E-Man's Sprite R & D

[E-Man]

Hey, guys, I'm still working on my sprites. I didn't update in a long time because… Well… I was at a loss on what to do next for the sprites. Since I ran into a flaw that makes working with a line-less extremely difficult to work with, I didn't know where to go from there. To make matters worse, I already submitted a perfectly good sprite sheet in my sprite style, so posting another sheet with a different style would be awkward at that point.

Instead of trying to mindlessly tinker over the sprites with fruitless results, I decided to take a break by honing my coloring skills in Photoshop (one of my more recent experiments is in the Doodles and Completed Pictures thread in case you're wondering).

During my break of coloring, though, I eventually decided that trying to stick to a style because the first sheet looked like it was pretty stupid, so I decided to look into using another style. This time, I said nuts to not using any outlines and created this.



I took a few suggestions from Shy Guy by not only using a darker shade for the eyes, but also reducing the colors for the sprites. Also, to the right, I made my first few attempts to apply an outline. What's very interesting is that with the reduced shade and the addition of an outline, the Goomba sprites bear a striking resemblance to Mario & Luigi styled sprites (particularly the ones from the first game). As for anti-alisaing, I didn't know how to deal with that at first, but after taking a look at Gors' current avatar, he used some colors found on the inside of the sprite to provide it. I thought that might be the best way to do it, so I gave it a try. Any thoughts on the current sprites?


As for walking, I think I finally figured out what people mean by the "sliding feet." When Neweegee and I had a conversation on Skype, he mentioned something about looking at the Goomba from New Super Mario Bros. as a reference. When I took a look, I realized what the problem is. As you can see below, the Goomba actually picks up his feet to move forward.



What I have been doing all along is making the feet move in a manner similar to a pendulum. I'll be sure to apply this for the next update.

By the way, Alaby, I like how you shaded my human. Even though it is not exactly what I am looking for, it does bring me one step closer on how to shade her the best way possible.