Truck's Sprites and FE:F-Style Mugs

[SoupyGhost]

Greetin's! My spriteworks and things are here.

I'm no spriter and have just started trying it out yesterday, so here goes:

I'd really appreciate some feedback and constructive criticism for this first sprite of mine - I like to start from a drawing and then sprite it later on. It's quite difficult to get used to using pixels, but it's been a pretty fun process.

Also, here's some Fire Emblem fates style mugshots I've been making for a Fire Emblem project of mine:

Karryn (Swordmaster)

Viola (War Cleric)

Renard (Myrmidon)

Malvan (Wizard)

Emilis (Mage)

Rolanda (Pegasus Knight)

Gepalt (Seer)

Later on I'll just go beyond sprites and things for my projects. I might redraw some previous FE characters in Fates style as well - I'm particularly keen on doing characters from the GBA era. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated.

[Zanryu]

Holy shit I didn't expect this when you said Fates portraits. These frigging rule.

As for the GBA mug - the main issues lie in the shading on the hair and the fan; you'll probably want to shade the fan more in segments, rather than simple lines - each fold needs to have it's shading as the way it stands, it looks as if the light is simply hitting the fan from directly where we're seated behind the computer. You may want to touch up the shading on the index finger where the thumb is covering it - realistically there would be a little more shadow than a perfect line. Nothing major, a touch of the third skin shade and a little of the second. The existing line could stand to be a touch more prominent, as well.

As for the hair, the shading is just... wonky? I can't find the word, but you should look at some official works, or check out some stuff from the oldies like Merc and the likes - they really had the hair down, something I could never quite get right myself.

The face needs a little shading under the fringe and along the sides of her hair, but nothing extreme! You've made a point in that the light source is coming from the top left, so you can't overdo the shading here. The far side of the face could be a smidge darker, in keeping with the FE8 style of face shading. You'll want to emphasize the contours of the face using the fourth shade of skin tone, but do so using the pixels you have available sparingly! You may want to darken the far edge of the mouth and thicken it a touch at the curvature as well. Maybe extending the chin down a pixel to give it a more prominent point could be an idea too, her jaw line looks almost flat despite the angle.

You said constructive... I hope that helps! Been a while since I've done any work myself, but I tried to be as clear as possible! It's a WONDERFUL first attempt; LEAGUES better than I'd ever accomplished in the first few YEARS of my pixel-work. Keep it up, and don't give up! You've got a knack. :P

Edited November 21, 2015 by Zanryu

[SoupyGhost]

Marisa in FE:F style for Zan ^^

I messed up by accidentally doing the lineart in a normal layer instead of a vector one, so the selection was a bit off. I'll fix those stray pixels soon.

Holy shit I didn't expect this when you said Fates portraits. These frigging rule.

As for the GBA mug - the main issues lie in the shading on the hair and the fan; you'll probably want to shade the fan more in segments, rather than simple lines - each fold needs to have it's shading as the way it stands, it looks as if the light is simply hitting the fan from directly where we're seated behind the computer. You may want to touch up the shading on the index finger where the thumb is covering it - realistically there would be a little more shadow than a perfect line. Nothing major, a touch of the third skin shade and a little of the second. The existing line could stand to be a touch more prominent, as well.

As for the hair, the shading is just... wonky? I can't find the word, but you should look at some official works, or check out some stuff from the oldies like Merc and the likes - they really had the hair down, something I could never quite get right myself.

The face needs a little shading under the fringe and along the sides of her hair, but nothing extreme! You've made a point in that the light source is coming from the top left, so you can't overdo the shading here. The far side of the face could be a smidge darker, in keeping with the FE8 style of face shading. You'll want to emphasize the contours of the face using the fourth shade of skin tone, but do so using the pixels you have available sparingly! You may want to darken the far edge of the mouth and thicken it a touch at the curvature as well. Maybe extending the chin down a pixel to give it a more prominent point could be an idea too, her jaw line looks almost flat despite the angle.

You said constructive... I hope that helps! Been a while since I've done any work myself, but I tried to be as clear as possible! It's a WONDERFUL first attempt; LEAGUES better than I'd ever accomplished in the first few YEARS of my pixel-work. Keep it up, and don't give up! You've got a knack. :P

Thanks a bunch! I'm glad the Fates-style ones are alright. :3

As for the feedback, I can't thank you enough! ^^ I'm glad that the things I need to improve on are being scrutinized. Shading in pixels is definitely something I gotta get hold of indeed. I'm really grateful for how in-depth you're going with the color specification here, too. As for the hair, I'll be sure to tidy that up and look at those references - my only reference here was Neimi's sprite, and that was for getting the outline and skin colors. I mainly drawing buildings, so I'm not used to shading curved surfaces such as faces. I'll be sure to study the contours. I'll get down to work on the chin as well.

