Help and critique on sprites

[Phasedscar]

Well, I've been working on this single image most of the night trying to come up with the sprite concept for my main character Allynia.  So far I have...

it's incomplete but that's mainly due to to the fact that I'm unsure what to do with her main weapon (which will be either a spear or polearm).  No matter what I can't seem to make it look natural with her holding a weapon in both hands.

What I kind of have so far is...


but it just doesn't feel right to me.  :-\

I want to be able to use this image as a whole for part of my weapon animation (using Blizz-ABS). As well as a neutral pose with the weapon out as a kind of "attack ready" walking animation.  Anyway, suggestions on that would be so very appreciated.

I would be greatful if anyone wouldn't mind drawing up portraitures for my characters.  I just want them for the character selection screen for my introduction so I can start moving forward with my demo. 

[winkio]

First of all, nice sprite!

Regarding what to do with the weapon:
have it strapped to her back (perhaps diagonally?) for the normal sprite
And then for the ready stance, you could have her holding it out in front of her (and perhaps crouching slightly?)

That's all I got.  Again, nice sprite.

[Rune]

For the attack ready stance, you could have her holding her weapon out diagonally in front of her, if you know what I mean, so she can then go in for a horizontal strike.

Also, I second wink's statement: nice sprite.

[Phasedscar]

Thanks for the reply guys.

I tried out the diagonal weapon idea and didn't like it, the pose was completely wrong and I'd have to rework it    As it is it's actually a pretty nice "relaxed" pose with the weapon slung on the shoulder.

During the normal walking pose I wasn't going to have the weapon showing at all and her body facing the same direction as her face.

But again, thanks for the input guys, I'm taking it all into consideration.  Maybe you'll see a more "attack ready" pose coming out at some point.

[Xalas]

That is an amazing sprite you are working on, keep up the good work. I am not a spriter so I cant really critique but from what I see it looks fine. When you are done would you mine spriting a main character for me?

[Phasedscar]

I could try but I'm basically remaking the RTP with a different style so I'm going to be making lots and lots of these...

In other words don't expect magic lol.

[Phasedscar]

Been a long while since I posted on here...  but I'm need of some help and suggestions on a sprite I'm working on for my demo.  The theme is a snowy mountain, and the monster type is a warg.



Something is off, but I can't quite put my finger on it.  I was thinking in perhaps blowing it up and making it larger to give it a more...  terrifying feel to it.  I did a quick photoshop and came up with...

...but even then I still don't quite see what I'd like.

Also, on my Allynia sprite (concept above)  I have the movement animation almost done, but if anyone can double check and give any suggestions on that I'd be very, very greatful. 

By the way, it's still incomplete..  I realize that there's quite a few mirrored images but that's because I haven't finished the polishing yet.  What I really want any advice on is if the animation looks smooth in RMXP to anyone else.  To me it seems fine but I just want a second opinion.  Also the up animation isn't done at all, just the base image.

[Starrodkirby86]

I feel that the Warg is quite naked...or his body structure...isn't really right...The chopped off parts don't seem to have all so much meaning and it's more like a paper-cut item. But it is a masterpiece of fleshed pixels, I love it.

And your sprite of Allynia, I feel it would work better if it were something like a Chrono Trigger frame movement, which is 6 (I think). It seems so little here. I didn't test it out, but I feel it so. :/

[Phasedscar]

I feel that the Warg is quite naked...or his body structure...isn't really right...The chopped off parts don't seem to have all so much meaning and it's more like a paper-cut item. But it is a masterpiece of fleshed pixels, I love it.

And your sprite of Allynia, I feel it would work better if it were something like a Chrono Trigger frame movement, which is 6 (I think). It seems so little here. I didn't test it out, but I feel it so. :/

I noticed why the body seemed so far off..  Simply put I had the chest behind it's front limbs and it had no neck!  I'm fixing that right now actually.  I also increased the size of it since it seemed so small.

