Sprite opinion :UPDATE:

[Itxi]

Ok in my spare time I have been working on a Beta for the sprite of my first char.
A little background info first to help people understand what it is I'm trying to do
Years (more than 5) ago on a forum I met and befriended a good group of people, It was a forum for a computer game and we all made persona's based of of one of the races in that game. They got kinda dropped a couple of years back but we still talk about them and I thought I'd try and make them in MUGEN, and send the whole MUGEN game with just the persona's (there's gonna be more than 10 I imagine) To that group of people. So basically a whole MUGEN game however if anyone wishes they will be made available for normal MUGEN.

Anyway before I start any animating or putting any real work into this sprite I wanted to make it as good as possible so I would be very grateful if people can look over the mess of a sprite I have made below and give as much CONSTRUCTIVE criticism as possible, preferably with tips on how to make it look not so jagged etc.

Also any hints on size please, I know you can scale sprites but I would rather have it at the right size to begin with, The whole of the character should come to halfway between the bottom of an average persons neck and the waist. (sorry I don't know feet and inches very well so it's the best I can give)

Also any hints on how to make the sprite for Hi-res MUGEN please, the tutorials are a bit vague on the differences.

Many thanks for your time, and now:
The sprite!

(download and view in paint if you want more detail )

UPDATE

As you can see some improvements, however I have been working very slow due to exams and a busy family holiday (not much computer time) plus the fact that I'm just lazy   

Shading I like to think has been improved, anti-aliasing is still a little  but I'm getting there. This is still a rough so all constructive critic welcome and appreciated 

[Pasty]

Sprites don't have any real uniform sizing to them. Any sprite can be used in hi-res mugen. And any size sprite can be "halfway between the bottom of an average persons neck and the waist," which happens to be around 4 feet tall. It all depends on the other sprites you group it with. The most universal scaling would probably CvS style, but if you're making a fully custom game you can use any sprite size you want. Larger sprites will look better, but take considerably longer to do. They'l also help with the jaggedness problem you mentioned. Look up an anti-aliasing tutorial for sprites, there's a bunch out there and it's a fairly simply process.

If you plan on making this whole game yourself or with a small group, be prepared for it to take a very very long time, particularly when your sprites are all custom. This first sprite is about 1/5000th of the total work for a very minimalist game.

[Itxi]

Thank you for the advice I know it will take a while and it probably wont be fully finished but it will keep me busy which is what matters

Are there any flaws with the sprite in general? And please don't worry about being too critical I want to make a quality game but I'm not a very talented or experienced artist so anything even just 'its out of proportion' or 'needs more detailed shading' would be a big help. So far I've been using the guides at http://petesqbsite.com/sections/tutorials/tuts/tsugumo/default.htm and they've been incredibly useful.

Thank you again, I'll go look up anti-ailiasing

[Pasty]

You will want to up your shading contrast. Probably by a lot. Take a look at some other white characters from commercial games (like Twelve from SF3) for ideas. Also consider changing your light source. Most fighting game sprites are lit from the direct top in order to prevent things from looking weird when the character changes sides.

Oh, and don't save as jpg, the compression messes stuff up.

[Itxi]

yeah the actual file's a .bmp but photobucket changed it to .jpg 

Cheers for the tips, didn't know about the shading from above but it makes a lot of sense. I'll post the redone sprite here later

[Raiden]

yeah the actual file's a .bmp but photobucket changed it to .jpg 

Cheers for the tips, didn't know about the shading from above but it makes a lot of sense. I'll post the redone sprite here later

Save as PNG.

What is that supposed to be?

[Itxi]

I was waiting to see if anyone whos played the game would recognise it to give me an ego boost

Spoiler (click to show)

Its a Jinjo from Banjo-kazooie, only a bit possessed

[Pasty]

I loved Banjo, never played the second one though. Your Jinjo looks a bit thinner than the norm, but maybe that's intentional.

[Itxi]

Yeah, I thought if they were that fat they wouldn't really be able to do half the stuff I wanted them to 

[Raiden]

1.The left leg looks very jagged. The reason is simple. The left leg goes left from 6 pixels down to 1 pixel to the left. I know that is a very strange sentence. But give it a zoom in and you will understand. Its like gorges in.

2.The shading is quite nice for a beginner. I like how you acknowledged the shadow underneath the head. However i think you will need more than 3 colors of shading. Go for 4 or 5.

3.This is just the raw base correct? If not you must add TONS more detail.

Thats all the C+C i can think of right now.  

[Itxi]

Cheers, I was quite happy with the shading around the head as well, see what you mean about the leg. I'm gonna have to improve that bit, main reason for that was the trouble I had with the knee, trying to make it visible but still keeping the leg fairly straight .

Have started the shading and been using 4 colours but I think I might have to up it to 5 like you said. Here is my progress so far:

Can't tell if its an improvement or if it looks worse 

Gonna do shading first then work on detail, main problem I'm having actually, not much detail I think I can add 

[Raiden]

well ok heres one of mine Space commando or a power rangers bad guy




It needs alot of improvement.

It looks a little bit better. Also i forgot to point out the eyes, Looks like you fixed em :3

[Itxi]

bump due to slight improvements needing constructive critic 

[Da Blob]

I think it looks pretty cool!
A bit of advice though, try to give the guy getting possesed some expression (Like red eyes or something )

[Itxi]

  cheers for the kind words

I was considering red eyes but the concept is that the character being possessed is a pacifist and so I wanted to maintain a contrast of the jinjo being possessed and the evil shadow possessing her. If you look closely her eyes are white (might need to modify it so they show better)

[Da Blob]

I see...
Instead of having it seem like the thing is swallowed by the black thing(Im guessing that the black thing is the thing that possesed it), you could make it like eddie and have it at his feet and circling him!  Just an idea...

[Rote Zaungast]

make the eyes blue instead of white ?

[Itxi]

Good idea, I'll give it a try. Originally went with white for a vacant look. Gonna go to bed now but I'll upload one with blue eyes then decide which is better tomorrow

I see...
Instead of having it seem like the thing is swallowed by the black thing(Im guessing that the black thing is the thing that possesed it), you could make it like eddie and have it at his feet and circling him!  Just an idea...

another good idea however I've already come up with the concept for this character as it is.

[Bastard Mami]

some of the lines curve in a weird way. most noticeable in the legs.

[Itxi]

hmm, it kinda works I'll experiment with it

some of the lines curve in a weird way. most noticeable in the legs.

Can I have a more specific example please? I kinda see what you mean, mostly because I was trying to avoid having the legs the same width all the way along and attempting to define parts of the leg, calf, knee etc. However just 'they curve in a weird way' isn't enough for me to go on. Thanks for leaving feedback though