MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Digital Art

[MajinLuffy]

Since I'm on pause making My Own Kingdom for a lack of tablet until I move and settle in the country I'm going to, I'm looking for stuff to do meanwhile. I've started another rpg maker project I was supposed to begin once I finished MOK because I'm not the artist for that one, and well, right now it's in the references/sketches phase and I still don't have much to do. So, I've decided to start learning and practicing spriting because besides maybe being able to help in the art department for this project with something, in the long run I want to make some action games too and sprite/pixel art sex. Without further ado...the first sprite I've made from the ground up:

At first I thought to begin with some fairly big sprite but then changed my mind because in my opinion with a smaller one I would get more practice with the fundamentals of spriting which is make every pixel count. Or at least that's my opinion too based on tutorials I've read or watched. So I started with something a little bigger than the rpg maker standard sprite, which I think don't work for sexy sprite not matter how good you are.

When I finished it, saved it and looked at it, I thought it was utter crap. I couldn't understand the design at all, which I thought was weird because while making it in the preview screen it didn't look so bad. Stubborn as I am, I imported it to Rpg Maker to try it in game and it didn't look as bad...went back to edit it...changed the BG from white to gray...voila! Looked better. I know it's not big deal, I already can tell I need to improve the hair among other things, but for a first try I don't think it's horrible.

But that's why I'm starting this thread, get feedback, pointers, etc, so, fire away!

 

[UrineOnU]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

I think it turned out pretty decent for a first sprite and it's defiantly a good idea to start on smaller sprites.
Really all that's different with the larger sprites is that they consume more time so if you want to experiment or something I'd go with smaller sprites. That doesn't say small or large sprites aren't time consuming or difficult, it's just when you get the ball rolling it definitely takes less time to arrive at the finished product.
With the sprite you posted, to improve it you could try improving your color selection a bit or adding some shading, I still have some difficulty getting it right the first attempt but if you do it right it will make a world of difference anyways here is a very quick example

the small things I did for anotomy changes are that I bulked her arms and feet a bit, mainly because they seemed a bit too slender compared to her body.

I changed up a little bit here aswell

making just slight changes raised the hip a bit pushed in her thighs in and reduced her cup size as well as more color changes.

 

[barreytor]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

I'm not really a good one to give advice, but I can try.
One of the first few things is that her legs are separated, and that just doesn't look right. Maybe if it was a bigger sprite it would be more subtle, but at this size it looks like there's an arms width between her legs.
Her hair looks like it should drop almost no shadow on her face, but her face is half-shadowed.
The boobs look kinda fake. Like they're just two big balloons put there. It's not that they're big that's the problem, it's more the fact that the way they are, they look more like an afterthought; like the rest of the character was done first and the boobs were added later because boobs. (Mainly that side view)
About the colour... It needs a slight bit of shading. Just a little bit more in some places, and a little bit less in some others. You might want to change a bit the skin color though, it looks a tad bit too yellow.
Also, try to use the contrast between colours to your advantage and use different colours to split the areas instead of having to outline things.
Oh, and one thing Urine did but didn't mention is extending the cleavage line down into the clothing. That's something too.

All in all, the sprite is pretty good, yet could use a bit of work to make it even better. I don't know what program do you use for spriting, but I'll suggest you get one that lets you work with a 8-bit palette and start making a palette of colours to work with. (At least that's what I do. With 5 shades of every colour that sees heavy use, it's pretty easy to not have infinity different colours that are almost the same)
At the very least, setting your colors ahead of time will help you when you start using them. Also, it's pretty easy to change a color in all of the sprite at the same time.

By the way, I kinda edited slightly one frame to see if I could "fix" it a bit.

 

[MajinLuffy]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

Hey, thanks for the feedback. Yeah, colors and shading are not my strongest right now. For colors I just picked 3 colors for the clothes that would contrast a lot so one could easily "understand the sprite", like "Oh, okay...those are pants right there...that's some sort of vest..the coat. Right" and then created about 3 shades per color. I like the new size of the hands and feet, I made them like that because I used a sketch for one of the characters in the game as a reference and it felt that way. I would show you the sketch but I don't think I should right now without asking the artist first.

Your edition does look better, cleaner, specially liked the eyes. The legs are the only thing that looks weird, imho. But only when animated, feels like she steps in with her knees bent.

Actually the boobs were among the first things on my mind xD. Probably with the sketch the sprite would make more sense, but yes, it still needs more work. I'll try working with it a bit more, also will ask if it's ok sharing the sketch.

I use Graphics Gale, btw.

 

[barreytor]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

GraphicsGale? That's a good program, same that I use, in fact.
Do that, use 8-bit mode and build your palette if you aren't already doing it.
By the way, the whole "5 shades for important colors" is because that way you can have an "outline shade" that would be the darkest one, three shades for filling and shading, and one bright for highlights and the such. Though you could probably do well with 4 shades.

In fact, here, I attached the palette I use in the off-chance it might be useful.

 

[MajinLuffy]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

I did some work on the sprite, mostly with the colors and shades, using the feedback here and some Kyrieru's posts from a UOU's thread as guidelines.

After uploading it I realized the pants now looks to be too shiny, like some sort of plastic fabric pants or something like that. Really zoomed in though.

Btw, here's the sketch I used as reference for the sprite:

Spoiler

As I said, the boobs were among the first things in my mind while making the sprite, also I wanted to capture the hips and the stylized feet, wanted that elegant look while walking.

Here's the artist blog btw:

You must be registered to see the links

Really cool guy and amazing works. When I saw his style I thought it was perfect for the game. Still, it's pretty early on the development stage, when there is enough for a demo, or close enough, I will start a thread about it. Meanwhile you can check his blog, get some commissions, etc

 

[UrineOnU]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

Lol, the belt I did on the pants on the edit was in the actual sketch I must be psychic or something, and yea the boob focus makes sense hopefully she doesn't get back problems because of it.

Sprites looking more vibrant, keep practicing and experimenting and take notes on what works ,also you're not the only one using those posts for reference MajinLuffy.

I have all the posts Kyrieru did in that thread in backup, It's defiantly helpful especially since it was directed specifically at the things I was making and it really helped me solve some issues I was having. It also made me realize I needed some more practice before I attempt another game.

 

[MajinLuffy]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

Nah, she seems to be one sturdy gal, she can take it

Hope you get to make your game soon, the whole "Actraiser-y" thing looked great. And yes, lots of helpful pointers in that thread, usually tutorials are more general tips.

I tried my hand at a bigger sprite. Not that I think I "mastered" small sprites, but I wanted to make something different, along the lines of what I want to eventually make. I simply imagined, "Ok, I need a main character for an action game". Then I thought, not a survivor character type, one that looks more like the ass-kicking-shoot-them-dead type. And that's what came out of my head (and hand?). It's just the general pose, going to tweak details, add details, shades, etc. Eventually I want to animate the standing pose.

Who knows, maybe someday I can use her in a game

 

[UrineOnU]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

Nah, she seems to be one sturdy gal, she can take it

Hope you get to make your game soon, the whole "Actraiser-y" thing looked great. And yes, lots of helpful pointers in that thread, usually tutorials are more general tips.

I tried my hand at a bigger sprite. Not that I think I "mastered" small sprites, but I wanted to make something different, along the lines of what I want to eventually make. I simply imagined, "Ok, I need a main character for an action game". Then I thought, not a survivor character type, one that looks more like the ass-kicking-shoot-them-dead type. And that's what came out of my head (and hand?). It's just the general pose, going to tweak details, add details, shades, etc. Eventually I want to animate the standing pose.

Who knows, maybe someday I can use her in a game

Always nice to try something different and it's looking good,I know you said maybe but if you do decide to use it for a game I wouldn't go that large unless you want to suffer a lot larger development time on just the artwork. You gotta think about that the environments need to be that much larger and detailed, the enemies and pretty much everything needs to correspond in size and scale. If it takes 20 minutes to make the sprite

then another 10 to detail it

it'll end up being 30 minutes per frame multiplied by how many frames it takes to animate it, it also depends on how dynamic the action is or if the fame is changing drastically it can differ and end up taking less time, the same amount of time, or even longer.

 

[barreytor]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

It's nice, yes, but that size might be a tad hard to do if you're just starting spriting because, as Urine said, it'll end up being a whole lot of work and there'll be lots to redo if something doesn't look right.
I'd suggest trying a sprite no bigger than 64px tall. I'd also suggest not to overdo it with the shading once you get to that, and making sure it stays consistent and comes from a relatively reasonable angle.

 

[MajinLuffy]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

Ha! I wish it took me 30 mins to finish a sprite...

Nope, I wouldn't use exactly this sprite in a game, but the character, maybe. Though I do want to eventually, when it gets easier for me to make sprites out of nothing, to make games with big sprites and sex animations. I do like the smaller ones but...just look at parasite in city or succubus fist...I know it would take a lot of time in the art department but that's why I know it will be...eventually...someday. And I mostly worry about the characters and animations, not much about the backgrounds and stuff, in my unexperienced opinion, actually having bigger sprites means less work on that stuff as things are proportional to the characters I have to cram less stuff in the screen. Again, look at succubus fist (can't really recall BG and that stuff from parasite). This one is just practice, see if I can make it move decently. I will try to see what I can make at 64px and try really small, short stuff in the first games. First I need to learn GM though

Again, thanks a bunch for the feedback, and UOU, liked the detailing you did there. Really, I hope I get to see a game from you soon.

 

[UrineOnU]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

It's always better to do a lot of planing before you attempt anything seriously if you do decide to make a game, changing anything midway really sucks and can just about destroy all hope , for all you know the artists from Parasite in the city or succubus fist could be lets say, Arc System Works ex employes or Nippon Ichi Software or SNK/Igniton etc. and have years of prior experience making detailed pixel sprites of any size.

Best thing to do right now is find what you are comfortable with and roll with that, you'll have much less problems that way and you'll be productive as well, you'll eventually use what you learned from experience to move beyond that.

As for a game... it will eventually happen,but there is far too much to learn and do before even going there,now I'm learning how to compose music, progress on that front is kinda slow but I'm having fun. I found some good tutorials and it's making a lot more sense now. Once I get relatively decent at that I'm going to be starting something.I think i will start something regardless on musical composition and my game will probably be free so I could just use some music I like from other games or royalty free ones, I really just want some custom music for it.

 

[MajinLuffy]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

Exactly, that's why I don't plan on doing something like that anytime soon. Just saying, it's a long term plan.

I'm actually learning music composition too, well, right now not so much, with the moving thing and all. Could you link those tutorials? I'm kind of slow in that department and could use any help. Programming, I learn easily. Drawing, not as easily but I don't think I suck too hard at least. Music...yeah...when I think I learned something, I still see pretty much everything as quantum physics...

 

[UrineOnU]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

Of all the things I'm having a large amount of difficulty with it has to be the music,I've been learning to use Fl Studio lately and I really like that program compared to Magix Music Maker that I used before,as for tutorials I just check YouTube for videos, there are quite a few for fl studio, might not be the very best place to look but most of them are helpful and it all depends on what style of music you are trying to do really.

 

[MajinLuffy]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

So! Been really busy lately, I'm finally almost finished with the moving but there's still a lot to do. I haven't drawn much because of that, if I'm going to get the tablet I like to have enough time and space to draw, so I've mostly played a bit with sprites. Today I actually had most day free so I started a sprite for an idea I got, but I'm having trouble with the arms...