Anyways, it definitely does help! I'll get to work on improving the sprite. It really clears up a lot knowing what to look at thanks to your advice, and it was very clear to me. Again, I'm really grateful for your feedback and I'll look back on this as a reference for future sprites, too. :3

[Zanryu]

Of course! I'm glad to help if I can! Like I said in chat, feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss more of anything! I can do my best to help with examples or anything like that whenever I'm free. :P

[SoupyGhost]

Of course! I'm glad to help if I can! Like I said in chat, feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss more of anything! I can do my best to help with examples or anything like that whenever I'm free. :P

Gotcha! ^^

Anyways, looking at your advice, is this any better? I rounded out some awkward curves and angles as well.

[Zanryu]

Already looking a lot better! Could still use a little more shading near the division of the fingeds and on the far sids of the face - try darkening a few pixels along the nose line to let you shade in under and next to the eye - it'll add a little depth to her features. This step is actually kind of tricky to explain, the best i can think of is to look at Rennac to get an idea. IIRC his face is a perfect example of how to shade a near profile.

EDIT: Come to think of it, Fa from FE7 and Natasha from FE8 also are good referencds for hands. Not the same position, but should help deal with form!

Edited November 22, 2015 by Zanryu

[Zanryu]

Sorry for the double post, but I see you're looking at the thread so you may not notice another edit; there's also the matter of the chin shading. The way it stands, it's far too sharp to make sense. You'll want to make the shading down the center of the face come more or less to the point of the chin, and smooth out from there - when the sun is on one side of the face there's usually a clear separation from one side of the face to the other, if not a little light sneaking to the shaded side. Doesn't make sense for the shadow to stretch back into the light source like that. :P

[SoupyGhost]

Already looking a lot better! Could still use a little more shading near the division of the fingeds and on the far sids of the face - try darkening a few pixels along the nose line to let you shade in under and next to the eye - it'll add a little depth to her features. This step is actually kind of tricky to explain, the best i can think of is to look at Rennac to get an idea. IIRC his face is a perfect example of how to shade a near profile.

EDIT: Come to think of it, Fa from FE7 and Natasha from FE8 also are good referencds for hands. Not the same position, but should help deal with form!

Alright, cheers! I've looked at them both and I think I get what you mean. I've done what you said below.

Sorry for the double post, but I see you're looking at the thread so you may not notice another edit; there's also the matter of the chin shading. The way it stands, it's far too sharp to make sense. You'll want to make the shading down the center of the face come more or less to the point of the chin, and smooth out from there - when the sun is on one side of the face there's usually a clear separation from one side of the face to the other, if not a little light sneaking to the shaded side. Doesn't make sense for the shadow to stretch back into the light source like that. :P

I actually noticed the face shading there was a bit iffy after I posted it, so I fixed it before I saw you comment here. :P However this'll remind me later on when I do others in the future as well as exactly where to put the shadows, so thanks again!

[Zanryu]

Nice! That's looking great! Last thing I can suggest is to shuffle the light spot of the far cheek bone over and maybe down a touch, add a little of that shading closer to the hair on her cheek, and make the shading under her fringe a bit less extreme. Ease into a smooth shadow using all the shades at your disposal, and with how short her fringe is there's no need to extend it THAT low.

And maybe a liiiittle more shadow around her eye would work, at least where the socket would be, but nothing serious.

Leaps and bounds with each update, my friend. Proud of you for listening well and taking the help! Good work!

[SoupyGhost]

Nice! That's looking great! Last thing I can suggest is to shuffle the light spot of the far cheek bone over and maybe down a touch, add a little of that shading closer to the hair on her cheek, and make the shading under her fringe a bit less extreme. Ease into a smooth shadow using all the shades at your disposal, and with how short her fringe is there's no need to extend it THAT low.

And maybe a liiiittle more shadow around her eye would work, at least where the socket would be, but nothing serious.

Leaps and bounds with each update, my friend. Proud of you for listening well and taking the help! Good work!

