Blue Mage & Flan Sprites

[Ryu]

So... quite some time ago when I first signed up to this forum, I attempted making a Blue Mage sprite. The top Blue Mage on this here picture.




As you can see, it sucked. Smash did the cleanup which you see on the bottom, and not only did it look nicer, it took less colors! My problem then was that I exported the .bmp's and directly loaded them into MSPaint, and I guess that created palette issues for me. Smash does his sprites from scratch from what I understand.

Anyway, after thinking I'm just not cut out for this stuff, I moved on to other projects. Mostly ASM hacking and programming (though not for FFT). I worked on all sorts of projects, but on some occasions I'd still try to sprite. Most of the time I'd get fed up and quit, but I usually get back into it. I managed to make some pretty decent concepts for a few Final Fantasy monster types, but they need some serious work. I also worked on a Green Mage sprite, and really do hope to include the sprites I'm making in my own patch. I'm really picky though, so if they look like shit, I'll probably give up the idea. Anyway, I've been working on that old Blue Mage sprite and I don't think it looks too bad, I've worked on the back (which needs more work), the walking animations, the full front and full back parts, the arms, and some other parts. So I'm hoping to eventually finish this thing and release it. I've also been working on a Flan sprite, which seems to be coming out nicely, though I'm redoing various parts of it. Here's what they currently look like:





As you can see I'm still working on the bottom of the Flan, but it's hard for me to tell if it'll fit in well in FFT. So I was wondering if anyone here has any advice for either of these sprites. Especially you Smash since you're quite good at clean-ups. This is probably going to drive me nuts 'til it's finished, lol.

Feel free to work on the sprite and repost it here to show what I can do to improve them.

[SilvasRuin]

Very nice.  I see you've simplified it a bit further, which I think cleans it up better and I'm sure makes it easier.  The shading is definitely more subtle.  I'd say you've improved on the shading even from Smash's fix.  Making the hat completely smooth makes it look a bit odd in my opinion, but it doesn't look bad.

The flan is fantastic so far.

[Twinees]

looking pretty nice. for help with the bottom half of the flan's shading, you could possibly get some ideas from the white mage female, the bottom bit of her robe.
Other than that, im liking both sprites alot. Good luck.

[mav]

The Flan looks phenomenal. Very nice work. Are you going for a translucent effect at the bottom? If not, do like twinees suggested and take a gander at some of the mages' robes. As for the Blue Mage, he looks good. If it's still at 12 colors, you have some great opportunities to spruce up the vest or something.

Good luck. The sprites look great so far.

[Lijj]

I'm really liking that flan. Though I prefer it's other alias: PUDDING

[Zozma]

if you use the asm hack that makes it so AI can see invisile, then u can use it as a translucent effect, like i do for ghosts.

[Smash]

I was just examining up the flan. Did some messing around on the bottom part, and brightened the brightest blue to allow for highlighting.



An effect like this could work for the bottom, I think.



Either way, I highly recommend taking a read at this. Especially the Banding Primer post.
http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation ... pic=8110.0

[mav]

Nice improvements as always, Smash. The sprite looks much more complete now.

I think it's time we finally see a Flan get completed; don't let us down.

[Lijj]

Yeah the usage of darker shades is a good touch.

[Ryu]

Ah, very nice Smash. I like what you've done with the eye, and the effect on the bottom especially.

I only get to work on sprites for a couple of hours at night, so I'll probably work on this more for a while then post my progress. Smash's sprite has given me all sorts of ideas I want to try, along with that forum he linked to. I just may clean up the other monster sprites I've been working on and post those here as well when I get a chance. Oh, and, I'm probably going to change my Blue Mage sprite a bit, but I'm just far too attached to that damn smooth hat thing, lol, so that may not change.

[mav]

If you have other completed monster sprites, then submit 'em, by all means. If there's one thing lacking on the Custom Sprites page it's monster types.

Anyways, keep steady, Ryu. Sure we'd like to see this completed, but real life always comes first. Work on what you have when you can and be proud of what you've got.

[Ryu]

If you have other completed monster sprites, then submit 'em, by all means. If there's one thing lacking on the Custom Sprites page it's monster types.

That's exactly the reason I began working on Monster sprites, actually. I wanted people to have more options for their patches, and classic FF monsters are definitely lacking. Some reworked current monster sprites could also be nice for those with patches not based in Ivalice.

Anyways, keep steady, Ryu. Sure we'd like to see this completed, but real life always comes first. Work on what you have when you can and be proud of what you've got.

Thanks. It's nice to not feel rushed into finishing these when you have so many other things to worry about, but I definitely want these to get finished as well.