The VG Resource

Hi! I am new(-ish) to making my own original sprites, and thought this would be a good place to show what I got!

I like to do art trades and sometimes take requests on what to make, and I appreciate and try to take to heart the criticisms I receive.

you REALLY need to start reading about proper shading and color choices. the linework and palette on that larger sprites is all wonky and the desaturated look you gave it seem rather random than planned.

take crits but dont get discouraged, copy and get inspired from in game sprites, have colors contain as much of each other as possible and use the less you can. I like your stuff and think you have lots of potential

That middle one there is actually the oldest of the two, and I do not have much intention on going back to it.
Not even sure why I put it there.... hm.
I do really need to work on color though.

The face has a few issues. The first is contrast. Some of the colours on it are hard to see because they blend into the brown. Try moving them further from that colour. You also need to work on your shading. The scarf is okay, but the head and body are just shaded around the edges - that's not how light works.
When shading, don't just shade for the sake of it, think about how it can add depth and definition to your work. On top of that, the best way to shade is to consider a light source (which you haven't, since the head's light source is from above, the scarf's is from the top right and the body's is from the left). It can help sometimes to draw a little sun to indicate where the light is coming from. You then need to shade according to how that light source would interact with your object. Remember, you may be drawing a 2D sprite, but you're trying to represent a 3D object, so pay attention to light sources.

I'm not too good at shading, but I'll try...
->

Still needs more contrast. Make his fur highlight lighter in color, and make the darker shades darker. Same applies to his neckerchief and shirt/clothing.
By the way, I'm surprised at how fluid your animations are. Just keep at it and you'll improve.

Pretty much what they said. The lineart isn't bad, but it needs more contrast between shades so it doesn't look so flat.

Is this better?
->->

Contrast is a little better, but the shading is still really bad.

A little, but you aren't taking it far enough. Here's a quick edit.



Notice how you can actually see the shading without having to squint now. I also killed an extra color that you had on his left (the our right) arm.

Also note that shadows are usually more greyish compared to the rest of the colors. You also want to play around with the hue and saturation to get nicer results.

Not the most refined example but it gives you an idea.

You know, I took a glance through your DA profile, and I can't help but wonder why you didn't
show any of those sprites here as well? You don't seem like you have a complete grasp of
spriting concepts, but what you've managed on your own is pretty impressive, at least to me.

Take any C&C you get here seriously, and try to learn from everything your told here, no matter
how harsh any of it may be. We tend to not fluff our comments here, unlike DA.
Keep at it, and you'll improve quickly, I promise.

Haha, it looks like he has a Five o'clock shadow. Nice!
The slightly darker part of his head there was not intended to be a shadow at all, in my eyes the rest of the face was just supposed to be lighter. ^^;
I honestly think that it is looking worse the further I try to make it better... I really need to learn how to shade proper.

the very first step should be understanding how lightsources work on your sprite, where are they placed and how shadows are casted on the surfaces. you're trying to soften the edges of each shadows and you REALLY do not need to do so. its not going to look smoother, it just takes the contrast away from the whole thing(plus it aint helping define the shapes on your character).

what you need to do is rather simple: simplify your shading. reduce everything to 2 tones per color and recycle whatever colors you can. for a sprite of such size, the less colors you use the better the contrast (and with a proper understanding of colors, the smoother it will look).

yours had 29 different colors, while mine has 12.