Windclaw Sprites

[Windclaw_Z]

Not the best, but they are what they are. Base model was Panther Foeclaws from Zero 2. Think I've done ok with it since then.

[Drei]

... First of all, the parts from the Pather are a totally different style from Zero or ZX style, and looks really bad with the pants. It needs alot more contrast, and is pillow-shaded it at some parts, or barely shaded at all.

[Windclaw_Z]

...
I dont get it. Numerous people have said this thing about shading and I just dont see it.

[Forte]

The color limit for a sprite in Zero or ZX style is 15. You have 47. Get rid of 32 non-essential colors and then try reshading the entire body in a manner that more fits the style you're going for. Make the pose a bit more dynamic, and every frame, his tails should be in a different position, since the common animal sprite's tail moves just because they're breathing.

EDIT: I kept checking. There's more than 50. My bad.

[Windclaw_Z]

Someone PLEASE explain this...shading thing to me? As far as I can tell, shading occurs when you're trying to define a point of depth an edge or something. So...I dont get whats wrong.

[Drei]

YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG

Seriously. You are simply shading it wrong. First, get a select pallete of 15 colours. Once you have done that, reshade EVERYTHING into the style you desire. Use references.

[Forte]

Shading is when you give colors to an object or person based on where the light source is. The more exposure to a given light source (the sun, street lamps, blah blah) a certain part has, the lighter the colors. the less exposure it has, the darker. Try to make the rest of the sprite look more like his pants. And get rid of 40 something colors.

[Windclaw_Z]

Shading is when you give colors to an object or person based on where the light source is. The more exposure to a given light source (the sun, street lamps, blah blah) a certain part has, the lighter the colors. the less exposure it has, the darker. Try to make the rest of the sprite look more like his pants. And get rid of 40 something colors.

Ok. Finaly someone tells me what the deal is! THAT is constructive criticism. There is one think I'd wish to point out. Do keep in mind that you're not looking at flesh or metal in my sprites case. Its fur. Light source or no, its gona look a little samey, except in the chest reagon where its suposed to be lighter colored than the rest. I'll try to follow your advice, Forte.

[RyuReiatsu]

Ok. Finaly someone tells me what the deal is! THAT is constructive criticism. There is one think I'd wish to point out. Do keep in mind that you're not looking at flesh or metal in my sprites case. Its fur. Light source or no, its gona look a little samey, except in the chest reagon where its suposed to be lighter colored than the rest. I'll try to follow your advice, Forte.

Don't use the Fur excuze, oh please.
Some parts look pillow-shaded, and some others seem like they have a single color *points at arms*.

Try 8-bits first.

[Drei]

It is a common mistake to tell people to start on 8-bit. 16-bit is much better to work with as practice for a newbie, being larger and having a larger colour limit. And fur is usually HARDER to shade than skin.

[Windclaw_Z]

It is a common mistake to tell people to start on 8-bit. 16-bit is much better to work with as practice for a newbie, being larger and having a larger colour limit. And fur is usually HARDER to shade than skin.

Exactly. Though I guess the real question should be, do I go darker or lighter? Hmmm...going lighter would be a feat and a half at this point. Any objections to the frontal coloring?

[Forte]

Fur is most definitely harder to shade than metal or skin or anything, but it'll still have that shading difference. It won't cut over to white like something shiny would, but you forget: the pants are most probably fabric, yet they still have the obvious light source. There aren't many examples in Zero or ZX style, since very few things are organic, but you could always refer to the shading of fur covered objects from other games.

[Xterra]

Shade the fur to be furrier, and raise contrast on the colors of his upper body. I can tell that his pants were C+Ped off Zx NPCs, so technically those are the only Zx parts of his body. (unlike when the others said nothing was) Though for the most part I agree with what they all said. I just wouldn't put it so harshly without any help (CJ), And Forte's descriptions were better than I could've explained.

The thing I am glad for though is that you're trying to do something more animalistic in Zx style than something mechanic, because few people attempt it. And I swear that I wouldn't have guessed Panther Flauclaws as the base for what you've made so far. It is different and unique enough.

You just have to fix the shading and palette. Look at Protecos brown hues from Zx1 for better shades of fur that you can use. If his regular brown is too dark for your character, then you can easily use some of the gold palette off Protecos in a mixture with the brown to get a fur shine on him.

