My first sprite

Post by **thespaceinvader** » October 30th, 2007, 7:13 pm

The face is good, yeah. The skin tone is still quite orange though - i'd pick a slightly less saturated shading colour, more towards the brown.

The trouble, i think, with the right arm is that it looks a little short, like it joins the axe at his elbow - i know that this is because some of the arm is hidden behind his body, but leaving a clear bend at the elbow could help avoid this impression.

DJ1337 · Post by **DJ1337** » October 30th, 2007, 7:14 pm

Thanks. I myself am surprised at how good his face turned out. I'd say it's of sufficient quality to be used in the game, so if anyone wants to use it for frankensteining they're welcome. It looks more like a dwarf than a human face, though, so I think I'll make it just a hint narrower.

As for the arm, well, I see what you're saying. It looked more natural in the previous version, but there was no elbow. When I added the elbow I had to adjust the whole arm, and in the end I got an awkward pose. I think I should make the arm bend more in the elbow, and the shoulder should be moved a pixel or two to the right. I also have trouble shading his arms without making them orange.

What I'm most struggling with is the shading of his clothes. I just can't get a consistent light direction, and he looks a bit flat, too. I think I need bolder highlights and shadows to make him look more 3D. I experimented a bit, but I haven't managed to get it anywhere near right thus far. I also think I need more pastel tones as the ones I'm using now seem to clash with other graphics when I paste him into a screenshot.

Post by **thespaceinvader** » October 30th, 2007, 7:33 pm

Have a look at one of the units which has some flesh on show, particularly some of the elvish shaman line units, and sample some flesh tones from the larger areas. Or even grab the Spearman image and sample from its face. That's where i got a LOT of my flesh tones in the past.

DJ1337 · Post by **DJ1337** » October 30th, 2007, 10:39 pm

I fixed his right arm's position (I think) and made him less orange. I decided to experiment a bit and use only two colours on his skin because I always messed up by overshading them. I also narrowed his face by a pixel to make him look more human and less dwarf. I'm not really sure how it turned out good. I think his arms look flat now and his face isn't as good as it was, but I can't really tell because I've been staring at this for too long.

I'm also not sure what to do with his pants. I kinda like the whole kneecaps thing he's got going on, but the colour somehow seems wrong.

Post by **irrevenant** » October 31st, 2007, 10:46 am

I think the previous face looked perfect. IMO its proportions fell within the human norm.

The arm looks a ton better. I would suggest adjusting the angle of the axe, say to 5-10 degrees. The guy is facing the standard Wesnoth South-Westerly direction. IMO, given his stance, he should be pointing the axe that way too.

Post by **shiremct** » November 4th, 2007, 7:14 am

You've done an excellent job with his face and hair, it really has great detail and depth. I'm also quite impressed with the torso. It's even more apparent when you zoom in on him how well his depth is defined and represented.

I think the (his) right leg looks a little odd but it could largely be the shading... I can't quite place my finger on it yet. Overall I'm a little iffy about the saturation and some of the shading contrast, mostly in the legs, but that can really be something that varies with one's personal preference, so keep that in mind. Wonderful job.

Post by **irrevenant** » November 4th, 2007, 12:39 pm

I suspect the problem is that the legs, while excellent, are oriented differently to the torso. The torso is pointing south-west ie. ~135 degrees (the Wesnoth standard) whereas the legs are pointing more south-west-west (~105 degrees).