The VG Resource

I tried making some other characters. I'm struggling on the poses for the middle two. Still not sure if the sword guy's pose is natural looking enough, especially in the arms. The spear guy's legs and back arm are a big problem for me right now.

Most recent version:

I really like the armor on his legs, but I think the upper half could benefit from more readability and contrast between colors.
Anatomy isn't my forte so I'll refrain from trying to correct that, but something about his pose looks off.

Thanks for the comment. By upper half, do you mean the upper half of the leg or the upper half of the body?

Yeah, I have a feeling something is weird with the unarmored leg. It's something that has been bothering me, and I've been having some trouble fixing it to the point where I'm satisfied. Still having problems with the anatomy to make the pose look more natural.

New one is on the left.

I tried to make the swords stand out a little bit more. I hope that helps with readability. Also, I made the outline of the red slightly darker, but I'm not sure if it really changed much. I'm having trouble fixing the pose's anatomy to look more natural. I think the problem stems from that back leg.

too dirty and rough on the eyes. Use less selout and increase contrast.

It lacks any disctinct style. I think that is the biggest mistake people make when creating a new sprite. Take what you have now and simplify it.

to be honest with you, i think you should start this sprite over again.

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

I tried getting rid of most of the selout. Am I on the right track?



I think you're right, Chris2Balls. I started this thing awhile ago when I was pretty terrible, and have basically been just improving it from the start that I had, so it's most likely plagued with issues from back then. It might be best to start over and fix the anatomy/style issues that way instead of trying to edit something that is not so fundamentally great. Any tips on things I should be focusing on when I start anew? Thanks again for the feedback.

The style looks boring and uninspred, the colors used are very dull, there's too much detail for something so small and unnoticable (Leading cause of readability issues). It also reminds me of JUS, which isn't really a strong point.

I appreciate the responses, guys. I tried restarting it. I tried to make the pose a bit better and the sprite itself a little cleaner. I'm having some problems with that back leg, though. This is what I have so far:

The face is overshaded and lacks readability, the lineart and shading on the hair make no sense, the neck is too fat, the legs aren't long enough compared to the torso, the new body outline doesn't make any sense because it doesn't follow the spinal cord, ribcage, and waist, and the colors need waaaay more saturation

I'd redo the entire palette, if not the entire sprite itself. In regards to the shading on the pants, the second shade doesn't have enough contrast from the darkest shade. It's likely three shades there isn't even necessary

Heres a small edit to show you that simplicity is bliss. I added some highlights to the hair too, couldn't resist myself.
And for the sake of color reduction, the medium shade on the pants is nearly the same as the dark shade in the hair, you should make those the same color.

Thanks a lot Preed. Your edit really helps. If the colors aren't reused on the hair and pants, then I must've made a palette change and forgotten to fix it on one of the parts. So highlights on the hair are a good idea then? I was a bit hesitant when I've tried before to try to limit my colors, but it really looks great that way. Thanks again.

Starsock, I appreciate the critique. I'll try fixing those anatomy problems, and I'm working on the color palette to make it more saturated. I'm having some trouble with the black shades.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, guys. I really appreciate it. =)

(12-31-2010, 07:16 PM)Alex Wrote: [ -> ]So highlights on the hair are a good idea then? I was a bit hesitant when I've tried before to try to limit my colors, but it really looks great that way.

The highlight color I used is actually the skin color, so color count is not affected.
Part of being a good spriter is utilizing all your colors, even if it means borrowing colors from a section of the sprite thats not exactly what you want, but at least close.
For example; the brightest color on the boots could be swapped out for the skin color as well.

Ah, I can't believe I didn't think of using that.

I've tried my hand at fixing the hair, and attempting to fix the legs. Also, I've tried to apply more saturation to at least the boots. The hair/pants aren't being kind to me though. New one on the right of course.