ChoW 213 :: 8bit Game Character Redesign!

[dwinbotp]

BOOM!

[TaraFkri]

Heres a Wip of my mage ^^

Edit: hawt damn. sorry, about the page strecher, scaled the image down a bit

[Soultek]

Not sure if i'll have time to finish this one or not. i hope that i do. But anyway, here is a sketch of where i'm at so far. I decided to go with celicia(sp?)

[Ruri]

Everything's looking pretty great.

sketchibo: Awesome pose and lighting.

BANDD: I think the version without the heavy shadow looks better. You probably shouldn't use lined paper.

Quinn Simoes: Badass, as always.

Here's the finished pencils, ready for colour.

[John McKenna]

Not really sure what else I can do to this...

[Darsy]

hemlock-key: yeah you bet, my bad XD
prepsage: definetly! I'm changing them now ; )
Carnifex: This is really helpful thanks a lot for the link, it's very good I had never thought of color in that way. Giving some good colors to the charachter it's the hardest part, after that I can have some rest XD.
Ephelea:Yes you're right, Vivi doesn't kill anyone with his color brightness hahah, I'll fix it thanks
Suneater:same thing thanks! I think you can fix the right arm as to the deltoid muscles and the hand
Lady Chestnut : Those two look cooley
BANDD: Some folds study will help you get a better shape of the blackmage. Although we can feel some form because of the light source coming from his hands, you can still work it better. Watch his feet too, I think they need some perspective, and yeah keep it up
Quinn Simoes : Wow!

thank you all for the advices, I figured a new design to stick with, I'll show it later )))

[psychosako]

Been doing more impressionist type stuff this week, and i think it infected my chow entry. :/






I'll probably continue to add details and refine them over the next couple days, but i don't think i'm going to do much more to this unless i get some critique. Otherwise, it's staying the way it is.

Also, i apologize to the mods if there are multiple posts or multiple picture uploads. Everything is fighting me today for some reason.

[corspufo]

Hey guys, I haven't done a CHOW in a very long time and wanted to join in on this one. Feedback is welcome and crits are very much invited.

Bluki: your pose and details are really cool.

Ellisimo: I really hope you finish yours. The way the face is painted is done very well.

Carnifex: The detail on your work is really cool, but for some reason the nose is really bothering me. Seems a little too masculine, but that's just my opinion.

Prepsage: super frickin cool.

Angelsway: hot chix rulz. I hope you finish it in time.

Dwinbotp: I really like it. though is the energy lightning looks like it's behind his hat than in front of him.

[Afekay]

Started Barry (not the most interesting character, but none did him).
Designed him as a mix of a commando member and a survivalist. I'll add blood and FX later.

[smokenmirrors]

i saw the horns on centaurman and immediately envisioned some daemonic centaur getting ride to rip and ride.... i realize it wouldnt quite go in sync with the mega man universe but seems like this is somewhat of a cross over of the previous mega man chow w/ the fantasy twist.... so missed that one, but not this one.

[Carnifex]

darsy - glad to help. i'm often struggling with colour myself.
corspufo - the idea is that you can't really tell whether it's a female or male character,thus the nose.

got some more stuff to work on,but i wanted to get general feedback about the colours. i think it's abit too kitschy,but i wanted to get in some colours from the original sprite,thus the pink shirt f.ex.

[Soultek]

Awesome work so far everyone! I will try and give some crits and comments as soon as possible. So much already submitted it's hard to draw and keep up!

here is a little sketch update on my linework.

[FalyneVarger]

Everyone's entries look great so far!

This was a fun first chow. Definitely a challenge to redesign a character from an 8-bit sprite from a game I never played! lol

[Ruri]

Rough colour.

[Amberthyst]

Wow, been keeping an eye on this thread and I'm astonished at all the amazing works! Lots of very cool-looking Black Mages, and kudos to the guys who are giving the other sprites some love

Thanks to all who gave me some helpful tips and feedback! I made the image a bit larger so that I could show more of the character, and started painting away. My concerns now are:

-The bow. I've designed weapons before, but I've painted myself into a corner with the shape. I'm thinking of adding some sort of magical effect and runes/symbols (perhaps based on some of the character's attacks?), but I'm not sure.
-Messy image/background layer troubles. I've completed paintings before and come across this problem, but I've never really learned how to fix it. I want to change the background so that the character doesn't fade into the background, but the layer that I used for the color has been painted over. Is there some sort of technique for painting on top of all the layers to change something that's in the background? Not entirely sure I'm describing it properly.

[Eric Young]

still need some more work, add some more details

[Ephelea]

JohnMcKenna: Wonderful depiction, but I don't see anything new - or different at all.
All of the people who chose Yama, did the same character. I don't see a new take on it.

[jrbarker]

The Black Mage has been redesigned quite a bit by Square. He appeared in FF 9 and beyond. It's hard to compete with their designs.

[Thélema]

Jrbarker: wow! Nice entry! xDDD

[Droog]

wow!
didnt check the thread for a day and BAM!
so many good entries.
Heres mine from a day ago. hope to finish him off tonight
not so sure about the magic hole of whatever under him... like the light, but its feeling a bit contrived.. thoughts?

@dwinbotp: niiiiiiiiccceee!!

[hemlock-key]

Amberthyst I tend to play with the opacity of the layers covering the background when I run into that, but the layers all have to be separate to do that. Your other option (if the background and foreground elements are on one layer now) is to simply paint around it like you would with traditional media. You could also try a color overlay on top of the background layer to alter the tone or do a gradient and play with the opacity to darken/lighten the background. I don't know what program your using so I can't be more specific.

