The sprite practice thread.

[Skellybones]

Just wanting crits on the shading so far...

[Whitefire]

[Naruhina_94]

Ok can I get concrit/help on this one, please?

I don't know well if I should start shading, right now :/

Is the tail main shadow well positioned?

thanks =)

Edited February 13, 2014 by Naruhina_94

[Psycho Cat]

Whitefire:

I really like that. However, the way the purple goes all the way seems odd and makes the leg look half and half color as opposed to an extension of the purple. Try making it go only a little past the thigh, instead of all the way down. The Pokemon Salamence is a good example of this. While yes, Pokemon are always terrible references for almost anything (and Salamence's stubby legs aren't helping) it's as close as I can get to a good visual reference.

 

EDIT: Suicune does this too, but way better than Salamence.

 

Naruhina_94:

Before I say anything else, those wings aren't going to get that dragon anywhere. You're outline is very bumpy and in some places is more than one pixle thick, which is not a good thing. The hind leg should never go over the tail in a position like that, unless your dragon is trying to look awkward or is doing yoga. The background front leg (the one underneath the foreground front legs) is much bigger than the other one, so tone it down a bit. Also, with the shading you do have, I have no idea where the light source is.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Psycho Cat

[sbowen]

So I'm trying to figure out dragon spriting and here's my first try at an egg. What really needs to be changed? How can I make it look shinier?

Edited February 19, 2014 by sbowen

[Sandface]

You need to have a lot more colors. Right now it looks like there is just random splotches of color and its flat. If you look at It has a lot more dimension. Try looking at some sprite shading tutorials.

 

You need to look at where the light source is and where it would hit the egg, and where the shadow would get darker in contrast.

 

Tutorials:

http://fc00.deviantart.com/fs49/f/2009/219...ucas_irineu.png

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs23/f/2008/003..._by_lollige.png

[NewFlight]

I'm new to spiriting and I'm attempting to do a head, but I feel I need some advice, particularly with shading and highlight.

 

 

This is my second attempt at spiriting, so any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

[Psycho Cat]

First, you need more contrast. Specifically, the shadows on the head need darkened, and I can't see any shading on the light blue or red. You should also dampen the colors a little. It's very bright and my eyes don't know where to go as they are drawn to the many bright spots created by the light blue. And, while red and blue can go well together, the bright colors you use clash in crazy ways.

[Obscure_Trash]

For shading, I'm just gonna say - don't be afraid to go for it. Throw some contrast in there. Get some highlights and some lowlights. Use more than two colors. You're going to have very little space of just one color - shadows and highlights are going to affect a whole object, not just the obvious portions for it. Go for it! Stick some colors on that sucker.

Edited February 28, 2014 by SockPuppet Strangler

[nicknick88]

My Pokémon style sprites for Project Fakemon are getting better, but could still use some work, but... they could still use a lot of work. Advice?

 

[Murgatroyd]

So I've decided to give spriting to try, and decided to start with the simplest there is- and egg. I used about 4-6 colors, I think

I really want to expand my abilities, and lately I;ve been oggling over sprite art so I've decided- hey, why not? so critiques and tips very welcomed!

[car340]

My Pokémon style sprites for Project Fakemon are getting better, but could still use some work, but... they could still use a lot of work. Advice?

 

Nick, the arms are really awkward, first of all they don't seem to have enough strength to carry those... lasers? And second, they seem to disappear magically once it connects. That makes no sense for it to suddenly--poof! If it's in the middle of the laser then remove the arms on top of it and add in some shadows on the arm behind it to make it appear that way.

 

I can't tell what direction that 'hook' on top of its head is going, right(out right) or behind? If it's behind try to overlap the bend on top so it has a smooth curve appearing like it's on the other side.

 

The face looks odd to me, it's in a lop-sided shape and the neck is way too short 'n' skinny to carry all that weight.

 

I would crit on the shadowing/highlights but I dunno how to even do it so... yeah. XD

 

So I've decided to give spriting to try, and decided to start with the simplest there is- and egg. I used about 4-6 colors, I think

I really want to expand my abilities, and lately I;ve been oggling over sprite art so I've decided- hey, why not? so critiques and tips very welcomed!

 

4-6 isn't that much, the egg's dithering/shading is off, like the light source is behind the egg yet somehow on top, try to make it look like the light source is from the top, light bounces and curves over the round egg shape. Use an egg from here as a reference, if you zoom in you can see how the light reflects off and has a circular shape, right?

[Rhynn Collins]

My Pokémon style sprites for Project Fakemon are getting better, but could still use some work, but... they could still use a lot of work. Advice?

 

Nicknick, I'd recommend you to actually focus on drawing in general, rather than spriting. You want to create completely original beings, but at the moment you lack the anatomical knowledge to make believable beings. Study both human and animal anatomy, and make sure you understand why an arm connects to the body the way it does, rather than just knowing that the arm connects to the body in a certain way. Once you have that knowledge, you can start consciously breaking and modifying those rules to create what you have in mind.

Practice everything you're learning about. Found out how a knee works? Draw it over and over again, from different angles, and again to make it even better.

 

Doing it with just pencil and paper is by far the best (and easiest) way of going about this practice, by the way. You know the basics of spriting, but if I give you tips on improving the spriting now, you'll be doing what I like to call 'polishing a turd'. That sounds a bit harsh, but if the basics of the drawing are off, it'll look bad no matter how much you work on it to improve the spriting technique. You know the basics of spriting, now you need to get general knowledge of anatomy!

