Amorphous's Pixel Art

Make art for user-made content.

Moderator: Forum Moderators

Forum rules
Before posting critique in this forum, you must read the following thread:
User avatar
Amorphous
Posts: 147
Joined: May 15th, 2012, 10:38 pm
Contact:

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by Amorphous »

Ack, sorry for taking so long. I'm still working on the animation, but ATM it's not really worth posting because I've yet to add the last few frames and work out the movement on the torso. I think I should be able to finish it in the next week.
In the meantime, here's a major revamp of the minotaur, and final few tweaks with the sorcerer dude- apparently there were some non-TC magenta shades on him.
I'm not sure the minotaur's palette, I think it might be lacking in contrast, even for a skin palette. I'm also not sure if his weapon has gotten too over the top, looking at it now.
Attachments
minotaur.png
minotaur.png (3.83 KiB) Viewed 14345 times
chaoscaster.png
chaoscaster.png (2.53 KiB) Viewed 14345 times
User avatar
GunChleoc
Translator
Posts: 506
Joined: September 28th, 2012, 7:35 am
Contact:

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by GunChleoc »

I think the minotaur would profit from making the eyes more pronounced. I have trouble finding if he has any.
User avatar
TheScribe
Posts: 465
Joined: June 17th, 2012, 8:17 pm
Location: You won't know till it's too late

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by TheScribe »

GunChleoc wrote:I think the minotaur would profit from making the eyes more pronounced. I have trouble finding if he has any.
I agree here.

I don't think the Minotaur's weapon is too over the top. It kinda depends on the intended level of the unit though. (I'd guess level 2, based on the current sprite)
Sorta on a break from the forums ATM, have been for a while. If I was doing something for/with you and I haven't recently, that's why, I will be back soon hopefully.
User avatar
Amorphous
Posts: 147
Joined: May 15th, 2012, 10:38 pm
Contact:

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by Amorphous »

Hm, okay. Is this better?
minotaur.png
minotaur.png (3.81 KiB) Viewed 14224 times
TheScribe wrote:(I'd guess level 2, based on the current sprite)
I've always thought of the Minotaur as a level 3, based off its height relative to the Troll Warrior. I think it would probably be more obvious if I gave him more accessories, i.e bracelets and such. I don't really feel like doing another makeover at this point, but I might sometime in the future.

Also, an update on the attack animation. Again, sorry for taking so long- I have an amazingly slow rate of work.
I get the feeling that I could still stand to exaggerate the movements even more, and the frames where the actual attack takes place look really off to me. I think it mostly has to do with the motion blur.
Thoughts?
Attachments
blaah.gif
blaah.gif (5.12 KiB) Viewed 14224 times
User avatar
TheScribe
Posts: 465
Joined: June 17th, 2012, 8:17 pm
Location: You won't know till it's too late

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by TheScribe »

I've always thought of the Minotaur as a level 3, based off its height relative to the Troll Warrior. I think it would probably be more obvious if I gave him more accessories, i.e bracelets and such. I don't really feel like doing another makeover at this point, but I might sometime in the future.
Yeah, armor would also make him look a little better too. (thinking out loud here, metal wrist bands might look good also)
Sorta on a break from the forums ATM, have been for a while. If I was doing something for/with you and I haven't recently, that's why, I will be back soon hopefully.
User avatar
Amorphous
Posts: 147
Joined: May 15th, 2012, 10:38 pm
Contact:

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by Amorphous »

Yeah, bits of armor and stuff might work. You know, I might revoke my earlier statement about not reworking it again, this sounds like it might be fun to play around with. :P
User avatar
Amorphous
Posts: 147
Joined: May 15th, 2012, 10:38 pm
Contact:

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by Amorphous »

Phew, busy week.

Okey-doke, so I've been messing around with the Minotaur, but I haven't come up with anything concrete yet.

And on a more productive note, here's an advancement for the sorcerer, and some final, final tweaks on the sorcerer baseframe. The advancement was a tad rushed; not so sure about the staff, and the cape's a bit bland.

