Kelvin Shadewing's Pixels

[Kelvin]

Hey! What happened here? Huh? The forums reset? Oh, OK. Guess we're starting fresh with Treeko and Mudkip.

So, here's some stuff I still need critique on.


GLaDOS. I have individual parts of her, but for the cords on the sides, I'm probably just going to make a single segment of those and link them together using string physics.


My TFR sprites using my own color palette with my and Gors' respective shading syles


Some fixes on Silver, a new Gilda sprite, and a test of the Wario Bros. as well as Mario jumping.



Teleporrting animation for my game.


Yoshi. Not much to say. It's Yoshi.


A test sprite for Hawkindle. IMO, it's nothing compared to the one Sketchasaurus made. The Krozoa Palace joke is because I kept hearing that squawky voice in my head while making this.

[Kelvin]

I removed the horn from Shacklebolt and retextured the top of his mane some. I didn't do his back because I decided I'm going to have his wing up in the portrait sprite, so that'll just be drawn over anyway. The reason for this change is that the horn serves no purpose at all, and I felt like it was just standing out like a sore thumb. Also, since Sketchasaurus and I are doing cameos in each other's games, I figured on the chance he uses Shacklebolt, the horn being gone makes it easier to fit him into a 3-color palette: teal, gray and green.

[Ailit]

Nice sprites but here are some thoughts on how to improve them.

Use brighter colors and more contrasting colors so that the definition of your sprites pop to life.

Here I did a quick edit what a small palette change will do.


Here I brightened up the colors so that you could see more of the body. I also changed the background color to contrast more with the sprite to also make it easier on the eyes to figure out what is going on.

Another thing I did was edit the hair on the sprite. I don't know if you were going for a fuller line of hair but I just went by the art on the left of the sprite. I wish I had more time to work on all the sprites in the frame but you get the general idea

In this sprite:


I changed the colors completely. I gave the eyes a lighter blue to make them stand out. I changed the fur color, the shirt color and the jeans as well.

You don't have to change the color of your sprites but it's the only thing I could really say about them. Your line art is really good just try to mix colors that contrast each other more so your sprites pop out more. Also when working on animating sprites, animate the sprite as you work on it so that you can get a feel for what it should look like. It's how I got my running motion on my Metroid sprites so smooth.

[Kelvin]

I like the color palette on Shacklebolt. I might do something similar with it, but with a bit darker shadows. Shadewings are supposed to be a much darker teal, but when it comes to the game, I suppose the visibility of the sprite is more important. I can't say the same for the Midi sprite, though. Kinda looks like parts of him are glowing. Also, one of his character traits are that his eyes are obscenely blue, so that's why I made them so saturated. But I see what you're trying to say. Maybe it's time I adjust my palette.

[Mystie]

Wow, your spritework has improved a lot since I last saw it!

[Kelvin]

Thanks!


I tried fixing the mane. The colors have higher contrast than before, too. How's it look? The webbing on the wings looks bad right now, but I just threw it together to see how it works.

[EDIT]

And here's a fix for the face.

[Ailit]

Thanks!


I tried fixing the mane. The colors have higher contrast than before, too. How's it look? The webbing on the wings looks bad right now, but I just threw it together to see how it works.

[EDIT]

And here's a fix for the face.

That new panel looks great! I think it is missing another wing maybe? (looks sorta off without it I think) Try adding the back wing behind his head and see how that looks.

I understand that there are artistic limits with being faithful to a character concept and trying to transfer it to pixel art. A lot of games I've seen have characters that are much darker shades be lighter when they are rendered in their pixel form. This is usually because of space constraints since smaller sprites can't hold all the detail from the shadows and such.

I'd have to ask what the setting of this character is too because maybe his color fits perfectly into his environment? That's also a factor, you should be able to see him apart from the background but he shouldn't feel out of place either. It's up to you how faithful you want to be to the concept and how to implement it in the environment but so far I think it looks promising!

[Kelvin]

I'd have to ask what the setting of this character is too because maybe his color fits perfectly into his environment? That's also a factor, you should be able to see him apart from the background but he shouldn't feel out of place either. It's up to you how faithful you want to be to the concept and how to implement it in the environment but so far I think it looks promising!

Like the outdoor areas shown before, there are also test chambers in a similar style to Portal which are used by Apex Technologies developers for testing new equipment. I can't say much without spoiling the story I have planned, but part of the story involves Shacklebolt running tests for a curious scientist, and involves him running obstacle courses and solving puzzles.

[Kelvin]

Been putting this off for a while, but I'm finally starting Shacklebolt's new running cycle (I put it off because I'd already made the old one, and I always feel like the new one won't be as good). It's only the first frame. I'm gonna do four, and then tween them to make it 8, but I wanna know how the body looks before I move on.

[Kelvin]

Got bored, made wallpaper.

[Kelvin]

I made this little height sheet to see how my sprites compare to each other, and I realized something: Pikachu is waaaay oversized! XD Given that he's only supposed 1'4", he'd be about 10p on this height chart. Oh well, just pretend it's the mutant Pikachu from SSB. Added a test Kirby sprite as well. As for the Fighting Titans, I estimated their height based on the size of the people in the cheering crowds from the Fighting Titans screenshots. Lucario and Riolu were pure guesses. Sorry. Chell was also a guess, but her height seems reasonable. I had used Midi for a base when I made this chart, so that's why it's 7p per foot, which seems like an odd value, but meh.

Still waiting for critique on my other sprites. :/

[Quotient]

Wario and Waluigi have very odd-looking teeth. Wario's mustache doesn't really appear representative of, well, its actual appearance. In general, the Mario Bros., Wario, and Waluigi(they were never confirmed to be brothers) have very imbalanced stature. Also, at that height, I'd suggest making Waluigi have slightly bent legs as in the games - he would be a giant with his legs stretched out in that manner. Their legs all look very weird.

[Kelvin]

Thanks. I'll get on that later.


I did the extremes for Shacklebolt's new running animation, but without the background legs. I'm going to do those after I tween the foreground so I can test two versions of the background legs: one where they're in sync and just offset by position, and one where they're asyncronous.

[Kelvin]

I watched Gaijin Goomba's video on real ninjas, and it turns out, coloring my shadewings dark teal was a good design choice. Jet black stands out in the moonlight, while dark, cold colors blend in better. The dark teal of a shadewing perfectly matches foliage at night, and the mane can be camouflaged simply by applying dirt or mud to it, so they're perfect for stealth, even when not cloaked.

The cloaking is actually a defense mechanism used in short bursts. It can't be used for long periods of time since bending energy around the body even shields it from heat, causing their bodies to cool. If they were to remain cloaked, they'd freeze.



As for this odd little ball of pixels, I got back into Metroid Zero Mission and was playing around with the bomb jump until I found out how to reach the varia suit early in the game. Feeling like a badass at bomb jumping, I drew this Midi version of a morph ball. I'm kinda considering using it in the game as a secret, non-canon ability for him.

[Kelvin]

Alright, I need some help on this. His running cycle just seems off to me somehow. I know the tail is all wonky; I'm working on that. It's the legs that are bothering me. Do you think it's just the lack of background legs that's the problem?

[EDIT]
Tried with the background legs. Still not sure.


Asyncronous legs.