03-27-2013, 03:15 PM
Where to start, where to start?
it's a worm, alright.
It looks like you're doing a lot of things but you are not really aware what you're doing and why. Here's the obligatory link to our Spriting Dictionary, but let me explain a few things right here.
• Contrast
You're using many green shades, but they all somehow look the same and are hardly distinguishable. This makes having so many colours completely pointless! You should bring more difference to your shades - make the darker greens darker and the brighter greens brighter! Also, you should only use about three greens here, not six (and I didn't even cound the outline colours). To make your greens more different from eachother, you can also make the brighter greens a tiny bit more yellow and the darker ones slightly more blue (-> hue shifting).
• Outline Colouring
The colouring of those outlines appears to be random rather than planned. You have black outline pixels on the highlighted parts and brighter outlines where it's shaded; darker pixels randomly placed amongst brighter ones - that's not how it should be! If you're using coloured outlines (instead of only using a single colour for the whole outline), the brightness should adjust with the fill: Highlighted parts get brihter outlines, shaded parts get darker outlines. Take your lightsource into account!
Which brings us to the next point...
• Shading & Lightsource
When making a sprite, you should decide where the source of light is before you start shading. Most of your worm is shaded with light coming from the top-left, however the brown strand at the back of the head is shaded with light coming from below. Instead, the light should be coming from the top-left, too!
Another issue with the shading is that you're banding a lot. This means that you are following the shape of the outline with a darker colour. This way, your shading only makes the outline look blurry, but it does not show the viewer the volume and depth of the object - which is why shading is applied! Instead of simply tracing the outline, you should try to follow the three-dimensional shape instead!
Furthermore, let me quickly mention that the lineart is rather jaggy and could be smoother. I should probably make an edit to illuttrate some of these points better...
Lastly, we've got the overall shape - it's a worm, yes. But it also is a worm with a big head, while the part on the ground is rather short - the way you posed it makes it look as if it would fall over any second because the big head isn't properly supported by the body. The part going upwards would also have to lean back a bit to properly support the weight.
I know this is lots and lots of things at once, so I'd suggest you to go through them one by one.
I hope this helps somewhat:
![[Image: fTxtIx5.png]](/image.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FfTxtIx5.png&hash=5cfdbb7570b22c37eac4e90ecfb3e768)
it's a worm, alright.
It looks like you're doing a lot of things but you are not really aware what you're doing and why. Here's the obligatory link to our Spriting Dictionary, but let me explain a few things right here.
• Contrast
You're using many green shades, but they all somehow look the same and are hardly distinguishable. This makes having so many colours completely pointless! You should bring more difference to your shades - make the darker greens darker and the brighter greens brighter! Also, you should only use about three greens here, not six (and I didn't even cound the outline colours). To make your greens more different from eachother, you can also make the brighter greens a tiny bit more yellow and the darker ones slightly more blue (-> hue shifting).
• Outline Colouring
The colouring of those outlines appears to be random rather than planned. You have black outline pixels on the highlighted parts and brighter outlines where it's shaded; darker pixels randomly placed amongst brighter ones - that's not how it should be! If you're using coloured outlines (instead of only using a single colour for the whole outline), the brightness should adjust with the fill: Highlighted parts get brihter outlines, shaded parts get darker outlines. Take your lightsource into account!
Which brings us to the next point...
• Shading & Lightsource
When making a sprite, you should decide where the source of light is before you start shading. Most of your worm is shaded with light coming from the top-left, however the brown strand at the back of the head is shaded with light coming from below. Instead, the light should be coming from the top-left, too!
Another issue with the shading is that you're banding a lot. This means that you are following the shape of the outline with a darker colour. This way, your shading only makes the outline look blurry, but it does not show the viewer the volume and depth of the object - which is why shading is applied! Instead of simply tracing the outline, you should try to follow the three-dimensional shape instead!
Furthermore, let me quickly mention that the lineart is rather jaggy and could be smoother. I should probably make an edit to illuttrate some of these points better...
Lastly, we've got the overall shape - it's a worm, yes. But it also is a worm with a big head, while the part on the ground is rather short - the way you posed it makes it look as if it would fall over any second because the big head isn't properly supported by the body. The part going upwards would also have to lean back a bit to properly support the weight.
I know this is lots and lots of things at once, so I'd suggest you to go through them one by one.
I hope this helps somewhat: