Pixel Joint Forum: Zelda Guardian

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Majoras_Anxiety
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 22 January 2020
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3

Topic: Zelda Guardian
Posted: 23 January 2020 at 4:35pm

Hi everyone, I'm new here to Pixeljoint. I've been working on a Legend of Zelda fangame for a few years, but haven't really gotten anywhere due to my lack of spriting abilities. So I'm here to get critique to further my abilities in that regard. Anyway, today I'm posting a boss I've been working on for about a week or so. If you have played Skyward Sword he will look familiar.

I've included my Link sprite to show perspective and such.
C&C welcome. Here is a link to the reference image I'm using.
Reference

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NancyGold
Commander

Joined: 27 October 2021
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 526

Posted: 23 January 2020 at 9:39pm

Skyward Sword guardian was robotic. Your one looks more like Skeletor from the He Man movie. Zelda's Guardians are traditionally robotic ancient technology in the style of oriental culture. Also, the line art is a bit rough with these gold ornaments. The cape can be a bit less boring/symetric. Generally, top professionals usually pick cooler stances for their sprites, instead of having boring T-posed symmetry. Look at Ganon in the original NES Zelda or at cyangmou's mob set https://cyangmou.itch.io/rpg-monster

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Majoras_Anxiety
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 22 January 2020
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3

Posted: 24 January 2020 at 5:34am

Thanks for replying! Just to be clear, this is only the idle pose, it will be animated, so I need it to be kind of "boring" right now. I know guardians in SS had a different look, I'm going by the fan art I posted which does have that more Skeletor look. There are a few basic things I'd like to get advice on which I should have mentioned in my original post. Perspective. How did I do on that classic 3/4 top down view? Shading the head. I'm unsure how to shade with white... What could I do there to make it better? Again, thanks for looking.

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NancyGold
Commander

Joined: 27 October 2021
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 526

Posted: 24 January 2020 at 6:38am

1. Consider making palette more contrast. Your current one is a bit washed out. That can be hard to work with. If you want flat looking sprite, then just use single color.

2. Add some light angle, instead of your current blurry pillow shading, since you have so many shades.

3. If you dislike gray color, add some tint to it. Typically darker colors use purpleish-bluish tint. That is a really cheap and efficient way to make your sprites stylized. In fact, The Matrix movie was just tinted green to make it stand out of the crowd.

4. Add outlines around small noisy objects, like earrings, which tend to mix with background, annoying player.

That is all basic stuff, applying to any art, not just pixelart.

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Majoras_Anxiety
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 22 January 2020
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3

Posted: 25 January 2020 at 4:17pm

Update
Changed the pallete for the face, and tried to redo the shading. Cleaned up some lines. Edited the eyes and nose. Added more highlights to the torso.

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WIP (Work In Progress)
Pixel Joint Forum : Pixel Art : WIP (Work In Progress)

Author	Message
Majoras_Anxiety Seaman Joined: 22 January 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Topic: Zelda Guardian Posted: 23 January 2020 at 4:35pm
	Hi everyone, I'm new here to Pixeljoint. I've been working on a Legend of Zelda fangame for a few years, but haven't really gotten anywhere due to my lack of spriting abilities. So I'm here to get critique to further my abilities in that regard. Anyway, today I'm posting a boss I've been working on for about a week or so. If you have played Skyward Sword he will look familiar. I've included my Link sprite to show perspective and such. C&C welcome. Here is a link to the reference image I'm using. Reference
	IP Logged

NancyGold Commander Joined: 27 October 2021 Online Status: Offline Posts: 526	Posted: 23 January 2020 at 9:39pm
	Skyward Sword guardian was robotic. Your one looks more like Skeletor from the He Man movie. Zelda's Guardians are traditionally robotic ancient technology in the style of oriental culture. Also, the line art is a bit rough with these gold ornaments. The cape can be a bit less boring/symetric. Generally, top professionals usually pick cooler stances for their sprites, instead of having boring T-posed symmetry. Look at Ganon in the original NES Zelda or at cyangmou's mob set https://cyangmou.itch.io/rpg-monster
	IP Logged

Majoras_Anxiety Seaman Joined: 22 January 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Posted: 24 January 2020 at 5:34am
	Thanks for replying! Just to be clear, this is only the idle pose, it will be animated, so I need it to be kind of "boring" right now. I know guardians in SS had a different look, I'm going by the fan art I posted which does have that more Skeletor look. There are a few basic things I'd like to get advice on which I should have mentioned in my original post. Perspective. How did I do on that classic 3/4 top down view? Shading the head. I'm unsure how to shade with white... What could I do there to make it better? Again, thanks for looking.
	IP Logged

NancyGold Commander Joined: 27 October 2021 Online Status: Offline Posts: 526	Posted: 24 January 2020 at 6:38am
	1. Consider making palette more contrast. Your current one is a bit washed out. That can be hard to work with. If you want flat looking sprite, then just use single color. 2. Add some light angle, instead of your current blurry pillow shading, since you have so many shades. 3. If you dislike gray color, add some tint to it. Typically darker colors use purpleish-bluish tint. That is a really cheap and efficient way to make your sprites stylized. In fact, The Matrix movie was just tinted green to make it stand out of the crowd. 4. Add outlines around small noisy objects, like earrings, which tend to mix with background, annoying player. That is all basic stuff, applying to any art, not just pixelart.
	IP Logged

Majoras_Anxiety Seaman Joined: 22 January 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Posted: 25 January 2020 at 4:17pm
	Update Changed the pallete for the face, and tried to redo the shading. Cleaned up some lines. Edited the eyes and nose. Added more highlights to the torso.
	IP Logged