The VG Resource

it's indeed better, but the two lightest skin tones still need more contrast

I thought I was done with the thing, guess I'll figure it out later today (1: 33 AM here in Florida).

Okay, I'm tossing up between these two color schemes here (two new palletes on the left, the other simply got a brighter pallete to give off contrast on the right).

maybe a little more contrast, I see almost no difference between this and the old one

Added a few more changes to the sprites.

While I shouldn't be using bases, it's nice to have something to do once in awhile, for example improving this robot (left) aesthetically in design first before correcting all the issues, starting with the "rings".

For starters, how do I get the first ring to get more ring-like (right)?

EDIT: Made it more identifiable by placing a red box around it.

Now the robot got a major revamp. Any opinions before I move onto the chest?

Looks kind of like a gray zombie to me. Are you sure it's a robot?

Needs to look more mechanical if that's the case. Because the sprite is small, you'll need to design him in a way where it will be quite noticeable that he's a robot.

That I'm working on, just trying to figure out what to do with the upper torso, any ideas?

is it a robot or android?
robot, make joints seams and welded forms more apparent.
android (robot designed to look and act human) then go for a pale human with some slightly welded forms.
by welded forms I mean sudden changes in angle, not always necessarily with corners.

the chin and the eyebrows are good examples

just adding this, you're going backwards by polluting the robot's legs with all that messy pixels. Using smooth shading lowers contrast and sharpness.

Okay, did some tinkering, this time with the arm and head.

Still a lot of it seems organic. I whipped this up really quick to show you how you can make your robot look more robot-like.



Not very good but it gives you an idea.

Oh, okay. Now the next problem is getting it to feel like a standard issue bio-mechanical robot. Remember, this is a workout, not a walkthrough, although help accepted.

Looks like he was improved for the better since the first version. I plan on re-doing other characters too, to fit with this fellow's new design.