I have never tried doodling in paper first to make sprites, but that's an interesting approach.

before you fix your own points, have in mind that what you've got here will not be a good pose at all because it lacks energy/it is not battle-ready. As the avatar you have, or that karate dude in your example, their poses are well-defined and you can see that they're ready to attack the opponent.

The key to making a god idle sprite is to make it battle-ready AND "simple" enough so all other animations can stem from it.

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Spriting and animating characters, principally for fighting games, need to have a considerable amount of smoothness between actions (since you do namy of them at once). So, the less broken it is the transition between idle and punch is, the better. Imagine the sprites as a tree, the Idle being the main trunk. All other animations, such as ducking, jumping, attacking etc. comes from the Idle, so have that in mind.

You're statement is very true. And to be honest. I ended up editing the sprite so much, it's pretty much nothing like the doodle:

(Link updated now)



I usually do the whole drawing to sprite thing with pixel art (hi-res mugshots lol), I've lost all my examples though.

All I do is scan the drawing and lower the threshold in GIMP.

This is the same exact technique Capcom does, but I shade it and fix it by hand. I can't rely on GIMP to do all the work for me. It takes away the fun.

I am still working on this difficult sprit! I was thinking of animating it but no way. I still need some C+C and tutorials if any. I found 3 relevant tutorials on this method.

(02-01-2013, 11:08 AM)Novally Wrote:

The black guy, (I'm not being racist I'm trying to put you attention on him.) His head seems a little flat. His head should be a few pixels higher. His width shouldn't be as far apart. Recap, His head should higher ^ and his width shouldn't be as big -> <-
bring it closer together.

That's balrog from street fighter, man :p
That's an official sprite, not by Novally

(02-02-2013, 01:28 PM)Xeroph Wrote: The black guy, (I'm not being racist I'm trying to put you attention on him.) His head seems a little flat. His head should be a few pixels higher. His width shouldn't be as far apart. Recap, His head should higher ^ and his width shouldn't be as big -> <-
bring it closer together.

I have been working on this sprite. Look at this: I was near completion till a friend of mine showed me huge anatomy issues:

(02-02-2013, 01:35 PM)Vipershark Wrote: That's balrog from street fighter, man :p
That's an official sprite, not by Novally

I think he is talking about my character hahaha.

its leaning forwards quite a bit, a good rule of thumb that helps in most (not all but most) cases is the chin lining up with a vertical line in between the feet.
as far as anatomy goes its in an odd head / body ratio, its somewhere in the uncanny valy, just small enough to be seen as realism, but just big enough to seem wrong.

Looking at the character that you drew on, his stomach and pants details seems to be facing towards us while everything else faces another direction.

(02-02-2013, 11:37 PM)Xeroph Wrote: Looking at the character that you drew on, his stomach and pants details seems to be facing towards us while everything else faces another direction.

Just adding this for show. I was hired to make sprites for a game. He's not paying me for what I'm worth. This is a sprite I made him. C+C would be nice, but the sprite wont be modified since the guy wants it just like this.

Your (ref?) character's face could be bigger I think. The hoodie in the back don't need to jut out that much.

The wizard looks fine however. Its hard to give C+C when the sprites are small and don't have many details.

The curves in the calves are a little too dramatic, especially on the farther leg. I think it has a lot to do with the way the feet are connecting to the ankles; they need to be pushed back a bit. Also, the torso is just kind of two straight lines right now. Try to figure out how to add some shape. Moving the eyes/face up a bit would probably be better, too.

(02-03-2013, 01:29 PM)Virtuaboy123 Wrote: Your (ref?) character's face could be bigger I think. The hoodie in the back don't need to jut out that much.

The wizard looks fine however. Its hard to give C+C when the sprites are small and don't have many details.

I didn't notice how much the hoodie poked out. That's from me moving up the head around to much but I will fix this.

As for the wizard, thanks and yeah I know it lacks details. It's a 30 x 30 sprite (not really it's way smaller than that but that's how much the til should be).

(02-03-2013, 03:48 PM)StarSock64 Wrote: The curves in the calves are a little too dramatic, especially on the farther leg. I think it has a lot to do with the way the feet are connecting to the ankles; they need to be pushed back a bit. Also, the torso is just kind of two straight lines right now. Try to figure out how to add some shape. Moving the eyes/face up a bit would probably be better, too.

I will do my best to rude them. I don't understand the torso comment. Right now I'm going to shape up his torso a bit though. I will also move up his eyes. Thank you.

The outlines surrounding the lower torso are literally parallel; this is unnatural because even the male torso has a slight inward curvature, which would be even more noticeable at that angle. I'd suggest drawing the back inward a little.

Also, it's kind of weird how the shirt transitions into the exposed abdominal area.
If its tight on him, then it'd be something like this: http://www.buyfootballstuff.com/images/S...Wear-2.gif
If it's a little loose, maybe more like this: http://www.rufskin.com/blog/wp-content/u.../mesh5.jpg

In any case, that line is too concave and if it's tight on his skin, it shouldn't cast a shadow like that on it.

His eyes also bring in too much attention, they might be covering too much of his face area.

The pose and expression also look kinda bland; they show neither preparedness nor confidence.

Great examples! I have updated the sprite: (Still incomplete)



The eyes have been the most reworked thing with that sprite and I am still fooling around with them. I need them a nice size showing youth, but also not making him look like a chibi-ish.

The pose was made on purpose, to look apathetic. It's not really supposed to be a fighting character, but I understand the lack of emotion. It's too far to change the sprites pose now, so I will practice on future work.

Well, even within the realm of apathy, it does not seem wholly convincing. The eyes are just looking off upward awkwardly...If I'd wanted to convey apathy, I'd give him a droopy or bored look, myself.
Regarding the eyes... I'd say that it's one of the parts that should stick out the least in a fighting sprite. Even Sakura, who is still just a schoolgirl, doesn't have awfully large eyes ( ).

I think the skin contrast could be upped, but I suppose color would be the least of your concerns at this point.

I do understand your reluctance to drastically modify it; fighter sprites look fun and interesting, but they really do require a lot of effort.