The VG Resource

That's not bad, Shyguy. After looking at your example and taking into account everything you said, I finally pinpointed the problem with my cel shading. The problem isn't that the light sources are inconsistent or I'm mapping the surface incorrectly. Instead, I'm attempting to adapt my usual shading method into cel shading and I'm overestimating (and occasionally underestimating) how much the cel shading should cover. Typically, what I would do is have the shadow expand and shrink depending on how much light is striking that part of the surface. As the shadow advances into a lighter area of the surface, the shadow thins. I wanted to replicate that by having the shadow climb up the back of the head and taper off when it enters the lighter part of the head. Unfortunately, that effect only looks good with air brush shading because the shadow is also supposed to get lighter as it treads into lighter areas, and cel shading lacks that kind of dynamic aspect. With that said, if I tackle cel shading again, a smarter idea is omitting the light shades completely and only draw the darkest shadows instead.

By the way, I made some new progress. This time, it's for the Goombas.



I'm uncertain about certain colors, so I placed them both in just to see which one works better. Also, I tried giving Goombario a smaller head, but since it looked weird, I'll probably just end up scaling him down completely in Maya if I want to still commit to my previous idea of changing his size compared to Goompapa.

(09-20-2015, 01:53 PM)E-Man Wrote: [ -> ]I'm uncertain about certain colors, so I placed them both in just to see which one works better. Also, I tried giving Goombario a smaller head, but since it looked weird, I'll probably just end up scaling him down completely in Maya if I want to still commit to my previous idea of changing his size compared to Goompapa.

You're probably better off just resizing him to Goompapa. You probably already have it figured out, lol - but just scale him so that he's the same size as Goompapa. By that I mean when you resize him to be the same height as Goompapa, he'll be smaller by comparison, but not by much.
Also, doesn't Goombario have little rosy cheeks, too like his sister Goombaria?


If you're reading this and wondering "what the hell is Kosheh on about", up there's basically what I just stated but...in picture form.

If I do end up rescaling Goombario, it won't be anything major much like you assumed. I'm not sure if it'll be for the actual sheet, but at least the rig I'll build in Maya will allow me to easily scale him to virtually any size I want. By the way, even though this story takes place at least five years after the events of the original Paper Mario (which gives me an excuse to keep Goombario the size he currently is now), I actually like the hat he's wearing now. Not only am I used to it, but I'm also found of its simplicity.

Anyway, if you're worried that I forgot about the cheeks, don't be! I plan to add them once I get around to shading them since I have a plan for those. It's just that I won't start shading until I finish up the inks for all the parts I sketched out so far for the Koopa Troopa.



By the way, on an unrelated note, the current number of views at the time I'm writing this is now a dead horse meme nobody cares about a completely funny internet joke!

There we go! It took me days to complete this, but here is a new set of inked parts for the Koopa characters. Since I have trouble deciding which version of certain parts I should go wit (such as the sunglasses), I took the liberty of making alternate ones just in case.



By the way, when I was inking this, I was thinking if I really need to "map" the surfaces of all of these. I can see how it is useful (especially if it is used on a complex surface), but I appear to do at least a decent job shading without that kind of help in my opinion. I hope you don't mind this, but I'd like to hold off on that technique for now until I really need it.

Speaking of mapping, I actually came up with another use involving it. One possible idea is I could project an image containing the mapped surfaces into Maya and then build meshes based on that. Then, after applying textures and lights, all I have to do is render. In short, it gives me an alternate way of coloring and shading the parts for my Paper Mario characters; however, I don't want to at least start this experiment until my first short is completed.

*Rubs dust off of hands* There we go! Nothing to it! Enjoy this update that not only showcases a handful of shaded Goomba parts, but also sketches for new parts!



Like I said, Kosheh, I already got the cheeks covered. I am pondering about making the cheeks more noticeable, though…

Anyway, I'm quite proud of the progress I made thus far; however, I can't really decide on several factors, such as the placement of the feet for the back pose and the default resting position of the spiked helmet. On top of that, I'm also having trouble settling on the final palette for some parts, such as Goompapa's facial hair and the helmet. What are your thoughts?

From what Ton and Smithy told me, I should be fine on my original palette choices for the parts. Also, I think I'll just leave the spiked helmet in the intended position for it (the one on the left). I'll ink the new parts later, but for now, I want to start the shading for Kent C. Koopa and maybe draw new parts for the Big Lantern Ghost.

Anyway, while I was in the middle of coloring Kent's parts, I made two other variations of his glasses (the original pair is on the left). Which one should I go with?

the one at the far right is the best.

Thanks for the suggestion, Virt!  I had a feeling that those are the glasses I'll end up using.

A year ago, I just finished a basic test animation made from actual game assets from Paper Mario and a few models I threw together. It wasn't anything fancy, but it served as a very good proof of concept to show that emulating the Paper Mario style is pretty much possible. Since then, I've been busy working on a bunch of puppets to use in that style. Sure, it was a lot of work, but with the encouragement I received over that time, it was well worth it. Thanks for sticking with me through this project for at least one year, guys!

Anyway, I finally managed to finished up Kent C. Koopa's basic parts. I also included some alternate versions just in case those ones suit him better. So, what do you think?

Okay, I just finished up some sketches for some new parts for the Big Lantern Ghost.



By the way, I want to ask you guys an important question regarding certain characters. Throughout the Paper Mario games, almost all of the characters are stuck in a 3/4 view instead of having parts that could cover multiple angles, much like what I did for Mario and Luigi. My original plan is to only give these kind of additional parts to very important and/or reoccurring characters. With that said, a character like the Big Lantern Ghost doesn't really need anymore parts than what is displayed right here; however, would you rather have me just make all those additional parts for all the characters anyway?

I'm in the middle of making Koopa parts, but I'll show you guys what I have so far. I also left some questions regarding the parts. What are your thoughts?

This took me longer to finish than I expected, but I made the first handful of parts for everyone's favorite postman! How did I do?


You know, I'm wondering if the indent on his helmet should be brown instead of tan. What do you think?

I've got a new friend here who'd like to pick a bone with you.

Lower head for sure.

Thanks, Shade! I already took care of that change since you mentioned it.

By the way, I'm sorry that this update isn't spooky due to what time of year this is, but it is important all the same since I managed to make the back pose of the Koopa (along with the open mouths for the main Koopa and Dry Bones). It was a bit tricky to pull off, but did I do a good job?



Also, should I use the arm position in the purple box, or is the current one the way to go?