Also, feedback on the animation is still much appreciated. After cutting up the frames and testing them in-game, I'm fairly sure that I'll need to take a one or two frames out of the windup. And I think I might have to change the direction of the attack; it seems more like straight east, instead of southeast, to my eyes.

C &C?
Attachments
warlock.png
warlock.png (3.01 KiB) Viewed 14076 times
chaoschaster_final.png
chaoschaster_final.png (2.7 KiB) Viewed 14076 times
User avatar
doofus-01
Art Director
Posts: 4122
Joined: January 6th, 2008, 9:27 pm
Location: USA

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by doofus-01 »

Amorphous wrote:And on a more productive note, here's an advancement for the sorcerer, and some final, final tweaks on the sorcerer baseframe. The advancement was a tad rushed; not so sure about the staff, and the cape's a bit bland.
The cape may be bland, but it goes with the hood - the tight waist of the chaoschaster_final.png clashes a bit with the big hood, at least in my opinion. But they are nice sprites. I like the little details like the knuckles & fingers.
Amorphous wrote:Also, feedback on the animation is still much appreciated. After cutting up the frames and testing them in-game, I'm fairly sure that I'll need to take a one or two frames out of the windup. And I think I might have to change the direction of the attack; it seems more like straight east, instead of southeast, to my eyes.
I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes "in game", but at least in the looped GIF, her hair seems a bit stiff. It looks like you trimmed it a bit on the wind-up, but you could go further. As for direction, I think it is close enough to southeast.
BfW 1.12 supported, but active development only for BfW 1.13/1.14: Bad Moon Rising | Trinity | Archaic Era |
| Abandoned: Tales of the Setting Sun
GitHub link for these projects
User avatar
Thrawn
Moderator Emeritus
Posts: 2047
Joined: June 2nd, 2005, 11:37 am
Location: bridge of SSD Chimera

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by Thrawn »

Amorphous wrote:Hm, okay. Is this better?
minotaur.png
TheScribe wrote:(I'd guess level 2, based on the current sprite)
I've always thought of the Minotaur as a level 3, based off its height relative to the Troll Warrior. I think it would probably be more obvious if I gave him more accessories, i.e bracelets and such. I don't really feel like doing another makeover at this point, but I might sometime in the future.

Also, an update on the attack animation. Again, sorry for taking so long- I have an amazingly slow rate of work.
I get the feeling that I could still stand to exaggerate the movements even more, and the frames where the actual attack takes place look really off to me. I think it mostly has to do with the motion blur.
Thoughts?
The back leg doesn't seem to be lifting as much as retracting into his body (robot hydraulics style). I think you need to show the upper leg/knee coming out/up in front of the body. Also, as to the blur, the primary problem is that it doesn't match the trajectory of the swing-- the arm is going across his body at a diagonal, while the blue is making a path that looks like you started the swing in a u-motion, going down and back up, not across.

A final smaller note: the hair doesn't move--you have a wonderfully exaggerated and vigorous animation, but the head remains static throughout (besides being displaced)
...please remember that "IT'S" ALWAYS MEANS "IT IS" and "ITS" IS WHAT YOU USE TO INDICATE POSSESSION BY "IT".--scott

this goes for they're/their/there as well
User avatar
artisticdude
Moderator Emeritus
Posts: 2424
Joined: December 15th, 2009, 12:37 pm
Location: Somewhere in the middle of everything

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by artisticdude »

Quick edit on the minotaur. One thing I'd try is changing up the hues in your palette... monochromatic colors (i.e., palettes that only vary in saturation and brightness rather than color) tend to read as being fairly flat. Adding a bit of hue-shifting to the palette will make it pop a bit more. :)

Your musculature overall is pretty nice, but I'd cut down on the separation between the pectorals and the shoulders a bit, and I'd also add some more volume to the pecs so that they don't look quite so much like plates.

His left (our right) elbow needs some foreshortening to read properly at that angle, so his left arm doesn't appear longer than his right. I fiddled with that a bit, but you'll probably have to play with the entire arm in order to get it right.