If that doesn't work, there's always Vent's hair you can try out.

As for his feet, they look too much like Flamole's flat-based feet, instead of something more related with an animal. I suggest you look closely at Fistleo's feet, and try to replicate the shape in a more organic style than the mechanic look that is given to it, and you should have great-looking feet.

Please don't just C+P his feet and recolor it, okay?

This should also help make your claws look more realistic. As for the character's pose, he's standing to rigidly. I can understand that in a standing pose (for like an intro) that's okay at first, but you do need to put him in a more attack-form pose. Something along the lines of how Panther Flauclaws, and Fistleo stand (in their very cat-like manner) and you'll be fine.

Also, I don't agree with the two-tail idea, but if you like it you can keep it.

(EDIT)-And since there's a small confusion on how to do fur, what you need to do is add patches of fur where it wouldn't be so cleanly combed. Like on the outer rim where the outline. We need to see the fur pattern across his limbs. Look to large cat's arms for reference. As for within the outlines and not the edges, you need to add patches of light all around with decreasing and increasing amounts of light on those patches of "fur" based on how something like skin would be shaded in this manner. I see you understand some basic concept of shading, so I think you can figure out how to work the outline and light source thing for your colors. But it's the fur thrown into the mix that throws it all off balance.

Really, the only way I can describe it is that you have to put uneven, asymetric, and imperfect patches of fur visible within his actual region set aside for fur by light [stryations] of varying amounts. (I know it's spelt wrong, but I had to use how it sounds when said because I couldn't figure out how the word's spelt) I am unable to simplify it any further.

I apologize.

(EDIT2)-Oh, and his left arm (on our right) looks very unrealistic, because it's just a weirdly-shaped rectangle shaded to look like muscles without any actual definition of the muscular shape. Furthermore, adding fur would take away that definite shape, so you really do have to look at how a (just an example) lion's arms look as it moves about, and try to emulate the fur disregarding any muscular structure underneath. (don't forget that there's muscles, but realize you won't be able to show it well through the fur)

And he looks very unrealistic when he holds that arm up horizontally. You need to rework that pose. But that's all I can really see wrong with it. I like his face, and hair. You did well to start off. So I mean it when I say that I've only written so much in one post because I want to see you improve it to the point that it no longer holds any errors.

[Windclaw_Z]

Shade the fur to be furrier, and raise contrast on the colors of his upper body. I can tell that his pants were C+Ped off Zx NPCs, so technically those are the only Zx parts of his body. (unlike when the others said nothing was) Though for the most part I agree with what they all said. I just wouldn't put it so harshly without any help (CJ), And Forte's descriptions were better than I could've explained.

The thing I am glad for though is that you're trying to do something more animalistic in Zx style than something mechanic, because few people attempt it. And I swear that I wouldn't have guessed Panther Flauclaws as the base for what you've made so far. It is different and unique enough.

You just have to fix the shading and palette. Look at Protecos brown hues from Zx1 for better shades of fur that you can use. If his regular brown is too dark for your character, then you can easily use some of the gold palette off Protecos in a mixture with the brown to get a fur shine on him.

If that doesn't work, there's always Vent's hair you can try out.

As for his feet, they look too much like Flamole's flat-based feet, instead of something more related with an animal. I suggest you look closely at Fistleo's feet, and try to replicate the shape in a more organic style than the mechanic look that is given to it, and you should have great-looking feet.

Please don't just C+P his feet and recolor it, okay?

This should also help make your claws look more realistic. As for the character's pose, he's standing to rigidly. I can understand that in a standing pose (for like an intro) that's okay at first, but you do need to put him in a more attack-form pose. Something along the lines of how Panther Flauclaws, and Fistleo stand (in their very cat-like manner) and you'll be fine.

Also, I don't agree with the two-tail idea, but if you like it you can keep it.

(EDIT)-And since there's a small confusion on how to do fur, what you need to do is add patches of fur where it wouldn't be so cleanly combed. Like on the outer rim where the outline. We need to see the fur pattern across his limbs. Look to large cat's arms for reference. As for within the outlines and not the edges, you need to add patches of light all around with decreasing and increasing amounts of light on those patches of "fur" based on how something like skin would be shaded in this manner. I see you understand some basic concept of shading, so I think you can figure out how to work the outline and light source thing for your colors. But it's the fur thrown into the mix that throws it all off balance.

