Phlash's Projects

[Phlashblazer]

Hey everyone, I've finally decided to muster up the guts for my first ever sprite project of creating a custom portrait, and I'd like to share my concept/idea with you all.  This will also be my sprite project thread for future use

The idea is that I'd like to combine Gafgarion's fur along his shoulder as well as the unique squire's hairstyle to both be set onto Malak's portrait.  The fur will be set to Malak and I would like it to be very eye-catching.  The hairstyle to be similar to the unique squire however, still with malak's hair color.  I would also like to keep Malak's tan/dark skin tone, with a scar on his left cheek and noticeable hazel eyes.  I'm going for a somewhat foreign look akin to the Balkan's from Ogre battle 64.  If anyone doesn't know the Balkan's were fierce warriors that wore sharp, steel claws on each hand.  Although they were lightly armored, they were very agile and certainly muscular.  I don't remember the lore, but their empire was destroyed and people were enslaved.  It would make a nice game addition to the Ogre Battle series if you ask me

My Gameplan:
1st:  Fur
2nd: Hair
3rd: Eyes


Here's just a rough draft (I was in a rush but at least I did something xD)

spoiler

Please let me know what you think, suggestions, etc. thanks!

[Kagebunji]

Welcome to the site. As for a rough draft, it is looking quite nice. I would love to see how this will turn out. Remember that FFT palettes have 16 color limit.

[mav]

Pretty good start on an interesting project. Just keep in mind that Malak's hair color may have a few less shades than some of the lighter skinned characters' in the game. Do you have any other work you wouldn't mind posting? It doesn't necessarily have to be FFT-related.

[Phlashblazer]

Thanks Kagebunji!  16 colors, hm.  Not sure how to check photoshop for how many colors I've got.  Which kind of sucks because I added some gold on the collar (stole from Olan)  I really need to get my color foundation done.  Oh well time to google, lol.

Hey mav! thanks, hm... other work?  Well I like to write as well.  Actually have got a short story I want to finish, and I also like to animate too!  Was planning to work on my sprite animation skills by making a small Dragon Force fan series ( one of Sega Saturn's most underrated RPG) but as of right now, I'm occupied doing this hahah.

Btw, I'm having alot of trouble with lighting and shading in the right areas, and when I try to put the gold trimming on the collar, it looks very unnatural.  What is it called, anti-aliasing should do the trick right?

[Cheetah]

Dragon Force is incredible, you should check out the Dragon Force II translation project.

Are you trying to make a normal size portrait to use in game or are you just trying to make an avatar? Photoshop takes a little changing around to work well for pixel art. You never want to use anti aliasing when doing pixel art. Working off a base and using bits and pieces of different sprites to frankinsprite something together is a good starting point for a beginner.

[dinosaur]

*cling*

I will respond about the Photoshop 16bit later.

[Phlashblazer]

Dragon Force is incredible, you should check out the Dragon Force II translation project.

Are you trying to make a normal size portrait to use in game or are you just trying to make an avatar? Photoshop takes a little changing around to work well for pixel art. You never want to use anti aliasing when doing pixel art. Working off a base and using bits and pieces of different sprites to frankinsprite something together is a good starting point for a beginner.

Hey Cheetah!  Well, I'm trying to make it as authentic as possible.  One reason is if I get decent at this I might be able to make a full spritesheet.  And I did frankinsprite too.. I imported all the sprites (Gafgarion, Olan, Squire, and Malak) and broke down the images in Flash CS5.  Then, I imported them into photoshop, copied a section of Gafgarions left shoulder, and tried to give somewhat of a noble look by *attempting* to make a gold collar.  It's not looking too great, lol.  I'm kinda new at this and I honestly don't know the basics.  As for Photoshop,  the scaling of the images takes about 4 pixels for one regular FFT pixel.  Here, take a look guys at what I've got for now.

*cling*

I will respond about the Photoshop 16bit later.

Hi dinosaur, please write me back ASAP I am usually on the forums or IRC but i don't hear any sound if anyone IM's me so I might miss messages on irc xD!  Thanks!
http://i56.tinypic.com/33bd8c3.png

EDIT: damnit I forgot to save my gold collar when I was working on it last night >"<  Will keep ya guys posted! Workin on it right now
EDIT#2: Agghh.. I fear I may have passed my pixel bounds with the fur shoulders if it will be made for FFT =\  I may have to fix that later

[dinosaur]

hhmmm I played around I am not sure about what Kage is referring too actually.

But to change your image to 16 bit. Go to IMAGE > MODE> 16bit/channel   ... I think that is what Kage is referring too...

[Phlashblazer]

hhmmm I played around I am not sure about what Kage is referring too actually.

But to change your image to 16 bit. Go to IMAGE > MODE> 16bit/channel   ... I think that is what Kage is referring too...

Did that, but don't really notice the changes.  What exactly does that do?

[Twinees]

hmm... why are you working at a 2x size again? If you work at 1x your pixels will be a lot smoother, and you wouldnt have any problems shrinking it because its at the standard size.
For the photoshop thing, leave it on 8bit. If you want to look at the palette go to Image -> Mode -> Colour Table. There you can edit the colours etc. What Kage was referring to was that portraits can only use 16 colours, i.e they have a 16 colour limit (including the background colour) so if you do go over that limit, you will have to reduce it for it to actually work in fft.