Re: the attack animation: Basically what Thrawn said above, especially about the hair. ATM the main thing that would help it would be to add more torso rotation like LordBob mentioned... and unfortunately, yes, that means you'll have to completely redraw some parts of the torso (which can be a pain, I know!). But since exaggeration is key in animation (particularly animation at this scale), the more movement you can fit into the motion, the better.
Attachments
minotaur.gif
minotaur.gif (2.75 KiB) Viewed 14157 times
minotaur copy.png
minotaur copy.png (6.63 KiB) Viewed 14157 times
"I'm never wrong. One time I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken."
User avatar
Amorphous
Posts: 147
Joined: May 15th, 2012, 10:38 pm
Contact:

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by Amorphous »

Thanks for the feedback, all! :)
doofus-01 wrote:The cape may be bland, but it goes with the hood - the tight waist of the chaoschaster_final.png clashes a bit with the big hood, at least in my opinion.
Yeah, I see what you mean. I'll mess around with that.
artisticdude wrote:Quick edit on the minotaur.
Ahh, I've known for a while that my palette skills are bad, but there's nothing like having the facts shoved in your face to show you how bad you are. :) Thanks for the paint over.

Okay, on the subject of the animation; here's where I'm at right now. I've rotated the head in the last two windup frames, tried to make the hair flop around more (not sure how well that turned out), messed with the motion blur (definitely don't think this turned out well; I'm probably going to have to entirely redraw that bit), and also made a few tweaks here and there. I haven't addressed some of the more irksome crits yet, but I'll get to them eventually.
Attachments
r3.gif
r3.gif (5.09 KiB) Viewed 14133 times
User avatar
Amorphous
Posts: 147
Joined: May 15th, 2012, 10:38 pm
Contact:

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by Amorphous »

Okay, quick and messy update on the attack animation. Is this the general direction I should move in to address Thrawn's crit about the blur/sword, or am I completely misunderstanding his comment? :hmm:

Also, a sketch for an idle animation. I can see that I'm going to have to up the overall movement, but right now my main concern is whether or not it's obvious what the character is doing. Answer spoiler'd just in case.
Spoiler:
Attachments
idle1wip.gif
idle1wip.gif (2.44 KiB) Viewed 14672 times
blurfix.gif
blurfix.gif (5.16 KiB) Viewed 14672 times
User avatar
Speedbrain
Posts: 137
Joined: August 10th, 2009, 9:51 pm
Location: Utah, USA

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by Speedbrain »

The motion blur is better. The hair could still use more movement, imho.
It's certainly improving, keep at it.

I think what the idle animation is doing is obvious. You should move ahead with it.
User avatar
Sleepwalker
Art Contributor
Posts: 416
Joined: October 23rd, 2008, 6:34 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by Sleepwalker »

Quick and dirty edit. Whole body movement does a lot. :)

A deep slow breath-in and out would make the idle look more like a yawn.
Attachments
edit.gif
edit.gif (6.16 KiB) Viewed 14643 times
Sometimes we must be hurt in order to grow, fail in order to know, lose in order to gain, and sometimes we must have to be broken so we can be whole again...
- Nercy Masayon
User avatar
Amorphous
Posts: 147
Joined: May 15th, 2012, 10:38 pm
Contact:

Re: Amorphous's Pixel Art

Post by Amorphous »

Thanks for the feedback!
Quick and dirty edit. Whole body movement does a lot. :)
:o Indeed it does. Many thanks for the paint over! Up until now, I've been afraid of rotating much at all, so your edit is extremely useful.
The motion blur is better. The hair could still use more movement, imho.
It's certainly improving, keep at it.
Yeah, the hair's been bugging me. I'll need to fish up some reference and try again. And thanks. :)

Okay, few minor tweaks to the animation. Only really noticeable difference is the added rotation to the skirt/hips to go with Sleepwalker's torso rotation. I think this is basically ready for shading and cleanups, though.

Anything that needs to be fixed (besides the hair, blah)?
Attachments
fixes.gif
fixes.gif (5.01 KiB) Viewed 14581 times
Post Reply