Style Feedback

[SpookyMothman 361]

I get nervous when I'm posting stuff like this. I also wanted to put this in the Resource Feedback thread, but I didn't want to double-post, so... anyway.

 

My spriting style is a relic from a few months back, when I was messing around with '03. Since then, I've been able to improve upon it, to the point where I like the way things look.

 

 

However, I've gotten so used to spriting like this, that I can't get myself to change things up. Color is something I've only recently been working on (thanks again, Charlesthehurst), and there isn't much room for detail. I'm worried that, without borders, they'll blend in with the background too much, but at the same time, giving them borders makes them look bad. I want to maintain a simple aesthetic, but I don't it to seem like I'm being lazy. Also, my monster sprites and face sprites look completely different than this.

 

Feel free to comment on the sprites themselves, but I'm mostly wondering about how I might be able to improve. After all, there's always room for improvement.

[KayakoChan 318]

Oh dear, I love that style! It's fresh, it's funny, it's cute~
And that girl looks so happpyyy!♥

It might be a good idea to let her mouth hang open a bit less at the bored/sad part though, it's a little creepy!

Ah, I'm sorry, I got nothing 'constructive' to say about it. Since I like them so much as they are.

But isn't the shadow somehow missing in the middle/idle frames?

Edited March 3, 2014 by KayakoChan

[TheHarmp 155]

So cute! I really like them, it's a cool style.
Do you plan on making your own tilesets also? 
cause I think they might clash with the RTP, hard.

[SpookyMothman 361]

Um... wow. Thank you.

 

It might be a good idea to let her mouth hang open a bit less at the bored/sad part though, it's a little creepy!

Those are blinking frames. I like to animate stuff.

 

Do you plan on making your own tilesets also?

I'm definitely not using RTP. I decided from the beginning that I was going to make, well... almost everything... myself.

 

Ultimately, I guess the problems come down to color choices, because, the way things are now, things like this:

 

 

... and this:

 

 

... happen a lot, where lots of colors will easily blend together. I've been trying to forget about it until later into development, but it just keeps bugging me.

Edited March 3, 2014 by SpookyMothman

[KayakoChan 318]

"Dude, she's invisible!" Nah man, just nigga.

 

I don't think the blending is too bad here!

Might want to ask more variety of tints to the floorboards though in the last picture!

Edited March 4, 2014 by KayakoChan

[SpookyMothman 361]

Okay, that's good to hear. Just because something looks good to me doesn't mean it'll look good to everyone else. My worry was that some people might be straining their eyes trying to figure out what they were looking at.

 

I'll definitely be working on all things wooden, yes.

 

Also, since I mentioned animation, and I'm feeling pretty confident now:

 

They might be a little fast. ;w;

 

... just thought I'd share.

Edited March 4, 2014 by SpookyMothman

[Tsarmina 2,612]

I like the pigtail girl animation ^-^ Aww, so adorable. Well done!

[Skysagi 219]

Great style, I liked it.

That style should be used in RPGs too.

[SpookyMothman 361]

This is all very motivating. Thank you~

[LordSquirrel 150]

I'm pretty sure I've already said this in messages, but I really like your style, and i'm usually against the cutesy design. Keep it up!

[Skysagi 219]

@LordSquirrel do you mean the Chibi Style from RPG Maker VX Ace? If that's it, I totally agree with you, but I won't change it right now..

Edited March 4, 2014 by ZoroarX

[Team ACA 2]

I like this set! It's simple yet unique and eye catching. I like how you make the girl with the orange pig tails hair moves and the colors seem to pop and attract my eye. these get my thumbs up

[LakiLarian 3]

I love the way they move! Great animation! They really come to life, and when they're all alone in the air without backgrounds, the colors seem perfect. I would love to play your game just to watch the adorable animations.

 

Maybe to help with keeping them from disappearing, simply make the backgrounds a few shades darker than them at all times? It could still be the same general color value if you're going for that particular look, but have them be just slightly brighter than the rest of the scene. (perhaps props could be bright too to give them that "interactable" look).

[Team ACA 2]

Ah its so cute ^.^

 

I'd say for some advice on maybe changing it up is instead of keeping the little things like scarves or shoes one color maybe try adding textures to them or like designs to make them stand out so that they wont blend in. Also like the comment above you could make the background darker and the sprite color a little lighter so that it will have contrast against the lights and darks.

 

I hope that kinda helps but i'm going through the same thing myself in a way 

 

-Brian

Edited March 12, 2014 by Team ACA

[ArticGold 3]

hahaha its so cuuuuute!! the animation looks great! haha anyways color shaading is the best way to use when differentiating the background from the foreground.

[Bunni89 85]

I love this style SO MUCH! Its like a living cartoon. o.O I especially like how fluid the animations are when there's no outlines

 

If you're still looking for a way to make the characters stand out against same-coloured backgrounds, then maybe.. outlines? Not actual outlines, but like you draw all around the character in one colour. Hard to explain what I mean, I'll have a go at mocking up a picture and edit it into this post in a bit.

 

EDIT: Here we are!

 

 

As you can see, it makes the character stand out either a lot or not at all depending on the colour, but in all versions there's at least a clear distinction between them and the floor. As for which one looks better? Depends on what you want to do with your style.

