51 replies to this topic

[jerome]

I would like to get some peoples' opinions on what they think of my Lion and Tinman that I am trying to make for a new quest. I am pretty sure that I like how Lion looks, but I really don't like how Tinman does. It's like he is a messed up MegaMan or something. So to that one, any ideas or suggestions? I really suck at drawing these sprites from scratch. Recolor, change a dot or two, I'm fine with.

So here are the two. There's only one front pose currently of both. I just want to see if any of you think they look alright before I continue on one or the other. Once again, I think that Lion came out alright.




Thanks for your time,
Jerome

EDIT: See most recent posts for newer versions of these characters. These old ones are horrible by comparison.

Edited by jerome, 14 March 2008 - 04:40 PM.

[LostInHyru1e]

Huh... The Lion is nearly impossible to recognize, and the Tin Man looks a little... I don't know... The shading seems wrong...

[jerome]

Any ideas on how to improve the Lion? From the side/back view I plan on putting a tail. Should I make his face bigger? Should I make his mane smaller? "Red ribbons" in his hair?

TinMan-
I'm not sure what to do with this guy. I have an idea, but there's not enough room. I wanted like 3 greys and a white for reflection, and then add in a face, but there's not enough room. Maybe with 2 tiles "link" it could be done better, but they look goofy to me with 2 tiles tall hero and 1 tile tall enemies.

[LostInHyru1e]

On the lion- perhaps make his head taller? It seems very hammerhead-shark-like to me. I don't know.

TinMan- I wouldn't know what to do with him either...

[jerome]

How about this for the new Lion. Added a nose, bigger forehead and cheeks. (TinMan unchanged)

[CastChaos]

The new Lion is enough good for me, even the first one was close.

As for Tinman... I see that the legs and arms are separated from the body, but it still gives the impression, that they are melt into each other. Try to make the body dominant and then attach legs and arms. Then the head... right now it looks like a dark head with a white mask. The face and the other parts of the head should be the same colour, not? One pixel is good for each eyes, so you give at least one pixel (or rather two) nose.

[jerome]

OK, let's see what's behind door #3! Or TRY #3 rather.



I have a before/after on the TinMan in the picture. The one on the right looks better I think. Of course it currently looks like the top half is walking and the bottom half is at attention.

[CastChaos]

The new one is good enough. However, if you ever plan on improving it, then make it lighter and grayer. Right now it looks like there's more red and blue (purple) in it than should be. At least, in the cartoon, he was very light gray.

[jerome]

Hmm... See I wanted to have more greys anyways, but the color set I was using only has Dk. Gray and Lt. Gray. I use those grays, white, and blue for the one you see. Do you think maybe I should just add in another lighter grey?

[CastChaos]

Of course, when you start the quest, you need to optimalize your palettes to fit your quest. You absolutely don't have to go with the default palette of your tileset and then make every tile accordingly. Measure what colours will you need and make the main palette/CSet structure accordingly. Also, when you are at the beginning, modifying the palettes causes no harm, since there's no, or just very few already placed/used combos that will need an urgent recolour. So, if you see that your Tinman sprite needs a completely new gray gradient, just make it.

Which tileset are you using? I recall you saying it's DoR, but I'm not entirely sure... Those colours can be the PTUX main palette, too... If it's DoR, take out the yellows and one green from CSet 7 and put some new light grays in.

[jerome]

I did add in another grade of gray, and it looks better. There's a little bit better on the face area, and helps shape out the body area for a slight curve look to it. I do think 2 tile heros would be better looking for details, but I still don't care for it that much. Still kind of akward...

Actually I am building the characters and motions first, and then planning on building the background stuff later. So I will have all of the characters and then background colors.

I got some of the colors from your Myra (blues, greens, browns, peach,...) and edited out ones I don't need. It really helped me figure out what colors "I want". I took out black out of Cset6 so far, but that really dark brown works pretty well in place of it.

But like I said, I haven't made any tiles yet.

I know the TinMan is going to have an Ax (magical sword replacement), but what should the Lion have? A mighty roar? That could work, on full energy he could blast enemies with a loud sound wave similar to the Wizzrobes beams.

I'm also thinking of replacing Aquamentus with Lion (a 2x2 version of him). When you beat Lion, he cries and asks to help you if he can.

[CastChaos]

Well, when you are using two tile main characters, that doesn't mean that you HAVE TO use all 32 pixels vertically. You can use 1x2 character mode for adding just one or just a few more pixels, too. The full 32 pixels are for AoL remakes and other sideview madness. Not like I said you need to increase their size.

That Lion idea is completely unnatural to me... loud sound? Isn't Lion a complete coward up until meeting Oz? A claw attack sounds much more rational... unless you say roaring has nothing to do with bravery and cowardice... In that case a soundwave is good...

But having Lion as an aquamentus...?! First of all, he can't spit fireballs, then as I said he is a coward... When meeting Dorothy, he doesn't attack her, rather immediately starts to whine about how coward he is. (At least I remember it so...)

[jerome]

I agree as well, but I was just trying to figure out a boss that is really easy and with a few slaps in the head from Dorothy's basket, or an explosive apple, he'll start crying. This way he looks like how he was this really big bad lion and then when you take him over from beating him, he's the small cowardly lion.

The roar- I figured the roar would be better than a humongous paw as big as his head. Maybe I'll have him attack with his tail. That actually sounds better anyways. Because then it will look like he's turning away and his tail knocks out the enemies for him.

Size matters- The only one I really thought that needed to be taller would've been the TinMan, but only for more detail. I'm trying my luck with the 16x16 TinMan first though.

[octorok]

The most important thing to consider for myself when doing character tiles and stuff is to emphasize or over emphasize sometimes their main qualities or things that set them apart - most particularly in the face. Like with the cowardly lion, I think you've got him pretty spot on but he could maybe use a bit more shading? Not sure ... but with the tin man, I would think you should make his funnel on his head sideways, and be able to see his face more. If they are not playable characters, you could always get away with making them a few pixels taller to by adding another tile below or above them to gain some space. My two cents!!!

[jerome]

Well here's update #12094734640567

I think I got the TinMan as best as I myself can get him.


As you can see, I made him a bit wider. I was afraid of making him look fat, but he actually looks more full. Maybe not so much while still frames of him, but in motion in looks alright.

I did what I could to keep his proportions together. Interesting thing about him is when you attack with the sword/B-item facing up you can see the hole in his hat on his head. At least I thought it was pretty nifty.

I still haven't gotten any farther on Lion though.