The Resource WIP Thread

[Celianna]

@monkey: I decided to further edit Luna's edit.

What you want to watch out for is the 'bloated' pose. By that I mean, having the arms on the outside, away from the body, and in a pose that makes the sprite looks like they're really bloated, or just fat, when they're not. So keep the arms as close to the body as possible, unless they're super muscular.


I also gave them actual feet, since this kind of body shape doesn't lend itself to stumps for feet. I also made their limbs longer to accommodate the head. Remember, sprites aren't directly shown from the front view, which is why we can still see the top of their head, so that's why you would not see their neck in a way like you did, instead their head will be lowered down into their body more.


Then I coloured some of the outlines. I really advice against having a solid outline everywhere, especially one that is so dark. It looks more more livelier when you have the outline be influenced by the lightsource, so that it's lighter in some places, and dark in the others.


And lastly, I added a bit more contrast between the colours.


Either way, take the advice however you want, it was already a nice base to begin with


I recommend working with a more neutral toned background (like grey), and not neon green. That can really screw up your perspective of colour and contrast.

 

[zblueboltz]

Yeah I'm kinda gonna, draw one facing the right. I was more curious about which style to use.

 

[monkeynohito]

Thanks for the advice, Celianna! I see what you mean about the bloat, but I was kinda going for a taller chibi sort of look...kinda like an old kewpie doll, if you know what that is. I added some shade to make it a little less hippy, if that helps. I did take your advice on the head, lowered it slightly and added a bit more shading around the collar area. I'll play more with the outline when I've finished animating, I think.

Here's a new version:

It looks really good with Lunarea's suggestion for darkening around the eyes. I left the eyelids lighter though because I like that. It should make a nice base for eyeshadow or crazy eyes, lol.

 

[Celianna]

If you go with your version of eyes, the expression the sprite has is one like this: -_- Luna's version gives the eyes more of an arch, and thus a more neutral expression. Obviously it comes down to preference.


Looks a lot better already, though I do recommend giving it some feet and not stumps.

 

[monkeynohito]

I'm undecided about the feet...I'm sick of animating feet! Honestly, I've tried a couple more realistic sprite bases and the feet are definitely one of the biggest things I keep being unsatisfied with.

I think with Luna's eyes, the eyebrows are a little more defined since she has the little lighter strip under them. I'm a little undecided about that since I worry that might detract too much from the actual eyes, but it does look a little more natural. The mouth is just a slightly different expression though, tight-lipped grin instead of a smile. I might actually go for something a little more -_- for release.

 

[Celianna]

My version has the eyebrows much lighter, while keeping Luna's eyes, if that's what you're concerned about. The point is, it's much more pleasant to look at Luna's edit, than your original version when it comes to the eyes. Yours ends up looking smug

 

[Clareain_Christopher]

Here's a concept sheet I drew.

Spoiler

 

[Aceri]

Hey all, I am trying my hand at making tiles, and I was wondering what the ones I am about to show could use. I went for just basic wooden a5 floor tiles, but I still don't quite have that eye yet to see what needs to be done. Any help on how to improve these would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

This one is just a little experiment I did with dithering, don't know if it turned out good or not.



This one is the base version of what the one above was. I don't know which one I should build on.

 

[Celianna]

@Aceri: the colour is oversaturated, and it does not look like wood to me. Merely making stripes in an orangy-brown colour does not make it wood. Wood has texture, like long grains. Wooden floors are also usually divided into planks, instead of an endless stripe (RPG Maker is guilty of this too). So town down the saturation, make it a bit brighter also, divide it into planks, and try to add some sort of texture in there.


This is a good image to use as reference for wooden planks:

 

[Aceri]

@Celianna:

Thanks for the tips and reference material. And yeah the reason everything was partitioned like that was because I didn't know how to start a base for my tile so I used the a5 maroon DS tile, which(from what my eye con discern) was just a set of partitioned colors, and the color scheme didn't seem to go beyond 4 different shades.

How do you add texture like that? Is it like a certain way you dither or is it just the right color scheme or?

EDIT:

On a side note I don't know what the deal is with the "brown/orange" thing. I use Paint.net and in the color pallet it comes up brown, but when I put it on the canvas it comes up orange. I don't get it.

EDIT EDIT:

Here is my 2nd attempt trying to make a floor tile based off of what you said and the image you provided, even though I am not sure how to do all of what you suggested . This came out looking more like a piece of carpet then a wood floor though I think.

 

[Celianna]

@Aceri: must it really be pixelart? Most people would create tiles here in the style of VX/Ace, which is the anti-aliased/painted style, and is very useful for creating wood textures.

 

[cosmickitty]

@aceri - good tutorial for wood, and other textures:

http://kiwinuptuo.deviantart.com/art/Pixel-Art-Tutorial-Textures-203459613

although i'm not a big fan of that style of grass, the rest is pretty good

 

[Aceri]

@Celianna:

No it doesn't have to be pixel art, I just thought that pixel art was the only type of graphic design there was for the RMVXA engine.

Edit:

Also, I am using the futuristic/modern day tilesets for my game, and so I would like to make the things I need match that particular art style, ya'know?

@Cosmic:

Thanks,, I'll have to take a look at that.

 

[Celianna]

But VX/Ace uses the painted style ... and the Futuristic tiles, created by me, also uses the same style. Sooo ... what? How did you end up figuring that it's pixelart? It's not.


Get a program that supports brushes, like Photoshop or GIMP, and paint away. Don't use the pencil brush.

 

[Aceri]

Maybe it's not art in the truest definition of the word, but doing what you do IS an art and takes talent and skill just the same as any other form. If you would prefer I will just start referring to it as something else, I didn't mean to offend.

I have GIMP, Paint.net and Graphics Gale. I'll start giving GIMP a try and see how the brush works. I always used the pencil tool because I just figured that's what people used.

Edit:
EDIT:

Nvm, double clicking did the trick. Herp derp sherbert.

The brush is hard to use. Have to go over the same line multiple times until it's not clear anymore.

 

[Celianna]

@Aceri: ... what? You're confusing me here. Do you know what pixelart is? It's an art style. One that I do not draw in, and one that VX/Ace does not use. Obviously my work is art - I never once said or implied it's not. We're talking about artstyles here. Pixelart is different from the painted style that VX/Ace uses.


The brush you're using is anti-aliased, which is much different from the pencil tool, where you work with clear and solid pixels. But it's actually faster working this way, and you can create easy and fast textures. This small tutorial might help when it comes to painting textures.

 

[Korimax]

Well I was working with a tool which, I think recolored is the right word, my faceset. However I am unable to determine wether I should recolor all of my facesets or just stick to what I have here is a comparison example.

  Original

Recolor

 

[Cartridge]

@fortheloveofpie nice faces, did you draw them yourself? I think that the recoloured versions are better, but it's not a priority. the other faceset looks good too.

 

[Korimax]

@Cartridge

No they were made by Ruruga, and also I know it isn't a priority, but I can recolor by pressing one button so it helps knowing which is better.

 

[Cartridge]

In that case, *I* would go with the recolours.