[Phlashblazer]

hmm... why are you working at a 2x size again? If you work at 1x your pixels will be a lot smoother, and you wouldnt have any problems shrinking it because its at the standard size.
For the photoshop thing, leave it on 8bit. If you want to look at the palette go to Image -> Mode -> Colour Table. There you can edit the colours etc. What Kage was referring to was that portraits can only use 16 colours, i.e they have a 16 colour limit (including the background colour) so if you do go over that limit, you will have to reduce it for it to actually work in fft.

Okay I will try 1x.  Either I'm using photoshop wrong (wrong brushes, photoshop diff scaling)  because 1 pixel in GraphicsGale = 4 subdivided in 1 pixel, maybe I may have a setting wrong. because I have to make 4 pixels in one square to make 1 FFT pixel.  I tried using 4px + pen&other brushes but am having a little trouble with that since the brushes have different shapes and the pen does some kind of weird circular/oval shape.  So I think I will stick with graphicsgale as it is a more pixel oriented program.  Thanks for the tips!

[Cheetah]

If you want to ever use a portrait in game, you have to be working at the native resolution. All the avatars we have next to our messages are enlarged, and thus can never be used in game because trying to shrink stuff down never turns out well. If you go to the main FFH site there is a sprite section there and you can use the portraits from there, they are native resolution.

Photoshop tips:
1) Turn anti aliasing off on EVERYTHING.
2) Use layers obviously.
3) Use the pencil tool for almost everything.
4) Use the paint bucket for general color changes, there is an option to get all of one color and not just the connect pixels.
5) Don't use paint brush or any brushes really, only pencil.
6) Depending on your version of Photoshop you can sometimes open two windows of the same sprite so that you can work on it zoomed but see changes in native resolution. Very handy.

General Tips:
1) Only use colors from existing sprites. Getting Gaff's collar to be gold/yellow is going to be hard.
2) Always work in native resolution.
3) When starting use existing resources as much as possible.

Why did you use Flash?

[Phlashblazer]

Thanks Cheetah, I've been fiddling around with PS and don't know how to do #1, I'm sure it's in preferences though, #2 I do, #3 Is a yes, #4 I had no idea I can change a whole color, #5 I tried to do, but found out pencil was the only way to go, #6 I have the newest version but don't know how to open another window for my sprite, I use magnifixer.

As for gen. tips
I'm trying to set elements of Gafgarion's fur lining along his shoulder and the Squire's hair incorporated onto Malak, and I want Malaks collar to be gold.  Native resolution, what do you mean?  I saved sprites from http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Final_Fantasy_Tactics_Portrait_Images, and I *think* I'm using as much existing resources* as possible.  I used flash because I had no idea how to break down the image with PS, in order to use the magic lasso to remove gafgarions fur along his shoulders.  Then, I copied that and put it onto Malak.  Though I probably could've just used paint for that, or maybe I was on the wrong layer at the time in PS, I got it to work lol.  Thanks for the tips Cheetah!

[Cheetah]

Eegad that is a horrible resource. Not only are those not native resolution, they aren't even consistent. Native means not blown up or distorted. Get some of the stuff from here http://ffhacktics.com/spr.php

You can turn anti-aliasing off in the tool options at the top, it is usual a little check box for each individual tool after selecting the tool.

Using the lasso isn't the best, when using the magic selector you can set it to one color and then hold shift to add more colors. It would take about five seconds to get all of Gaf's white fur selected.

[Phlashblazer]

Eegad that is a horrible resource. Not only are those not native resolution, they aren't even consistent. Native means not blown up or distorted. Get some of the stuff from here http://ffhacktics.com/spr.php

You can turn anti-aliasing off in the tool options at the top, it is usual a little check box for each individual tool after selecting the tool.

Using the lasso isn't the best, when using the magic selector you can set it to one color and then hold shift to add more colors. It would take about five seconds to get all of Gaf's white fur selected.

Ah thanks for the tips Cheetah, I'm starting to get the hang of Photoshop now.  Btw, here's what I've got so far for the portrait
EDIT: did some tuning up tonight, have no idea what i'm going to do with the hair or how to shade it, been checking out other portraits.

spoiler

[dinosaur]

Lookin sexy!

[Durbs]

That's really cool. Do I see another portraiter on the block?  

Is the strip of color running on his cheekbone a scar? It looks out of place on the smaller portrait. Maybe reduce it / eliminate it?

[Phlashblazer]

Lookin sexy!

Thanks dino, please don't be afraid to be hard on me xD.

That's really cool. Do I see another portraiter on the block? 

Is the strip of color running on his cheekbone a scar? It looks out of place on the smaller portrait. Maybe reduce it / eliminate it?

Thanks durbs, oh that strip is gafgarions armor.. I was messing around and wanted to see if I could pulloff a different angled fur knight.  Maybe I might do an armored helmed version of him later, but I'm tied down with this portrait.  When I get good I can fool around.  The strip of color is a scar and I would like to keep it, yes i know it's hard to pull off but I want to pull it off

[GeneralStrife]

Looks good, I immediately noticed that the hair isn't shaded enough. It's one saturated color on 60 % of it, mostly the top.

[Phlashblazer]

Looks good, I immediately noticed that the hair isn't shaded enough. It's one saturated color on 60 % of it, mostly the top.

yes, reason why is because I'm still trying to figure out how/what I'm gonna do with it, so, I'm still scheming out what I'm going to do.  This is going to the hardest part of the portrait for me, since this literally my first sprite project, lol!