[WIP] FF6-style Toad sprite sheet

[Ishimaru Chiaki]

Hello !

I've been working on a second sprite sheet for 3 evenings already. This time, I made Toad.

The side version proved to be more difficult to do than the rest, but I tried as much as possible to stay in-style with FF6's graphics.

Here it is


Enlarged 4 times : link

[E-Man]

I'm not all that big on any of the Final Fantasy games, so I can't point out any inconstancies your attempt at replicating the style has. Besides the fact that the dot on Toad's cap is smaller than the others when he is facing to left, I'd say you're on the right track.

By the way, I just noticed that you have two threads just to display different sprite sheets. While there is nothing really wrong with that, I think it would be a wiser decision if you were to just have all of the sprite sheets you're working on remain in one huge thread. That way, it would reduce the number of threads users have to search through and make it easier to find your sprites.

[Iocus]

I don't think anyone minds too much, but generally you're expected to keep all your sprites in one thread unless your thread is very old. From the pixel art forum rules:

6. Sprite Discussion Threads

To prevent drowning out other people's threads and to reduce the general topic chaos, users are encouraged to use general sprite threads for their creations instead of creating a new thread for every single sprite they make. Note that this doesn't mean you should use someone elses sprite thread to discuss your sprites, which on the contrary is prohibited unless it is an open project or event.
If your last sprite thread is rather old, feel free to make a new one instead of bumping it if you prefer that. However if it is quite fresh, please re-use it instead of opening another one!

(Oh whoops just noticed E-man pointed it out too)

Anyway, you are right about the side sprites. The mushroom cap is much too flat at the top. Try something along these lines, maybe?
Are you using FF6's palette, by the way, or did you make your own? Because the white and red look too bright for FF6, and the skin's contrast is lacking a bit.

I should probably attempt to shoo you away from banding, but I do remember this being a common thing in this style so I'm not sure what to do about that.

If you're struggling with the sides, the Mario & Luigi series, as well as SMRPG, can serve as good references for RPG-style sprites for Mario characters.

[Ishimaru Chiaki]

If I could have remembered my password, I would have responded earlier from my phone while I was with my parents at our 5thwheel trailer... but nope, I had to reset my password.

I hesitated about grouping or not my different sprite sheets. I read the rules once but I think I missed some points such as this one.

About the palette, I'll need to make myself a pic containing the FF6 palette so I can choose within these colors. Cuz yes I used my own colors (as well as for the Yoshi sprites)

[-Ash-]

hope you don't mind me being blunt. But this and the yoshi sprite don't look like final fantasy sprites, just a standard rpg overworld sprite.

[Ishimaru Chiaki]

hope you don't mind me being blunt. But this and the yoshi sprite don't look like final fantasy sprites, just a standard rpg overworld sprite.

Is it because of the color palette ? If yes, as I said earlier, I'm working on it, grabbing colors from different FF6 resources, but I work 32h a week and so I cannot be on my PC all day, so I can't go as fast as I'd want ! I'd need a Time-Turner from Harry Potter for that !

Is it anything else ? Explain it ! It may seem obvious for you, but I'm [/b]new[b] to this so I might miss some points ! Even propose an example !

So excuse me for being blunt in return but after I saw this post at lunch time, I spent the whole afternoon with the lil' hamster running like as if it was chased by a bunch of hungry cats and I was flooded by doubts about my skills, by the fact that this post isn't very constructive !

[Iocus]

Ishimaru Chiaki, please calm down.

I understand it is upsetting that you would get a comment like this, but when you present art, criticism comes in all shapes and forms.

I, for one, agree that this comment wasn't especially helpful. Since her goal was seemingly to make FF6-like sprites, that's like telling her "That's no good, they don't meet the goal at all." (For the record, I doubt anything can get any more "standard RPG overworld" than classic Final Fantasy) For a newbie, vague criticism like that must be exasperating. Though the point of this topic isn't to criticize criticism so anyway...!

It's not like using your own colors is a total taboo, but you do have to keep in mind the overall "feel" of the style. FF6, for one, uses some pretty unsaturated colors, so a bright color like the red you're using does stand out. Since you are starting out, relying on the game's native palette might be a safer way to go.

Don't worry about 'skills' too much, your improvement will always be proportional to your effort, so if you have the will, you will improve.

[Ishimaru Chiaki]

It's just that as an anxious person (I'm even medicated), I felt a pressure as if I wasn't going fast enough to fix the point I was already aware of. And this week, in addition to my 32 hours of work, I'll have two busy evenings for we have a carnival in my hometown this week and I'm going with two friends and two of us will wear "lifesize RP" (or whatever the word used or roleplaying with costumes on a given area - in French we call it "grandeur narure" or "GN" but I don't know the English word for it) so I hâve to try out the costumes at my friend's home.

So I won't be able to work on my sprites until Saturday.

[-Ash-]

hope you don't mind me being blunt. But this and the yoshi sprite don't look like final fantasy sprites, just a standard rpg overworld sprite.

Is it because of the color palette ? If yes, as I said earlier, I'm working on it, grabbing colors from different FF6 resources, but I work 32h a week and so I cannot be on my PC all day, so I can't go as fast as I'd want ! I'd need a Time-Turner from Harry Potter for that !

Is it anything else ? Explain it ! It may seem obvious for you, but I'm [/b]new[b] to this so I might miss some points ! Even propose an example !

So excuse me for being blunt in return but after I saw this post at lunch time, I spent the whole afternoon with the lil' hamster running like as if it was chased by a bunch of hungry cats and I was flooded by doubts about my skills, by the fact that this post isn't very constructive !

has nothing to do with the colors, its the character designs that are the problem. FF6 is a game where even the OW sprites still look dark, mostly by the design. So when you take a mario character and place them in that style, its not going to be in that style unless you change the design of the character to match it. Do not take this as me bashing since I am not, the sprites are decent, just not in the style you want them to be. which is going to be amazingly difficult to do in ff6 style.