The VG Resource

I have one last thing to add.

I saw that neutral rating you gave to Metaru, when you said "I have yet to see some friendly criticism from you".

I know that this is the internet and you don't really know any of us, but we're your friends here.

There is endless potential for anyone. At any age. At any gender. You're not limited just because you're younger. Because you're getting such an early start on this, that only means you are capable of developing great skills at an even younger age than most of these guys did.

You don't know it, but they went through some very difficult and painful experiences when they were learning. They didn't get "nice" criticism. It's likely that what they received was much worse than what you get here. If they were lucky they'd probably get the Metaru-level of harshness. Compared to how you'd probably be treated on other forums, his feedback is on the kinder spectrum. TSR is pretty nice compared to other forums from what I've heard, so you should be grateful. You're lucky you ended up here, because it doesn't get that much "nicer" than this.

Also don't take any of the following as me being mean, I just need to get the point across.

I've seen dozens of people come here (probably ex-Deviants), wanting to improve on their spriting, but as soon as they get their feedback, they start whining like stupid babies and having temper tantrums going all "WAAAAAAA INTERNET BULLIES Y R U SO MEEEEEEAAAAAN I JUST WANTED SUM CRIT WHY YOU FLAMING ME YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF 8-BIT LOVING ******** LEARN 2 CRIT!!!111" and I'm sick and tired of seeing it, like everyone else. I really am.

Other negative attitudes like "I'm only *age*, I know I suck, I should just give up, you're all better than me I can't do this" are also sickening and make me want to rage, because they don't show any of your good qualities, they only show bad ones, and give people the wrong impression of you. Now we know you're willing to listen, and we know you're a good person, so quit putting yourself down, and just believe in yourself, because anyone, and I mean anyone can do it, as long as they keep at it and keep at it, and keep trying again and again and again, no matter how many times they fall down.

That shows determination. You're determined to be in TFR and become a great spriter, aren't you? Well show it. Show us you can. I got my feelings hurt on this community a few times when I first began. But with time, I learned lots of things and eventually, this board helped me grow as a person. I've matured, and I've learned not to take things personally anymore. You want to show everyone that you're strong, right? To be strong, you can't be a baby or a whiner. When you get crit. that is straight to the point and doesn't leave any excess fluff, you learn to deal with it. Because it's not personal. It's not an attack on you or your work, or your skill as an artist. It's just honest, straight, right in your face advice. You want people to know that you aren't a baby, right? Well to do that, just always remember that he's not being mean to you, simple as that. You just have to learn to read beyond the roughness like the rest of us and you'll see that even if a post seems like a useless jab at you, that it might contain something helpful and you just have to try your best to pull every bit of constructive advice from each post that you can. Becoming tougher will benefit you greatly in the world of spriting, because it can be cold and unforgiving.

Now go on and keep doing what you do. Just keep at it and be persistent, because we're with you all the way.

Well to be honest there ARE other spriting forums where he won't get harsh critique

or critique at all

mind you, his quality will also never improve. So yeah, stay around, keep a stiff upper lip, and keep the work. You'll improve.

EDIT: I mean, to elaborate on it all, take me as an example. I've been spriting for some 10 years. Most of them, doing edits and participating in forums I'm referring to, where people didn't complain, everyone was happy, and whatnot. And that's fine, they were fun years, it was a good timewaster.

However, there was a price, and that price is that 10 years after, after stopping to sprite for a couple of years for pure disinterest, I now go, make a sprite and an animation, and you know what? It's rubbish. I mean sure, there'll be nice things, but for 10 years? I should be better at this.

So what's the only solution I got? Try. Practice. Post, get criticism, no matter how harsh. It's all good. Keep up at it, and improvement will come. Improvement always comes, granted you're working for it.

if you're lazy and impatient, you're better getting the fuck out of spriting and pixel art.

or art in general.

actually, you're better just going out or doing whatever pleases you anywhere else, rather than try to fit into a community project you've barely ever taken part of for the sake of being accepted.

if you want to sprite, do it for the sake of your own good. otherwise, just get the fuck out of here.

Thanks for all the long replies guys, I decided I don't really care about being in TFR but I might still work on my sprite more and if its good enough then I may enter it. If I don't get accepted there will always be even more chances in other projects or minor things, I'm sure when I am older I will be an excellent spriter, I just need lots of practice. I will definitely never leave this awesome community because of petty comments, and I will try not to annoy you guys and not complain about stuff.
I love this place.

In the words of Hig Hurtenflurst, "Don't just try, cut it right out!"
Anyway, post some updates and let's get this thread going again.

I haven't worked on it again yet xD when I do I will post it.

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Alright so, what needs to be fixed now?
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If you are going to answer please tell me the exact thing I have to do so that I may learn it instead of telling me some thing that I know nothing of.

you have to fix its entire body structure, also known as anatomy.

the way the character is standing is completely unnatural and random, to a point makes no sense.

you're better starting all over from ground zero and before anything else, draw a stickman to get a solid stance fromw here you'll work.

use other sprites as references, font be afraid to take elements from other works and integrate them into yours. at the same time, use your own common sense and judgement to determine when something is good or not, and be honest with yourself.

Draw every frame entirely new

Yes, you're probably better off starting anew. You know, it really helps to sketch out out on paper first!

Meh, I thought this version would work out.
i shall redo for a second time now.

Since you said that we should tell you exactly what to do:

Take a piece of paper, make squares of the same size symbolizing the canvas of each frame and start of sketching out keyframes, next step would be giving them depth by adding contrast to it, when you have accomplished that with an ok result you can jump to pixelart and go into colortheory

In all honesty, sometimes you just have to keep redoing something until you get it right (redoing as in assuming that the point of interest is too far gone). The thing about Pixel art especially is that you need a lot of patience.

Well shoot I just now remembered this, it is too late to start working on it now. :\|

pssst pssst

i made a thing for you



this is what i did/suggest:
-if your character has huge floppy scarf things, why not make them a bigger part of your character? Maybe he lost his arms in some freak accident/magical ceremony and so he uses a mystical scarf as his appendages? More interesting than just a dude with a big scarf. if he's an assist, maybe he could spin across the stage like a tornado and send everyone flying or something, i dunno. energy blasts are cool too i guess if you add arms back in.

my purpose for getting ride of the arms is that...when crafting a character, you want them to come across as very readable. from the clothes they wear to what weapons they have on, you want to make what sort of character they are recognizable from the get-go. is he a big, brute, tank character? sly, quick hit-and-run ninja? gunman? accentuate and exaggerate certain characteristics to make what they then do believable.

-added a wierd decoration/chain/armor thingie on the chest. cuz armor is cool and you needed something to perk up the character's look instead of just a jumpsuit.

-changed some colors around. make your colors more interesting; greys and blacks are boring. I exchanged a dark blue for it instead (looking at it again i guess you can't really see the difference, but my point stands). i'm not saying you should avoid using black whenever wherever, but using other colors will make the look as a whole more interesting.

-made the pose a little more dynamic and the expression a bit more threatening.

-changed the hair to be a little more dynamic, but it was rushed.

(note: i'm not the supreme authority on what is right or not for these things, this is just my interpretation on the character and how i'd approach something like this. it's your character, after all. keep it up, maybe even do something else for a change of pace/as practice to get better. hope my quick drawing helped a little on how to approach character design/pixelling. also, follow what everyone else said. they say good things.)

I do normally sprite him without arms...
I love when people post large helpful replies!