Kienay said, October 07, 2016, 06:22:14 pmI found your topic truly helpful in various aspects. Your take on different styles as well as a vast cast of different characters (especially seeing various characters in different styles) makes browsing your topic worthwhile. The most priceless point would be the detailed display of your works-in-progress, as well as all the comments by yourself and others discussing your work. Everything together makes it really easy to grasp what you are doing, how shading and composition works etc. I want to thank you for that. Yours is not the only topic of that kind, but being so active adds a whole lot more value to it.I had never thought of it from that perspective, I'm glad that you found my thread a worthwhile read. I can't wait to see what else you do with your chars, they seem to have a lot of potential!
Kienay said, October 08, 2016, 01:16:56 pmConsidering your concerns:He just needs enough room to not restrain his package... Okay, no, that's simply exactly how his pants are designed. You described it perfectly. It's common fashion for clothes in the fantasy world I came up with. You would usually wear a belt to prevent to expose yourself, but since these specific pair of pants combine the loose top with skin-tight legs, it's okay without one for this character.Considering the girl, I am not sure I can follow you. Do you mean the pants looked more loose on the sd version? I myself can't really tell the difference between the two. But on a side note, you are the second one pointing out that the pants look weird in that area. But while you called it loose, she identified it as a bulge... xDlol, the bulge is pretty accurate; well that pelvic area on the sprited version is very misleading on the girl, especially if you didn't mean it to be seen in that sense. I mean your HD version is okay. It might not be your intention that it came off that way though. Alot of times when I draw, things come out fine then when I look at it another day, then I am able to see things I didn't see at the time of the drawing.If its purely design choice, then ignore my stupid ass. By the way are you planning on making any of these characters for Mugen? I would love to see this "Furball" Gunther in action
Yeah, it was not meant this way on the girl in such an extend and I know what you are refering to. Experiencing that all the time.Well, while I'd really like to make a fighting game with these sprites at some point (that's actually one reason I do sprites fit for fighters), that is something that would have to wait until I have finished my current project.But I actually planned to share the sprites with the mugen community anyway. There might be some animations like blocking and crouching I'd have to add, because I won't need those, but apart from that, there should be enough for a complete mugen character. I can't tell how long the sprites will take, especially Gunther, since he's the last one to get playable, though.
Didn't make much progress in the last few days. Tried out some stuff like backgrounds (still don't know about the direction) and animation. Got totally frustrated about the latter, since I totally suck. Need to practice a lot in that area. Animating is truly difficult.That being said, I am currently workig on sprites for NPCs. Those more or less unimportant runts idling around in the background. Started with a template for a generic village girl and some variation. I also simplified the shading. And tried to shift the light source to the side to get more in line with other anime sprites. Hope this will help with taking reference from similar sprites and focusing on better animation instead of neat still ones in the long run.While working on those minor sprites, I got in a slump and figured I need to do some concept art to boost creativity. Unfortunately, these two didn't fit what I envisioned at all. I wanted generic villagers, but, oh, well. No problem. Turned them into mayor NPCs now. Thinking a bit about how to implement them (turned out to be traveling merchants) did actually lead to filling up every single mayor plothole. Lucky!And because I really like their design, I decided to start doing sprites already. Hope to finish the guy tomorrow. Don't know about the girl, yet.They are still missing some weird, big animal pulling their waggon. And said waggon. Looking forward to designing that guy. Not the waggon.
For backgrounds, this is a great read:http://danfessler.com/blog/hd-index-painting-in-photoshopRead it, you won't regret it.
Thank you very much for that link. While I initially tried to stay away from index painting, it sure seems to be very informative. The few bits I'v read so far are already adressing many of my concerns. I'll make sure to read it all later. This will most likely be a big help.
Ah, well, finished that dude around yesterday. Pretty satisfied with the outcome, although I am not too sure about the shading. The bottom half is still giving me quite the headache. May revise it later on after gaining some more experience. Already started on his partner. Maybe I'll try some simple idle animations for them. I really need to get some practice.
Some progress. Didn't do much spriting the last few days. Focused on other stuff. And I really thought I posted this already...The guy from last time is just there to complement his partner. Also tried to draw again after some downtime. Totally messed up the first times of course. But getting the hang of it now. Also tried to incorporate some stuff I learned when doing those sprites. Especially using the eraser to a ridiculous extend. Although this piece is not finished, yet , I think it gets me to way better results. My previous drawings looked horrible compared to this. All hail the eraser!And I obviously can't draw hands. Try to avoid them as long as possible. Did another sketch. I am afraid to finish these because it holds the likely potential to mess things up like I always do. But you gotta pull through if you want to improve, so I will try my best. Approaching things differently now. I think I will do fine with these.
I can relate. Hands are a mofo to draw. But you have a great grip on em, I can tell (the fist in the first one looks like its about to hit me harder than Donkey Kong, lol).Like the other sketch too, graceful and serene.
That means you shouldn't be not drawing them. When I was making my comic I tried to make absolutely certain to place hands and bare feet in panel when I could. Practice will make you better over time. Your art is way too good for you to be fearing and holding yourself back with hands.
