08-18-2011, 05:22 PM
I really hate to come in here and be the only person to have a differing opinion, but here it goes...
First though, so you don't get the wrong idea or anything, I just want to say that for the most part these are quality works, as expected, Chaoxys. If you don't change anything, they're still pretty dang great.
On to the criticism...
As you're probably aware by now, when it comes to Koopa/Koopaling anatomy I'm a complete Nazi. Now, with that in mind... While I do appreciate your attempt to add your own stylistic touch to the Koopalings here, some things you have done to them just don't work well. The most notable is their legs. Normally I might say this is just me, but it's pretty clear to me when I look at artwork of these guys... You made the ankles and lower legs too thin/scrawny-looking. It's easiest to see on Morton's front leg. I don't think I need to go any further with this one, so I'll move on.
Their bodies appear to be slightly too far from the ground. In addition to fixing the legs, at least one or two pixels down would help a lot. This is easily noticeable on Roy, and really only applies to the Koopalings with similar stature to his.
Lemmy's hair is completely incorrect, I'm sure you're aware of this so I'm not understanding why your sprite looks this way to begin with... (Not to mention, you can minimize your pallet by scrapping that green...) His ball's stars are also supposed to be orange.
Larry's eyes really bother me a lot. They are too flat and lack any perspective whatsoever. This is mainly a problem because the closer eye seems to be smaller than the farther one.
Larry, Ludwig and Morton's right nostrils (our right) are not in the correct place, and as a result make their noses look off-center. I realize that you did this to allow for greater space between the nostrils (like their artwork implies), but honestly, sometimes in sprites you do have to adjust because of size limitations...
Last thing. I sincerely apologize for having to say this, and keep in mind this is just my opinion, but... you should completely scrap Junior, Iggy and Lemmy. Lemmy's size is too small and skewed to be corrected by editing, and his hair is already incorrect as I said before.Iggy and Junior are just outright not aesthetically pleasing. With Iggy, it's just his general shape that bothers me (his shading is fine). I don't mind the arms being as thin as you made them, really, that's all good. But if you're going to do that, the tumors in his hands should be removed first. His body is way too small and its angle looks extremely out of place compared to the rest of him (if you're going to make the belly angle backwards like that, the shell should do the same...) The shape of his face, namely the cranial area, just doesn't jive. Sorry. Mouth is off, nose isn't big enough, glasses lack proper blending and color, etc. His hair also looks rather messy and is located too far back on his head.
As for Junior... I'm sorry, but... Just please redo him if not either of the others. The way you have shaped him, coupled with confusing shading, makes this small sprite way too complicated and it's hard to tell what's what. Every once and a while I make a sprite that ends badly and needs to be scrapped... I think this is one of yours.
All that aside, I hope I haven't annoyed the living shit out of you. Don't forget that I do adore your work, and I hope that you might take some of the things I've mentioned into consideration.
First though, so you don't get the wrong idea or anything, I just want to say that for the most part these are quality works, as expected, Chaoxys. If you don't change anything, they're still pretty dang great.
On to the criticism...
As you're probably aware by now, when it comes to Koopa/Koopaling anatomy I'm a complete Nazi. Now, with that in mind... While I do appreciate your attempt to add your own stylistic touch to the Koopalings here, some things you have done to them just don't work well. The most notable is their legs. Normally I might say this is just me, but it's pretty clear to me when I look at artwork of these guys... You made the ankles and lower legs too thin/scrawny-looking. It's easiest to see on Morton's front leg. I don't think I need to go any further with this one, so I'll move on.
Their bodies appear to be slightly too far from the ground. In addition to fixing the legs, at least one or two pixels down would help a lot. This is easily noticeable on Roy, and really only applies to the Koopalings with similar stature to his.
Lemmy's hair is completely incorrect, I'm sure you're aware of this so I'm not understanding why your sprite looks this way to begin with... (Not to mention, you can minimize your pallet by scrapping that green...) His ball's stars are also supposed to be orange.
Larry's eyes really bother me a lot. They are too flat and lack any perspective whatsoever. This is mainly a problem because the closer eye seems to be smaller than the farther one.
Larry, Ludwig and Morton's right nostrils (our right) are not in the correct place, and as a result make their noses look off-center. I realize that you did this to allow for greater space between the nostrils (like their artwork implies), but honestly, sometimes in sprites you do have to adjust because of size limitations...
Last thing. I sincerely apologize for having to say this, and keep in mind this is just my opinion, but... you should completely scrap Junior, Iggy and Lemmy. Lemmy's size is too small and skewed to be corrected by editing, and his hair is already incorrect as I said before.Iggy and Junior are just outright not aesthetically pleasing. With Iggy, it's just his general shape that bothers me (his shading is fine). I don't mind the arms being as thin as you made them, really, that's all good. But if you're going to do that, the tumors in his hands should be removed first. His body is way too small and its angle looks extremely out of place compared to the rest of him (if you're going to make the belly angle backwards like that, the shell should do the same...) The shape of his face, namely the cranial area, just doesn't jive. Sorry. Mouth is off, nose isn't big enough, glasses lack proper blending and color, etc. His hair also looks rather messy and is located too far back on his head.
As for Junior... I'm sorry, but... Just please redo him if not either of the others. The way you have shaped him, coupled with confusing shading, makes this small sprite way too complicated and it's hard to tell what's what. Every once and a while I make a sprite that ends badly and needs to be scrapped... I think this is one of yours.
All that aside, I hope I haven't annoyed the living shit out of you. Don't forget that I do adore your work, and I hope that you might take some of the things I've mentioned into consideration.