Alrighty, I've done everything there as well as modified the hair's shading a bit and the fan's too. I'm really grateful for the advice you've given me over the past hours, since it's really helping me understand the basics and little intricacies of spriting FE mugs. I'll take all the help I can get when it comes to spriting and your input has been invaluable to helping me hone the inconsistencies in my sprites and also feel confident in spriting - I think I can work on the other mugs now. Thanks again for your constructive crit. and input!

[Zanryu]

No problem at all! It's looking real sharp! It's of course, not perfect just yet, but it's well done! I'd suggest that if you don't feel like tweaking further, leave it be and come back to it after a year of practice and see what you can do THEN. It's a nice way to learn and gauge your improvement. :P I would go back every few years and reiterate my first ever original character (my online identity), and the improvements were stunning. From a modest, unspectacular Roy edit to an unfinished yet very neat "super splice", as an old friend of mine would say. :P

[ghast]

holy nutsack, those sketches are impressive!

[SoupyGhost]

Alrighty, here's my 2nd spriting attempt.

This is Renard, a myrmidon. He is a noble from the country of Del-Sagnes. He's in a bit of a predicament due to his unpopularity with both the common people of the country as well as the other nobles - the people lump him in with the greedy nobles who take from the poor villagers and do nothing to help the needy, whilst the other nobles despise him for disagreeing with their avarice and greedy ways. He dons a mask and hat to hide his identity when going out to protect the local villages from bandits with his two trusted vassals, Glisandi and Emilis. He can be a bit over-extravagant but in the end he hopes for a more fair distribution of wealth in Del-Sagnes.

No problem at all! It's looking real sharp! It's of course, not perfect just yet, but it's well done! I'd suggest that if you don't feel like tweaking further, leave it be and come back to it after a year of practice and see what you can do THEN. It's a nice way to learn and gauge your improvement. :P I would go back every few years and reiterate my first ever original character (my online identity), and the improvements were stunning. From a modest, unspectacular Roy edit to an unfinished yet very neat "super splice", as an old friend of mine would say. :P

Gotcha, I'll be sure to go over these in a year and redo them. For now though, I think I've done all that I know how to do, and get on with the other characters. I've been doin gthe same with my drawings over the years to look back on my old stuff, so I'll definitely do this with the sprites too. :P A year really does make a difference.

holy nutsack, those sketches are impressive!

Thanks! ^^

[Zanryu]

Alright - let's get into this one. :P

I love the structure of it, but there are issues all over the body; mostly in the angle, for one. It looks like the face is turned at maybe 30-40 degrees, whereas the body is aaaaalmost perfectly straight. You'll want to emphasize the angle with depth; the far shoulder should seem a tad smaller (1-3 pixels usually does the trick), but you also want it to be partially hidden by the body. Because the angle of the face isn't so extreme, it would be nothing major - but you still need to emphasize that. Darker shades on the far shoulder too are key. I also notice you DO have a few shades on the armour, but they're VERY hard to distinguish. Perhaps picking more contrasting shades to begin will help - but the way armour is shaded is VASTLY different from the rest of the things you'll have to shade. It's got to be more reflective - if you can find some work from The Blind Archer or Vamp, you'll be pleasantly surprised you'll have LOADS of references for their shading style. Vamp was especially good with the armour trims and intricacies, TBA NAILED the shading in all aspects; he once made a flawless Hilde from Soul Calibur. Definitely a piece I'd recommend studying if you can find it!

Moving on - the coat is FAR too straight, and there's no real imagination to the way it falls. It sort of seems flat along with straight; also my BIGGEST issue myself. Eliwood's formal attire from FE7 is perfect for that; you could also check out Orson from FE8 and perhaps a few royals from the GBA games for examples on ways to shade the fabric in style. The vest and collar underneath also suffers from the same, one dimensional issue - characters like Glass show a great way to shade those sorts of parts with subtlety while still remaining clearly defined.

The neck and face are quite well done, but I feel the shadows stretch across the face a LITTLE too far - the nose is going to cast a shadow to the far side of the face, but that's more or less where the shadow should stop being cast - from there you're working off the center point of the face, so it would make sense that the shadow would inch backwards a little since his face is straight; your first portrait was working with a severe angle so it worked a tad differently. Can't say much else aside from possible cleaning up the shades along the sideburns, it looks fairly rigid and blocky - softening that definition with lighter skin tones and shortening the shaded lines could help there.

