully I can pick it up again in late February or March, unless anyone else wants to do them.
Here are the latest images I have (I think I made some slight changes since the last time). If they still need some work it's best to tell me before I start on the animation.

[Gyra_Solune]

Bolas could stand to be a tiny bit more obvious - it's less realistic for them to be just two soccer ball-sized things connected by a short string, but it more obviously communicates what it is. The elvish trapper line from UtBS is a good reference for what's easy to tell with those. Wings on the Loremaster headdress could do with being a little more poofy and filled-out, they look a bit more like antennae really...and hmmm. Maybe make the mace handle and head a little longer on him? The difference in the weapons are a little bit too subtle.

Maybe add things like...big ornate wing-shaped pauldrons too, kinda like the ones of the Royal Warrior? An important thing with a level 3 unit is that it be a little bit over the top and dramatic to enhance the immediate picture that this is the best of the best. Often has bolder and broader patches of team color on it too - again though, that's sort of difficult on dwarves given their proportions, and especially here, since it's a good idea to keep the robes predominantly pale in color.

[Vyncyn]

witness.png (1.35 KiB) Viewed 3905 times

annalist.png (1.34 KiB) Viewed 3905 times

loremaster.png (1.5 KiB) Viewed 3905 times

I changes their beards aswell.
If needed I could a cape to the loremaster and a smaller one to the annalist, but the amount of TC should be enough (it's atleast more than in the mainline sprites).

[Gyra_Solune]

You work fast! Excellent job, I really like it.

[doofus-01]

If they still need some work it's best to tell me before I start on the animation.

You got the headgear to look less like antennas, but these have a kind of muddled look. They don't appear to have any 3-D volume. Can you give them small shadows, give them a clear light-source? This is very quick edit, and some parts are muddled too (I wasn't sure what the center TC belt/sash/medallion thing was), hopefully it illustrates what I mean. The shadow on his right shoulder is probably the clearest.

[Vyncyn]

Tried to give them more volume. I dind't change the witness much (only swapped the black shadows against dark blue). I guess their legs need more work, but I can't really find the mistake.
The TC was supposed to some sort gem on the belt; I only added it to have a bit more TC.

[Horus2]

Rare to see so many details on such a small unit, it is a real pleasure to zoom in on it.
They got some new pixels on their shoulder, which somehow made it more appealing as a dwarvish unit, but the thick black shadows also made their shoulder-part wide and cone-like, and the armour lost a nice ornamental element. Is it possible to compromise between the latest two designs and somehow sneak the golden trim back?
I think the belt can return as it was before. I had no problems reading it and it is not the only TC on the unit anyway. The edit done by doofus-01 on the gemstone is clearly an exaggeration for educative purpose.
Regarding the legs, what probably rings the alarm for you is that the right boot looks like as if it is shows in an angle, standing on a non-flat surface, knee-bent. I saw that you are doing many units with such a dynamic pose, but maybe it does not translate well with short dwarf legs. It is also not in tune with the lighting on the new bola, as the side of it was very dark. I was toying with it for a few minutes to illustrate my claim, feel free to supercede me.

restored the belt, adjusted right boot

witness-h2edit.png (2.26 KiB) Viewed 3667 times

[Vyncyn]

Reworked them a bit. Mostly their legs and feet, but also made the arms longer and some other changes. The TC and golden lines on lvl2 and 3 should be more visible now. As far as I'm concerend they are done; atleast I couldn't improve them much more.