ANSWERED:Vampire Sprite Update

[Shokomon]

@Lady Artemis: Thanks for the support!

 

That reminds me, the permissions have expired as I have not heard back from either spriter in over 30 days. If you would like to simply reshade or slightly edit the original sprites you may now do so.

So we can edit the original now?

[DuskOfTheStars]

Sounds like it. Fair warning: I tried the linework edits when the permission came out. Let's just say there are a TON.

[Sextonator]

 

I think the area behind the rib cage is too dark. Any other crits?

[Paradisiske]

Honestly I think it looks better with that darker shading

[olympe]

 

I think the area behind the rib cage is too dark. Any other crits?

Nothing much. I guess you could try lightening the abdomen by one shade and see how it looks, it just might fix the "problem".

 

One other leetle thing - the near wrist. I know that the lines don't indicate where it is, but that fact makes it even more important that you manage to convey its existence through shading. Maybe add a line or two of darker pixels there?

[Sextonator]

 

I'm tired and I need to do more art more often. Here's an update. I tried adding that wrist, and I lightened behind the ribcage. Shading on wings is more to show off the chosen colors for the red. Should I take the hue change out?

[Ayumi_Seto]

Well...some time back I said I would try shading.Keep in mind that I'm still new at spriting.I've only been at this for a year and nearly two months so...suggestions are greatly appreciated.I'm not done yet but here is what I have so far because I kept making changes to my shading and I criticise my own work a lot lol.Part of me likes the color of it but part of me feels that it should be improved.Maybe a bit more tan.So I'm already working on that.

 

Anyway...here is my current shading progress.

 

 

Any critiques on my shading? I'm sure it looks to cream so I'm working on fixing that and the tail too.I remember that the tail being to low was an issue that was pointed out and so far hasn't been fixed.So I'll try to fix it and I hope that it will turn out good.

Edited October 22, 2016 by Ayumi_Seto

[Yukino]

^^

I had actually never noticed that

Looking closer at the original sprites, the female's reds are a shade lighter than the male's, so I edited accordingly:

I also updated the male's shading, and darkened the line on their face closest to the light.

 

Also, as a quick comparison for colour, would this:

be better? Taking the warmer shadows of Pokemonfan's palette, but keeping the cold highlights of the first one I did?

 

Compared to the other two (And ignoring shading differences):

 

 

 

Edit: Shaded Vixendra's baby vamps, too o-o

 

Love, love, love these <3 Vampires are one of my favorite dragons, especially since my oldest is my female vampire. Would love to see these in cave.

[olympe]

Frankly, I'm in doubt about just that set. It looks way too rough and statuesque (due to the shading) to work for a living or even undead dragon. If it was a Vampire Statue dragon, or something akin to the night sprite of the Nocturnes, I'd be fine with the shading. But, unfortunately, it isn't.

[Ayumi_Seto]

Frankly, I'm in doubt about just that set. It looks way too rough and statuesque (due to the shading) to work for a living or even undead dragon. If it was a Vampire Statue dragon, or something akin to the night sprite of the Nocturnes, I'd be fine with the shading. But, unfortunately, it isn't.

I agree.It does look to rough.Like it's made of sand paper or some kind of rough rock.Also it's still a bit to dark for my liking.The male can pull off the dark look but not the female.It looks like it has collected dust over the ages.My attempt is lighter and even through I'm darkening it a bit it still isn't going to be that dark.It's possible that maybe I wouldn't mind the darkness of it if the shading wasn't so rough.As far as the hatchlings go.I think the only one I like the shading on is the S1. The other hatchlings are either to dark or the placement of their shading is off.I might try shading the hatchlings too.The way I look at it I'll be gaining more experience as a sprite so I've got nothing to lose.

[spatio]

Oops, got behind on updating the OP again! Sorry about that ^^'

 

Crits!

@Sextonator: I adore the smooth, subtle shading on the near front shoulder. I think the darkness behind the ribcage is really a matter of how emaciated you want to make your version. As it is now is creepy and awesome, but lightening it up a bit would make it match the muscular arms and legs I think. I'd lighten the muscle definition on the back leg, and perhaps the ribcage just a bit (I think the three dark lines are a bit too dark at the moment for where the majority of light would be hitting the body. Otherwise looks fantastic!

 

@Ayumi_Seto: Ooh, the shading you've got going on that tail curve is gorgeous *u* I think I have the same crit for you as I had for Sextonator, in that the contour lines are a bit too dark at the moment, but it looks like those are still your main WIP areas so prob not going to be an issue in the finished product.

