The sprite practice thread.

[pushks]

 

My first attempt at spriting! uvu there are a few things i could redefine here, but i figured i won't be finishing it. so like. yea. :U but you know how they say: y'drown the first kittens.

Edited July 21, 2014 by pushks

[KoalaNoob]

Made a bunch of mini sprites in the last few days. I have a lot of trouble shading large sprites so I made smaller ones. Some people say they can't see the sprites, and I don't really know how to fix that. :/

 

 

 

[Melomancer]

Maybe you should try using IMGUR to upload them, and then link them here?

[KoalaNoob]

Maybe you should try using IMGUR to upload them, and then link them here?

I made them so Sea could have images next to the item descriptions, so a link won't work. Tinypic converts them to jpgs, soooo...

[Melomancer]

Yeah, but if you link to imgur, it shows the picture. You have to click the IMG thing in the code buttons, and then upload the link. Like this:

|

V(This isn't done by me, It was a random pic that I used as an example. Credit goes to Dragonith.)

[KoalaNoob]

I checked and it's working for other people, so I see no need to change anything :/

[Naruhina_94]

Hi could you please give me some crits on this?

-> ->

It's my second sprite and I'm having difficulty to make wings. (wings are supposed to have cracks)

Edited September 4, 2014 by Naruhina_94

[sbowen]

So these are for Asketil's Aine Dragons. Does anyone have any tips on how to make them better?

[ShadowMac13]

I'm trying to teach myself to sprite, and would love some critiques on my first sprite (that I am willing to show to others).

 

 

Odd color scheme, I know. I wasn't sure what colors to use, and decided to use my university colors. Big mistake.

[Eggy0]

Judging by the quality of the sprite when I zoomed in, it seems like you've saved it as a .jpg/.jpeg file. Don't do that, it ruins your sprite. Use .png or .gif instead :3 Or use another hosting site (such as Imgur), as I've heard Tinypic converts pics to .jpg and you appear to have used it.

First off, the lineart could use some cleaning. There are extra pixels in places that make the lineart look dirty, and there are parts that need smoothing as well. You seem to have used a lot of colors; sprites normally have a limited number of colors, and in my opinion a sprite should only have up to 4 or 6 shades per color (some sprites can have more or less shades depending on the color limit and the number of different hues used), and the shade number may even be as little as 2 if the sprite uses lots of colors and has a color limit such as 12 or 16 set upon. And the lines should be darker; when I look at them, they feel like they're lacking in contrast and therefore are kinda throwing the sprite off. Don't make them too dark though as it can make your sprite less realistic (if you're aiming for a realistic sprite). When it comes to choosing colors, pick those that go well together (such as complementary color pairs) and add hue to shadows and highlights (in my opinion, highlights get more yellow and and shadows get more blue unless you're aiming for plastic shading). Also, make sure you don't make the colors too saturated as that will most likely hurt other people's eyes (IMO).

I also suggest you look at some tutorials, they're very helpful :3

However, as your sprite's in a bad format which caused loss of quality, there's the chance that some (or all of) the mistakes mentioned weren't actually done due to bad quality making them look like they were done.

I hope this helps

 

...Okay then, I've got mine as well.

I have plans for a Faerie Dragon DR that I want to make (as soon as one of my DRs is completed) and this is a possible sprite for the adult, although I'll most likely replace it for a variety of reasons (such as its antennae disappearing into the wings and the possibility that its wings will have to be replaced because I've been told "TJ doesn't like bug wings" though it doesn't make much sense to me if it's a Faerie Dragon), meaning that it's mostly a test sprite.

[Brite]

I'm going to see if I can pick one of the sprites out and practice editing (be warned, if I post it, it may burn your eyes, I'm still brand new at spiriting.) and coloring.

My coworker (and friend) is teaching me to sprite. She has an awesome program. I use to have photoshop until my windows laptop crashed. So now I stick to drawing. I usually just draw canines but dragons have caught my interest. I still practice with wings. I like using references, especially Skyrim references since the dragons sit in an interesting way with their wings, so I started following their idea. Before anyone dog piles me on copying, cheating, I NEVER copy detail for detail. I only use the shape or size idea. I use my own design and detail. I like putting the wings on wolves my goal is to sprite my own winged wolf soon.. so hopefully I'll be able to show some of my art of them in sprites.

Edited September 20, 2014 by GhostChilli

[xXGlitchy]

Does anyone want to critique this? It was one Slaskia's sketches that was provided

[Whitefire]

 

 

ill be using this post to compare the original with my recent pokings.

 

 

Edited October 24, 2014 by Whitefire

[Red2111]

so im trying my hand at spriting, but before doing any sort of animals or dragons i wanted to test out shapes and get the shading and getting a 2D object to appear 3Dish

 

 

this is my first attempt, a simple ball, with shading but no shadow (yet)

 

is the shading gradual enough to appear 3D? i know a shadow would help and i plan on adding that tomorrow

 

 

edit - okay so i added the shadow

 

Edited November 25, 2014 by Red2111

[Black_Rosen]

so im trying my hand at spriting, but before doing any sort of animals or dragons i wanted to test out shapes and get the shading and getting a 2D object to appear 3Dish

 

 

this is my first attempt,  a simple ball, with shading but no shadow  (yet)

 

is the shading gradual enough to appear 3D?  i know a shadow would help and i plan on adding that tomorrow

 

 

edit - okay so i added the shadow   

 

First off I want to say: This is going to be honest. If it hurts I'm sorry.

 

Now to the stuff:

 

First off: I can tell that it's 2-D in both Smooth out the shift in colors a little more.

