And Evil shall reign o'er all.

[StarSock64]

I'm not really sure I like the stance too much, it looks kind of unnatural/lazy/etc. Besides that I don't think his shoulder looks too much like a shoulder. Um, it's not defined enough I guess. I think there's something weird with the way the head fits on too. Maybe try moving it to the left a little, or else bend the spine some more

[Cobalt Blue]

shading for the sake of shading.
contrast ofr the sake of contrast.

look at the edit i gave you in your last thread. see the diference.

[Hoeloe]

Okay, I had another shot at shading. Tried not to shade it needlessly this time, trying to stick to areas where it's needed to show shape.



Oh, and Metaru, which thread did you mean? The only other of my threads I can find an edit by you in is my Gurren Lagann thread, but that was also using my palette, so I can't quite get the idea of what you mean by "contrast for the sake of contrast".

EDIT: Made some more modifications to both, and stuck them into the same sheet. I tried looking at some SNES sprites for palette references too.

[GrooveMan.exe]

He means that Wizard thread you did, unless you deleted it.

Would you mind highlighting some of the alternative methods for me, please?

Also, in the large gap between replies, I made another sprite while waiting, for lack of anything to do. This one is the Egregious Professor of Pyro-Necromantics.

What, wasn't the shading example I gave you before enough or something? You can use dark colours just fine, jusat don't use heavy amounts of black. Ever.

I remember in high school out art teacher never gave us black paint when we did pieces; the only times she did was when one of the better students requested for it and she agreed. It's because pure black will KILL a work; especially one as small and jubled as the ones you're posting here.

I'm actually giving up here. I honestly don't feel like whatever (limited, inexperienced) help I'm trying to give is getting through to you. Peace.

[Hoeloe]

He means that Wizard thread you did, unless you deleted it.

Ah, I was a little confused because he mentioned an edit, though there were no edits in that thread.

What, wasn't the shading example I gave you before enough or something? You can use dark colours just fine, jusat don't use heavy amounts of black. Ever.

Ah okay. When you said "alternative methods", I assumed you meant something other than you had already put in your edit, my bad.

I remember in high school out art teacher never gave us black paint when we did pieces; the only times she did was when one of the better students requested for it and she agreed. It's because pure black will KILL a work; especially one as small and jubled as the ones you're posting here.

You may have noticed a newer version on this page with much less black in it, though whether this is enough or not, I'm unsure of.

I'm actually giving up here. I honestly don't feel like whatever (limited, inexperienced) help I'm trying to give is getting through to you. Peace.

I'm trying to get to grips with this, but I'm quite unsure how to go about colouring an object that is supposed to look almost black (ie. the coat) without actually making it almost black.

[triptych]

You're NEVER sure how to do something, or why to do something in ANY of your threads

google exists for a reason
we have a spriting dictionary
you're free to look at the work of others

no one is forcing you to stay in this topic and not look at anything else ever, improving your work does require effort on your part past the actual """art""" part of it, research is a big part too

[StarSock64]

research is a big part too

my god I just have to say I wish more people understood this

[Hoeloe]

research is a big part too

I may not have mentioned it, but it's not like I was just sitting here waiting for people to respond. I went through the entire directory of SNES sprites on the site, looking for anything remotely in a similar style to what I'm looking for, and analysed it for reference. I do research. I ask what you mean when research amounts to nothing. It may be a big part of spriting, and that's fine, but so is clear criticism.

[StarSock64]

Well he wasn't just referring to your colors, but he thought that you lacked knowledge in a lot of different areas. It's not really efficient to only look at things or to only practice, but to actually READ about structure, colors etc. helps tremendously. It might help ease your "I'm not sure about this or why this is" feeling. I get it myself plenty, too, and I've read stuff for hours upon hours. There's a lot of basic things you should know. It's good to both read and find examples because then you're taken through the logic of it and you can see how it should be done.

I keep focusing on anatomy in here, but right now everyone's focus is on colors which is a weak spot for me. So I wish I could show you some tutorials or something but I don't know of many.

[triptych]

Adding on to her comment about basics, you really strike me as the kind of person(along with pretty much everyone immediately after they really /get into/ art) who thinks you have no need to learn the basics; and that's not true at all. While it feels nicer and it's more """fun""" to make something complex like a person, or a scene, or whathaveyou, you won't be working to your full potential unless you actually know what you're doing and why you're doing it. Using techniques just because you see someone else using them is completely pointless. You need to learn(or possibly relearn) the basics to know why you're using them.

[Hoeloe]

I suppose it might be a good idea to look over the basics again. It has been an awfully long time since I last looked at them. I used to sprite a bit a while back, when Pixeltendo was still the TSR forum, but I stopped for a couple of years. I guess I must have forgotten some of the basic structure of how a sprite works, and lost some of the basic skills too. I mean, I was never that good to begin with, but I guess I must have lost something. I suppose I didn't think to relearn it because my main problems back then were with lineart, and when I tried spriting again, my lineart got a lot better, so I guess I just assumed I hadn't forgotten anything. I guess I was wrong. Thanks guys, real help here.