The hair is great! It's not without fault (could use a little more definition in the little details to add more depth to the style), but the only real suggestion I have is to possibly bring the shade back a bit; the face is shaded so far along because the natural curvature of the face will cast a shadow, but hair tends to work a little differently.

[SoupyGhost]

Alright - let's get into this one. :P

I love the structure of it, but there are issues all over the body; mostly in the angle, for one. It looks like the face is turned at maybe 30-40 degrees, whereas the body is aaaaalmost perfectly straight. You'll want to emphasize the angle with depth; the far shoulder should seem a tad smaller (1-3 pixels usually does the trick), but you also want it to be partially hidden by the body. Because the angle of the face isn't so extreme, it would be nothing major - but you still need to emphasize that. Darker shades on the far shoulder too are key. I also notice you DO have a few shades on the armour, but they're VERY hard to distinguish. Perhaps picking more contrasting shades to begin will help - but the way armour is shaded is VASTLY different from the rest of the things you'll have to shade. It's got to be more reflective - if you can find some work from The Blind Archer or Vamp, you'll be pleasantly surprised you'll have LOADS of references for their shading style. Vamp was especially good with the armour trims and intricacies, TBA NAILED the shading in all aspects; he once made a flawless Hilde from Soul Calibur. Definitely a piece I'd recommend studying if you can find it!

Moving on - the coat is FAR too straight, and there's no real imagination to the way it falls. It sort of seems flat along with straight; also my BIGGEST issue myself. Eliwood's formal attire from FE7 is perfect for that; you could also check out Orson from FE8 and perhaps a few royals from the GBA games for examples on ways to shade the fabric in style. The vest and collar underneath also suffers from the same, one dimensional issue - characters like Glass show a great way to shade those sorts of parts with subtlety while still remaining clearly defined.

The neck and face are quite well done, but I feel the shadows stretch across the face a LITTLE too far - the nose is going to cast a shadow to the far side of the face, but that's more or less where the shadow should stop being cast - from there you're working off the center point of the face, so it would make sense that the shadow would inch backwards a little since his face is straight; your first portrait was working with a severe angle so it worked a tad differently. Can't say much else aside from possible cleaning up the shades along the sideburns, it looks fairly rigid and blocky - softening that definition with lighter skin tones and shortening the shaded lines could help there.

The hair is great! It's not without fault (could use a little more definition in the little details to add more depth to the style), but the only real suggestion I have is to possibly bring the shade back a bit; the face is shaded so far along because the natural curvature of the face will cast a shadow, but hair tends to work a little differently.

How's this? (Bonus hat + mask to test extra clothing shading, hehe)

Your advice really has been helping me on by a mile. I wouldn't have gotten this far without your input :P ^^

[SoupyGhost]

Joshua and Marisa(revamped since I didn't like the eyes of the first one) mugs in FE Fates style =3 L'Arachel, Amelia, Lyon, Lyn, Roy, etc will follow... You can request any GBA FE playable character here. I'll just add them to the queue and I'll get one a day done.

Queue:

1. L'Arachel
2. Ewan
3. Amelia
4. Ross
5. Nino
6. Lute
7. Roy
8. Lyon
9. Franz
10. Artur
11. Nergal
12. Oswin
13. Wallace

Edited November 23, 2015 by Truck

[Zanryu]

These Fates portraits though man, damn!

For the mug, the lower portion of the overcoat is great! The body still seems twisted too far towards the viewer. The collar of the overcoat could have stayed twisted towards us too - your call, but it added a sort of dynamic to the piece.

As for the undershirts, they look better, but could still use some tweaking! The vest is also too sharp and angular. Nothing in reality when worn is a perfect 45 degree. :P

And the armour - that still isn't right; I can't explain it much better than to check out some official work. Eliwood is a decent example, Klein as well.

[Agro]

The colour/shading/texturing is spot-on but I think your lineart needs a bit of work if you're trying to emulate Kozaki's style. Seems a bit rushed.

[SoupyGhost]

And another character to round off the day.

This is Quentin. He's a bishop who has renounced his faith years ago when he questioned what kind of gods would allow the terrible slaughter of innocent lives when bandits attacked a village he was staying in. He was gravely wounded but was eventually rescued by wandering merchants in time. He still dons a bishop's uniform so people know they can come to him for healing or help, since he still retained his compassion for people in need, even though he usually has a frown upon his face. He often drinks to forget his troubles as well and can often be found in the local tavern.

