Star Fox Wolfen sprites

[ulthuan_nl666]

I'm pretty new to spriting except for a few recoloring things etc but this is the first real thing I've created from scratch.
It's a sprite of Star Wolf's wolfen aircraft, it still needs a lot of refinement but I keep screwing it up. I included a real rough version (left) because I was afraid I overdid the shading... wich I probably did. They're supposed to be Kirby Super Star style, but unfortunatly that didn't work out. I'd like some help on this one
thanks in advance

[DioShiba]

use image shack or copy the url of the attachment and post it in a [img] tag

would it kill you to do that?

[ulthuan_nl666]

use image shack or copy the url of the attachment and post it in a [img] tag

would it kill you to do that?

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8784/wo...arison.png
there you go

[DioShiba]

you're doing it wrong
it has to be done like this, i'll help you since you misread my post

[ulthuan_nl666]

yea ur post wasn't to clear xD
but now for the constructive criticism

[Cobalt Blue]

posting this one as reference.

one of the main problems your ship had was that you tried to render all the details on the top of the hull with so many lines that you ended making it unreadable. for that size, try to make it more simple. also, you forgot a pair of wings. add these, post a clean lineart(uploading it to imageshack or any other image hosting site) and then we'll see how to shade it.

[ulthuan_nl666]

i have a few reference pictures myself
this is the one i used:

(it's a photo from SSBB i took with my cell phone, hence the bad quality lol)
i noticed the absence of the second pair of wings too, but i think that dark thing on the right near the wing is a wing itself. I just drew it like it is in the picture, but it doesnt look like a wing does it?
and lineart is that without any colors or just with base colors and without any shading?
and about the Kirby Super Star style... Would I have to completely redraw the picture or can i still get it that way?
oh btw those red things are for the laser

[Cobalt Blue]

forget about mimicing a particular style when you dont even know about basic shading.

[ulthuan_nl666]

forget about mimicing a particular style when you dont even know about basic shading.

well i do know a bit about shading... but i guess you're right. All i know about it comes from a tutorial about tile making. So that's not too useful here

[Cobalt Blue]

tile and sprites work under the same principles. only diference is that sprites react diferent to lightsources as they tend to be objects with more volume than a commonly flat tile.

and yes, post the clean outline w/o anything on it.

[ulthuan_nl666]

here's an outline with extra wing:


i hope all shapes are distinguishable
about the tiles i only know i can let them stick out by taking a lighter and darker shade on the edges... i'm sure it'll be the same with sprites but with all those irregular shapes it's a lot harder
i still don't know what that thing on the lower right is but i kept it in the picture just to be sure
EDIT: i see now it's the lower wing from the other side wow it doesnt even resemble it in my drawing

---

ok here it is without the other wing:

i tried positioning it right but it just didn't work out so i just left it out
i think it looks a lot better this way

[Cobalt Blue]

when you don't know an object, such as this one, use multiple references so you can catch all the details from multiple angles. that bottom thing its a muzzle, check other images of the wolfen like i did and you'll see it.

since the ship its quite poligonal and it barely has any round surface, shading shouldnt be that hard. look how every face of the object its afected by light in my reference. notice how some faces are ligther and others darker. try to set an imaginary light source at lets say the top left corner of the ship and use blocks of colors to show every face of the ship with only three colors so you can have the basic shapes of the ship defined.

[ulthuan_nl666]

when you don't know an object, such as this one, use multiple references so you can catch all the details from multiple angles. that bottom thing its a muzzle, check other images of the wolfen like i did and you'll see it.

unfortunately, they are surprisingly hard to find. If you had some links i would greatly appreciate it.
and a muzzle? isn't that the end of a gun? i'm sorry english is not my native language but do you know any other words for that?
EDIT: i found a few only from a very small number of view points, so if you have any pictures please post the links
EDIT2: i see now i think it's a rudder

---

ok I've colored it and i must say it looks pretty decent
now for the shading

(yellow circle is for the light orientation)

[ulthuan_nl666]

with basic shading:

it looks pretty good actually
anything i should change?
i also saw it had some kind of arrow under the cockpit. Should i add it? or would that be too much detail?

EDIT: more shaded:

i kept the file with only basic shading if needed
offtopic: omfg quintuple post

[ulthuan_nl666]

i've got it finished now
here's the wolfen in its full glory: