EsperBlades: The solution to Summoners! (First Page Update)

[mav]

Let's do a quick comparison--I'll post the latest Esper Blade, the first concept, and Balmfafula.

[MiKeMiTchi]

@mav,
I like the first one from the left.  

[mav]

Once I reduce this to sixteen colors I guess I'll look into modifying the skin tone. In my opinion, he looks less feminine now though there's still a hint of femininity, but I don't foresee him ever looking completely manly: long hair, a headband, and eyes based on a woman's face--those things aren't gonna be removed any time soon, so...

[LastingDawn]

Haha! That's certainly true, great work with that! He looks just as I had hoped!

[Archael]

is the sprite itself finished?

[mav]

I can't speak for effephoenix, but to my knowledge the sprite hasn't been completed yet.

[Asmo X]

Sorry, I just had to clean the sprite up. It might not be quite what you were looking for LD but it could be tweaked easily enough.

[LastingDawn]

Ah, not sure which one you're basing that off of Asmo (I would guess the one on the front page...) Though there is a newer model he had proposed which does look much cleaner then the first model, of course my poor eyesight is... well poor, and that might be your rendition of the second edition EsperBlade, in any case, if you didn't see it, here it is.

[Asmo X]

Yeah I saw this one. Why is the cape shaded like that? It looks terrible. Theres also a green thing sticking out under cape and the chestplate thing has a black outline which looks awful. It just isn't that good

[LastingDawn]

Hmm, as for this one, what would you propose? As for style, I do prefer the second model to the first (the first is just a bit... plain in comparison to this one)

I think the cape is shaded like that (at least at the shoulder) to show he's keeping his other hand hidden under there, an... indentation, so to speak, though I really like the chainmail under the cloak, it truthfully doesn't seem to mesh very well on that, though that could be worked into the actual sprite. So I would like to hear your opinion on how to fix up the second version one, if possible.

[Asmo X]

The thing on the head makes no sense. The original one was better. The shading needs to be smoothed out on the cape. The palette also needs to be changed. The lighting on it is much to severe. Let me try and incorporate some things from that version into my version

[LastingDawn]

Certainly, sounds like a plan. Thank you Asmo for your assistance.

[Asmo X]

Thats what I have so far

[LastingDawn]

Hmm, this one does look a bit cleaner, as well as a bit fancier, I also noticed you kept his other hand in his cape, which was my favorite part of the new sprite. Looking great thus far!

[mav]

Ah! That's much easier on the eyes. Is this headband different than the Geomancer's? If so, I might have to modify the portrait once more...

[Asmo X]

Pretty sure its the same as what you have in the portrait

[Twinees]

tell me what you guys think. had this sitting in my documents for a while, only LD and i knew about it.
Crits and comments are very helpful

[mav]

It's an okay start, but it's a little strange, in my opinion. I don't see the point of having a half-cloak. And he looks a little too thin. I feel like he needs to look less like a mage and more like a knight, these guys do technically wield swords, after all.

[Cheetah]

I don't know if I love it or hate it. I have always hated the geomancer's head and Esperblade version is perhaps even worse. It is a cool test of concept if nothing else Twinees. Maybe change out the design on the cloak a bit more so that it doesn't look quite so much like a mage ripoff. Plus the cut of the cloth could use some more tweaking. I'm not being very helpful. Maybe some inspiration from FFX Auron would be helpful.

[Twinees]

@mav, the half cloak is supposed to look like it conceals his blade. Hidden blade of sorts. Ill try to fix his thin-ness.

@Cheetah, i completely agree with you about the geomancers head, one of my least favourites. For the cloak, i will see what i can do (it was completely custom btw [mage rip off   ]), maybe make it tattered or something. What do u mean by the cut of the cloth?

Anyway, a new design is definitely needed, i was merely revamping the previous. please tell me what you would like to see in the sprite, eg. chestplate, headband etc.