eight sprite-a-bit

[shrubbyfrog]

I would've gone to my old thread but that was made a long time ago and bumping it would probably be useless ((and annoying)). I've recently gotten back into spriting and, after almost sending someone a PM, I remembered the username to this account, so now I finally have a place to put a sprite I was working on. I'm still by no means good but this is what I've made ((something you've probably never seen on here before!))



A Steven Universe sprite !

I know there's a lot to be fixed so I hope someone can give me a critique !!

======

[EDIT] I noticed there were colours that were nearly identical but still different so I decided to replace them w/ already existing colours. I ended up reducing the colour count from 16 to 12. ((Including edit vs. first version & 3x magnification)) ((New one is on the left))

[shrubbyfrog]

i hate double-posting but I made a quick Tiger Millionaire too ((and I'm an impatient person haha  ((its only been two days and i have no chill ))))


((original size + 3x magnification))

[Cytric Acid]

Your Steven seems pretty stiff and tall! His arms are way too close to his body, it's almost as if he's in in the army or something. I think you could keep the brown for his hair color and add some darker colors to the lineart as well. the hue shifting makes him also look like it's kind of nighttime, so you might want to adjust the palette so it's more neutral color, but that's up to you if you're going for a certain aesthetic with your colors.

[shrubbyfrog]

Your Steven seems pretty stiff and tall! His arms are way too close to his body, it's almost as if he's in in the army or something. I think you could keep the brown for his hair color and add some darker colors to the lineart as well. the hue shifting makes him also look like it's kind of nighttime, so you might want to adjust the palette so it's more neutral color, but that's up to you if you're going for a certain aesthetic with your colors.

I tried to lower his shoulders a bit so they're not so stiff and tense and moved them back a pixel. I also lowered the star on his shirt. Also tried to fix the palette so it was more neutral and darkened the lineart like you suggested !


((new sprite vs. old sprite))


((comparison gif))

I'm thinking I might need to shade the eyes and fix the toes?

[Cytric Acid]

You're getting there! he's still much too tall and his arms are still very stiff. I did some quick edits to show what i mean:
 first edit is just moving around some parts for a better proportion. second edit is more refinement in kind of my own style so you can take what you'd like from that, first of all I made him less barrel chested and more chubby and round. i also tweaked the lineart to be more consistent on the arms. i like the color choices a lot more now, but i feel like the darker skin tone is a bit too bright and orange. otherwise, it's a lot better!

i'd actually say you can get away without shading the eyes in this style. the fingers on the tiger millionaire edit look nice too, his fingers aren't as long and fit the style more. 

lastly, his sandals are kind of hard to make out right now, they're too similar in color to his skin tone and make him look like he's barefoot. 

also, lastly, i think you can get away with just drawing his big toe and not bothering with the rest of the toes, the sprite is too small for that kind of detail. you're doing well though, can't wait to see the rest!

[Venomrabbit]

I think Cytric has it particularly close, like almost exact. Though I'd argue to take the right sprite, move the head forward a bit and then move it and the shoulders down. After all, Steven's a pretty squat fellow.

Speaking of, lucky for you SU's one of those shows that have a lot of publicly available development art.

Like so

Spoiler

(bit of a big image plus they had another thing in it too so put it in a spoiler)

So yeah, there's a lot of model sheets like this. If you've got a program like gimp/photoshop/sai I'd recommend having things like these model sheets to the side while working on a sprite, use it as a reference while you work!

But it's still quite a good start and I don't see anything wrong with the colour choices! I'm not exactly an expert so maybe my thoughts aren't entirely valid. If you're going for exact show style, just generally follow the available model sheets and you should be fine.

Best of luck with this, it should turn out great!

[shrubbyfrog]

Sry for the late response, today's been quite overwhelming

I think Cytric has it particularly close, like almost exact. Though I'd argue to take the right sprite, move the head forward a bit and then move it and the shoulders down. After all, Steven's a pretty squat fellow.

Speaking of, lucky for you SU's one of those shows that have a lot of publicly available development art.

Like so

Spoiler

(bit of a big image plus they had another thing in it too so put it in a spoiler)

So yeah, there's a lot of model sheets like this. If you've got a program like gimp/photoshop/sai I'd recommend having things like these model sheets to the side while working on a sprite, use it as a reference while you work!

But it's still quite a good start and I don't see anything wrong with the colour choices! I'm not exactly an expert so maybe my thoughts aren't entirely valid. If you're going for exact show style, just generally follow the available model sheets and you should be fine.

