Runouw's sprites

[Gors]

this is bad, I'll tell you why



pixelart is a art medium where you need to be really precise: after all squares don't really allow for smooth lines, especially when less resolution is involved.

The problem with your pixelart, though, can be divided in two:

1- Unreadability, and
2- lack of anatomy.

Unreadability is a problem that happens more in pixelart, I think. Due to each pixel carrying color information, it can be easy to add more arbitrary colors (especially when computers allow you to pick more shades with relative ease compared to traditional media).

Pixelart works with pixels, but it's not a pixel alone that really matters: our brain groups similarly colored pixels into clusters, and those are what gives your character shape, silhouette and shadow.



The one in the right is a really crude 'diagram' of how the clusters work in your female character. Usually when making character designs, it's wise to paint the limbs and limb extremities differently to the body and skin to improve readability. (which I believe you did just fine).

The main problem, though, is the excess of shades to make such a tiny character. Small sprites like these don't need a lot of shades, because they inadvertedly break the clusters int osmaller parts. That makes it harder for the brain to read the image, making it look uglier.

Most starters think that by adding a lot of shades, you can achieve a better sprite, but I don't believe in it. It's all a balance, not too few, but also not too much. Remember that fewer colors mean less work to shade, thus meaning more consistency and ease to reproduce and produce.



I used my shoddy cluster diagram as a base for my version of the sprite. As you can see, mine uses half of the colors in your sprite, and even yet, it's perfectly readable and detailed.

Tips when spriting small things:

1- Think on groups. Don't try rendering hands with separate fingers, but cconsider them as mitts. In a small scale, it's inviable to pixel the divisions between the other fingers, so simplify there. It'll be detail enough if you do.
2- Add a new shade of color, then zoom out to x1. Does the color make a difference? If not, don't keep it. Steamline your palette, make it as efficient as possible.
3- Use colors from pants to shade the eyes, the hair color to shade fabric etc. This is called palette efficiency. Having an efficient palette reduces the number of redundant colors even more, which means less work for you while keeping sprite quality top notch.

As for the pose, I winged that out, but I fixed her anatomy by giving more face space, meat to the body and making the legs seem connected to the body.

Notice that this is only a way to make a sprite and my way is not the perfect way to do so, I hope you learn a thing or two regardless of thought though.