Slime Salad

I dunno, I kinda like the second one a bit better. But whether or not it would work would really depend on the rest of the art in the game. If all of the other art resembles the first phoenix, then the first phoenix would indeed be better. The second one, I'm seeing it more in something like FF VI than Zelda though.

I agree with BMR on all those things. But Phoenix's Phoenix is comprised of the 8-bit 4-color palette, so it would actually fit in one of the first 3 Final Fantasies pretty well.
Master K, don't be so hard on yourself! If this is the direction your pixel art is taking, I'm totally on board with it. Oh, but one thing it might be lacking is an outline. This is completely dependent on what the battle backdrops in your game look like. This is just a matter of visibility that I think you'll be able to figure out on your own. Phoenix's Phoenix will probably always be on a pure black backdrop, if his game's anything like the Final Fantasies I just mentioned, so he doesn't need to worry about it.

Your assumption of a black backdrop is correct; most of the sprites would look terrible if that wasn't the case, really.

...that's not to say that there isn't some discrepancies in the style the sprites are drawn in, though. This, this, and this are all kinda drawn differently from each other - and these are just enemies from the first area and dungeon. [None of them would really look good against a non-black backdrop, of course]

...not sure what this was leading towards, really.

I'm getting back into the OHR, and I found G-Wreck's tutorial from HamsterSpeak 53. I decided to take a stab, using the tutorial



There are definitely places to improve (DEM FEET), but considering where I was the last time I tried to make an enemy, which was this:



I'm pretty happy with how it turned out

Hey, not bad! Hmm, you're only using 6 colors for it though? Still, pretty spiffy looking

One bit of criticism though (aside from the feet) is that the hair strands stand out a bit too much. Perhaps some shading on them would be good, but then again, if you're limiting yourself to 6 colors, that might not be entirely possible. Still, spiffy work

BMR wrote: One bit of criticism though (aside from the feet) is that the hair strands stand out a bit too much. Perhaps some shading on them would be good, but then again, if you're limiting yourself to 6 colors, that might not be entirely possible. Still, spiffy work

I tried using a less bright color for the hair., and redrew the feet a bit to make them less comical. Lineart is my big weakness, but I feel like I'll get it with practice.

I added some shading as well, using more than six colors because I'm not trying to limit myself.

I have to say that the sprite overall looks really flat. It's quite noticeable on this armadillo-like creature, which is clearly supposed to be round. The problem you're having lies not so much in the textures and colors you're using (I actually really like the texture of the creature's face-fur), but with the proportions, shapes, and placement of its body parts.
The legs, as you've already pointed out and will hopefully work on soon, are haphazardly placed and almost certainly are not capable of bearing this creature's no-doubt enormous weight. Specifically regarding legs, I'd recommend placing the fore- and hind-legs further from each other, relative to where they would offer the most support. I'd also recommend making them bulkier, more muscular, and perhaps with more defined feet, though this is up to you since there are a lot of animals whose legs are so shaggy that you can't see their feet clearly.
The tail is another problematic area. The angle does not match up with the body - the tail looks like it was taken from a back angle, whereas the body is clearly viewed at a side angle. I'd recommend flattening it and giving it a more defined 3D geometry - make it a bending disc rather than an oval, for instance.
The shell has potential, but it seems much longer than the creature's body, creating an anatomical imbalance. I fully expect this creature to collapse on its hind legs because of all the weight back there. I'd recommend elongating the body or shortening the shell so that they become more even with each other. The tail will need to bend differently depending on what you change. Your creature looks to be somewhere between an armadillo (whose tail is plated with the exact same armor as its shell, making an even - rather than an abrupt - transition along the contour of the shell) and one of those plate-armor dinosaurs (whose names and anatomies I can't recall.) Look at these creatures, observe their shapes, and imitate them as best fits your creature. This is true for any artist illustrating a complex living creature.

I hope you take my advice and re-draw the lineart - the textures are fine for the moment. And don't get me wrong, I like your sprite too, and I think you've come a long way from Mr. the Slime below, but I believe that you can also become much better with some criticism and practice. It's a very good thing that you posted that sprite, and I look forward to seeing your next revision!

EDIT: I actually have an enemy sprite that's eerily similar to yours, and it also needs work and revision. If I find the time tomorrow, I'll work on it and illustrate exactly what I'll have done to improve a flawed design and will upload everything here. We can improve our sprites together!

Baconlabs wrote:We can improve our sprites together!

And of course, while saying this, you'll be dressed in black, looking down on the dangling form of Momoka as he tries cringes in agony because you've just cut his hand off?


