*solved* Chars of different sizes in char-sprites

[violgamba]

I am making character sprites based on an existing IP. In the IP the character sizes are quite diverse and I'm unsure how to best represent that within 48x48 character sprites. At the moment I'm leaning towards fudging scale in deference to maximal visibility, but I wonder if I should adhere to the scale more. Below is a sample to give you an idea of what I'm talking about (the characters are from "Wind Waker", btw). FYI, characters with this level of disparity shouldn't often be seen in close proximity in my project.

Now that I'm looking at it, I'm also not matching head/body size ratios of the original IP. In fact, the torso on the left seems near to matching the scale of the right character. I'm just worried about losing expressiveness if I shrink the left character's head. Also, most characters are nearer to the left character's size, or smaller (for children).

Thoughts? Anyone know of existing projects where this kind of issue is tackled?

My sprites:

Original IP (with characters as close to proper scale as I could eyeball):

 

[ViktorRocha]

Hi Violgamba.
I had a similar problem... But i could solve it by using the RTP characterset to model the size of other sprites. Like, the left side character you have i would put him aside of a RTP character and match sizes of them (You can use the bigger characters sprite, about 48x96). The other character you can simply make bigger then the first to match the original.
The other option you have is to pick a pickture of the original images you want to use as models on Photoshop or other image editor (Paint.net is good and free). Simpli makes the image reduce in % until the smalest character fits the size you want, and the other one will stay in the same proportion compared to it. Then you can make your pixel character in another layer based on those sizes.

Hope it can help you.

 

[Sharm]

Character size can be anything, the only problem with using an unusual size would be collision. So you don't need to fit them into 48x48 or 48x96 spaces.

There's two ways I've seen this handled. One is to make the sprites look scaled correctly. The loss of detail for the smaller characters is usually overcome by more expressive animation. The other is to just ignore it and make everyone look similar as sprites, but use the character art like in busts shown in conversations to show how different they look in reality. Since the sprites aren't meant to be a perfect representation anyway it is ignorable by the audience.

 

[violgamba]

Wow, yeah! Surprisingly flexible! I tested a 16x16 and a 100x100 sprite and they were both handled just fine.
I understand why 48x96 is useful, though, as overlapping starts to get odd when standing side-by-side against an overly-wide sprite.

Thank you both for your replies!