(11-08-2009, 11:51 AM)bnewton Wrote: the main part about the kirlia sprite that's bothering me is that the legs are shaded like they are supposed to be flaps in wings or something, and, as Alcala said, you might want to consider using a ref, although the tentacles are rather good if you didn't use the magnifying glass in paint.
Also another thing in the Kirlia trainer sprite that needs fixing, is as I said before, the grey outlines make it look weird, but I guess you should look at the outlines of pokemon sprites and then you'll see that the outlines are not completely in black or the secondary outline color.
Um, first, just a friendly tip, it makes your crit easier to read if you clump related topics together(instead of going right from kirlia to bowser and then back to kirlia). Just makes it more understandable.
Now, on Kirlia's legs, they AREN'T shaded like flaps in wings or w/e, they're shaded like legs. If I were to shade those legs, I would hard pressed to do a better job than that. However, I agree on the outline thing. Most of the outline should be more of a combination of the black and secondary color. The sprite is overwhelmed by colored outline, and that's what actually is throwing the sprite off a bit for me; there's much more dark outline on the head than anywhere else, making it look disconnected from the body.
@Requiem: I think the tentacles look a little odd because they weren't originally designed with the outer-AA in mind. I've found that it's really hard to get M&L
S sprites right because whenI'm crafting the lineart I have a problem envisioning what it will look like with the outer-AA on it. This has a tendency to make the end result look a little jaggy. Try messing around with the outline a bit, thinking about how it will look with the outer-AA. You want to still keep a smooth curve on a tentacle. And, of course, use a ref(preferably the one Alcala said, a ref already in M&L
S style would help with both issues).
Good luck, these have amazing potential.