 

@Shaddowwolf: It may just be this different monitor, but I think looking back that the most recent female could do with slightly brighter highlights, particularly on the torso. A happy medium between the rich, smooth gradients of this one:

and the slightly too-bright highlights of this one:

I think would be absolute perfection~

[bloodonmyfangs]

^^

I had actually never noticed that

Looking closer at the original sprites, the female's reds are a shade lighter than the male's, so I edited accordingly:

I also updated the male's shading, and darkened the line on their face closest to the light.

 

Also, as a quick comparison for colour, would this:

be better? Taking the warmer shadows of Pokemonfan's palette, but keeping the cold highlights of the first one I did?

 

Compared to the other two (And ignoring shading differences):

 

 

 

Edit: Shaded Vixendra's baby vamps, too o-o

 

 

The Vamps are one of my favorite dragons here and the mere thought of changing their sprites has pretty much led me to avoid this thread, but I'm glad I finally checked in. VixenDra's lines and Shadowwolf6's shading look absolutely beautiful to me. Should the sprite receive an update, I hope these make the cut!

 

Shadowwolf6, I think the warmer shadows/cold highlights combo on the female is perfect. I'd vote for that one.

 

Two things I'd like to see slightly changed on the hatchlings though... I don't know if it's a stray pixel or not, but it always looked to me like the original gendered hatchling sprites had tiny fangs. VixenDra's hatchies look almost fangless. Are they supposed to be? It just looks like the curve of the upper snout is pointed, not fanged. I'd love to see fangs added, or if that pointed curve is supposed to be the fangs, maybe make them slightly longer? Sorry if this has been already clarified/mentioned regarding the hatchie lineart... I haven't read the entire thread.

 

The other thing... On the ungendered hatchie, I'd love to see the body color be more brown-gray like on the original hatchie (the color contrast on it always made it look skeleton-like, which I thought was cool), instead of just gray as it now. If the skeleton effect could be recreated with the new shading somehow, that'd look awesome I think.

 

Aside from those suggestions though, gotta say, the updates are gorgeous. I'm so happily surprised, and rather hope they do receive a revamp now.

Edited October 23, 2016 by bloodonmyfangs

[VixenDra]

For the fangs, just add the pixel here:

http://sta.sh/028m17gidd83 http://sta.sh/01n6ik77892i

I found the beak to be a separate thing on the original adults so I passed it onto the new hatchlings too, so I'd rather not turn it into a fang instead:P so, fangs are behind the beak:)

 

[yipyipbrrring]

I personally love all the sprites as they are. Well, they could change, but I don't really bode well with change... I like keeping things as they were originally. :3

[Ayumi_Seto]

@Ayumi_Seto:  Ooh, the shading you've got going on that tail curve is gorgeous *u*  I think I have the same crit for you as I had for Sextonator, in that the contour lines are a bit too dark at the moment, but it looks like those are still your main WIP areas so prob not going to be an issue in the finished product.

Thank you. I wanted to shade the tail like that to give it a somewhat more realistic look and to better show how it's curved.As far as the lines beginning to dark I tried to fix that.Also I tried to fix the tail being to low by the right back foot and I noticed someone said the horns looked like a pointy hat.So I tried to fix that too and added on the foot spikes because they were missing.Shading the wings is tough for me but I'm thinking about making them more pink on the inside and leaving the back of the wings color like it is.My reason it because I think it would make the wings look better.Anyway...here it is along with my attempt at shading the S1. I plan to try and shade the whole set.

 

 

Edited November 12, 2016 by Ayumi_Seto

[angelicdragonpuppy]

I'm not usually a fan of sprite updates but Vixendra's Linda are MMM delicious.

[olympe]

I really, really like how this adult turned out. It's still the closest to the original while addressing all the issues I have with the in-cave sprite.

 

There are just two issues left that I'd like to see addressed, and one of them is the wing shading, as you already mentioned. (What would these look like with Spatio's wing shading, I wonder?) The other one is the rather obvious wing markings. Maybe you could make the markings a little more similar to the background in color? On the in-cave sprites, the markings are very soft, almost hinted at.

[Shroomlet]

One more vote for VixenDra's lines with ShadowWolf's shading here!

Absolutely beautiful work!

 

[Ayumi_Seto]

Okay. Here is what I did for the female S2. If the wings look good I'm going to do the same for the adult female.Also I made minor changes to the sprite lines. I tried to make the horns match the horn edit I gave the adult female.I also tried to fix the right wing area closest to the neck because something felt a bit off about it.Anyway...here it is. How does it look?

