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Sacred Blaze's Maps and Stuff


Sacred Blaze
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Hey there.

Whilst I'm not working on anything major just right now, I don't want my skills to dwindle too much.

So in the meantime I'm gonna do some stuff. It'll mostly be maps, but I might do some OK-ish sprites sometime later as well.

It'll be a slow roll, but here's what I have so far:

[spoiler=Maps]

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PqKLrq3.png

IoF3M7l.png

[spoiler=Sprites]

H3ox1ye.png
WeaWiXH.png

1WnIcsM.png

oPaEKiO.png

P85lp8O.png

UmzVowV.png

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d6EEqbu.png

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pFOovVk.png

QxXzfUy.png

LrZ8XPw.png

SqJNnlY.png

9DY7ptr.png

bqwYude.png

Edited by Sacred Blaze
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Mostly good all-around. The only relatively major issue I'm noticing is in the first map with the roads. They are rather direct and unbroken, as opposed to being random and naturally worn paths. The third, while displaying this to a little bit, does a slightly better job of feeling natural. I'm no real expert on mapping, but Primefusion's Outdoor Mapping Tutorial should help give a demonstration on how to make this better.

You definitely seem to have mastered indoor mapping, however, and have demonstrated well your knowledge of how height variation works. Kudos, as this is something few grasp. There are some places shading is missing on the indoor map, though this could have simply been an accidental oversight. When dealing in stairs, shaded tiles should fall below the bottom step to help give the illusion that the stairs are actually elevated (covered in Primefusion's Indoor Mapping Tutorial). Also, the wall just to the right of your large staircase appears to be missing shading at the base.

Fix these things and these maps will be top-notch. Hope this is helpful :)

Edited by Rethel34
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The indoor map has a height inconsistency in the throne room. The pillars are 2 tiles high, but the walls are only 1 tile high (they're connected to the wooden floored hall on the right which has 1 tile high walls).

Other than that, these are pretty solid. I don't have a problem with the roads myself, but my personal style has changed over the years, so there's that.

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Ah, cool, I figured I would miss something silly out.

I'll fix those errors in a bit, with the stairs and the height inconsistency.

As for the the roads stuff, yeah I think it's become a bit more acceptable to have more "full" looking roads from what I've seen, as of late.

I think it depends on what the roads look like for the most part. Might still break them up on the first one though.

Good to know that they look good though.

EDIT: Edited pictures in the top post.

Edited by Sacred Blaze
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@Primefusion: Ah, yeah, I missed that spot in my observation.

@Sacred Blaze: Ultimately, it's up to you on the roads. I personally prefer the more random style, but maybe that's just me. They're nice maps anyway. Worthy fangame material.

Edited by Rethel34
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  • 2 weeks later...

I decided to switch things up this time, so I've done some sprites.

It's been a while since I've actually done any of this, so excuse me whilst I try and get back into the swing of things.

As I said before, these aren't really for anything yet, so I don't really have any sort of story to go with these sprites. Most elements of the sprites are just spliced, but I'm doing my own shading in some parts to make all the parts blend together, where I can.

H3ox1ye.png

Pretty standard splice here, I guess. I wanted her to have some sort of face paint thing going on in the one on the right, but then I found out (the hard way) that I can't really draw and shade in smaller patterns too well. So it's just the top part of her face now. I'm guessing the shading on the red cloth could use some work, as well.

WeaWiXH.png

I feel like there's more that could be done with this one, but at the same time, I had trouble working with the robes. I think the one on the right might look a bit better, because it draws a better contrast between the collar and the robes, but I'm not sure whether that really makes a difference.

1WnIcsM.png

I'm happy with this one, for the most part. Could use some improvements here and there, of course, but I don't think it's too bad.

oPaEKiO.png

Quite happy with the design of this one as it is too, although I'd guess that her hair might need some shading improvements, especially around the top there.

P85lp8O.png

The most recent effort of this set of portraits. Took a lot of different parts from lots of different people in order to make this one work out. Tried my best to work out the shading on her hair in the back, which I think worked out for the most part.

I'm thinking that the emblem on her armour might need to extend towards her left shoulder a little bit more though.

And that's all for now.

Edited by Sacred Blaze
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Those splices are pretty good! They're quite clean, and I like their design and palettes as well. The first and second one are my favourites.

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

Anyway, only one thing to show this time.

gRtaq90.png

It's not quite to a state that I can call "done" yet, but I think it's coming along OK for now.

The main thing I'm struggling with at the moment is how to shade this clothing region in the center. In the second image, I've made a start but I really don't know how to proceed from there.

Does anyone have any advice or know a good sprite to try and reference the shading off of?

Next update after I finish this off will probably be another set of maps.

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Made a new map.

mkGVKwh.png

Imagine it as a kind of "standoff" defensive map fighting off units coming from the top-left and some circling around the bottom.

Not actually so sure how to do big water areas, in terms of tiles, so please tell me if I'm doing it wrong.

Also, ignore the weird looking area around the beach, it's just the particular tilesets water titles being a bit weird.

P96LWaC.png

Also managed to get another sprite done. Actually took a quite a bit longer than the others, despite not looking like it.

I unfortunately had limited options with the hair because Cecilia's hair has four shades and I can't do custom shading that well yet. But oh well, long hair is long hair.