[Lady Chestnut]

COLOUR TEST GO! Comments and critiques are very welcome



Dwinbotp: Wow wow, that's one kickass entry O___o Love the cape, and the detail of the striped socks XD Is it the final image?
TaraFkri: Cool pose, I loke the design of the leg armor. I could use a spell somewhere tho... Maybe showing a bit of the rear hand, with a start of a fireball on its end... Dunno!
Soultek: The face part is looking awesome. But that's a difficult pose! Watch out her left hand... It seems to me that the thumb should be visible, and the wrist is a bit too prominent on the exterior side. Also, isn't her left leg a bit too stiff, with too straight lines? Or is it an armor?
FalyneVarger: Lovely piece - I specially like the hair and the face!
Ruri: That's a curious redesign XD Love the cartoony scent that it has!
The Original [E]: I like those colours! But watch out the foot... It looks a bit to twisted outwards to look natural.
John McKenna: Cool colouring as well- Love the upper part, but I think you should work out more the legs. Maybe looking at some reference can help you out...
Psychosako: Nice! I don't think it needs much more before calling it finished. But I miss a little more of variation tone on the background. Too much red, it makes the eye a bit bored...
Corspufo: Love the idea of a robotic black mage! But the shape of the hat is definetly missing. I'd better eliminate the shoulder adds, and put the hat just like in the first sketch.
Afekay: Yaay, I'm glad to see that Barry finally gets some love! And you portrayed him nicely, I like the soft colouring. Can't wait to see it finished!
Smokenmirrors: Nice idea - Can't give much advice here, but I like how you did the horse legs
Carnifex: Well, the red+purple combo always sells me XD Yes, maybe it's a bit kitschy, but I like it!
Amberthyst: Cool entry! But yes, you definetly should change the bg in order to make the figure stand out from it. Well, if you have troubles painting the bg and want to paint it on top... Why can't you simply make a new layer on top of everything and paint on it? If it's for the borders of the figure, you can try masking the layer with the outline of the figure (select it, and then press the "mask" button). Is this what you mean, or I didn't get it correctly?
(edit: wait, I automatically assumed you have Photoshop XD Which program are you using?)

[Yeti Ball]

Smokenmirrors in your sketch it looks as if the "human" section of the body meets the "horse" at a strange angle. As it stands now, it seems like the human part has been rotated 90 or 180 degrees from how it "should" be, as if the human part is "sideways".
Maybe this is your intent, part of the concept, but I think it would look more correct if the two halves of the body shared the same spine, so to speak.
I don't know if this is clear but you seem like a smart person so I think you should be able to grasp what I'm talking about.

[Nev87]

didn't work on this yesterday and didn't do a whole lot today. but im chipping away at it. tell me what you think so far. this is usually the part where things start happening that are apparently beyond my notice or control

[Amberthyst]

hemlock-key Okay, I might try some of that. I know about the painting over everything technique, I just wasn't sure if there was some sort of trick to it, 'cause my previous attempts at it weren't very successful. I'll have to mess with it until I get it right, I guess.

Lady Chestnut Yeah, that's pretty much what I wanted to know. I want to try the paint-over, but have had trouble with it in the past. I'm using Photoshop CS3, so using a mask isn't a problem. I'll have to try that.

Thanks to both for the help!

[ZenzybaR]

Update. My work flow is slooooow and tedious.
I'm going for part cyberised. I don't think we have to keep them in the context of their original game i think i can get away with it.

Can anyone point out any major problems with it. I haven't got anyone around to critique it and a W.I.P thread at this point seems pointless.

[BANDD]

WOW great stuff all around!!! and i'm amazed at the amount of support and crits going around X)) !!!
I guess it's my turn to give back a bit... sorry if i miss someone...
dwinbotp: nice!!!! that's one black mage i want in my party!!!! i like the whole normal size you gave it, looks really badazz!!!
TaraFkri: sweet!! hope to see the final version, nice pose.
Soultek: really cool design, and pose, please do finish her up
Ruri: very cool, minimal and simple
John McKenna: i'd go a bit darker and creepier...
psychosako: you can def tell an impresionist sraight foward vibe going on...
corspufo: the colors get muddy and make it a bit hard to make out, nice design.
Afekay: classical!! nicely done, a few harder shadows, like a two tone could pop it out a bit.
smokenmirrors: as said above, the attachment is a bit off, there's no body fluid body movent... not sure if that is well said...
Carnifex: more color on her skin could help
FalyneVarger:Nice design and pose, you've stretched it to the limit and well done. I'd work on the color blending, it looks too blury in some places.
The Original [E]: Nice work!!! hope to see fianl version!!!
Lady Chestnut: you'er line work was great and the pose and design really appealing but the colors aren't doing it... they're too blurry.
prepsage: respect for tech!!!!
Darsy: as said before, colors not helping out. otherwise it's a great job.
andreas V: I'd go for 2... i like girls shourlders, makes them slick... ;P go figure...

can't post much more now, at work doing this ;P shhhh son't say a word... tha't why i might have lines on my papers, i'm recycling them.

here's my take on another pose and angle. I get pertty bored with them quickly...

AWESOME WORK EVERYONE!!!

[Noah7]

I'm almost done; I'll just go over it tomorrow a little bit.

[ZenzybaR]

This is what i have so far. Need to sleep for work but hopefully i can have it done by the deadline.

[Eric Young]

Thanks for the critiques guys, they really helped. I think I solved the boot issue.