Plokman's Sprites and things

[Plokman]

Hey all been getting back into custom sprites and I'm working on some things I need feedback for so here I am. Note unlike my old thread this will show what I'm working on currently and not just a single project.

Currently I'm designing some 3/4 persective sprites for a project I'm working on. It's based on Transformers and is my own take on the series. Transformers Titanix. Now I'm doing a sort of mix between MM Soccer style and Chrono Triger style. Objects will often follow the MMS styles shading while characters are more akin to CT.

Anyway here are my first few I've made for the series.


Here we have Sari Sumdac, Chaindash and Ironhide. I'm still designing the robot modes of my Bots so for now we only have vehicle mode.

Chaindash is a DMC-14 concept car and Ironhide is a Sentinel DG8 Steam Lorry/Truck.


Here we have Joel Sumdac Sari's younger brother and Rubber duck himself Optimus Prime.

Optimus is a custom Peterbilt 350 Cabover that has a slight bit of a nose to it so Prime has a mix between his G1 look, Movie and Prime looks in Vehicle mode.

I know the scale is a bit off but it's reasonably close. After all I got to fit the characters in frame don't I? Plus G1 cartoons were far worse offenders on the scale issue than I'll ever be. Beyond that what do you all think? I really want helpful crits on this as I've been planing this since May 09 on and off and I want them to look good enough for a game even if they are for a comic if you get my meaning.

Also a quick FYI I got a new Pc so updates will be sporadic thanks to my commission work and Skyrim now being in my grasp.

[E-Man]

Since you asked me for critiques, I'll see what I can do.

Anyway, right off the bat, I can't really see that much hue shifting going on there (especially with the truck since it looks like you only made the red lighter/darker instead of actually messing around with the colors). In the case of the red, lighter colors become more orange, while darker colors become more purple. Also, don't forget to experiment with the saturation as you apply different shades.

Regarding the cars, I can't tell where the light source is. I'd suggest you visualize where it is and then draw the highlights and shading based on where the light hits. Also, it'll help if you visualized it as a 3-D object, so a good suggestion is to apply a sort of wire mesh over it. That way, you can see which of the faces are receiving the light.

As for one last piece of advice, I see that you used a lot of shades on your vehicles (particularly the longer truck). When working with sprites, less is generally more because the details won't end up looking dirty and smudged. For the vehicles, I'd say that the most you could have for each individual color is three or four different values.

That's all I could really think of on the top of my head, but I hope it'll provide you with at least a good start when it comes to improving your sprites. I don't know the best way to improve your human sprites without completely reworking them, but is it possible for you to make the face of the girl look better? The pupils lack contrast against the eyeballs to the point where she almost looks like she has soulless eyes (unless that's what you're going for), and the part in the front of the hair looks a bit distracting.

[Plokman]

Since you asked me for critiques, I'll see what I can do.

Anyway, right off the bat, I can't really see that much hue shifting going on there (especially with the truck since it looks like you only made the red lighter/darker instead of actually messing around with the colors). In the case of the red, lighter colors become more orange, while darker colors become more purple. Also, don't forget to experiment with the saturation as you apply different shades.

Regarding the cars, I can't tell where the light source is. I'd suggest you visualize where it is and then draw the highlights and shading based on where the light hits. Also, it'll help if you visualized it as a 3-D object, so a good suggestion is to apply a sort of wire mesh over it. That way, you can see which of the faces are receiving the light.

As for one last piece of advice, I see that you used a lot of shades on your vehicles (particularly the longer truck). When working with sprites, less is generally more because the details won't end up looking dirty and smudged. For the vehicles, I'd say that the most you could have for each individual color is three or four different values.

That's all I could really think of on the top of my head, but I hope it'll provide you with at least a good start when it comes to improving your sprites. I don't know the best way to improve your human sprites without completely reworking them, but is it possible for you to make the face of the girl look better? The pupils lack contrast against the eyeballs to the point where she almost looks like she has soulless eyes (unless that's what you're going for), and the part in the front of the hair looks a bit distracting.

Thanks very much my friend for criting.

I was afraid of that. The Delorean (Silver car) was based off a Megaman Soccer sprite. I tried to copy the shading over to Optimus and Ironhide from there. Well I'll recolor em so the light sorce is the same as Chrono Trigger. I.E. Directly above or so. That won't be too much trouble.

Detail is always something I strive for I simplify them for the art style but if there are ridges on the item there will be ridges on sprite. As long as you make everything distinct and don't muddy it up too much it can work.

As for Sari (The girl) Her eyes are done the same way all other CT eyes are she just has a very bright blue eye color I may tone that down though if you think it makes her look emotionless.

Thanks again for the crits I'll fix that up soon.

[Plokman]

Hey all I noticed something recently. After playing Stardew Valley I realized my sprites are out of scale. Stardew has a retro look with the characters fitting in the mold of the Chrono Triggerstyle I'm going for in my Titanix Transformers series. The only one that I've sprited so far that is in scale is Chaindash in his DMC-14 mode so he can be left alone. But all the others I got to do over and I'll be applying E-Mans advice to the updates as well.

Expect to see something soon. Got a lot of work to do for friends, Then my Commisions and a small supprise in sprites, and then I can finally start on new alterations. Anyway I thought I'd let ya know.

[Plokman]

Watch this space. New update coming very soon.

[Plokman]

At last I have returned. My game backlog has been keeping me busy. But I am getting back into the swing of things. I hope the wait has been kind to me.


Ok heres how the story goes I got Stardew Valley a few months back and realized something from it. My previous attempts were horrible. Well At least Ironhide and Optimus were. Chaindash and the humans came out great. So as I'm playing the Stardew Valley I saw the two trucks and thought to myself thats the right scale. So I used them as a scale and perspective guide and tada here we have a much more refined version of the first try and in scale to CT style sprites too.

Next I'm going to revamp Ironhide's Vehicle mode and then thats when things are going to get interesting Size wise that is.

As stated before my universes Optimus transforms into a Peterbuilt 350 Cabover Semi Truck with custom rear axle fenders based off the Transformers Prime design.

His Trailer is also based off his Prime incarnation's. I'm planing on doing a G1 style Optimus later and release it for free use. But for now the Titanix version is ready. Till I start work on the side views anyway.

For those who want to know this is what a 350 Cabover looks like in real life: http://www.straightstack.com/gallery/1_2..._04_37.JPG

I'm really proud of this one. I think I really got the angle right. Comments and crits please and thank you.

[Filler]

Really hard to tell what's in front, or on the side, maybe use contrast to help? Make the top brighter, since maybe it would be shadowed out from the side?

[Plokman]

Really hard to tell what's in front, or on the side, maybe use contrast to help? Make the top brighter, since maybe it would be shadowed out from the side?

Not sure what you mean. If you mean why are the side windows not shown well thats because the sides of the Truck's cab are smooth and not car topped like the sprite of Chaindash. Beyond that I have no clue what you mean when it looks flat I did contrast the parts to show dimension. Could you be talking about the first design? Cause if so yeah that has no depth and looks horrible. But I just don't see what you mean on Optimus 2.0. Better explanations and examples of the type of Contrast you mean are welcome. Like I said I'm here to learn as I perfect my skill.