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Meliadoul Unveiled

Started by Fosil, April 03, 2011, 11:25:38 pm

Fosil

April 03, 2011, 11:25:38 pm Last Edit: April 03, 2011, 11:29:24 pm by Tojoe
In lieu of requests to alter my almost-submission... (Which is a very good thing!)

In wanting to re-imagine characters in different lights, I chose Meliadoul as my first task. I gave her (what I felt) was a more pleasing green cloak, and subsequently had to alter her gauntlet palette colours due to her hair. I also had to remove her grayish undergarment to trim down the palette. This led to me pasting over the male Archer's boots, which might not have been the best choice in retrospection, as there are better "metallic" boots to copy over.

Attached here is my progress at this point. I warmly welcome any suggestion, so please, suggest away! :)

- It has been already suggested that I restore the cloak's original colour. (Both hooded and 'hair' versions)
- Should I reduce the hair's saturation?
  • Modding version: PSX

Cheetah

Yes the hair is too saturated. I'm not a big fan of the new green either. The hair itself needs a bit of work. This is looking like a good start though.
Current Projects:

Celdia

Definitely reduce the hair's saturation. I love where you're going with the design there.
  • Modding version: PSX
  • Discord username: Celdia#0

Lijj

Thanks for posting here for refinement Tojoe.
Reds in fft are pretty bright as are some of the blues but this bloody red is a little odd and the portraits are always less saturated than the sprite. I think the boots are fine with this design but could be lightened a little because they are almost completely obfuscated in the front facing view. I can barely see them; at least on black. Otherwise, the only thing is, make the yellow more greenish on the sprite to match the portrait. Or vice-versa, make the portrait more yellowish.
  • Modding version: PSX

dinosaur

I like where you are going with this too! I believe there should have been more female sprites with longer hair, it is very pretty :p.

I think the red and green do not flow well together. If you like the red hair maybe you can go with a darker outfit.

Lijj

Oh yeah, forgot to mention: there is one stray pixel on the 2nd portrait.. right across from her right eye on the outside of her hair. Yeah I agree Dino, girls with nice long hair ftw.
  • Modding version: PSX

Fosil

April 04, 2011, 10:27:13 pm #6 Last Edit: April 04, 2011, 10:34:10 pm by Tojoe
Note taken, Lijj.

But what of the colour of the gauntlets and boots themselves? Currently, with the reverted palette, I have three open palette spots. Three isn't quite enough for her hair, which requires four.

I am kind of stuck. If I restore the gauntlets original golden colour, the hair wont be as nice due to there being only 3 open spots.

It is so frustrating trying to get palettes working correctly between GraphicsGale and Shishi. To add to it, I noticed the tutorial was missing a few minor details that may help... However I am at a loss how to explain them accurately and if I am even doing it correctly.

More will be done another day when my patience isn't quite so thin this late at night. Perhaps even an entirely fresh start with the palette optimized from the start and new boots?

Here, though, I have something working for her unhooded sprite. Anything noticeably off?

Edit--Even now, I see errors in this attachment. Ignoring those, how is the hair now? I used the reds from Altima's first form.
  • Modding version: PSX

Pierce

I feel like the hair in the portrait parts kind of awkwardly. It sort of makes her forehead look a little off. Unsure of what change is exactly necessary however.
Ignorance itself is a crime! - Miluda

Lijj

April 04, 2011, 11:31:08 pm #8 Last Edit: April 04, 2011, 11:31:51 pm by Lijj
Yeah the forehead is maybe 1-2 px too high at the peak. Here is a quick edit of the frames (there were some holes in some parts that on a light background in-game would have been odd) and some palette possibilities. I thought the white buttons on her back were too bright when the hair swings close so I changed it to gold. Keep it up the frames look good the fighting frames hair needs just a little touching up... I didn't want to get to crazy on those.
I actually like the idea of the yellow cloak.
Keep up the good work; looks like finishing it should be easy from here on.
(look forward to the next remakes)
  • Modding version: PSX

DrBreen

This is cool.
But isn't her hair is short,or i just need to stop looking at fanart?  :?

Fosil

April 05, 2011, 03:51:43 pm #10 Last Edit: April 05, 2011, 03:59:04 pm by Tojoe
I actually had not looked at any fan-art, didn't think to bother. It just hit me one day that there were no characters with red hair, and I thought "Well, I've liked Melaidoul as a character, but didn't like how she was always hooded."

After seeing Zozma's Lush sprite hair, Meliadoul became quite beautiful, if not stunning. Fitting for the daughter of one who plays such a prominent role in the story. To boot, Isilude's hair is brown, so it is easy to picture their mother being a red-head herself. That's all my opinions, anyway.

Is it wrong to think of the Japanese McDonald's commercial when I look the version with her golden cloak? Hehe, funniness aside, I'm not sure how I'm liking that variant.
  • Modding version: PSX

Durbs

April 05, 2011, 04:33:35 pm #11 Last Edit: April 05, 2011, 05:06:39 pm by Durbs
 :mrgreen: Very neat sprite, Tojoe. Love the base green and golds with the Altima reds. I do agree with Pierce that her forehead looks slightly off, however. My biggest problem is the shading created from her hair on her face. Something about it looks weird. Also, not a fan of the yellow version.