I'm not sure if I just don't like how I made them or if they are just too short but I feel that if I make them longer then it's going to be hard to tell them apart from the hip...and I also don't feel like separating them more from the body it's going to look good. Some pointers/help?

 

[barreytor]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

I'm having trouble with the arms...
Some pointers/help?

About the arms, I see what you mean. Yes, they do feel short, maybe making them one or two pixels longer will be enough. Also, I feel like they also should be a bit thicker maybe? Or just the last two pixels being thicker as a way to define the hands? It's one of those things you'll have to play around with.

Aside from that, the sprite looks good, though you could probably try to make the legs be a little bit closer. And on the boobs you might want to try to remove the topmost pixel on both sides, I have the feeling it makes the boobs pop out a little bit too much.

Then on the side of shading, the leg on the right is a clear copy/paste of the left one, you might want to try and tweak the shaded part there so it makes more sense.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I hope these things help you get what you're trying to.

 

[UrineOnU]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

If your arms are unbent and you are standing straight the length of you arms at the finger tips should be in the range around mid thigh.

So in the sprite they seem a little short and also they seem a little thin, maybe experiment a bit with the positioning but probably separate them a bit from the body but keep the shoulders the same.

The colors could use a bit of improvement but really it's if you want to fool around with that.

I'll just leave an example of what could be done I find it's easier to visualize this way like my Sensei did for me.

 

[MajinLuffy]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

About the arms, I see what you mean. Yes, they do feel short, maybe making them one or two pixels longer will be enough. Also, I feel like they also should be a bit thicker maybe? Or just the last two pixels being thicker as a way to define the hands? It's one of those things you'll have to play around with.

Aside from that, the sprite looks good, though you could probably try to make the legs be a little bit closer. And on the boobs you might want to try to remove the topmost pixel on both sides, I have the feeling it makes the boobs pop out a little bit too much.

Then on the side of shading, the leg on the right is a clear copy/paste of the left one, you might want to try and tweak the shaded part there so it makes more sense.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I hope these things help you get what you're trying to.

Actually I didn't copy/paste the leg but yeah, I have a thing for simmetry I should tone down a bit, though that's still not finished, I didn't fret too much about the details because I'm still trying to figure out the arms (not that I plan on making it too detailed anyway =P). The boobs, it's kind of intentional, by now I guess it's easy to see I also have a thing for boobs xD, but I'll try changing it to see how it looks that way.

Speaking of the legs, the separation is intentional, since it's for an action game I have in mind (in RPG Maker though), I kind of wanted a more active standing pose, not the typical just standing there RPG pose, and now that you mention it I realized I shouldn't have her arms just hanging there anyway, so I'll try another position, I think on her hips.

If your arms are unbent and you are standing straight the length of you arms at the finger tips should be in the range around mid thigh.

So in the sprite they seem a little short and also they seem a little thin, maybe experiment a bit with the positioning but probably separate them a bit from the body but keep the shoulders the same.

The colors could use a bit of improvement but really it's if you want to fool around with that.

I'll just leave an example of what could be done I find it's easier to visualize this way like my Sensei did for me.

Yeah, after posting the pic I looked at it in a white background and I didn't like the color of the skin, I changed them a bit but they are still placeholders.

You know, after looking at your example I realized something...the real problem are the legs, too short. Also, liked your detailing a lot. Though I don't think it's my style, I like to make them more cartoony. Also a lot easier to animate =P.

Thanks for all your help guys, I'll whip something up with the info here and post it, see if it's better

 

[MajinLuffy]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

There, I did some modifications and did the idle animation, working on the side views

I still haven't tested how the bouncing would look in RPG Maker, but oh well... I like bouncing boobs

 

[barreytor]

Re: MajinLuffy's Rocky Road to Spriting

I see only two things: The arms look good but still feel short, and the frame where the boobs move a bit down doesn't look like they move down, and more like they expand down.

Aside from that, everything else on the sprite looks pretty good.