Thank you, Hatter. Sketching alone works way better now. Like, hell of a lot better than a few weeks ago. So I am confident to overcome my weakness and be able to create finished pieces that are just as nice as their respective sketches. Just need to put some more effort into practicing.And, yeah, hands are the bane of it all. Dropped the fist, though, and went for the raised hand instead.@Just No Point:Yes, you are right. I did this for all too long. Started drawing about 15 years ago but shyed away from anything I had problems with after I started to get better at and getting an eye for drawing. This ended in getting me so frustrated, I refrained from drawing for a couple of years. I try to approach it the way you are discribing with your comic since a few weeks. Deliberately including stuff I can't. I also tried to do some more fullbody drawings from time to time. Did this all the time when I started back in the day, but stopped doing so as well at some point.I agree with you. Fearing to fail right now will prevent you from getting better in the days to come. I kinda regret what I did, or not did, all these years. Well, not that big of a deal since I filled my free-time with other fun stuff to do~But it's not just about the hands. There is a truck load of stuff I can't do and always dodged. Like muscles, or even girls. Oh, how horrible I was at drawing them. Yes, I really like the sketches I posted above. But I have to say, what makes them look so much nicer than what I was able to pull off before is greatly linked to the time I spend her on MFG. Looking at the stuff you guys do all the time as well as spending hours into doing these sprites of mine, really gave me a better understanding in some areas and also a boost in confidence. Just look at the dude- I tried my hands on some muscle definition and it turned out just fine. I can just do more sketches if these turn out bad.
It's not uncommon to shy away from the tough stuff. In my comic and now while coding for MUGEN I have trained myself to not fear any challenge. The motto is to not cut corners and not deviate from the original idea/vision. For my comic I didn't have the ability to draw over half of what I wanted when I started. By the end my art had DRASTICALLY improved in all areas because I pushed myself so much. Deal with each issue as it comes up one problem at a time and figure out how to solve it.When you succeed you'll feel much more satisfaction than you would had you just winged it. For muscles and poses you should do the posemaniac challenge each day for 5-10 minuteshttp://www.posemaniacs.com/thirtysecond
It takes some courage/ discipline to take that step and it's nice to hear you were able to do so. I'm still in the process of taking that step and can already see it's positive effect. Still hesitant, but getting there slowly.It's encouraging to listen to other people talk about their experience and accomplishments.I also want to thank you for the advice and hint to posemaniacs. I did these a while back for a few days, but stopped after a while. Like many other artists who tried it, the weird poses and ridiculous angles turned me off after a short while. But I get the concept behind that method and will try it again. It is indeed very helpful to build up your skills.
Wow!Really Like the style of your sprites actually. Do you have any plans for all of these sprites ?Looking good! keep it up!edit: Went back a read a bit! looking forward to your progress!
Thanks, man. =DAnd, yeah, there are plans, as you noticed. To be more precise- I am working on an action RPG designed like a beat 'em up. Gameplay is basically... based (my english is so limited) on Dragon's Crown. But it's less focused on said gameplay. Like in a typical JRPG, you will spend much time with story, characters and conversation. In comparison, Dragon's Crown is more focused on actual combat and basically an arcade title in that sense.Started working on the battle system a few days ago. Since I decided to change the perspective, I need to adjust my sprites a bit. Wanted to get gameplay sorted out now so that I could make sure how to go about the graphics. It would be bad if I had to redo everything in bulk at a later point.The bad thing- it makes work more complicated and I might get some issues with presentation later on. The good thing- I planned to share my sprites for others to use in Mugen. They will fit better with existing sprites because the feet won't be flat anymore. At first, I was going for a strictly 2D perspective like in a platformer. Think Super Mario here. Now I will go 2.5D in favor of improved gameplay. That also means I might be able to share some stages fit for Mugen some day, too. Time will tell.
Very interesting concept! I actually I wanted to make a very similar game to the project you have in mind for us. But I ended up settling on a traditional RPG Approach. Story Can be the Meat and bones needed in a game such as yours. Along with interesting graphics and so far your making that work very nicely. It's cool your making them with mugen in mind. I hope someday we get to see these characters in action
thanewdude07 said, November 03, 2016, 09:47:14 pmBut I ended up settling on a traditional RPG Approach.For me, it went the opposite way. Planned to go the traditional way first. But my dream of creating a turne-based RPG will live on. I went through hell for hours. I've never put that much time into a single piece, and don't intend to do this ever again, but it just didn't want to turn out the way I wanted it to. 2h alone to fix the face over and over again. It always looked good, but not like the character I was trying to draw.So, after this ordeal, I am finally satisfied. I think it turned out really well. Didn't expect that. The stance may be a tad unbalanced. I'm not sure. I think it's fine, but I'd have to take a look at it later to make a proper judgement. The pants appear way too big compared to the old version. Guess I'll try to fix that later. On the other hand, it may look better when animated.That being said, I think it turned out just right. I'd like to do a simple breathing animation next. Really need the practice and want to see it in motion. Compared to the previous version, just to be proud of the improvement.
Nothing much happened since last time. Mainly worked on gameplay and checking out other games to get some inspiration.Changed the girl from above a while ago some more, since I came to the conclusion that her stature was messed up. Ignoring the fact that she's supposed to be scrawny just because the sprite turned out nice is a sad excuse.Also started drawing again. Still need to work on that body, though. Apart from being unfinished, I want to change the pose and make it a full body shot, since it's meant to be character design stuff.I am also taking part in Hoffman's Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Tribute doing Retsu. Got two different shots of the same attack. I think I'll try an inbetween of both.
If somehow possible full body please, I like the first perspective more, looks promising to make Retsu a menacing looking opponent there
Thanks for the feedback. I actually planned to do this full body, since you mentioned to do a group shot with the finished pieces. The legs are giving me a headache with his pose, though. I also like the first more, but tried to adjust to his sprite some more. But I kinda overdid it with turning his body around in the second attempt. I figure I can take the liberty to change his pose around a bit anyways since his sprite is so friggin old and stiff and definetly not one of Capcoms better ones. Guess working on the first one might wield a better result.
