Woo random urge~

[CuccoLady]

OK, so I was reading through this forum earlier today and I saw a lot of the sprites people recolored or made or ripped. Well, I was bored so I decided to try my hand at making sprites... it is my first attempt, and thusly not very good, so be nice... still, constructive criticism would be nice. Blatantly saying "u sukk cl" is not constructive criticism.

Lo and behold:



I blew them up so you can see them a bit better. I like the bullet bills a lot... the goombas look horrible, though. Oh well!

Also, as you can see there are two of everything. First I just made a sprite that had no shading or anything and then I shaded it. I don't really know why I did that... I guess to give a before-after effect or something. xD

Critique would be appreciated. These were fun to make and may become a hobby with practice. :]

[Mushi]

It's pretty awesome, CL. Kinda reminds me of all those freeware Mario ripoffs out there, but better.

And yay goombas! I like how they're kind of at a 1/4 view. Looks niice.

[Dylan]

Agreed with Mushi on the Goomba, and the shading on the Bullet Bill kicks ass. Great work, SeeEll.

[CuccoLady]

Thank you both! Like I said, these were really fun to make. Expect more in the near future. :]

[Valigarmander]

Ditto what Mushi and Dylan said. I love the shading, gurl.

Make more!

[Redshirt]

Heh, better than a lot of sprites I've tried to make.

[Dizzy]

These are your first attempt? Damn, I can only imagine what your sprites will look like when you get better! Good work, CL.

[CuccoLady]

Once more, thanks everyone! I'm working on an enemies sheet right now (bob-ombs, koopas, etc.) It should be up later tonight or tomorrow. :]

[Mikhail Gorbachev]

Originally Posted by CL No Speako El Spanisho

Critique would be appreciated. These were fun to make and may become a hobby with practice. :]

1. What's with the white stuff around the sprites?
2. Your use of colors needs work. Some of the colors you're using are so close the human eye can't tell them apart. Was this manual, or did this happen accidentally from compression, resizing, etc.? Maybe the latter since you said the first ones had no shading. They would even if there weren't those extra colors, that's besides the point.
I made an edit:

Four versions of the mushroom here.
My version, your version, my version with black outlines like yours (since darker outlines are a stylistic choice) and and anti-aliased black outlined version.
Your version had 52 colors (!) and mine had 12. Yet, mine shows more depth, shading, and looks cleaner. (less colors in pixel art is generally better).
It's far from a perfect edit, like the shading on that middle dot, but it's just for example. I'm guessing you would want more shading, from using 52 colors, though it looks flat because the colors don't contrast. See third one for black outlines, where it's down to only 8 colors, and the fourth, anti-aliased to blend into the background more. The anti-aliasing on the bottom is a mistake on my part. I think with black outlines anti-aliasing is almost always useful.
Also edited top of the mushroom cap to make it more curved.

And the ? Block. I edited it to have more depth, and make it look like it had a lightsource. I also tried to make it look less flat, more solid, and harder, which I thought were flaws in yours. I think it's a better edit than the mushroom was, at least. I also changed the shape of the ? slightly since it looked weird.

Ones I didn't edit: (all suffer from color problem, not going to say it for all of them)
Brick block. Suffers from the same problems as the ? Block, and in addition it won't tile well. Bricks should be cut off by a line on the side halfway, because they're supposed to connect to the other side. I also think the cut corners would make it look awkward ingame.
Shell: Oddly shaped. Maybe it's just me.
Goomba: Yeah, it looks off. The eyes, especially. Use a reference, I guess.
Bullet Bill: By far and large the best one. Only major criticism is that the curve in front is uneven and jagged, and maybe the eye looks a little off and is positioned wrong.

[Seeking Attention]

I like them a lot too. The Bullet Bills and the mushrooms look pretty good.

[Dylan]

Originally Posted by Mikhail Gorbachev

Now THAT is a critique.

If there were more people like you in this forum, that would be just great.

[CuccoLady]

THANK YOU, Mikhail.

In fact, I'm going to go through and edit my first sprites before posting my second ones. :]

Also, the reason it had fifty-two colors is because I have to click twenty times in my paint program to get the pure color I want. xD

Seriously, though. Thanks. :]

[Valigarmander]

^ You could always try GIMP. It's excellent for making sprites.

[Cosmonautical]

Starman aside(a decent star is really hard to get with such a low pixel count), this stuff looks great. Good job, CL. I might have a project for you, if you're interested.

The only critique I will make of your artwork is of contrast - Mikhail tried to say it, but his expression of it was a bit convoluted IMO. Contrast is important in all art, of course, but especially in games. The background blocks would have good contrast in comparison to the the actual mobile sprites - and that's what it looks like you were going for. It's good not to give them a solid black outline, while the sprites have black outlines, because then the sprites will be much more visible. It's important still that the blocks have a fuller contrast when the sprites in the foreground will have a black background - balancing the outlines to a darker color will give the game a more seamless appearance. It's a misnomer that traditional cartoon cells used less color and realism just to be easier to animate - the primary purpose was to make it easier for viewers (younger ones, especially) to follow the moving images in the foreground. So while your contrast isn't perfect, a tweaked version of it would be superior to a same-contrast set of background blocks and foreground sprites as in-game art. The location and shape of the eyes are a stylistic choice, as well, so I don't think it looks off at all.

For sprites, I would recommend iDraw - Idraw3 (Rpg Community)

[CuccoLady]

That complaint was just me generally whining about life (and explaining the fifty-two colors). When I actually try I can get nice colors.

I've been working on fixing the sprites... they're coming along well. I added hilights to the mushroom and more contrast, changed the shell a bit and shaded it better, added brightness to the starman (agreed w/ AI about stars being impossible to do. >_<), and fixed the "?" block. I'll finish up the others tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. These are fun to make, but as for any hobby it is really important to learn the basics. Mercie beaucoup, mes amis.

[Cosmonautical]

The easiest way to do a star right would be to use another image as a template, and shrink it down to the resolution you want. If you can't work that one out, just checkout some of the sprites Nintendo has done for the starman in the past, there's really only a few ways to do it that low res.

[Luigiman7]

cute goombas. I like the Bullet Bills.

[CuccoLady]

OK, I fixed them. Aside from the Fire Flower and Starman I luuurve the way the shading came out.

Here's them closer to their actual size:



Also in this one I switched the order of the bullet bills (forgot to do that above)

Finally, here's just the finished ones the size of the actual sprites:



*Hugs Mikhail*

Thanks, man! That helped a LOOOOOOOOOOOOT.

[Cosmonautical]

Looking good, although the way the shading was changed on the question block puts it at odds with the shading on the rest. That goomba is awesome.

[Mikhail Gorbachev]

Sorry I don't have time for another wall of text now, (LOTS of schoolwork; I may get more in-depth tomorrow or something)
But I'll say this, very quickly:
? Block's outline is lighter than the shades inside it, which looks weird and also makes it look less solid. The outline should be the darkest shade in the tile/sprite.
Brick Block looks great but still has the tiling issue; I can't explain it without an image.
Mushroom is the best. Looks way better then before, and also looks better than my edits. Good job. I still think non-black outlines are better... but a super mushroom should pop out against the background, so, dunno.
Goomba's eyes are better, they still need whites though. Same with Bullet Bill's. (at least I think they do, try it out and see if they look better)
Other three need more help with the shape first, which comes before shading.