 

Second thing: Shadows do NOT look like that, they, too, have variations in color as well. It's not strictly black either, if it was a mid to dark gray it'd be better to me, but black was hindering choice.

[Sundew]

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j320/Red2111/ball_zps5ab28523.png[/img]

 

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j320/Red...zps4b24af6f.png[/img]

You need more contract in colors.

Where it's dark, make it dark. You need a lighter lightest and a darker darkest. That way you can have more shades in between.

 

The colors are so similar that I could not see the the lighter shades until I adjusted my computer monitor.

Don't be afraid to have more variety in colors. That's my biggest critique.

[Red2111]

thanks for the crits i'm only using Graphics Gale so yes its obvious i'm working with a 2-D object. i'm not trying to make a 3D object just give it the appearance of being 3D using shading.

 

 

so i tried again, this time with blue keeping in mind the crits from above

 

 

with shadow

 

 

and without the shadow

 

 

i'm more focused on the ball without the shadow, as my aim is to be able to to depth without a reliance on shadows. i'm also not happy with how choppy the transition is between shades.

 

 

 

 

[Rhynn Collins]

First off, I'd recommend starting with something smaller; making pixel art look good gets harder the bigger you go (though there is, of course, a limit on going smaller too...).

 

Next... making a 2D object appear 3D isn't a skill that's limited to spriting, and the same theory applies. I can see you definitely know some of it already. However, you may want to consider practising on paper first, since pixel art has its own unique additional challenges and techniques.

 

Since you're specifically working on shading now, I'll elaborate on that. Up to you if you practice with pixels or pencils, of course

 

Shading is best practiced in greyscale (a.k.a. black and white). That takes away the distraction of colour and allows you to fully focus on the shadows/highlights. After you've got that down you can add colour theory; a huge, complicated but very fun subject as well

 

From the examples I posted I can see that you have already understood that light comes from a certain direction and give the object shape. You're making the light bend along with the object, which is good, and you're making the light come from a clear direction, which is also good.

It seems your light source is currently at the top right, at the exact same depth as the object; so if you see it in a space with a foreground, middle ground and background as three lines, they're both on the middle ground line. It'll be easier to make an object appear 3D if you choose a light source on a different line; most often, the preferred line is the foreground.

 

This would cause the light to create a circular highlight (since you're making a ball), and from there on it will be easier to create the rest of the shadows. They always follow the shape of the object you're creating, so if you're ever having trouble try imagining the object as if it's 3D. Or, always a good one, find a matching picture of the closest matching geometrical shape (or if you're familiar with 3D programs, create one) and learn from it

 

That's the very basic theory of shading. Going more advanced, you'll also have to think of reflected light. This is light bouncing off whatever your object is on/next to/near, reflecting onto the object you're shading. If your ball is on a white plane/table/whatever, you'll have white light on the opposite side of your lightsource.

 

This image shows it pretty well:

 

 

The core shadow part is one I'm not entirely clear on yet, either. It appears to simply be the darkest part between the lightsource and the reflected light, but I don't know if that's completely true.

 

Hope this helps! I can go on forever about stuff like this, so sorry for the long read

[Noivern]

Quick shout-out to everyone in this thread for offering such amazing advice! I haven't sprited in months, but reading your tips has been a huge help (even though it's not directed at me, I know). c:

 

That said, may I get some critique on this?

It's a traceover of Gradient's sketch. It's missing a few little bits on the wings but I'm not sure what those lines were supposed to be. Don't mind the haphazard colors, either, I did that so I wouldn't get confused in some of the messier parts; I'm definitely going to add color, but for now I wanted to get the lines down.

Be as harsh/blunt as you'd like, constructive criticism is super helpful! Thank you in advance~

[LupusEques]

 

This is just something that I am making for my scroll link, it is not close to done yet, I am trying to soften the lines but it is looking weird so I am stuck right now. I am also not down with the shading yet.

[5icky]

LupusEques, if you want to smooth the lines think about this:

When rounding out, don't make "corners" with the pixels. A corner takes at least 3 pixels, two diagonally and one in the diagonal .

 

If it looks like a corner, it's going to look sharp when zoomed out.

[GalaxyPassion13]

Could I have critique on this? I made it for a friend and would like to see what I can do better : ) I'm pretty new at this, so any correction would be appreciated.

 

EDIT: Here's one I just did:

Could I get critique on this too?

Edited December 31, 2014 by GalaxyPassion13

[skwerl56767]

Those look pretty good Galaxy; my only issue is that the owl's outline is a bit dark, but it kind of gives it a cartoony look.

 

Anyway, I'm here to get any tips on sprites myself. I referenced these two sketches, from Slaskia and Dracchan respectively I think...

http://oi28.tinypic.com/i1zin5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/dra.../miscdragon.png

 

And created these two sprites:

Please correct me if I'm crediting the wrong people for those sketches.The one dragon's fur is a bit weird, because I don't know how to do fur well... but that's what I'm here for!

 

EDIT: Made another sprite; I purposefully left it gold, before you ask. I used the following sketch(credits to angelicdragonpuppy) to make it.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc74/an...uppy/Raptor.png

Edited January 13, 2015 by skwerl56767

[MessengerDragon]

Hi could you please give me some crits on this?

-> ->

It's my second sprite and I'm having difficulty to make wings. (wings are supposed to have cracks)

If you want to make them look like cracks, the ends should be sharper. At the moment they are rounded and that makes them look like holes instead.

[Lily14130]

I was just trying to make a cute little egg sprite for my signature. Could I get critiques on this?

I'm still kind of an amateur at spriting, but I go on and off with it. I like to think that I'm improving.