The VG Resource

Well, here I am, I'm new in this forum and I've been trying make good MM Link sprites, but I just failed. Beyond that, I was able to make this stuff I hope you guys like it. The weapons are all custom-made by me.


soo that's it.

You've got some gradients in the sword blades, and barely any contrast with them.
You need to define the blades and handles using less colours (which can allow more clear-cut contrast) and less black outline so the small swords don't have cluttered, black handles and the big ones aren't just solid gradients.


You really do not need 2 shades on the brown backs of the shield, especially when you shade them like they're convex, when they're actually concave.

Lay off on the details in the shield, as they're extremely cluttered.

You should also just dive in and make the shields custom.
You made the swords custom; I don't see why you aren't capable of making something as easy as a circular shield, too.


Please also shrink your credit tag, as it's bigger than your actual sheet is.

I made the hero shield by my self. Here it is:


I forget to tell you. I am from argentina and i do not speak very well english, an also i do not understand all the words. Please, could you explain to me what i have to do with the swords again? because i didn´t understand sorry for that.

se refiere a que si realmente quieres darle un volumen y una masa a las espadas(y que no parezcan simples relieves) debes evitar usar gradientes. y no solo en las espadas, en todo.

hay grandes problemas en los sprites que has hecho. partiendo que debes evitar en lo posible de delinear con un negro debido a que en sprites de ese tamaño el negro tiende a ser un gran distractor y suele "comerse" los colores y los detalles, haciendo que los sprites termien viendose menos identificables de lo que deberian ser.

sobre el punto de los detalles, especialmente en los escudos, estas tratando de ser literal en cuanto a como deben verse. cuando trabajas con un espacio tan reducido, te enfocas en los elementos mas reconocibles de un objeto para favorecer el espacio y que el espectador o usuario sea capaz de darse cuenta que es lo que ve facilmente. cuanto mas simple y minimalista, por lo general tiendes a obtener un mayor nivel de claridad(en cuanto a detalles en sprites de pequeño tamaño, claro)

y hablando sobre el minimalismo, estas usando demasiados colores. tantos, que sin importar cuantos uses(y ahi esta el problema de los gradientes) no haras que tu sprite se vea mas suavizado y pulido, sinoq ue todo lo contrario. terminas con un resultado demasiado borroso y por lo general, opaco. opaco tanto por la mala seleccion de colores que usas y por que tantos colores terminan comiendose el resto de los detalles que puedas incluir en tu sprite.

como te daras cuenta, es un proceso integrado, y debes verlo como tal para explotar y conseguir el maximo pontencial dentro de las limitaciones de espacio que estas trabajando.

I did this one, but i think i did it bad xD


The mirror shield i will do it later when the hero one its good enought

i edited the fairy sword a little more, tell me if its good.

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http://www.spriters-resource.com/psx_ps2/fft/sheet/1268

ok i used one of the tutorials... the result for me is just... AWESOME (in my opinion, but you guys are the ones who will decide xD). The shields did not change too much

Look:
And i also want to show you guys this sprite of Zelda OOS/OOA (i dont know xD i did not play them)

Looking better, IMO the fairy swords' hilt could use a tad bit more work, looks way to plain?
EDIT: Get OOS, great, amazing game.

i dont know how to make that sword look good >.< first i made it with all the outlines purple, but when i started painting the handle, it looked bad... and i could´t make it go better -__-

copiar y pegar los colores y apegarte al tutorial como si fueran reglas que debes seguir no es la forma de hacerlo. el tutorial te da ideas y pistas de que deberias hacer por que en ningun tutorial te enseñaran como se dibujan o deben pintarse cualquier espada que hagas. es la razon por la cual la fairy sowrd quedo tan mala. es la razon por la cual las otras tres se ven terribles.

no aplicaste ningun conocimiento de ese tutorial en tu trabajo, solo copiaste los colores sobre ellos y nada mas.

O__o bueno si use el tutorial al pie de la letra, pero lo de las paletas las hice yo, las sombras una por una las hice yo mientras leia el tutorial, no es eso de "colores sobre ellos y nada mas". -__-

O__o ok i used the tutorial , but the palettes I did them, the shadows one by one I did them while reading the tutorial, not that of "I copy the colors on them and nothing more." -__-

you may not have copied the colors from the tutorial, but you didn't show 'variety'. Spriting isn't only shading objects, you need to know about size, outlining and many other things. Smaller objects can't have a lot of details because it is harder to read, if you want to make something more detailed increase the sprite's size.

If you want to keep them that size, do your best at fixing any wobbly lines and tone down on number of shades.

Also as M9999 said, the most important thing to know is not how the techniques look, but rather why they were used. Why did the tutorial choose those colors? Why did he shade the outline? Does the material influence on shading? Those questions can only be answered by studying, observating the objects around you and understand how light affects color and shades of the objects.

(btw the second tutorial isn't good, way too much banding)

ok i will modify the size. I made this ocarina of time swords, could you tell me if the size its all right?

no, we cant actually. size is irrelevant considering you are still not understanding or not being able to shade these properly.

right now, you're shading them as if they were beveled tubes.