And yeah, I would have loved more frames for the movement on my main, but I'm unsure if Blizz-ABS will support a 6 frame movement script.  It looks alright in game, but with because it's larger than the 32x48 size of the RTP sprites, 4 frames isn't quite enough for a smooth motion.  I don't know yet, but at least it's getting there 

It's not complete, but I'm happier with what I've already changed.  I'll have to reflesh it, but that's not really a big deal, just a matter of working the pixels.

Anyway, here's the changed version.

[Starrodkirby86]

That Warg is better looking. Reminds me of how Castlevania has this way of different graphics, and one always turns better than the other. Let's do a comparison check though, just for giggles.



Reminds me of some armadillo. ?


Now that's a Warg! Well, more like a wolf hybrid whatever, but those are kind of what Wargs are...There's still some work needing to be done in my opinion. I'm sure this is still a WIP though, so you probably already seen more errors than I do. It's better than your old Warg definitely, but the frame...who knows...seems a little skinny on the stomach. Not a good sign of strength and buffness I suppose, heh. But don't mind me. xD

You can always ask Blizzard if it supports 6 frames. :/ I don't see the problem why not? Then again I'm a mundane when it comes to Blizz-ABS.

[Phasedscar]

I just got it done with a more cartoonish painting style for now, just to see how the body looks, so far it seems MUCH better.  I extended the stomach just slightly and arched the back in a more realistic way.

I'll repost an image with the backround removed so you can see it a little better.  I keep changing the backround color so I have good comparisons against colors in case you're wondering why it's different from post to post.

[Aqua]

Hm... the stomach does seem to go back up a little bit too much.

And the tail's width is irking me on how it stays the same width near the middle then widens at the end.

Good job though.

[Phasedscar]

Actually I wanted it to look a little poofy at the end.  I just haven't gotten around to really working on that yet.  That and it's starting to get late so my train of thought is starting to derail...

Thank you both for the input though, it's helped a lot so far 

[Starrodkirby86]

Heh, no problem. I'll do whatever it takes to raise my post count help someone, whether of high skill or none. 

Maybe the tail would work better, if you're talking about poofy wise, when you actually make it poofy. xD Right now, it's just looking silky and soft, like a fox, not something threatening like the name of a Warg. What changes are you going to make for the finale? And by the way, some people think very well during the night, like the night people obviously. I mean, take a look at Zira Town, an RP is already going.

[Phasedscar]

Normally I'm one of those lol..  Just work has been kicking me in the butt lately so my Cercadian Rhythm is all screwed up 

Work is the debol! 

And as for finale.. um, probably just work on detailing at this point.  now that the concept is good I can work on polish.  I also got rid of the poofy tail for now, just wont work out with a Warg when it's almost shaped like a large fox as it is.  Perhaps I'll make a smaller version with a poofy tail as a fox mob.  But for the larger ones I'll make thinner, shorter tails.

[Phasedscar]

Alright, and for the finale (sort of)  I now have a character set using the warg as well as the concept file I was using.  Keep in mind though that the character file is still a WIP 

[Starrodkirby86]

When I looked at the Warg graphic, I totally said to myself, "Whoa..." and then I added "That's awesome."

But I realized there's no sort of animation going on for it. It seriously reminds me of the Castlevania series sort of graphics, which is very good because they have so beautiful 2-D Graphics (Especially Dawn of Sorrow, Order of Eccelsia, and Super Castlevania IV). Any criticism I have to make here would relate to animation related misfits, so I should refrain from that and try and find different pointers. I myself think that the feet need a little more work, but you might have not finished that yet. Maybe you can add some toes, claws, maybe some more ridges but not to the point we can say "Wargs have ridges!" And the butt view looks...funny...I don't know why...

Great job, I wish I can emulate this kind of work.

[Phasedscar]

Yeah, I know what's wrong with the butt part of it, it's because the tail and legs are too seperated, but that's not a big deal to fix, I just ran out of time.

As far as the feet go, I wanted to add in the claws but I simply don't have the room to add that much detail in.  the best I can do is hint at it, I just haven't quite figured out how to since they're only 6 pixels wide on the side panels and only 4 on the front/back panels.

I dunno, lemme try something out and see what you think.

Edit: ok, the newer ones should be up.  It's subtle but there's a difference on the feet.