artisticdude's Art

[lipk]

The Mage and the Warrior are very nice but the Inventor... hmmm... in fact, is he an inventor? He could be just a random guy with a wooden stick.

[blueknight1758]

The Mage is looking awesome and the warrior is sweet, I agree with Lipk though that atm the inventor isn't that defined.

[artisticdude]

/me is annoyed. Inventor didn't work out, so we've got a healer instead (I think I was subconsciously heading in that direction all along). Stole the palette from Jet's revamp of the elves, although I'm probably going to tweak it a bit, as it doesn't quite function as I want it to in this context. Does the healer actually register as a 'healer', or should I add something else to the sprite to clarify its role? Like a potion or leafy staff or something?

Warrior's pretty much finished. And yeah, guess what I used for reference (and the majority of the palette).

Now for the pet. I'm finding it really difficult to shade large organic shapes like the pet has (especially given my limited palette choices), so I might just throw a thief in there instead to complete the party.

[Zerovirus]

I recommend less TC. TC is a very straightforward palette and you could use far more interesting color ramps than that, especially for a pixeljoint challenge where they won't know the significance of TC so they'll theyll just see how each character is the same pinkish shade as a bland artistic decision.

[blueknight1758]

I kinda think you should stick with the pet 'feel free to ignore'
but how do you get better without trying? and the shaded face look good to me.

[Drakefriend]

You should definitly keep the pet. It's beautiful. Could somebody integrate it into a good UMC now?

[beetlenaut]

For me at least, the healer doesn't register that way yet. Also, I would try for a little more differentiation in the faces. I know you have very few pixels to work with, but they all look exactly the same right now. Maybe you could get some squinty eyes or a beard in there.

[artisticdude]

The healer should hopefully be a bit more readable as a healer now? (or not...)

I recommend less TC. TC is a very straightforward palette and you could use far more interesting color ramps than that, especially for a pixeljoint challenge where they won't know the significance of TC so they'll theyll just see how each character is the same pinkish shade as a bland artistic decision.

True. Hadn't thought of that. Let's see if I can come up with a palette that will work as both cloth and wood...

but how do you get better without trying? and the shaded face look good to me.

Oh believe me, I've tried. It's just something I've had little experience with to date, so I'm not entirely confident in submitting it for a challenge. I'll keep working on it, though.

So, the beginnings of the thief. Arms are crap, but the hood shaped up pretty well, IMO.

iyt.png (12.07 KiB) Viewed 3782 times

EDIT: Getting there.

[blueknight1758]

To me the healer comes across as a Druid which in turn comes across as a healer so that's good and the thief is looking like a mischievous character, maybe if a Druid is what your after you could have vibes encircling the healer.

On a side note can I use your pets sprite and try to shade it for a campaign I'm making.

[Great_Mage_Atari]

Hmmm... I like them! I'm no art critique by any professional means, but it looks to me like the bottom left sprite's left arm seems a little stubby. The knight's arms looks quite good, as they are in proportion not only in size, but in length. The thief (I think that's what the bottom left one is) has arms that are in a perfect body-size ratio, but not in an arm-length ratio. I think that if the arm was extended by a pixel (maybe 2? 3 seems like overkill) would make the arm look more in proportion. I suggest either this, or shortening the legs a hair.
And that's what I think so far. Overall, nice job!

[artisticdude]

Hmmm... I like them! I'm no art critique by any professional means, but it looks to me like the bottom left sprite's left arm seems a little stubby. The knight's arms looks quite good, as they are in proportion not only in size, but in length. The thief (I think that's what the bottom left one is) has arms that are in a perfect body-size ratio, but not in an arm-length ratio. I think that if the arm was extended by a pixel (maybe 2? 3 seems like overkill) would make the arm look more in proportion. I suggest either this, or shortening the legs a hair.
And that's what I think so far. Overall, nice job!

Hm you have a point there about the thief. I did some fiddling, and this is my submission for the challenge:

[beetlenaut]

Nice. Of the submissions so far, this really is my favorite.

[blueknight1758]

Would I be able to use your 'pet' sprite in a UMC?

[artisticdude]

@blueknight: Sure.

Anyway, freed from palette restrictions and stuff, I fixed these up a bit and restored their TC (and checked the TC: it works), gave them each a shadow and made each a separate image. So, UMC authors, feel free to use any of these in your projects.

[blueknight1758]

I hate to sound as if I'm stealing all your stuff but I might make these the heroes in my rpg type campaign along with their pet.