My Artwork and Looking for Suggestions

[melinath]

Back, Huston! He's mine! Arr.

Thanks for giving it a shot, potatomanjack! You're making quick progress. If you're up for it, it'd be great if you could keep working on the runeblade a bit. Here's why

Runeblade_comparison.png (11.77 KiB) Viewed 3190 times

Left is the unit that the character in my UMC. Right are four of the advances that he can choose. There are a few things that need to be changed for the runeblade to fit in:
1. a couple pixels taller and wider.
2. a shadow under him.
3. his head could stand to be generally a bit more massive... the hood is fine, but give it a bit more volume and move it a bit farther up on his forehead/add a bit of shadow to show it's not sticking to his skull.
4. Would you be willing to drop the glowing eyes?
5. This next bit would be hard... but how would you feel about animating the fire?

[potatomanjack]

Back, Huston! He's mine! Arr.

Thanks for giving it a shot, potatomanjack! You're making quick progress. If you're up for it, it'd be great if you could keep working on the runeblade a bit. Here's why

Runeblade_comparison.png

Left is the unit that the character in my UMC. Right are four of the advances that he can choose. There are a few things that need to be changed for the runeblade to fit in:
1. a couple pixels taller and wider.
2. a shadow under him.
3. his head could stand to be generally a bit more massive... the hood is fine, but give it a bit more volume and move it a bit farther up on his forehead/add a bit of shadow to show it's not sticking to his skull.
4. Would you be willing to drop the glowing eyes?
5. This next bit would be hard... but how would you feel about animating the fire?

I can definitely see the difference between the quality and size of sprites. There's still quite a bit of work to be done.

I'll definitely take a shot at fixing him up per the suggestions. I'm cool with all of them, as they all make sense and will make the runeblade fit more closely with the others. I can also try to animate the fire, although It'll be my first attempt at animation so I don't want to promise too much.

e: Do you want his cape to be pink to match the other sprites / his pre-evolved pattern.


A-Red: thanks a lot for the tip on using a grid. I think that will really help. When I sprite, I've usually got a couple of mainline units open at the same time to work off of, but I haven't gone to the extent of gridlining them, and I think that will really help to get me in line with Wesnoth standards.

Cheers,

PMJ

[thespaceinvader]

It's worth bearing in mind at this stage: that's not pink. Well, it is pink (specifically, a very limited set of magenta pigments), but that pink is what is known as Team Colour. It changes into the colour of whatever team the unit is on in-game.

You might also do well to check out Creating_Shadows_Under_Units, as well as the rest of Create_Art.

[A-Red]

Make sure you eyedrop the team-color tones from an existing mainline sprite--you have to use the exact color.

[melinath]

TC on the cloak (or somewhere else, but that's the largest colorful thing he's wearing) would be good, because then, someday, the unit could easily be used in other contexts, as well.

The animation of the fire is a secondary concern. Have fun with it some time.

[potatomanjack]

Hi all,

Did some more work on him on Sunday and this morning, and I think he's getting close.

His proportions are now in line (or very close to) those of the other sprites which is good.

I think the level of detail / shading /style is still a bit off with the others, but it's much closer than it was before. I also took a first shot at his shadow, which is ok, but could probably use a little work.

I've attached the comparison picture again, although lost the shadows for most of them, because had to convert to MSpaint (I'm at work).

Would love some more feedback in the meantime.

Cheers,

PMJ

e: saw a couple of small errors on him, and fixed them (leg size, some shading etc.)

[stimj]

He's fairly flat, making the shadows deeper should help round him out.
I still think that if the fire is red, the highlights should reflect that, but that's your perogative. If/when you animate, be sure to make the lighting reflect the change in size of the flame.
One last comment, his left foot (our right), seems to be a bit too turned. It should be coming out a bit more, imho.

[potatomanjack]

He's fairly flat, making the shadows deeper should help round him out.
I still think that if the fire is red, the highlights should reflect that, but that's your perogative. If/when you animate, be sure to make the lighting reflect the change in size of the flame.

I think I understand what you mean now. Last time, I just thought you meant to say make the fire a light source (which I tried to do) as opposed to actually use the red in the light that reflects on his armor. I'll take a stab at doing that and see how it looks.

When you say to make the shadows deeper, what do you mean? Do you mean make them darker in certain areas, or more contrast between the light and the dark? Sorry, don't know all the lingo yet

One last comment, his left foot (our right), seems to be a bit too turned. It should be coming out a bit more, imho.

Yeah, taking a look back at him, that's very true. It looks like he's twisting his ankle currently. I'll give that foot a workover.

Cheers,

PMJ

[stimj]

When you say to make the shadows deeper, what do you mean? Do you mean make them darker in certain areas, or more contrast between the light and the dark? Sorry, don't know all the lingo yet

Yeah basically. His right side should be practically black because the light doesn't reach that far around. I'm not as experienced as others, so I can't really give you specifics, but tsi and folks can probably give you better/more specific tips.

[potatomanjack]

OK, I think I understand. I've taken a shot at working the contrast a little bit and deepening the shadows. It does seem to make quite a difference in terms of the flatness.

Attached is the current version.

Cheers,

PMJ

[PsychoticKittens]

is it just me or does the shinier area of the torso look a little pinker than it should?

[potatomanjack]

is it just me or does the shinier area of the torso look a little pinker than it should?

I made it more red/pink to try and show that it was reflecting the colour of the fire in his hand which is red/pink.

Do you think it's missing the intent? If so, I'd be keen to fix it, so am happy to take suggestion on how to do so

Cheers,

PMJ

[PsychoticKittens]

mmm, if it was me I'd color the armor how it would be without the glow. and then add the glow through a transparent brush. but that's me.

[potatomanjack]

mmm, if it was me I'd color the armor how it would be without the glow. and then add the glow through a transparent brush. but that's me.

Don't have the transparent brush to use at work as am stuck using paint here I'll take a look at it when I get home.

In the meantime, I worked him a little more, and have fixed his right arm that I found was sticking out too much.

Also pulled his hood down a little bit, and think it looks much cooler now, and is more in line with the Wesnoth style.

Cheers,

PMJ

[potatomanjack]

Just out of curiosity, how does everyone 'draft / sketch' their sprites.

I've attached a the outline of a sprite I've just decided to work on. I've done a first shaded version of his 'head' but the rest is still the first draft that I use to start with.

Just wondering how most people do their first draft / sketch when starting a sprite, and if there's a more efficient way for me to work, as I find I can spend a fair amount of time just getting the basic look right before ever jumping into the detail.

If someone could point out a 'from start to finish' tutorial, that would be great.

Cheers,

PMJ