[NewFlight]

I decided to try to do a full dragon rather than just the head, and this is the result. Any advice on how to make it better?

 

[car340]

I decided to try to do a full dragon rather than just the head, and this is the result. Any advice on how to make it better?

 

It's heavily pillow-shaded, I can't tell where the light source is, and the wing gives me the illusion of that it's backwards, since the membrane is 'folding' away from the view point. Try adjusting the wing to make it look like its wing membrane isn't like giant claws, like lengthening the wing fingers or making the membrane points shorter.

[Anavi_Ivy]

I tried again to make another egg for Water-rise Dragon(now Water-rise Amphithere)

 

So old ones:

First, from beginning of project

One newer one, maybe month ago or so

 

Now, I made newer one, I tried checkerboard pattern...And I made some hybrid in shading style...Checkerboard + something...

 

Also, I edited a little bit ungendered hatchling:

-->

 

Critics?

Edited March 2, 2014 by Anavi_Ivy

[tukky93]

Also, I edited a little bit ungendered hatchling:

-->

 

Critics?

Really cute !!

But you need to work on the lines a bit. The wings are looking a bit 'messy'(?) can't find the right word I would also add a little more contrast on the shading by adding a light yellow for the light and maybe also a reddish color in the shadows. Found a tutorial that I myself really love http://www.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-18-...r-map-363288614

[Anavi_Ivy]

Really cute !!

But you need to work on the lines a bit. The wings are looking a bit 'messy'(?) can't find the right word I would also add a little more contrast on the shading by adding a light yellow for the light and maybe also a reddish color in the shadows. Found a tutorial that I myself really love http://www.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-18-...r-map-363288614

thank you

[Murgatroyd]

 

 

4-6 isn't that much, the egg's dithering/shading is off, like the light source is behind the egg yet somehow on top, try to make it look like the light source is from the top, light bounces and curves over the round egg shape. Use an egg from here as a reference, if you zoom in you can see how the light reflects off and has a circular shape, right?

 

I tried to fix it a bit, this time with 7 colors~

[Obscure_Trash]

I decided to try to do a full dragon rather than just the head, and this is the result. Any advice on how to make it better?

 

There are some lines I'd suggest smoothing, namely the tail. The visible lower arm is also rather shaky, although the upper arm is quite good. You've done some beautiful curves on the wings - you just need to translate that to the tail. I'm a little concerned about the positioning of the far wing as well. It looks like it's sitting right on the tail and it look a little uncomfortable. =U

 

It's really good for venturing out past the head, though. o3o

[Murgatroyd]

I tried to fix it a bit, this time with 7 colors~

Other tips much appreciated, I'm rather eager to improve~

[nicknick88]

Nicknick, I'd recommend you to actually focus on drawing in general, rather than spriting. You want to create completely original beings, but at the moment you lack the anatomical knowledge to make believable beings. Study both human and animal anatomy, and make sure you understand why an arm connects to the body the way it does, rather than just knowing that the arm connects to the body in a certain way. Once you have that knowledge, you can start consciously breaking and modifying those rules to create what you have in mind.

Practice everything you're learning about. Found out how a knee works? Draw it over and over again, from different angles, and again to make it even better.

 

Doing it with just pencil and paper is by far the best (and easiest) way of going about this practice, by the way. You know the basics of spriting, but if I give you tips on improving the spriting now, you'll be doing what I like to call 'polishing a turd'. That sounds a bit harsh, but if the basics of the drawing are off, it'll look bad no matter how much you work on it to improve the spriting technique. You know the basics of spriting, now you need to get general knowledge of anatomy!

THis will sound really stupid, but what is anatomy??

[edwardelricfreak]

anatomy:

1. The bodily structure of a plant or an animal or of any of its parts.

2. The science of the shape and structure of organisms and their parts.

3. A treatise on anatomic science.

4. Dissection of a plant or animal to study the structure, position, and interrelation of its various parts.

5. A skeleton.

6. The human body.

7. A detailed examination or analysis: the anatomy of a crime.

 

Basically Rhynn is saying to study parts of animals, people, plants, etc, and see how the parts fit together, move, etc.

[Dimar]

I've never made a sprite before because pixels aren't really my thing, but I decided to play around this afternoon. x3 I'm taking a break now, so I suppose I'll drop it here for advice. It's quite small; sorry about that. I definitely wasn't sure how to make shading on the wings so I didn't do much with those. :/

 

Sketch (by me): here

 

 

I should look at tutorials, but right now my schedule's really busy and I'm already working on improving my drawing so I don't really have the time to invest into learning pixel stuff. I can't promise I'll make further corrections to this sprite even with your feedback... we'll see. It was just an experiment.

Edited March 7, 2014 by Dimar

[Tazzay]

Looks like a great sprite, Dimar. I'll give some crit for you if you do plan to go back to it.

 

A few things that could be fixed in the sprite;

 

The start of the fur on the inside of the tail is very square, might want to even that out, and make it look more natural. The jawline is dead straight, too, so you'll need to give it a little curve to make it seem more like fur. And the front near leg - that elbow is painfully thin, I don't see how it could walk. Widen it by at least a few pixels while still keeping a slight curve to show the jointline. And the stomach is a tad too thin, too.