Like most creative people (I assume) I'm often trying to improve. I came to the realization that, despite getting more intricate and all around better looking over the course of the past 7 years, my sprites all still bear really amateur features. My coloration is limited; I tend to avoid changing colors too much while shading. All of my shading is just lower brightness of the original color. I also still use true black outlines, which make things look flat and amateur.
So I decided to try to move forward with my spriting by changing those things; this is what I came up with.
I started with a basic outline, drawn with a mouse. I predominantly use the line tool to do outlines. I don't know if that's a bad practice or not, I'm just used to it.
I chose to make a sprite of the dastardly Murdergoat.
Next I did something that I've never done before; I made an actual palette. The colors actually change hue and saturation and fade from highlights to black. I picked the third color of each palette and used them to fill.
Next I shaded. I started with the second colors on each palette, then the fourth, then the first and fifth. Usually when I sprite, I tend to avoid having two colors touching when there's a shade between them. With this sprite I just did whatever I thought looked good.
Something I was a bit apprehensive about was changing the outline. I chose colors from the palette that were darker than their neighbors. I only used the third, fourth and fifth colors from each palette. I replaced the outlines where highlights were nearing the it. I imagine it'll be tougher to animate this with the outlines standing out less, but I can always revert to black outlines and then reshade them when I'm finished animating.
Finally I darkened the area around the eye and gave it a fiery glow. I thought it would look cooler.
So yeah, this is the first image I've ever made that I would actually consider pixel art. I'm quite proud of it. I know there's some really talented pixel artists on this site, so I was wondering what you guys think.
Spectre's actually looks.. real. like he has an actual coat of fur. it just looks more 3d somehow.
SpectreNectar brought the goods on his editions there. The use of colors makes it way more interesting to look at!
This is my second attempt, trying to put tips to use.Looking at it now, I think I may have overdone the cool colors.Honestly, I really do appreciate you guys taking the time to help me out. You guys are cool like that.Much better.
@Spectre: I really love your art, but after seeing you use Charlie's line art, I think your own sprites would greatly benefit from not being as lumpy. If it's just a lack of patience thing though, I understand lolAhhh alright, well you're doing a fine job of it. Now just finish a game with all that abstraction and crazy coding you're so fond of. >:)
Okay, I can't live with that palette. I switched it to the original palette, I like it better like this. I did take your advice into account, and made the outline a deep blue instead of black. Maybe it's my inability to see color correctly that has impaired my ability to appreciate it, but this goat is supposed to be white, man.I like Rez's rendition. The man's a magician.
yeah your last two are definitely best, they have the perfect balance of complexity and smoothness (Spectre's looks too noisy in comparison now).
This is how I would have shaded it.
Agreed.^
Simple. Elegant. Instantly recognizable. And it let's the player use their imagination.Edit:Ahahahahaha…I just remembered that normal people have no imagination.