BrettG's Sprites and Pixel Art

[BrettG]

First post on the forum, but not the first time posting sprites.
Only one for now, cant decide on a background for it.
Will have more ready later. crit always welcome

[deathbyjaguar]

You're gonna want to maintain consistency with the blue outlines, for one thing. The outlines around the helmet are lighter/more saturated than the blue sections of the torso and legs, which are darker and more contrasting. Considering the linework on the rest of the sprite, recoloring the darker lines to be the color of the helmet outlines would be the best option.

And as for the smoke, I really like what you're trying to do, but there's just something about using the cross-hatching overlay on the legs. It looks more like a green "hologram" is in front of it than smoke, but the smoke in the background is pretty cool. I wouldn't know how to fix it, but see if you can get the front smoke to look more like smoke.

And last of all, it looks like you have blue-gray shades and regular gray shades that are really close, as well as those two bordering light-orange shades on the chart. See if you can combine those colors, as it'll get rid of some unnecessary colors.

[BrettG]

Thanks for the crit!

Yeah, I'm noticing what your talking about with the contrast difference between the helmet and the lower body, I think I may have used too much cross hatching in comparison between the two parts. I'll have to go back a rework the transition of lighting there.

Now For consistency with blue outlines, do you mean to stick to one colour for most of the outlines as apposed to shifting them over in the shade order to attempt an even gradient ? (I hope this question makes sense, sounds a little weird thinking about it)

As for the colours I'll do some merging, or total removal, the orange Highlights are a bit strong for what their used in and I dont think I like the way I coloured the visor here.

And lastly for the smoke, i think I'll try finding some colours that blend between the smoke and colour of the legs and mix that in with the cross hatching.

[deathbyjaguar]

Yes, I'm referring to keeping one consistent blue outline color, unless you plan on making the actual color of the lower armer darker to match. That could work, but it'd probably be best to just use one blue outline. Preferably the color you used on the helmet, as it looks smoother while still maintaining a good amount of contrast to the inside coloring.

[Jamuk]

Something that's throwing me immediately when I look at the gun are the straight diagonal lines it's made out, particularly on the barrel and upper edge. They're not jagged but I'm wondering if a little bit of anti-aliasing would help them look less - for want of a better word - 'rough'.

[BrettG]

Alright so I scrapped the previous colour scheme for something a bit more military.
also reworked the details and pose as the original looked very awkward after isolating the linework and have attempted to add some more depth to helmet and lower body.
Went an AA'd some the lines of the gun to get rid of that rough look as Faeldspr wrote about.
Thanks for the crit so far!

[Jamuk]

The posture of his left foot looks very awkward to me as it's twisted back further than his leg.
I like the new colour and shading, that's a great improvement.
Although the crotch piece could do with sorting out; normally you'd expect it to be more raised in the middle and slope down at either side, but the shading you've applied doesn't really communicate that. I'd try using the lightest shade in the middle as you have done. but work the darker greens further round the edge, particularly at the bottom.

[Gors]

this might sound really harsh but you should scrap everything there as teh pose is completely off

it looks like you focused on the each armor piece instead of viewing your art as a whole. Hence, the character's legs don't match and are shorter than the upper body half (legs are a little longer than torso+head), and the head came out a tad too big to the type of art you're using.

before making sprites like these, be sure to get its pose right. A good tip is to try out the pose yourself. If you feel comfortable in such posing, then chances are it will fit the character too. Study references like photos, images that has a similar pose.

you also have a lot of banding going on. Banding,as seen in the spriting dictionary,

It's a flawed technique where you shade following the outline's shape. Avoid doing it, as they are ugly and don't convey depth. usually, is performed under the false ilusion of an overdone "anti-aliasing".

so you may want to avoid those shade lines near the outline. They will just make the sprite look like stickers instead of actual armor.

[BrettG]

So I tried the pose and it was difficult to hold so I see what your talking about there, I'll get more refs down before I do that next time.
As for shading the Armour, would dithering be a better solution for shading in this situation?
Lastly I'll recheck the spriting dictionary for proper lighting examples and get some photo refs on the subject, but for now I'll leave these up here for future reference on what not to do next time.
thanks for the Crit!