I tried giving examples here of white, black, grey and the odd idea of giving each character their own unique colour.

Personally, I think that white is great for making them go BOOM out of the page, and black is great because the mind's eye only really "sees" the outline on the bits that actually need to be separated from the background. However, I think white is perhaps a bit too loud and black is a bit dreary and boring. It removes all the fun of being outlineless.

But on the other hand grey looks downright weird and unique colours for each character could be awkward if the colour that sums up thier personality is also the colour of their shirt, etc.

So.. it'll probably need a better graphical mind to figure out what to do, lol!

Edited April 18, 2014 by Bunni89

[OneCutStudio 353]

Felt compelled to comment because this is some really nice sprite work. I am most impressed with the clean animations which makes your characters real emotive, adds depth, and makes it super fun to watch!

 

********EDIT********

 

I too will offer a suggestion for the character-background problem:

 

• Keep the vibrant colors of your characters
• Don't use any colors in the background that you use in your characters
• Desaturate your backgrounds slightly (making them a little grayer) so the characters stand out without you having to outline them.

[SpookyMothman 361]

So.. it'll probably need a better graphical mind to figure out what to do, lol!

Which is definitely something I don't have. ;w;

 

That's one of the inherent problems of my sprite style, though, is the outlines. They might have trouble standing out without outlines, but with outlines, they stand out way too much. I'll play around with that last idea, though. I'm not sure how well it'll work, but it sounds neat.

 

Thanks, Bunni.

[Bunni89 85]

I suppose it would be too tough to deliberately keep track of every colour you use and make sure the background tiles don't contain any of the same colours as the characters. That'd be hell to manage >_>

I hope you can figure out a way to make it work, and I'm sorry I didn't have a better idea! But good luck! It'd suck if such an awesome style was ruined by a silly layering conflict...

 

EDIT: Oh! A strange and sudden idea! Maybe the characters are all in colour but the tiles are black and white? That'd certainly help them stand out. (Though it might not be an art style you want to use, its a bit strange)

Edited April 18, 2014 by Bunni89

[SpookyMothman 361]

EDIT: Oh! A strange and sudden idea! Maybe the characters are all in colour but the tiles are black and white? That'd certainly help them stand out. (Though it might not be an art style you want to use, its a bit strange)

That might be a little too avant garde for me.

 

I hope you can figure out a way to make it work, and I'm sorry I didn't have a better idea! But good luck! It'd suck if such an awesome style was ruined by a silly layering conflict...

Don't worry about that. I'll figure things out as I go. The project is having a few problems, but color isn't one of them. It just bugs me, is all.

[Neverward 210]

Hey there! I think those sprites are simple adorable, the movement is unique and so is the style! I like that they lack an outline, actually. I think the problem with the picture Bunni posted is that the background is composed of the characters colors. In games no one making their own custom tiles creates color scheme that make their characters blend into the background, and I think you can easily avoid that issue with good color choices in the creation of your game though granted I'm not sure what tile-sets you use or if you make your own hehe.

 

Maybe you could try having the outside pixels be just a tiny shade darker at the edges, and even the outline isn't a bad idea depending on the game, but I like them as is too :3

 

As to the sprites individually, they have a ton of character! I like the laid back blinking (kinda stoned looking) face of the blonde girl, and the redhead with the pigtails is my favorite!

 

I have one thing I noticed that bothered me (and I had to look hard to find anything I didn't like ;P) is the girl on the bottom left, when facing forward her head looks like it shrinks compared to the sideveiw.

[SpookyMothman 361]

Hey there! I think those sprites are simple adorable, the movement is unique and so is the style! I like that they lack an outline, actually. I think the problem with the picture Bunni posted is that the background is composed of the characters colors. In games no one making their own custom tiles creates color scheme that make their characters blend into the background, and I think you can easily avoid that issue with good color choices in the creation of your game though granted I'm not sure what tile-sets you use or if you make your own hehe.

I've been trying to make my own, actually. Color choice is something I'm still getting used to.

 

As to the sprites individually, they have a ton of character! I like the laid back blinking (kinda stoned looking) face of the blonde girl, and the redhead with the pigtails is my favorite!

Blonde girl? Do you mean the one on the top-right?

 

And the red-haired girl is my favorite, too.

 

I have one thing I noticed that bothered me (and I had to look hard to find anything I didn't like ;P) is the girl on the bottom left, when facing forward her head looks like it shrinks compared to the sideveiw.

Yeah, I know. I've tried adding more hair to the front- and back-facing sprites, and I've tried lessening the hair on the left- and right-facing sprites, but both of these wind up looking weird. Not sure what to do about it.

[Goshee 1]

Hi Spooky, those are some amazing sprites. I love the animation work too, great job!

 

I'm looking forward to making my own after I finish up my maps!

[Plague Docteur 189]

Okay, had to comment on this because the animations you posted are just amazing. The style is very nice, cute and unique. Your animation is also amazingly clean and smooth. I would definitely love to see more sprite work like this from you. Keep up the good work!

[nash004 16]

Your sprite sucks!--- Not really. They're amazingly fantastically superb. Personally, I think Neverward's suggestion of making the outlines a tad bit darker may do the trick.

But then.. You could also do something about your tileset's colors.

 

Hope to see more character sprites from you. Keep it up!