Really, the only way I can describe it is that you have to put uneven, asymetric, and imperfect patches of fur visible within his actual region set aside for fur by light [stryations] of varying amounts. (I know it's spelt wrong, but I had to use how it sounds when said because I couldn't figure out how the word's spelt) I am unable to simplify it any further.

I apologize.

(EDIT2)-Oh, and his left arm (on our right) looks very unrealistic, because it's just a weirdly-shaped rectangle shaded to look like muscles without any actual definition of the muscular shape. Furthermore, adding fur would take away that definite shape, so you really do have to look at how a (just an example) lion's arms look as it moves about, and try to emulate the fur disregarding any muscular structure underneath. (don't forget that there's muscles, but realize you won't be able to show it well through the fur)

And he looks very unrealistic when he holds that arm up horizontally. You need to rework that pose. But that's all I can really see wrong with it. I like his face, and hair. You did well to start off. So I mean it when I say that I've only written so much in one post because I want to see you improve it to the point that it no longer holds any errors.


To make a point, the two tailed thing is more a...personal back story. I can loose it, but...

The poses shown are just examples of at ease stuff. I have many more in the works for battle and such that are not so ridgid. But I do hear where you're coming from on that.
As for fur shading, I've been looking for better examples and not really finding them. I've seen a couple, but they are a bit odd looking to me. I'm attempting to re-work, based off a set of sprites from the 16-bit Lion King game as an example but its hard to replicate.

I've actualy given some consideration to scrapping what I have and using FistLeo as a base with a few parts spliced in from Panther. Its hard to chose, especaily considering how far I've already gone with the one.

One of the problems encountered with the poses you see is that three of them had to be basicly built from scratch. Panther does not have a natural "at ease" look, saved for the crossed arms, so shape comes out a little...off. Ok, very off, but its something I have noticed. Frankly, my fear is that if I go backward and try to use some parts direct from panther, it will look far less like a rework, and more like a recolor.


Don't get me wrong, so far the advice is FAR better than anything I ever recieved at The Fallout Sheltar and much more clearly put. So I am thankfull. Its just hard to follow when you're an ameture.

In the meantime, enjoy another little work I made. I had finished watching Aliens and wanted to make the M-56 for myself. Its not really modeled from MegaMan sprites, but the look...I'd say its danm close. Enjoy.

[Windclaw_Z]

Ok.
One, I've darkened the pallet so its not so glossy looking anymore.

Two, I've managed to drop the color count from 70-something to 42-41.

Three, I finaly found footware that actauly fit my character modle so I could do away with the ever-extended claws on the feet. The snappy foot protection hails from Kraft, shockingly enough. I wanted to use Greys, but they were too danm small.

Four, I've done a little work on the shape of the arms so they dont look so....bleah. I'm working on gettng the pose to be less ridgid. Probably get the rear hand on the hip, as well as fix some of the tail positons.

And finaly, I'm attempting to do a better shading job on the fur, using a Simba sprite as an example.

[Fuzion Phoenix]

*Looks at the M-56*
Dude, that's awsome. Why not also make the M-41 Pulse rifle, or even the Xenomorph from Aliens.

[Windclaw_Z]

*Looks at the M-56*
Dude, that's awsome. Why not also make the M-41 Pulse rifle, or even the Xenomorph from Aliens.

Well, I'm NOWHERE near skilled enough to make the Xenomorph. As for the m-41, I think someone beat me to it. This is taken from a compiled sheet of various guns somone made a while back at tFS. But the m-56 is 100% MINE!

[DNZ.EXE]

Wait, this sprite isn't yours? Why post it? ....

[Windclaw_Z]

As an example to compair agianst my work.

[Windclaw_Z]

My caracter sprites take me a while, but I'm good at coming up with weapons. It might seem minor, but I'm proud of it. Heres a little jewel for me, the TSUBAKI from No More Heroes.

[Vee]

The angled sprites look much too long compared to the non-angled ones.

[BarylTDF]

It's really good, but it need more details, you can fix it to be more just like the tsubaki.

[Xterra]

The way you have it angled is excellent for an attack, but as was suggested it is advised for you to tilt the blade more upward so that it isn't in such a perfect angle. But aside from that issue the blade looks very nice.

