The VG Resource

Primarily focusing on the dq3 stuff. Also, I'm not looking for critique on the sprites in the middle image.

I like the customized versions of Dragon Quest sprites; the only one that seems off to me is the Heal Slime. Given the size of the sprite, I'm sure you could show that they have their canonical yellow tentacles within that space; for them to be a single pixel in size makes them look smaller than they really are.

Oh I like the character in the second one! The DQ sprites aren't bad, either.

However, I had issues with the... creature. Is it an ox?

Getting the legs right from memory is a pain, so I suggest you look for some good references so that you understand how the legs work and stand. I've left some rough muscle guidelines.

I hope it helps, and I'm looking forward to more!

Woah, you made it look so majestic

(And it's actually a goat on steroids)

Keep us updated on it!!

About that blue DQ bird: perhaps move its eye slightly to the left?

the legs on the mounting person looks weird... try looking for a reference, it looks like he's putting force on his crotch instead of his butt to sit on the goat.

Didn't really have time to edit the rest, but I do like the DQ MC guy you made on this sheet a lot. Anyway, my critiques for these are pretty simple - DQ's slimes are usually pretty thick so you have to take into account that theyre not just pure liquid (or slime). However, if you make them TOO thick they don't appear to be slimey at all. Finding the balance between the two is important to making it seem right.

I wasn't sure if the 2nd one was supposed to be metallic or just a different color, but if it was I made an example of how to achieve that with a slime. Might not be perfect (probably needs more shine) but gives you the general idea.

As far as the axe wielding green guy goes, I wasn't sure if he was meant to be fat or straight muscular. Usually when you reach a certain weight you can't see six packs anymore (and you definitely can't see your rib cage at that level). I think a big guy is more intimidating when he's fat, though, so that's what I went with. If he's meant to be muscular you should consider downgrading his weight size a bit.

C2B has the ride idea about your goat, just make sure to use a reference or two, look up some muscular legs and just try to apply that to a goat's.

I'm gonna be gone for a week, so I'm just dumping this here first.

Here's my Kandar edit, don't worry about the eyes its really more of the arms, and chest regions I'm getting at. The way you did them they look like thin jelly.
Also I think the wings on the Vampire man are too small also. The slimes look good though.

I'd make the arms bigger all together imo.

I know this isn't really worth reviving the topic for, but I really need some help on how to sprite backgrounds.

You and I are in the same boat of needing to practice drawing panorama. One of the useful tips I can give you, though, is that the panorama furthest in the back should be closer to the color of the sky. Here's how I handle that:

First, make your shades and such for the panorama like normal. Afterwards, grab the color of your sky and look at the RGB values. What you want to do is make the RGB values of your panorama colors closer to the colors of your sky. You can use the easiest approach, and do it in quarters, for four-layer panorama.

The fore-most layer is the stuff that everything that's part of the gameplay is on; they are 0% closer to the sky color.

The next layer is some simple panorama like tall grass or trees in the background, and they are 25% closer to the sky color (Take the difference between the RGB values here and the RGB values of the sky color, divide by 4, and round to the nearest multiple of 8. You subtract or add the result of all that to the RGB values of the colors you're making closer to the sky color's RGB values.).

The next layer is stuff that would be behind the trees, like further trees or hills, and they are 50% closer to the sky color (same step as above, but divide by 2, rounding to the nearest multiple of 8).

The next-to-last layer is reaaally far back stuff, like mountains, and they are 75% closer to the sky color (Same initial difference between values method, but multiply by 0.75).

And then the final layer is the sky color itself.

This is old, but all of that will net you something that looks like this:

Thanks a lot, I would never have thought of doing that, but it seems to give the backgrounds a bit more interesting range in colours and more depth.

also the lighting on that tree would be okay if there was lightning in the clouds or if there was a lantern right above it
but in a dim sky like the one you made, the tree would never be shaded like that

I was actually thinking of saturating the sky more and adding a bright sun, but I'll probably have to change a lot anyway.