Best of luck with this, it should turn out great!

I honestly didn't notice you responded while I was working on the sprite, but I read it abt half-way through.

I didn't really think of using a model sheet as reference ((I as more or less going off by memory because of how much Steven Universe I've been exposed to)), but I'll keep that in mind ! I also do have access to each of those programs but I can't download Gimp and I almost always have no access to my thumbdrive ((I have Sai and Photoshop on it)). Plus, I barely know how to use Photoshop and I heard Gimp isn't really good for spriting. I'd rather just stick with good ol' Paint and switch back and forth between my work and a modelsheet

As for Steven and his head, by the time I read your post it looked like of weird moving his head forward just a pixel.

You're getting there! he's still much too tall and his arms are still very stiff. I did some quick edits to show what i mean:
first edit is just moving around some parts for a better proportion. second edit is more refinement in kind of my own style so you can take what you'd like from that, first of all I made him less barrel chested and more chubby and round. i also tweaked the lineart to be more consistent on the arms. i like the color choices a lot more now, but i feel like the darker skin tone is a bit too bright and orange. otherwise, it's a lot better!

i'd actually say you can get away without shading the eyes in this style. the fingers on the tiger millionaire edit look nice too, his fingers aren't as long and fit the style more.

lastly, his sandals are kind of hard to make out right now, they're too similar in color to his skin tone and make him look like he's barefoot.

also, lastly, i think you can get away with just drawing his big toe and not bothering with the rest of the toes, the sprite is too small for that kind of detail. you're doing well though, can't wait to see the rest!

Ya, in hindsight, he was way too tall for the cute little short, chubby child he is. ((Im also sincerely glad there's no pure black in this sprite))

I tried to make the red on his sandals and his shirt just a tad darker but no so dark it makes a huge impact on how the sprite looks. I also got rid of his toes and nostrils and tried to follow the other things you suggested. ((Idk why but to me it feels rly weird not having his left shoulder there)) I also tried to fix the darker skin tone and make it less orange and made him shorter.



I also tried to make his fingers less slender and long without making it look like his hands were in a fist ((Tiger Mill's hands were in fists))

[shrubbyfrog]

Sorry for the double-post but I've also been working on another sprite ((Garnet)) and, though its unfinished, I wanted to know what could be improved on it in its current state.


((Pre-Jailbreak Garnet))

[Tacocat]

The hair lacks dimension.



On this reference sheet, Garnet's depiction (third from left) should provide a good example as to what you should do with the hair. In its current state, her hair resembles a piece of bread, and although the example shown does not portray the exact pose you are spriting, her hair should resemble a rounded off cuboid.

Anyhow, good job. Look forward to seeing what happens next with your sprites.

[shrubbyfrog]

The hair lacks dimension.



On this reference sheet, Garnet's depiction (third from left) should provide a good example as to what you should do with the hair. In its current state, her hair resembles a piece of bread, and although the example shown does not portray the exact pose you are spriting, her hair should resemble a rounded off cuboid.

Anyhow, good job. Look forward to seeing what happens next with your sprites.  

I added some dimension to her hair and flattened the top a bit so her hair doesn't look odd


((from bread to 3D bread))

I like your avatar btw

[LuigiM9]

The face looks quite strange because of the slant. I also feel like you've placed the neck too far back.

[shrubbyfrog]

The face looks quite strange because of the slant. I also feel like you've placed the neck too far back.

I guess the face did look kinda weird with it slanting like that. Fixed the neck also


((still armless))

I also added outlines to the legs to match the rest of the body

[LuigiM9]

That looks better.

[shrubbyfrog]

((look! she can punch things now !!))

I decided to add a bit more too her such as a third shade for the skin and adding a nose. I also tried to add her arms but I really struggled with them, so I know they need some work. ((In fact, originally I was trying to go for hands on the hips but that didn't work out well at all.))

[shrubbyfrog]

I've been working on another sprite, this one being Amethyst. ((I plan on spriting every SU character)) I had a bit of trouble with her, especially because of her hair. I know there's a lot to be improved


((she is the embodiment of a sentient grape with a graceful mane))

Honestly I'm thinking the hair's shade is a bit too light, but I don't know how to make it darker w/out making it too similar to another colour. I also feel like the clothes and the head are a bit bland. ((I couldn't think of an expression for her))