The VG Resource

After much thought about the whole "OC is a lousy edit thing", I decided to edit the bloody thing myself. Results were suprisingly 100% accurate. How can I fix this?

See that crappy sprite on the right? Well, that's the goal, of course! I'm gonna re-work that thing, starting with making him more readable, as of now it's too dark. The fun part is looking at all the various robot rips on TSR (aside from Mega Man/Sonic) and what can be used to make him less like a crappy edit AND make him easy to draw without looking like a dumbed-down version of him (or an overly complex one, oh noes!) in the process, as I know some members seem to have trouble drawing robots.

And maybe after that we can try other fun things! (I'm using dropbox so if you see it update, then that means I'm making progress)

And please keep it civil when giving C+C, we don't want another Belle Bouncy-Catastrophie.

The current look should look like this (minus the knee, but I'll add that later when the whole thing is finished), but I'm having trouble with the left:



Also, the pallete the sprite is using is temporary.

I don't think that what we had in my topic was a "catastrophe". Some did get kinda hurt in that but I personally see it as a normal discussion. But enough blabbering.

I like that you're (again) working on your ref. Maybe it's too early to comment on, so I'll wait when you have a more complete sprite.

If you are going to redesign your character, I suggest you do it by hand. Trying to design it straight in pixel art might end up in a mess.
Drawing concept art by hand is faster and more efficient, because it's easier to draw the basic shapes and later add details. Try that straight in pixelart and you'll end up with a reference that is harder to read, thus making it really hard to create (pixel)art of higher resolution and has consumed more time than needed, in which you could have made a couple of sketches.
I start to believe that is one of the reasons you ended up redoing the tFR sprite couple of times over.

If you have drawn concept art by hand, then disregard what I said. However, If you have, you haven't posted them here, which you probably should.

P.S. The art doesn't have to be 'amazing'. The purpose of concept art is to show design, not artistic skill.

Gaia from MFZ! Sup!

It's looking a lot more readable from what I see in your update. I wouldn't suggest making the feet point the same direction, though it may work out any give your character a more robotic feel. Make the leg that's closest (The Right) stand out more with some metallic shading, and move the other leg so that it is more hidden by the right.

Also, be sure to accent the sprite by giving a glow from all those bright colored regions. ;D

(10-30-2012, 09:27 AM)NICKtendo DS Wrote: [ -> ]I start to believe that is one of the reasons you ended up redoing the tFR sprite couple of times over.

If I throw my second reason into the ring: is proportion. (Third one is sticking to an already existing design aesthetic) That's the key issue I want to tackle with the redesign here.

This is my initial idea for the joints and such, as I am trying to get it to work.

(10-30-2012, 08:15 PM)Gaia Wrote: [ -> ]This is my initial idea for the joints and such, as I am trying to get it to work.

I'm a fan of it.




... uh, but if I may suggest, maybe take "crappy" out of the title. Nothing good comes from that. One, you lower your expectations of yourself when you should be challenging yourself, and two, it doesn't really convince people it's worth their time to give C+C if you don't even value your own work. Other than that, I'd need to see some more than what you have so far to give you any meaningful critique or comments so... I'll be waiting! :>

The crappy part is merely of jest, so I apologize if the title threw you off, as I've seen it pop up lately.

So, any tips on how the fan might work as joints, or even better, a few pictures of a fan similar to the one linked facing in all directions? It would most certainly help out as even the bayformers had the appliancebots in one of the Transformers movies, which partially led to such an idea.

Style test with Astro Boy, expanding upon Gaia's pallete too, to make it a bit more easier. I'll sprite a few more characters, then Gaia (to see if I can get GOOD fan images) to practice on this style, again barring characters like Mega Man (well, except maybe the Legends incarnation, as it's mostly a 3D series and had no real playable sheet past Namco X Capcom).

Gaia redesigned..

Only this time with the aid of real-world gadgets as a mechanical basis and a new use of the head of the previous attempt at updating the character. Looks like I'll start on him soon.

Should it not be "Arm Canon" when all the others parts have names from electronics companies like epson and sharp?

(11-02-2012, 11:46 AM)SupaBuddie Wrote: [ -> ]Should it not be "Arm Canon" when all the others parts have names from electronics companies like epson and sharp?

Either that or ARM Cannon.

Puns aside, I was merely going for the "robot based off of pre-existing technology" route, other than the usual "guy in armor/vehicle-bot" designs. Also I need to work on anatomy in terms of proportions.

Also, trying to get the sprite style itself to work, starting with this guy:

Is that sprite based off of Alec, From the lunar Series? The coloring on it is the most solid thing about the sprite,
but the anatomy on it is kind of strange. the legs seem to be pointing the opposite direction that he is facing,
while his upper torso and chest are parallel to the camera. Also, the hand holding the knife seems to be a
right hand on his left arm, it appears to be the back of a hand, instead of fingers gripping the handle.

Well, what you got is the result of combining most of his official sprites as follows:

The stance is mixed up of Silver Star Harmony and Lunar Legend. The coloring's from Silver Star Story Complete and the original saturn release. This might be tricky considering how most RPG sprites were like back in the day.