Also, the angle suggestion is just for a standing pose. Like I said, what you have now would be okay with a slashing attack using the sword.

[Windclaw_Z]

The advice is noted, yes. Most of my stuff is work in progress. The fact that you all like it at all shows me I'm headed in the right direction.
Angles have allways been a little sticky for me. Stuff gets all blured up when rotated from a straight postion. I'm still working that out, especaily condidering the weapon I've made for my personal sprites. A long spear. I'll show it later, once I've done some work on the TSUBAKI. Also...dont ask for the Blood Berry. Thats more detail work than I feel comforable with.

[Windclaw_Z]

Holy crap! I was honestly gone that long!?! Guess thats the problem with me a fourms. Oh well.
One special shift and a set of footware later...

Ok, mabey I'm not doing this right, but my check on export preview shows that I'm at 19 - 20 colors. Looking at it now, it looks much better, and I'm really trying to limit myself to 32 colors total (this includes attacks and such).

[Drei]

With a sprite like this, you should be able to get a max of 13 colours easily. Excluding effects as seperate sprites/including if you use the same colours. He still needs more contrast on his body, as it looks like only two colours. Maybe have his gloves, feet, and body share colours to get rid of some. Use the darkest colour of his fur to replace all of the other similar colours, cutting off another few.

[Windclaw_Z]

With a sprite like this, you should be able to get a max of 13 colours easily. Excluding effects as seperate sprites/including if you use the same colours. He still needs more contrast on his body, as it looks like only two colours. Maybe have his gloves, feet, and body share colours to get rid of some. Use the darkest colour of his fur to replace all of the other similar colours, cutting off another few.

You should try it. It was a mere stroke of luck I found such a dark palate in the first place. And besides, I just got it down to 16 just a second ago. Not easy. Looks like its lacking depth with some of the lighter colors missing. Was able to replace a couple colors with darker ones. As for "contrast", I have no comment. I don't know what that means. Besides, I need to move forward. Now that I finaly have the color porblem out of the way, I need to work on movements. And motion blurs are a pain to do!

[Windclaw_Z]

Ahem...anyway. Onward and upward! Weapon time. I think this is why it takes me so long to do a single sheet. I keep having ideas for weapons, then I see another that looks great and edit it, and so on, and so forth.

My latest madness follows in the old vein of Zero's weapons from MMZ. This one came out better than I expected once all was said and done with it. Now, if I could just figure out motion blurs, I'd be set!

[Drei]

Contrast is how much the colours differ from being closer to white, or closer to black. Really, I don't think you are near finished with colour problems, becuase as I said, you can easily lower it to 13+1 for transparency.The purple and grey can share similar shades on the darker scale, and the blue can share similar colours with the lightest purple.

Now for your weapon, you seem to have another shade of blue you can utilize unless you wish the blade to be white. In which case, you can still use the darkest blue to shade a bit and add depth to hte motion blurs. It looks pretty good right now.

[Windclaw_Z]

Oh. Well...that might be possible. But as for the main body...I fear if I darken much else or eliminate colors at this point, it will lose deffinition. I know its just a sprite, but I wanted there to be a fair amount of detail. Besides, thats kinda the price I pay for not being able to find a good shirt for my character frame.

The weapon has two modes, by the way. Spear and sword. Like to fight good old fassion down and dirty! Course I'll have a gun of some kind too.
I was tempted for a short while to make one of my arms robitic in appearance so I could have a buster. But then the symitry <spellcheck go!> would have been off. Thats what promted me to go back to the older designs for the pants. A broad hip belt would have hung over one hip more and that would have maid for me having to make a whole nother set of sprites for the opposite side. It might work for something (one) like Samus sprites, but not here.

[Windclaw_Z]

This hurt. I really liked that glove color differnece. But now...
Color count: 14
I really REALLY can not eliminate another color though contrast or overlay. Somethings gona vanish at this point if I do...

[Windclaw_Z]

13+1 (transparancy) colors! Ya'll can EAT ME with the danm contrast of darkness at this point. THE COLORS STAY THE WAY THEY ARE! Had to fight too long with this thing to reduce it ANY further!http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2008-4/1307466/Sample4.gif
By the way, I owe Xterra one for helping me with belt ideas and coming up with the base modle that lead to the bandage idea.