Edited November 30, 2016 by Ayumi_Seto

[VixenDra]

Hm, I personally like Sextonator's most so far:P It just looks best balanced to me and smoothest in the positive way^^

 

Ayumi_Seto, the horns were made so close together because the head is turned sideways, not 3/4 Just explaining 'what the author(me here:P) had in mind' So I'd recommend having my version too(as a backup in your shading), just in case.

 

 

PS. to all: the muscle/anatomy lines (the paler ones in the body) don't need to stay so pronounced in the shading, you all can make them blend into the shading, which would porbably look more natural and better anyway:P I made them just to suggest what kind of anatomy >I< had in mind if one wanted to keep the uniformity with the main (black and red) outlines, but if you believe another musculature would work better and still fit the main outline, you may ignore the pale lines completely if you like:P Just underlining this:)

Edited December 18, 2016 by VixenDra

[Ayumi_Seto]

Hm, I personally like Sextonator's most so far:P It just looks best balanced to me and smoothest in the positive way^^

 

Ayumi_Seto, the horns were made so close together because the head is turned sideways, not 3/4 Just explaining 'what the author(me here:P) had in mind' So I'd recommend having my version too(as a backup in your shading), just in case.

 

 

PS. to all: the muscle/anatomy lines (the paler ones in the body) don't need to stay so pronounced in the shading, you all can make them blend into the shading, which would porbably look more natural and better anyway:P I made them just to suggest what kind of anatomy >I< had in mind if one wanted to keep the uniformity with the main (black and red) outlines, but if you believe another musculature would work better and still fit the main outline, you may ignore the pale lines completely if you like:P Just underlining this:)

I like Sextonator's shading the best too. I has that kind of soft yet scalely texture to it. I have learned how to create yet but I admire it's beauty. Also it's good that I made two versions of the dragon. I was thinking just in case that I should do that because of the horns. As far as the muscle/anatomy lines go I'll see what I can do but I make no promises because I'm still a new spriter. It has only been a year and a few months since I started spriting. I can already look back at my work and see that I've improved though.

 

I'm still working on shading the adult female's wings and I'm going to get to work on shading the S2 male hatchling and the Adult male. Oh and...since no one has done anything with the egg I decided to give it a try. So here is my attempt and with it is the Vampire Dragon egg in a different color egg. I was curious about how it would look if it were the color of the S1 hatchling I already shaded. I doubt the greyish one will be used but I'm showing it for fun anyway.

 

 

Last but not least...I did a touch up on the S2 female's wings making an area on them a little darker. I put the S2 with it's original horns and the S2 with my horn edit.

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2016 by Ayumi_Seto

[Paradisiske]

It's good that I made two versions then. I was thinking just in case that I should do that because of the horns. As far as the muscle/anatomy lines go I'll see what I can do but I make no promises because I'm still a new spriter. It has only been a year and a few months since I started spriting. I can already look back at my work and see that I've improved though.

 

I'm still working on shading the adult female's wings and I'm going to get to work on shading the S2 male hatchling and the Adult male. Oh and...since no one has done anything with the egg I decided to give it a try. So here is my attempt and with it is the Vampire Dragon egg in a different color egg. I was curious about how it would look if it were the color of the S1 hatchling I already shaded. I doubt the greyish one will be used but I'm showing it for fun anyway.

 

 

Last but not least...I did a touch up on the S2 female's wings making an area on them a little darker. I put the S2 with it's original horns and the S2 with my horn edit.

 

 

 

i like the second version better

 

also both eggs seem a bit too shiny

Edited December 31, 2016 by CellyBean

[Ayumi_Seto]

i like the second version better

 

also both eggs seem a bit too shiny

When you say both eggs are a bit to shiny do you mean the markings on the eggs or everything on the eggs? I'm asking so I can properly adjust the shine on the original colored egg because that's mostly the egg that will be used. The recolor of the egg for fun and more spriting experience.

[SkyWolf25]

When you say both eggs are a bit to shiny do you mean the markings on the eggs or everything on the eggs? I'm asking so I can properly adjust the shine on the original colored egg because that's mostly the egg that will be used. The recolor of the egg for fun and more spriting experience.

I'd say both, but the red markings on them need more dulling down than the general egg- much too glossy. '0'

[Paradisiske]

I'd say both, but the red markings on them need more dulling down than the general egg- much too glossy. '0'

yup thats what i meant