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[Pentagonbuddy]

@emmych: ...I really just spend too much time making silly .gifs, as they are indeed made JUST FOR REPLYING TO LIKE ONE POST EVER except that awesome pixeling tutorial is probably applicable to many situations!

I've found I actually like bigger sprites more than smaller sprites, though conventional wisdom tells you to work small and then go large. (For good reason!) I get easily frustrated with smaller sprites, though -- the lack of pixel space gets to me after a while. But that just means I'm bad at making the most of small spaces. OTL

And gosh here I was trying not to derail this thread into off-topic chatter and yet here I am anyways. I'll just have to bop into Origin's thread so I can fangirl about Kiden there... and also finish that one picture of him.



There's actually all the sprites I did over spring break, but I'll be re-doing them. They're in the style of Anagram's sprites.(which is going to be so awesome, but that's a bit irrelevant too, ah-hahhaha...) However, Archeia encouraged me to try and find my own style, and I'm glad I took the advice! Besides, she does her own style sooo much better than me.

And with both Celianna and Lunarea's advice in mind, here's some changes to her hair:

[Celianna]

@Penta: I see you added the wooshy hair, now it looks more like it. Can't give much more advice than that since I've been staring at my screen for too long that I want to puke pixels. And here's a random artist who does larger pixel-art that's good for reference if you want to look at more styles.


Here's an update on making Emmych's base taller. I hate the side-walking frames, they kill me =_=

[Jalen]

There we are! Tucked in her hair...fall-thing a bit and fluffed her hair out in the back, since it does that a bit in her sprite. AS YOU CAN SEE, her glasses are a lie. Will finish them later. ;A; STUDYTIME NOW FOR ME

@ Shiro: Looking good! Like the others said though, definitely needs more highlights, especially since it's all armor...ful. uwub

[Emmych]

@Penta: Woowwwwwooooo, those look great! I like the horned guy who's wearing the green loincloth thing. @w@
And gaaaah, fangirl? x3 Geeez, now I'm blushing.

I GUESS I JUST HOPE YOU DON'T WRITE EROTIC FANFICTION ABOUT HIM, BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE TERRIBLE.

(Woo, this adding in stupid pictures thing is fun~! x3)

@Celianna: Ugggh, oh man. Tell me about it - animating legs is TERRIBLE AND STUPID AND AAAGGGHHHH.
The good news is once you finish with one direction, you just mirror the hell out of it and be done forever. ;n;

EDIT:
@Jalen: Aggghh, she looks even cuter now! x3
The glasses are looking good - I can't wait to see how those turn out! :3
Oh, also: are you going to be doing something about the collar...? It's a bit flat at the mo. x3

[Jalen]

XDDDD oh god that face emmy that is amazing

And I haven't touched the collar. I mentioned it in my other post, but is buried by now. XD Yeah, that's just editing the base hair out. That collar is going to be completely revamped once I actually do something about her clothes.

AND THANK YOU SWEETHEART. Though her glasses are totally floating ATM XD

[Joerao]

Wow, looks great, Emmych!

Here's one of mine:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9482254/Pirate%20Tavern.mp3
Comments would be great!

[Pentagonbuddy]

@emmych: Bah-hahaha, see it's really fun, isn't it?

@Celianna: )8< EMMYCH STOLE MY COMMENT. At least with a template, you can mirror with no problems~!

@Joerao: It's called Pirate Tavern, but that violin that comes in makes it so dramatic and mournful! ;w; I really like iiiiit. Edit: On a second listen, I think it drops out rather suddenly, though.

[Lunarea]

This is eerie, Joerao, but my request for you once your shop queue cleared up was going to be for a pirate town/tavern and this is almost exactly what I'd had in mind. I sure hope this will be available for public use :3

As for criticism, a couple notes get lost at 0:52. I'm not sure how to explain it since I'm not a musician, but it just sounds like one of the notes is softer than the rest. Or maybe it's my ears playing tricks on me XD

@Jalen:
Pft, like anyone would dare say it looks bad XD
I'm very curious as to how it would look with different eyes, though. I almost want the portrait to have a bit of exoticism and mystery.

@emmy:
Okay, you so totally need to do these pictures for every post. Especially rantigns.

@Penta:
I like how the new version turned out. The hair seems very soft with the shading, too - which is a neat and unique style if you can keep it up for all the sprites.

[WilliamJConn]

Sounds really good, Joerao! Though, I'd have to say it sounds a lot more Western than Pirate to me. I think it had a lot to do with the Violin/Fiddle that came in...reminded me of Firefly as soon as I heard it.

[Emmych]

@Joerao: Hwwaaaagggh, sounds excellent! D:
My only gripe is the way the violin slides at first - it feels a little bit too much some times. Is there any way to cut down the gliss (slur? Legato? gah, I haven't studied music terminology in years...) a little? I think if you do that, it'll be perfect. I really like the melody. x3

@Jalen: WELL THAT'S GOOD, BECAUSE I MAKE IT A LOT IN REAL LIFE. WAHAHAHAH~
Haha, just wait until my sister starts posting. She just joined today, and she draws the most DISGUSTING FACES. They are tres excellente~! x3

EDIT: HOLY BALLS, THAT WAS LIKE SIXTEEN NINJAS IN A ROW. xD

@Luna: Hohohoho, I intend to... I INTEND TO. MUAHAHAHAAHHAH~
(Rage faces are super fun to draw, if only for the wrinklies.)

[WilliamJConn]

I almost don't want to post these up...but I thought I might as well! Keep in mind, they're in the conceptual phase of the process!

These two are for Spetnaz's game AXIS:



This one is for my game For Crown and Country:


Note: I draw with a mouse...lol. And these are using the nude bases.