Hehe, but in all seriousness, I'd have to agree that it looks a bit flat. Still, I'm not sure if you'd need to redraw it from scratch (well, perhaps the feet), but I think you could get away with tweaking parts of it to work.



Hmm... This has made me think... Someone should really do a step-by-step article about making sprites...

Baconlabs wrote:I have to say that the sprite overall looks really flat. It's quite noticeable on this armadillo-like creature, which is clearly supposed to be round. The problem you're having lies not so much in the textures and colors you're using (I actually really like the texture of the creature's face-fur), but with the proportions, shapes, and placement of its body parts.
The legs, as you've already pointed out and will hopefully work on soon, are haphazardly placed and almost certainly are not capable of bearing this creature's no-doubt enormous weight. Specifically regarding legs, I'd recommend placing the fore- and hind-legs further from each other, relative to where they would offer the most support. I'd also recommend making them bulkier, more muscular, and perhaps with more defined feet, though this is up to you since there are a lot of animals whose legs are so shaggy that you can't see their feet clearly.
The tail is another problematic area. The angle does not match up with the body - the tail looks like it was taken from a back angle, whereas the body is clearly viewed at a side angle. I'd recommend flattening it and giving it a more defined 3D geometry - make it a bending disc rather than an oval, for instance.
The shell has potential, but it seems much longer than the creature's body, creating an anatomical imbalance. I fully expect this creature to collapse on its hind legs because of all the weight back there. I'd recommend elongating the body or shortening the shell so that they become more even with each other. The tail will need to bend differently depending on what you change. Your creature looks to be somewhere between an armadillo (whose tail is plated with the exact same armor as its shell, making an even - rather than an abrupt - transition along the contour of the shell) and one of those plate-armor dinosaurs (whose names and anatomies I can't recall.) Look at these creatures, observe their shapes, and imitate them as best fits your creature. This is true for any artist illustrating a complex living creature.

I hope you take my advice and re-draw the lineart - the textures are fine for the moment. And don't get me wrong, I like your sprite too, and I think you've come a long way from Mr. the Slime below, but I believe that you can also become much better with some criticism and practice. It's a very good thing that you posted that sprite, and I look forward to seeing your next revision!

EDIT: I actually have an enemy sprite that's eerily similar to yours, and it also needs work and revision. If I find the time tomorrow, I'll work on it and illustrate exactly what I'll have done to improve a flawed design and will upload everything here. We can improve our sprites together!

1. Elongated the body slightly
2. Made the legs a bit longer and thicker (Thank god for the slide tool), and spread them out a bit more.
3. Changed the tail so that....it's different, but I'm not sure if it's better. I'm having some trouble with the perspective.That tail is starting to piss me off. I can't seem to get it to work right.

I also true this thing, which maybe isn't very good technically but I kind of like anyway, Nyar!



And I tried to make a lady in a leotard casting magic, based on some fanart I saw.



It....um.....didn't go as well

Hey lunaris I see you good with the draw, and you dnt respong pm, so can you make me rcecar track graphics for cars game?

Behold, another revised sprite for the game, this time of the Cyberdemon Lord : >

thespazztikone wrote:Behold, another revised sprite for the game, this time of the Cyberdemon Lord : >

That is a bea-UTIFUL head of hair he's got!

But in all seriousness, the thing looks awesome. The guts look a little flat, but that's mostly due to you running out of colors.

In Okedoke, FFnnyrfnfr (sp?) used multiple layers to simulate a single enemy. perhaps something along those lines might help?

Hmm. That doesn't sound like too bad of an idea. I'll have to look into that one!

Stewie wrote: In Okedoke, FFnnyrfnfr (sp?) used multiple layers to simulate a single enemy. perhaps something along those lines might help?

Heeey.... That is a good idea... You'd be able to go past 16 colors for large bosses that way... And you'd also be able to target different parts of the boss... brilliant!



@Momoka

Hope you don't mind, I took your sprite and edited it a bit to show one way of making it less "flat." Granted, not the best piece of work, but it might give you a few ideas.

I ended up typing two paragraphs worth of praise and "wow you improved an awful lot in a few days" kind of comments before realizing that BMR made the most recent changes to that sprite. Still, that looks pretty darn good! This is the kind of coolness that can happen when artists combine their efforts into one, unintentional as it was for Momoka.

There's two things I want to say about the sprite before Momoka returns to continue working on it (in addition, my previous statements about anatomy still stand since BMR did not adjust the lineart) - First, the tail looks like a rocky club. Is that the look you were going for, Momoka? Just curious. Second, the bright spots on the armadillo man's face and legs are abrupt and confusing, and I think it'd look better without them. The bright lines on the face are especially silly, as it looks like the armadillo man suddenly grew a wiry blone mustache.