Gaia's Sprite Thread

[Gaia]

Could have been a lot worse. Not too happy with the humans/Rock here, anyone got suggestions as to improve?

[Mortimer]

Well for the humans the head does remind me abit of Sloth from the Goonies ... to pointed at the top? and I think the skull needs abit more curvature towards the back of the head.

For both humans and Rock the posture looks twisted and the foreground arm to far back, possibly pose more of the torso towards the viewer or straighten the rest to face more forward with the angle the torso is at?

Just my opinion, hope that helps.

[Gaia]

Sloth from the Goonies? sounds like an idea. But what I tried to do here is match the humans the way they appeared in either Sonic X or Unleashed. Buuut I kinda messed up there, we should see some improvements.

[Gaia]

Revamping this peice 'o shit. Any ideas? (Revamped parts on the right, WIP)

[Gors]

if you don't work on it as a whole:

1-we can't give C+C properly
2-you won't be able to visualize its body shape, increasing the sprite's probability of beng wonky
3-it is generally a dumb idea.

That's why you make rough sketches of the character instead of breaking up in parts and spending a buttload of work and effort into individual pieces.
Check how I work on my sprites, notice that I scribble the whole body first. This way, I can think up on a dynamic pose, know if it's stable or wonky before finishing it, etc

[Garamonde]

Ehm, I was quite anxious to watch that so I could see how you started your sprites, and I always love to see how others do it because I have trouble with starting out and by seeing other people, it helps me.
But, I have to be honest and say that video didn't feel very helpful to me because it was going so fast it was hard for me to tell what was happening and how you were doing things exactly. :/
The sprite came out really nice though. I keep telling myself to experiment more with different hues next time I make a sprite (and I actually am about to start one) so I can get more interesting colors of shading.
Picking colors is a bit more difficult than it seems though...

[Gaia]

Okay, with that in mind I should try that again, only with the skeletal thing going on beforehand.

[Gors]

the video's purpose wasn't to show every single technique, but to show that even for small sprites such as that Marina, it's good to sketch the pose first before cleaning it up.

[Gaia]

Gaia in both Shantae styles. Took awhile though.

[Gaia]

Figured I'd post these here too. I've been busy with revamping all of my character's designs, and I don't want to start from scratch again with said designs.

Gors said that I need to simplify, but I don't want it too simplified. I wanted a sprite style that's just right for me, as I'm coming out of that point that I'm done with 8-bit and moving on to something bigger.

I've also come out of screwing with A"A too, so yea, and one of them is supposed to be in her 20's (the blue-haired gal).

[Gaia]

Just some recent updates, such as the changes to the human template used, have been changed, expect some updates during the memorial weekend as I hunt down an asthetic to go with the new human template designs (well, some their designs are rather bland and a mess so..)

[Gors]

it's worthy to note that abusing A+A is not 'going away from 8-bit'. You'll just make the sprite blurred and cluttered. Anti+aliasing is a technique that helps making lines smoother, but in excessive ammounts, it makes things too soft and without impact.

1- Contrast is your friend. Prefer using it instead of creating a shitload of colors. It makes your work sharper, more impactant and you'll have less colors to manage and work with;
2- Skin is not plastic. Skin is a very opaque surface so adding white specs will make humans very artificial. Unless all your humans are dipped in oil, don't do that;
3- Balance is important. All your characters feel like they'd fall on their back (this is because you used the same template, I suppose). Take care when using templates. While they can make the spriting process easier, you might carry its mistakes along, like it happened here. Also, even if you're using a correct template, be sure to edit it more: play with the limbs' thickness, bulkiness, height, etc. so this way you can have interesting body shapes.
4- Proportion is also important. I suggest changing some of your style (thin limbs with huge hands, Popeye limbs, arms that can touch the knee even if standing normally etc., airhumping) into something more logical. My two cents, though.
5- Pixelart is generally small, like in this case. So do your best at making things readable, even if it means removing some of the details.
6- Avoid selouting INSIDE the sprite. Hell, avoid selout altogether. It is a difficult technique and it can turn things ugly if done incorrectly.

NOTE: using less colors doesn't mean less details. Not using A+A doesn't mean going back to 8-bit roots. Adding white specs into every pixel cluster possible isn't adding details. Pixelart is a balance between details, readability and color usage.

[Gaia]

Like I said, template used for the humans IS a bit outdated (thanks to a SHITTON of help, this is the result) and the humans are currently being re-worked thanks to my idea of a workout outside styles that feature air-humps. The robos though could use tweaking around the edges in shading and aesthetics, they should be the primary focus first.

[Gaia]

After a HEINOUS amount of changes, aiming for a modern style was difficult. After a good week's worth of tries, it was a genesis miracle that it was finally finished. After with some C+C from spriters (mostly Gors), it jumped from craptacular to something more ultimately grand. It was a starry sight to behold, after the end result.

[Gors]

it is interesting to note that we didn't aim to JUS style whatsoever. All I did was to remove any horrid selout and the dark brown blobs.