And a FE-F Style portrait (I'll probably redo this since I'm unhappy with how the face turned out.)

These Fates portraits though man, damn!

For the mug, the lower portion of the overcoat is great! The body still seems twisted too far towards the viewer. The collar of the overcoat could have stayed twisted towards us too - your call, but it added a sort of dynamic to the piece.

As for the undershirts, they look better, but could still use some tweaking! The vest is also too sharp and angular. Nothing in reality when worn is a perfect 45 degree. :P

And the armour - that still isn't right; I can't explain it much better than to check out some official work. Eliwood is a decent example, Klein as well.

Hehe :3

Anyways, I'm glad I managed to fix the overcoat, and I'll definitely take a look at the body, vests and collar to find a balance. The pose I was going for was that the body was facing towards the viewer but his head was tilted to the side as if he was walking along with the character he's talking to.

Ayyy, I'll definitely look up on the armor. It's just so tempting to get the brush and shade it like normal, hah. It's confusing to place a pixel each time instead for reflective services.

The colour/shading/texturing is spot-on but I think your lineart needs a bit of work if you're trying to emulate Kozaki's style. Seems a bit rushed.

Thanks! Yeah, lineart is my least favorite part of drawing something, so I tend to rush it. It seems my usual style, which has quite sketchy lines is showing through that was as well. I'll work on it.

[SoupyGhost]

Another character for the day!

This is Kirsi, who is part of a race of people called the Ursavgne. She is part of the northern tribe and can transform into a polar bear with a beaststone. She's quite proud of her battle prowess and is always looking to perfect her technique. She works extremely hard but also can sleep endlessly after a rigorous training session. She'll try any sort of food once and loves to go hunting. She's quite isolated but wouldn't mind some company once in a while.

Edited November 23, 2015 by Truck

[ghast]

your style is just the coolest!

[BlueLeafeon]

Joshua and Marisa(revamped since I didn't like the eyes of the first one) mugs in FE Fates style =3 L'Arachel, Amelia, Lyon, Lyn, Roy, etc will follow... You can request any GBA FE playable character here. I'll just add them to the queue and I'll get one a day done.

Queue:

1. L'Arachel
2. Ewan
3. Amelia
4. Ross
5. Nino
6. Lute
7. Roy
8. Lyon
9. Franz
10. Artur
11. Nergal
12. Oswin
13. Wallace

Ephraim or Kent please. <3 Can't wait to see the rest of these on the list.

[SoupyGhost]

12/110 (playable!) characters for my Fire Emblem project in FE:F style. :3 The reason for the amount of characters is because there's three campaigns, as well as a 2nd generation where the events take place 26 years after the 1st generation's story, not unlike FE4. No weird time-traveling or alternate dimension crap in this one :P

Ephraim or Kent please. <3 Can't wait to see the rest of these on the list.

Queue:

1. L'Arachel
2. Ewan
3. Amelia
4. Ross
5. Nino
6. Lute
7. Roy
8. Lyon
9. Franz
10. Artur
11. Nergal
12. Oswin
13. Wallace
14. Ephraim
15. Kent

Gotcha. The list is growin' indeed. I like working in batches so I will post them in 5's. I have already done L'Arachel, Ewan and Amelia so I'll update once Ross and Nino are done.

These Fates portraits though man, damn!

For the mug, the lower portion of the overcoat is great! The body still seems twisted too far towards the viewer. The collar of the overcoat could have stayed twisted towards us too - your call, but it added a sort of dynamic to the piece.

As for the undershirts, they look better, but could still use some tweaking! The vest is also too sharp and angular. Nothing in reality when worn is a perfect 45 degree. :P

And the armour - that still isn't right; I can't explain it much better than to check out some official work. Eliwood is a decent example, Klein as well.

This any better? It was pretty touch curving the vest so it doesn't 45 degree on me in such a small pixel frame, but I hope this is better. Also, armor's been gettin' into my head a lot so I hope after studying them a lot this works, too.

your style is just the coolest!

Thank you! :D

[Book of Ereshkigal]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Really looking forward to Lyon and Nergal : )

[SoupyGhost]

Oops, school killed me.

Anyway, here's the best character in the Sacred Stones ever in FE:F style.

(Yes, it's L'Arachel)

I hope to continue with my spriting practice and other FE:Fates style mugs soon :3