The VG Resource

It's been quite a while since I've posted or made any sprites, so I've decided to break that trend and post something I started working on today.


I'll add colour to him later after I'm finished shading. The first one is the original gray that I was working in, the second is the result after increasing the contrast in photoshop. It's still rough around the edges here and there, Critique is much appreciated.
EDIT:

I think I'm getting closer to finishing up the shadin' on this big fella.
EDIT2:

Here's another Big sprite, it's not 100% through the grayscale phase, but it's gettin' there.

i am curious as to why start grayscaling this and then switch to adding colors.

before i clicked on this i thought it was gonna be yoshi edits or something

sorry for that dishonor

(08-03-2011, 04:07 AM)CO2 Wrote: [ -> ]i am curious as to why start grayscaling this and then switch to adding colors.

in some cases it's easier for me to figure out the form without having to fiddle with a bunch of colors. In this case, it's mostly because I don't have a color scheme completely figured out for these two characters. It's also simply a personal preference to start in grayscale for the most part.

Here's another sprite I've made recently, a few areas may need a few tweaks here and there looking at it.

I sometimes grayscale first when painting in PS.
It's just to harmonize everything because sometimes in color the different-colored parts look detached.

These are great, btw.
That's a dude with a helmet, right?

(08-03-2011, 04:44 AM)Savant Guard Wrote: [ -> ]These are great, btw.
That's a dude with a helmet, right?

Thanks, and yeah, it's a character portrait of a helmeted mini-boss type character that I designed.

EDIT:

here's something I started on today.

hello sorry for jumping in here unsolicited, but i really liked your dragon sprite forms, and when i learned that you prefer to use greyscale first to establish value, i thought i could make a small edit that might help punch up your sprites.

Doing greyscale stuff like this is the best practice for value studies because you dont have to worry about how color can complicate your judgement of what value that color actually is.

So after looking at your sprite, its got nice character and good form, but it looks like it could use some more extreme values to further define certain areas of shadow and highlight. I made a rough edit that i hope helps illustrate what i mean.

->
(anmated)

Use some darker values to pull things out into the foreground. Your arm coming out at the camera specifically could benefit from greater contrast so that you can achieve that illusion of depth better.

If one was so inclined this edit could certainly be pushed even further (i didnt hit every area and some parts could be hit with brighter highlights). Ill leave it up to you, however, to use it how you wish.

I decided to pursue st0ven's edit. Added even more contrast. You may notice I lifter the talons, so that the form is more readable.
I think it'd be quite interesting for your next greyscale piece to draw it like a polygon, to which you could add more sides and eventually refine.
I'll try doing that for your Big sprite.

EDIT:

here's something I started on today.
[/quote]

That reminds me of that old "Calvin and Hobbes" stripe.

Thanks, I've been playing around with sharpening values on a lot of my other Stuff since reading this, and so far I'm liking the results. I guess I spend too much time looking at the sprites when they're zoomed in and not checking how they look at actual size.

Yes, you should do that more often!

Also, here's the wireframe version of the Big:

That way you can choose where the light comes from, etc.

A few slight adjustments to the lighting, contrast and addition of a tail. The Sprite itself still stays within a 100x100 boundary.

I think I should mention that This sprite "style" is based somewhat off of Digimon Battle Spirit.

EDIT:

Starting to apply color and tweak a few minor regions. I moved his left (our right) arm down more to improve the silhouette and posture. I still need to finish the Gatling gun on his other arm.