Amici's sprites

[Amici]

I'm confused. That BMP I posted up there, when I import it to Shishi to replace Ramza Ch 4 sprite, the walking animations show properly. However when I import it to  the Male Mediator slot, it gets messed up. So what decides which type of sprite shows up? Does that mean my sprite can only be used on select characters?

[GeneralStrife]

AFAIK the latest shishi can change the sprite type...disclaimer im probably wrong

[Amici]

I finished it...finally I read about sprite types, and it seems Male Mediator is TYPE2, so Dante is also TYPE2. I may decide to add details on the coat like on the reference pic, but for now I think I'll rest first. I'm still missing a portrait though, and unlike spriting I don't think I can do this since it isn't copy paste, it takes actual art skills lol

[GeneralStrife]

It is not impossible...look at all the various portraits and decide which one would be a great base if it has any similarities with him

[Cheetah]

You really need to cut off the tails of this jacket to make it:

A) look more unique
B) look better and more like the character in general

His chest needs more work too, look at Zozma's berserker for a base. This is coming together but you need to work on the details to make it a good sprite.

[Amici]

@Cheetah: I did use the Berserker sprite for the chest, however his coat is only opened up to that, which is why the pixels aren't seen so much especially in the isometric view. I'll try to open up the coat some more to see if it'll look better. The front view already looks good IMHO.

As for cutting off the tails of the coat, I did consider doing that, however, I decided against it because Dante's coat did have tails, and second, I don't know if I can fix the shading if I do cut them off (the shading should change right?). They may just end up looking terrible, didn't want to bite off more than I can chew there. But yeah, I should work on getting this sprite looking more unique.

@GeneralStrife: Yeah I suppose I can try, I'm considering using the Tidus portrait as a base for it, will see (I may try to do a head swap and see if the Tidus head looks better on him). Though I'm less optimistic about that since I haven't really tried portrait editing.

EDIT: I think I may have to change the sprite's hair to make it more unique-looking, here's a trial with twinees' Tidus hair...but it seems too spiky. Anyone have any ideas? Or is the Wiegraf hair really the best for him? Also any tips on how to make portraits?

spoiler

[GeneralStrife]

the hair is 100% better....overall presentation is better than sticking to the reference 100%

[Cheetah]

I have never like that hair and continue to not like it. It feels too much like random pixels thrown together. I'm sorry Amici but I see this sprite getting worse and worse for some reason. The arms don't look too bulky/puffy, the coat collar doesn't make sense, the coat tails look ridiculous (much like the original sprite), the chest is just plain creepy, and now the hair is going to shit. I think you need to step back and reevaluate. You first take looked quite promising, but now it really isn't working for me.

[Amici]

Okay, now getting quite confused Thanks for the kind comments GeneralStrife, and I'll still looking for ways to improve the sprite before submitting.

Which first take are you talking about Cheetah? I agree that the coat tails need a trial removal, and will probably get to that in a bit. And about the collars, is it on the front view or back? What about the arms? Could you give a 'model' arm I should look for? From what sprite?

As for the chest, the isometric view of the chest is really the one giving me the most problems at this point, I cannot figure out how to make his chest 'puff' out more, it looks depressed. The hair, well, that'll be easy to fix when the time comes.

Which first take were you talking about BTW? Did you mean the one based on the Seph and Reno sprite?

[Cheetah]

This feels too insignificant to post a new topic with, and I may be way in over my head, but I would like to be critique with a rough draft I did with a Dante sprite I just worked on. It's basically an amalgam of the Reno and Sephiroth sprites using the head of a young Elmdor sprite I saw here a while back. I can't figure out how to put shading on the lower part of the trenchcoat, as well as how the crotch area is supposed to look like.

This one. Try looking at the Sepheroth sprite as a reference and a starting point. The hair on this one isn't quite right, you need to find something in between this and the Tidus hair.

[Amici]

Major revisions done, collars added, chest revised, new experimental hair. Any thoughts guys?

[Cheetah]

I'm seeing substantial improvements here. Can I see 100% preview as well? What are you basing the collar off of, it looks a bit erratic right now. The hair needs some fine tuning, but a major improvement even in color. I still hate the coat tails. Great work on really turning this sprite around. As a design this is now good, the bits and pieces just need tweaking. Hopefully others have advice in that area.

[Twinees]

Much better now.
Some suggestions: Possibly make the collar more like in the reference? (sticking up, slightly covering hair). I'm also liking the chest a lot more thanks to you removing that awkward looking strap, leave it like this please.
The hait could use some improvements but im hoping my suggestion with the collar could possibly fix this.
Looking forward Amici

[Amici]

@twinees: Lol, I actually based the collar on your Cid sprite Though I had to edit that since it didn't fit a Type 2 srpite perfectly. I'll try to fine tune it for now but it's getting difficult to edit things by hand this time. Maybe if I can find a better collar reference? And I think I'll be leaving the chest this way unless I can find a better way to incorporate the strap better.

@Cheetah: I actually copied the hair from here. It's the only design I've been able to dig through the site, the best reference I've found so far. I tried removing the coattails but I really have no idea how to go about it, changing the base would be too much work I'm willing to give, I've gone too far lol.

[Twinees]

@twinees: Lol, I actually based the collar on your Cid sprite

[Amici]

Ended up making my own collar from scratch =P Didn't find one to suit my tastes, the Calculator one was too big... what do you guys think of this?

[Kagebunji]

None of collars worked? Elmdor, Calc, Olan, Balthier, all failed? I dunno why you made his arms soo wide(the red part) on the forward-side view. Make it smaller. Current collar looks weird, especially back frames, I really suggest you copy some existing collar.

[Amici]

Which forward side-view? The 2nd pose? I'm not seeing where it's wide, where should I edit it?

As for the collars, well, I've changed up the back so it has more angle. I did my own collar since none of the existing ones were sticking up, and they looked similar with the one I used already in the previous version. And using the existing collars would cover up his manly chest, so there

[Kagebunji]

This part is WAY too wide.

[DonyaDarko]

It's looking better but the hair still needs work.