(04-23-2016, 12:43 AM)Koh Wrote: Still looks busy to me; you guys keep forgetting the most important rule of sprites: Readability. If you can't tell what you're even looking at, that defeats the entire sprite, lol. The main problem with that one: His eyes bleed into his hair. And once again, his expression has changed from a neutral expression to an angry or annoyed expression, so it definitely changed the feel of the original.
Readability is super important, but if you have the same detail as the Links Awakening sprite on a much larger surface, you're creating the equivalent of a traced drawing of a photograph in visual appeal. One of the best ways to have it so your sprite remains readable is to give certain parts visual priority. Things like eyes need to be more defined as you increase in size, or facial lighting just to give it some depth.
The sprite of link with near no detail, had I not originally known it was link would have confused me. Ears don't protrude from the face that way they're literally starting from the corner of his face rather than far back, his eyes coming out of his hair like that makes it seem like barbs at first glance. It really doesn't look like a face in any way. There is no visual distinctness to the details present and they're also just visually wrong at an anatomical level. And about the eyes bleeding into the hair, this isn't an issue. Hair typically covers eyes if it grows forwards. Link's hair does and is even shown to be growing over his eyes in the original sprite. Readability is nice, but should be second to actuality.
So yes, keeping things uncluttered for readability is nice and all, but if the thing trying to be read is just inaccurate to how the eye works and interprets details and lighting, then you still have terrible readability. As it doesn't look like anything.
Link is typically shown to have an angry/determined expression in almost every zelda game where they could fit that detail in and is very common in artwork for him. It's part of the character at this point. Minish cap link, wind waker link, Twlight Princess link, OOT/MM Link, all of them will have a a curled brow. Now I can't say for certain if the detail would have existed in LA, but it couldn't have due to the size of his sprite. But looking up concept art and the such images, it probably would have been there if the sprite was large enough for it. As he continues to have the determined look in concept art.