The VG Resource

Hey everybody!

Here is my current progress:

These aren't too shabby!

The eyes could be more visible, especially the far one just fades away at the border.
The arms on the lower row ones are too short.
I would get rid of the dark green pixels on the hat where the yellow part starts, they pop out too much; use a brigther shade there.

He seems to be suffering a severe case of stiffness.

Lengthen his arms a bit, move them further from his body a little/

While I understand that you are trying to keep in with the style, I think you ought to give the torso some shading.

Right now it just seems to lack detail given the size of the sprite.

Thank you guys for the criticisms. Here's my progress so far:



I tried shading the torso in the Link standing sprite, but I didn't see Sexy Bastard's post until I was already finished with the next sprites. Is the new shading better? I'm not entirely sure about it myself, but I'll add it to all the rest if you guys think it is.

I made more of the left eye visible and lengthened the arms and I definitely think it looks better! I wasn't sure how to handle the stiffness you pointed out, Thumbtacks. Is it only in the sprite of Link standing without any gear?

Lastly, I made the sprite of Link crouching, how is it?

It surely got better!

The hair color and skin shade clash a lot, though, making his cheek look awkward.

Your crouching doesn't really look like crouching but rather like leaning forward weirdly. Move him even further down, bending the back leg towards a right angle.

(06-26-2012, 12:54 PM)Previous Wrote: [ -> ]It surely got better!

The hair color and skin shade clash a lot, though, making his cheek look awkward.

Your crouching doesn't really look like crouching but rather like leaning forward weirdly. Move him even further down, bending the back leg towards a right angle.

Thanks a lot. Looking back at the sprite, I'm not even sure what I was trying to do with that pose.

Here's my new try at the crouch:



I like this version a lot better (because, you know, it makes sense now); but, I'm not entirely happy with the knee area around the place where Link puts his weight on because it feels a little bit cluttered. I'm unsure how I can go about fixing that.

I also changed the shading on the cheeks so it doesn't clash anymore, thanks for catching that.

not sure about the pallet choice, the hair I think needs more contrast as well as the shield and skin a bit too.
while kneeling the knee on the floor looks broken to the side, you might want to raise the legs a little and make the knees bend a little sharper.

I don't like that pale green you put on his eyes. Maybe take the color of the dark green of the cap, and shift it to his eyes?. The shield doesn't look right for some reason, especially at a side view. And there is a wierd shading near his toes.
Other than that, I think your sprite is awesome.
of course not as awesome as me

The things you've said considered, here's another update!



I added contrast to pretty much the entirety of the palette and I think it looks infinitely better now. After you (Bombshell) said that the crouching leg looked broken, I couldn't unsee that. Made fixing it easier so I appreciate it. I also tried to make the knee bend sharper and have more of the leg actually in contact with the floor.

I also tried replacing the lime green color in his eye to the darker shade and the result wasn't very good looking, so I maintained the eye color as it was. With the additional contrast in my palette, I hope that fixed what was wrong with the shield (because I thought the shading itself was fine).

In addition, I made my first attempt at an idle but I think I'm going to need some help with it:


thank you Previous for your gif animator

I'm not entirely sure what kind of movement is appropriate for his idle; but, it's important that his shield remain in the same vicinity as where it is now (at least on the y-axis) due to the mechanics of Zelda II. I'm afraid there might been too much much movement in some places and it might be a bit jumpy. Perhaps I should do more than a 4-frame animation? The frames are on the bottom of the first image.

Thank you all for your time.

I feel that your sprite made Link look a bit old. I think it was the combination of the nose and the shading on the cheek.

(06-27-2012, 05:19 PM)MikeDH720 Wrote: [ -> ]I feel that your sprite made Link look a bit old. I think it was the combination of the nose and the shading on the cheek.

Glad I got glimpse of your edit before you took it away. I thought it was helpful so thank you. Here's my new Link with your recommendations in mind:



I know with the shading you made that you wanted to make Link's nose more round like it is in the official art, but I thought it was too much detail for this size of sprite, so I kept the nose that I have been using. I had also updated the palette since you posted the edit, so I remained with that.

Also oooooookay, it's about 2:20 in the morning here and now I think I finally am getting somewhere with this idle:



I hope I'm getting closer to getting it right.

I would keep his feet in position; having them move around in an idle seems weird, it makes him look really nervous. Moreover he's moving too much and too fast, I think.

I tried keeping his feet in the same position, but I'm not sure how much movement is appropriate for his idle.

well it depends on the character, in this case, link is a warrior, I judge by his use of the shield he's not very hasty, so steady footing should fit, his feet wouldn't move much and would be positioned balanced as not to fall on an impact.

maybe make a 1 or 2 more pixel gap between the feet, as is his knees are a little close together, on taking a hit his knees would meet and he would lose balance.
There is more to take into consideration if you wanted to completely define the character and how they fight, but in a nutshell, spread to the lower weight back, the upper weight forward and keep the feet still.