[Lunarea]

I retouched the girl for you a bit:



Things to point out:
1) I think you followed the template too closely on the hair, and it didn't turn out too well. Her skull looked odd and misshapen. So, I added some bulk to the hair. I also raised the bangs a bit because you want to allow for shading under the hair. It adds depth and makes it so her hair doesn't appear painted on.
2) Unless she's wearing a latex skin-tight dress, her breasts wouldn't be so defined. A template is there to guide your proportions and pose, not to be a shading and shape guide. Look up a couple references on Google for dresses of different materials and you can observe how it behaves on the body.
3) I'm also assuming that she's a respectable lady, so you'll probably want to raise her plunging neckline. Most of the respectable female clothes have just a hint of a neckline, only going down about as far as that line begins on the template. You can go lower, of course, but keep in mind that it will give a different image to the character. I left it sort of low because it would be a really different design if I brought it up too much.

And lastly ... I work with a mouse most of the time, too. All those portraits from me you see are done with a mouse. So, nothing to be ashamed of, there. :3

[Pentagonbuddy]

@WilliamJ: Take tips from Luna! She does great portraits with her mouse. I also recommend pulling colors from the RTP, that way you can easily make portraits that match colors.



PS I'm also working on tiles. The top sections for all the walls aren't done yet, but I'm mostly wondering about the colors/lines for the patterned walls there. And about the patterned stuff in general! It's really hard keeping track of how things loop. OTL

[Radscythe]

Thanks to Lunarea and Celianna for their suggestions I improved on the front of my sprite WIP

Before:


After:



@PentagonBuddy: Those are awesome building/wall tiles, and I agree, Looping is annoying sometimes. The only thing is that the edges of the design on the wall stick out a bit too much. A little bit more of the wall should show after the design ends; I can see that it does somewhat, but not enough. Colors are great though.

The area of the wall I'm talking about is here:


one or two more pixel lengths showing the wall and not the design would fit better I think, but it's just my opinion.

[Climhazzard]

This is such a good idea for a thread! I'm sure it will help a lot of people improve. Here's my current WIP. I'm practicing hair and more complicated outfits, so decided to sprite Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z, since his hair is pretty crazy and his outfit is kinda neat too. I think I've done a pretty good job, but I'm sure there's room to improve so please let me know!



Check the spoiler if you want to know what he looks like in the show:

Spoiler:

@Rad: Looks better with the improved contrast, its looking better. The top-right section of his helmet looks a tiiiiny bit blocky, though?

@Pentagon: Very nice wallpaper! That must have been such hard work to make! I agree with Rad on this one, maybe add a pixel or two of wall space? But maybe that would play havoc with the tiling, I don't really know these things.

@Joerao: I like it, I'm not sure I'm feeling a pirate tavern vibe though? It seems kinda chilled out to me, like a really relaxing kinda pub or something? I'd expect something a little rowdier from a pirate tavern theme, but perhaps thats just me. As a piece in itself though, it's great.

@emmych: Haha, that face is both amazing and terrifying at the same time. Also, have you always been Resource Staff?! Whaaaa?! The character is looking cool, btw. With Luna's hair tips, that will be one fine lookin' sprite.

This post has been edited by Climhazzard: May 6 2011, 11:08 AM

[GrandmaDeb]

@ penta - I like the mulit colored one and the red diamond one and the stonework one and the blue diamond is my less favorite

For some reason the borders on the patterned wall seem a nice glowy effect on the right hand side but not on the left.
Maybe a pixel or two different?

@WilliamJConn - can I ask a question? What kind of hairstyle would cause the blonde gal's hair to fall that way on her forehead?
I mean, if she has a side part, it would come at a different angle, and if she just had this incredible thick hair that just poofed over like that then it would be, well, poofier. I am just thinking that when you try and put the lines into the hair it wont have anywhere to go that will look right, but maybe I just have no imagination, which, haha, is true when it comes to stuff like this.

[Raven The Dark A...]

Hm it's really interesting to see you guys' WIPs. I never knew most of you draw so much of the portraits yourselves. I usually try to avoid drawing as much as possible and edit the crap out of existing pieces.

[Pentagonbuddy]

I have to go really soon, but...

there's what it looks like with the edges beefed up a bit~! I'll fiddle with the shading when I get home, too. And leave comments!

[Celianna]

Penta, that concrete wall with the designs is fucking awesome. I want it. To play with it. And use it. Go finish it.

The one with the pattern is also lovely, but I think it could be a lot more saturated and decorated with gold to make them pop out. Here's an edit I made out of your other wall, and yes, lots of gold!



Since the little squares don't repeat well (they seem to make 1 square wider), why not put a little gem inside of it.

@Joerao: for a pirate song I think it is too mellow. A song about pirates I would expect to be busy and with a quick pace. More like this song.

[Joerao]

Thanks for your comments, everyone. I actually think it sounds more pirate-y than Western, but most people who listen to it seem to disagree. Pent- I also would have liked to gradually bring out the violin, but since it's a one-minute loop, I really didn't have time to make it gradual. Actually, Lunarea, I won't be putting this up for public use since it's for Supergodjesus's game Unsung Heroes: Redemption. Sorry about that. Emmych- I actually like them like that, but I can see why it would contribute to mournful tone. I'll see how it sounds when I turn them down. Cel- it's actually supposed to be a mellow kind of place. I've done a lot of tavern stuff with accordions and pipes that really were very rowdy, so I thought I'd try something new.

Wow Pent. Those decorative walls are amazing, and Cel's edits make it look even more awesome. As GrandmaDeb said, I don't like the blue diamond one quite as much. I don't think it fits with the rest of the wall.

Here's another, totally different one.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9482254/Season%203%20Draft%201.mp3

This is also for commercial use, so please don't use.