Have the two designs with the open jacket and "closed", I guess.

Think I like the open one better for now.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Gonna slow down a bit over the next few weeks most likely, but if I do get anything done, I'll post it here, I guess.

Anyway, a new town map.

oTsXV7W.png

Looks kind of on the big side, but realistically the action on this map would be confined to the center area. Villages would be on a bandit destruction timer or something with that top right one being more difficult to prevent without a flier or a way to open the door.

Got three more more portraits in as I was making this as well:

pFOovVk.png

An armoured fighter type guy. Found myself a bit limited on what I could do with him. Wanted him to look pretty simple, but still have some originality to him.

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A mage guy of some kind. Looks more sage than mage, but I guess there's not much to be done about that really.

d6EEqbu.png

A cavalier or something. Kind of get a less noble FE4 Sigurd vibe from his look, although it wasn't intentional.

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I actually don't mind the first guy. In fact, I like him quite a bit. I like the splicing on the head... I just don't like the body. That isn't your fault entirely though-- I just don't like Tirado's armor...or whomever they are from. lol Like the color scheme too!

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  • 1 month later...

I didn't intend to be gone for as long as I was, but I'm back at it for now.

Also picked up FE: Fates (Why was the European release so late?), so I'll be enjoying that as best I can for a while, hopefully.

PqKLrq3.png

Intended to be some sort of prison break chapter, starting from the top left.

The walling at the top is supposed to be cells, that's why the height difference is there like that, before someone asks. I'm not sure if that generally is good practice though.

IoF3M7l.png

I didn't really have a specific purpose in mind when making this one, but I think it's turned out well enough.

Probably a normal end-to-end defeat boss or rout chapter with village to protect and ruins to visit for something.

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I think something is off about this this one here.

Either the angling of his head is off, or maybe I need to do something on his left shoulder to fix it.

QxXzfUy.png

This one turned out better.

A female knight character.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll be back with more soon.

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I can try and give it a go, but do you have any advice on where to start, really?

Would I need to start trying to custom draw some stuff, or do I need to just try and splice parts a bit more creatively instead. I do play it pretty safe when splicing, in order to keep things as neat as I can, sort of.

Either way, I'm mostly doing these mugs in between the downtime of trying to make maps anyway.

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Not exactly what was said, but still something different, I think.

Am I doing fur-like material even a little bit right though, on the second guy? I was using some other examples as a reference point but I'm not so sure if it needs more or less detail to it.

As for the lady there, I'm thinking that the shading on the orangey clothing might be lacking, but I've only got two colours to work with.

bqwYude.png9DY7ptr.png

Gonna try something else different next, but that's all for now.

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Love the concept on the first one, but def some weirdness in the hair where the wavy bangs suddenly become a really straight ponytail? Jaw has some weird shading that make the face look misshapen/gaunt. Near eye could be messed with more to follow the shape of the far one better, and the shading could def be defined more, as it's mostly a lot of banding/pillowing. As a tip for 2 color shading, always feel free to do big chunks of shadow, and use outline or some other color in the palette (ex: border, darkest skin tone) as the third shade if it's really necessary. Learning to manage your palettes and share colors is an absolutely necessary skill when working with limited palettes. Try replacing the darkest hair tone with the second cloak tone. That should free up a color if you need that third red for the shirt. Additionally, the single white pixel in the eye is really unnecessary in most cases. Unless the character has darker skin, most sclera can be shaded with just skin tones. That instantly frees up an additional color in your palette for use.

Not really sure what's going on in the shirt on the second, since it seems like pretty aimless stippling. The dark bit of trim on top of the hood is also hard to read. The chin and collar line have rough edges where you tried to compensate for shading/shape. The mouth could be a little more AA'd as well. Due to the stippling, the rest of those parts kind of lack defined shape, and are basically pillowed. Define the contours and shapes with shading first, then add detail. For fur, I would've liked to link you to a great fur tutorial vid, but it seems to have been hidden/taken down. All I can say about short fur is to probably reference Dayan and hope for the best. It's probably better to shade in larger chunks with a few loose pixels for extra texture.

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Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it. I had an attempt at trying to remedy some of it.

Gonna guess this is better but still not quite there yet.

T4VqWUu.png

First is the original.

Second is just edits on the eyes and shading on the clothes.

Third onwards are my attempts to do something about the hair disrepancy. Tried to go further each time, but hair is difficult, so I'm wondering which one I shold just leave it at for now.

imZiyiO.png

Fur seems difficult, so I decided to only try it on a smaller area.

Chin and collar line are also fixed up a bit, I think.

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That does look better on the second mug. Though honestly with the colors and lack of larger discernible hairs it comes across more as chainmail than fur ATM.

The edits you have some on the first mug are hard to make out. Obviously you know where they are since youngster been staring at it for a bit.... but at a glance there is little difference after the second mug... is it the hair? I feel a little lost on what to comment on here, bud.

Anyways looks like you have been improving since your very first mugs, keep it up! :D

Love the maps btw, are they for Requiem, or some new project?

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Yeah, after the second one on the first mug, I'm trying to make the hair look less straight at the back and each one just adds another little bit of an attempt at detail. Nothing else is really being changed.

The maps aren't for Requiem, no. I'm currently trying to work on something new, but it's not gotten anywhere yet.

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