Looks nice but either the torso is too long or legs too short.
Why no feet? For clothing options?

Follow the 'head' rule http://realcolorwheel.com/96.htm

Seven heads is quite realistic, adults tend to be 7-7.5 heads tall. In art, people are often drawn taller because it's closer to the "ideal", but in sprites shorter characters tend to read more clearly.
Now the problem is just the internal proportions - you're right, the torso is too long and the legs are too short. The crotch area is usually around the halfway point from the top of the head to the heels, or a little below the halfway point. In your sprite, it's way below the halfway point. Try to move that without changing the overall height of the sprite.

@eishiya — Thanks for the heads-up (pun not intended I swear) on the proportions there. I’ll see what I can do about that in my next round of edits.

@Mandrill — I figured the arms still needed some work, but the leg shading is giving me some trouble, too. A sprite of this size doesn’t lend itself well to large amounts of details. I’m still getting the hang of anatomy and shading, too. (Yay for learning “on the job”!) I know the pose looks awkward, which is probably contributing to the way the legs look (and the sprite’s other anatomical issues).

I came here to get some help rather than trying to get it “right” on my own (like I’ve done so many damn times in the past), and I appreciate all the pointers I’ve gotten thus far. I’ll try to have another edit up later tonight or tomorrow.

So much better.

Well you've messed up the whole neck area which is now totally undefined.

Latest update: slight cleanup to the original “muscular” version (on the left); created a slightly slimmed down “regular” version (on the right)

I wanted to see if I could create different body types, so I tried creating a less muscular version of the same base by slimming down the arms and altering the torso a bit. Still unsure of handle the legs, but I think they look better on the “regular” version than the “muscular” version.

Latest update:


Comparison with prior update:

I kinda let the proportions and such of the sprite get away from me with successive edits to the last update, so I took some time today to “redo” the sprite with improved proportions and a bit more detail.



Thank God for reference material (in this case, sprites from the DS Castlevania games).

I might if I can properly slim it down without losing the proportionality or shape. The troublesome part (as it has been since I started working on this) is going to be the legs/hips.

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Latest Update:


Per usual, the legs and hips are giving me trouble (notably the left leg [right side of the pic]), but I feel as if I’ve gotten everything else to a good spot. Won’t need any more major revisions, just small tweaks and such from here on out. And yes, I did change the palette again.

I think somewhere along the line, you made the legs too short again.

Edit: I think it's because you added shadows to the tops of the legs, making that area read as the waist/abdomen area rather than the pelvic area, which tends to have highlights instead because it sticks out.

I tried for hours to get the legs and hips looking better without destroying the proportions or totally changing the pose, and I just can’t get it right. I think I’ll end up abandoning this and trying a different pose.

EDIT: Never mind! I actually figured out one of my major problems from looking at reference materials: I screwed up the perspective/width on the chest! I’m reworking that, redoing everything below the chest, and even redoing the left arm (right side of the pic) to better fit in with the pic. Amazing what a little break, some fresh eyes, and some quality reference material will do for you.

Here, I took a sec and tried to "fix" it in photoshop to match the best anatomy I could do. Still maybe not perfect but I think an improvement?

I think one big problem was your feet were splayed too wide for the stance, nobody would have legs that bent open. Fixed the legs mostly.