EDIT: Two more things:
1. Looking forward to the Rafa sprite!
2. You should post just the portrait (enlarged) so we can see it better.
  • Modding version: PSX

Fosil

April 05, 2011, 05:14:08 pm #12 Last Edit: April 05, 2011, 06:05:24 pm by Tojoe
Are you referring to her portrait, Durbs? I'll have to edit that...

Right now I am trying to alter her skin tone a little (remembering to keep colours divisible by 8) to be a little more pink to compliment her hair and perhaps share skin and hair tones later on. So far, so good. And hopefully updating soon.

Attached is her current messy portrait, enlarged to show detail--just like cereal, mmm.
Oh, and this particular portrait was from when I gave her a small smile.. But in most of the versions I posted above, this isn't present. I think I know what you are talking about now, Durbs. :)
  • Modding version: PSX

Durbs

Yeah, I did mean the portrait. Sorry if I was unclear about that.

I think the biggest problem for me is at the upper left of her head (where you could trace your finger from the grey to the peach without touching reds; I apologize again if I'm unclear). You should lower the hairline there slightly, but only there; leave the right side of her hairline and the rest of her hair as-is.
  • Modding version: PSX

Fosil

April 05, 2011, 08:48:24 pm #14 Last Edit: April 06, 2011, 08:29:40 am by Tojoe
(re)Presenting the Lady Meliadoul... with restored palette, less saturated hair, fixed portrait (I think) among other things.. Oh and new.. slightly ugly.. (female squire) boots. What do you guys think?

I am a little tired of looking at her for now, to be honest, so if the white "button" (as it were) is still bothering anyone, feel free to modify? I will revisit this again, as I have further plans for Meliadoul, even an all new garb for her to wear, if I get around to it.

And is it me, or is the portrait once again .. too saturated? I don't think I copied over the correct one.. Oops. Fixed

Ewwie wowzer, those boots are hideous. I'll be reverting to the archer boots when I get the next chance--I owe everyone that much, hehe.
Taken down until fixed, I apologize. Sorry, Lijj, I wasn't quite thinking.
  • Modding version: PSX

Lijj

This won't look so good in game due to the holes.. I patched them for a reason. And the hair again has a green outline which isn't good since that is the exact opposite of red... I'd recommend using the green one I posted; I fixed all the minute errors and now they're all back.
In the version I posted all the animation errors in the walking/ singing/ casting frames were fixed.
Do you use shi shi r4 so you can check the frames and use instant refresh (control R)?
Where'd the casting frame's face go?
Also now the hooded version has green dots where they should be off-white/white.
Now I seem like a pest but I like this sprite and want it to be nice in game.
  • Modding version: PSX

Fosil

The pixel wrastling is what gets me in the end. I'm.. not sure which version of Shishi I am using, but I downloaded it from the 'Downloads' section on the main page with the bundle of other editors. I assume it isn't the latest, as I see nothing along the lines of this supposed "zooming" I see mentioned here and there. (I just use Windows Magnifier anyway.)

I removed most of the casting face frame, because all it adds is an open mouth over an existing frame, so its presence isn't too important? Taking some shortcuts here and there can lead to sloppy work.  :oops:

I am glad that you like it, though. :D I'll be taking another stab at it tomorrow.
  • Modding version: PSX

Lijj

April 06, 2011, 04:34:17 pm #17 Last Edit: April 06, 2011, 04:42:53 pm by Lijj
The only thing special about this one is R999 and, I think, FormerDeathCorps made it so you can instantly refresh in shishi's after saving in Graphics Gale or whatever. Grab it here: http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=5084.0
No more re up-loading the bmp then going back to the frame; just save, go into shishi and hit control r.
It sped me up about 4x and even Twinees, the master spriter, uses it because it really is great. :o
Also included there is a better zoom tool that R999 discovered. I use it even with some games to get things pixel perfect though it only has a maximum refresh rate of 30 frames a sec. (slower paced games only)
My first sprite about 8-9 months ago was horrid (I didn't even know how pixels worked)and was rejected completely so I think you're golden... keep it up. These tools will help.
EDIT:
Actually I just realized I've been here for a year!! What a low-life I am! :P
Once you get through this your next pair will be cake.
  • Modding version: PSX

Mando

Hmm.... this looks nice might I suggest trying a silverish gray for the armor pieces? It would clash a bit less when underneath that green. If you use the yellow I would go with a dark armor undertone. You need to make the cloak 'pop' without overstimulating the eyes...

Right now when I look at the sprite on my high res monitor the colors distract me way too much from the head, which you did great on! If you want I can take a crack at making a palette for this once I get home :) I am pretty good at paletting I think ask lijj and twin ^^;

^ New FFAT website made by St4r!

Fosil

I have thought about changing the metallic colours a number of times, and I even did in my initial version. I really really enjoyed the bronze-ish colours I made, even if it wasn't in multiples of 8. But I continue to think back on how her father/brother/others all have the same golden armors. Its just out of place?

I would love to see your take, Mando! I've even tried going as far as I could while leaving her gray under-garment in place, and it just wont fit into the palette. However, if the gauntlets/boots are also silvered/grayed in the same way, its definitely possible. (I almost continued with it at one point but stopped again due to the gold theme she shares with others)
  • Modding version: PSX