Dixie's Internet Meme Era Art Thread

[lindsay40k]

OK, thanks for the feedback guys. Yes, this is my first sprite project

I'll get cracking on outlining the 'bot, I think I understand how the halo thing works (though I'm not sure how to create an animated image file with transparencies - using Photoshop & ImageReady CS on OSX if that helps any), and I'll start expanding my colour range beyond the default swatch sheet (which I've been using for convenience's sake, but has a limited range between dark browns/greys and black).

With regard to the 'bots being metal; I'm aiming for a rusty/tarnished metal look here. For the next version, I'm going to try adding some high contrast 'silver' edges to the orange/brown rusty metal, and some specks of white reflected light and dark turquoise verdigris to the brass/bronze.

[Dixie]

@ animations: Well, animations are composed of frames which the game, through the WML I will gladly take care of, will show one after the other. So what you really need is just a bunch of different pngs for frames. Some people like to merge them as an animated gif to have a preview, but it is of no use as far as including them in the game goes, and I have no idea how to do it (nor of how to reconvert them back to png frames). Dunno if I'm making myself clear...

It also occured to me that maybe the tracks were a bit big for Lv1s, but I understand it is a hell of a job, so I wouldn't overly mind them staying that size. We will need something else than size alone to convey the differenciation between levels, though, but I guess you're able to come up with something

[Aura]

Dunno if this is any use to you, a Ronin-y Samurai type dude.

[dipseydoodle]

Dixie: Feel free to use the rockets from my old minotaur thread... I'll redraw them later.

[Reepurr]

It's very dull metal, and judging by the way his right leg's sliding out, he's about to do the splits.

[Dixie]

Hmm, thx Aura, but I dunno, i doesn't really say "samurai" to me.

By the way, Knapka, I've been thinking about the swords thing. You know, I directed you towards my ninjas' katanas, and I think you are trying to somewhat reuse the same palette, but I'm pretty sure there would another more fitting sword palette from mainline. The fencer's was fine for my katanas, as they are pretty slim swords, but cutlasses are thicker. Maybe you'd get happier result immitating the Orcish Grunt, Naga Fighter, Swordsman or Elvish sword styles/shapes/palettes. I think the naga one could do especially well, maybe I'll try it ou when I get home later tonight, which is... in about 7 hours

[Kanapka]

About the swords:
I did not do proper research about pirate weapons (I should have). I figured out that pirates should use XVII-XVIII century bladed weapons, similar to Navy weapons or even stolen from the Navy, and something like this came to mind:
http://www.militarysabers.com/military- ... shapes.jpg
I thought that because it's Internet Meme era, what I should follow is popular culture image of pirates, and not the real historical facts. I was basing my units on Pirates of Carribean, mostly . I also think of popular culture pirates as people with high swordsmanship skills, and I connect this with fencing-like weapons rather than machete- or cleaver-like short and broad weapons.
Now I see that you meant pirates to use something like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Musee ... 000456.jpg

I will change the swords if you think it's necessary, I just believe that some of the 'sword thing' was because I tried to draw something else than you were expecting. I was using Fencer line sword palette before you directed me to it, and I thought that you had a custom palette for Ninjas. Turns out I was wrong.

Samurai:
I think samurai used padded armor or maybe some kind of scaled armor, but definetly not full-plate armor. I think you tried to imitate this, but your scales/parts of armor are too big. This sprite is good, it just doesn't look samurai to me.
I'd also say that his sword could use some anti-aliasing.

I have a more hairy version of Swashbuckler, maybe you like it better that the previous one - Dixie was right about it having too little piratish additions, and hair is the only thing I was able to add without making the sprite look awful.

[Dixie]

Well, honnestly my comment wasn't all that much about the historical type of sword, or even their shape, rather than the colour palette. I do not really mind either links, and your sabers shapes look OK to me, but in some way they have a very dark outline with a very light core, and without being a spriting expert, it looks a bit weird. Even the fencer doesn't have that much black outline on his sabers. Also they are clearly thinner than what you have drawn (which is totally okay with me shape-wise ). Anyway, I'll still try some other colour scheme to see if it looks good, if only as an exercise. If it's not nice, I'll just stick with your actual swords, they aren't THAT bad either (they're mostly ok, in fact).

[Vranca]

Maybe you could use lighter outlines on the sharp edges of the swords

[Kanapka]

I've tried that, will try until I get no black outline. If many people think black outline looks bad, I guess it means it does look bad.

Edit: I tried to do something with the sword he's holding above his hand. If you think this one i better, I'll edit the second sword. I don't understand why the light outline looks better than the dark, I think light outline makes the sword blurry, but somehow Wesnoth mainline sprites have light oulines and look good. Could someone repaint the sword the way it should look like?

[dipseydoodle]

Hey dixie... if this is ok I will start shading it.

PS: Can I use it in my era as well?

EDIT:

Kanapka... check the mainline units... That one's to tall.

[Dixie]

huh, well there is not much to judge, so I can hardly tell if it's proper for shading or not... I guess you can go ahead?

And I haveN,t tried it in game, but the Swashbuckler doesn't seems so extravagantly tall, for a Lv3. Maybe I'll try placing it alongside the other pirates, but I'm not sure it should be such an issue...

[Atz]

I don't understand why the light outline looks better than the dark, I think light outline makes the sword blurry, but somehow Wesnoth mainline sprites have light oulines and look good. Could someone repaint the sword the way it should look like?

A stark black outline tends to look very jagged/pixelated because of the high contrast with surrounding pixels. It can also make the object it surrounds look "pasted on", because it delineates it a bit too much.

Also, keep in mind that the background will affect how the unit reads in-game. The forum background, for instance, is pale blue, while the unit will typically be shown against darker green or grey backgrounds. It may be helpful to put a coloured background behind your unit when you're editing it, so you can get a sense what it will actually look like.

[Kanapka]

If this is not closer to acceptable, I'll have to frankenstein something.

Edit: deleted the previous attempts and added something that I think actually looks good.

[lindsay40k]

Upped the contrast, outlined, and played with a new Tank design. I'll be making 'bulkier' versions of each one for the level-ups, after making the other lv1's. Not sure if the Tank is too wide?

I plan to make the position of the smokestacks as consistent between units as possible, so that a few (eventually) animated smoke 'halos' can be reused.