Capibara´s splicing nightmare

[Capibarainspace]

Hello everyone, I´ve been lurking for a while now and trying to learn a bit of splicing. It is quite a challenge to say the least but I´m loving it.

I would love to get some feedback on my portraits because they are a bit messy at the moment.

Update! : From now on all mugs posted in the OP will be free for everyone to use, just give credit, you can PM too but it´s not necessary.

Mugs on the thread but not in the OP are not completed yet so please don´t use those.

( Disclaimer: Some assets from NICKT´s collection were used, thank you! ) 

Edited January 22, 2018 by Capibarainspace
Update

[Ycine]

Hm... I don't know if this will help you but here are my thoughts:

1) The collar does need a litlle bit more of works. But that's a fine collar.

2) I think the patch is just too long. A little cut should be more than enough.

3) I simply like this design.

4) The shading is fine. But the hair on the right side seems off.

5) I also like this design and have no comment on it.

6) The hair could use to be less stiff or maybe just angle straight down. I don't mind the blue.

So here you go. Again, dunno if this will help you in any kind of ways. Have a nice day.

[Capibarainspace]

21 minutes ago, Ycine said:

Hm... I don't know if this will help you but here are my thoughts:

1) The collar does need a litlle bit more of works. But that's a fine collar.

2) I think the patch is just too long. A little cut should be more than enough.

3) I simply like this design.

4) The shading is fine. But the hair on the right side seems off.

5) I also like this design and have no comment on it.

6) The hair could use to be less stiff or maybe just angle straight down. I don't mind the blue.

So here you go. Again, dunno if this will help you in any kind of ways. Have a nice day.

Thank you so much!, it does help a lot. I agree with your feedback also :)

[Zelkami]

I have a bit more to add, and for the sake of convenience, I'll use the same format as above.

 

1. The face is generally uneven. You might want to consider redoing everything from the bridge of the nose, up.

2. This one looks nice, but it looks like you forgot to recolor the skin around her eyes.

3. This one isn't too bad, but it has a few things holding it back. The outline on the side of his face is very blocky looking, especially around the area parallel to the nose. Try to find a way to smooth it out. It also looks like you did not recolor the skin beneath the hair to SS colors.

The collar also looks really off. If you'll notice, both his face and body are facing in the same direction. However, the center of the collar does not appear to be lined up with the center of where his neck should be, so it looks like he has it on wrong.

Finally, the colors are generally a bit ugly. Consider going over them again for this character.

4. This one definitely needs some work. For starters, the solid yellow you gave to the light most part of the armor doesn't look right. This can be fixed easily by just adjusting the hue and saturation of that one color.

Second, I'm not sure if this was your intention, but this guy has REALLY broad shoulders. This is due in part to the armor you gave him. Reexamine Cormag's portrait. Notice how, while having the same armor, he doesn't appear to be as large. That's because his head is at a higher elevation, making him appear more proportionate. Raise the head a bit and see if that helps. If you don't want to do that, try and make the armor less wide.

Finally the head itself. I don't have a problem with the design you're going for, but it has errors all over the place. For example, it looks like you tried to do much of the hair custom, which you shouldn't be doing until you have more experience. If it wasn't attached to the top and right of his head, which actually looks like hair, I probably wouldn't know what it was. Additionally, the area around his ear and upper jaw is just a mess. The hair color bleeds onto the ear itself, and the hair below his ear is just a solid color. The hair above and to the left of the ear is has way too many unnatural looking lines in it. The shading around the jaw is also quite bizzare looking. It needs to be smoother. Look at other characters for reference.

5. Nothing too much to say about this one. The neck looks just a bit too long and skinny, but from a technical standpoint there isn't really anything wrong with it.

6. This one is probably my favorite, if just for the design and the ambition behind it. It could be really good if you clean it up a bit. For starters, try to imagine the character in that pose with the cowl removed. Given the angle her head is turning, it looks like her neck is coming behind her shoulder. What I would do, is I would keep the hair, but find a face at a different angle to replace it. You could probably keep the same eye if you want. 

I can't say for sure, but her skin looks like it's using Garret's skin palette. If you're going for SS colors, use Cormag or Glenn's instead.

She also doesn't appear to have a right (our left) arm. Fixing that is as simple as just plopping a shoulder pad down.

Finally, as you said, her clue color scheme is rather dull. I personally think this character might look nice with some dull colored armor, and a pale red for the hair, but that's just me. Feel free to experiment.

 

EDIT: For #3, he also has this thousand yard stare that looks unnatural. Consider going over the eyes again.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Zelkami

[Capibarainspace]

37 minutes ago, Zelkami said:

I have a bit more to add, and for the sake of convenience, I'll use the same format as above.

 

1. The face is generally uneven. You might want to consider redoing everything from the bridge of the nose, up.

2. This one looks nice, but it looks like you forgot to recolor the skin around her eyes.

3. This one isn't too bad, but it has a few things holding it back. The outline on the side of his face is very blocky looking, especially around the area parallel to the nose. Try to find a way to smooth it out. It also looks like you did not recolor the skin beneath the hair to SS colors.

The collar also looks really off. If you'll notice, both his face and body are facing in the same direction. However, the center of the collar does not appear to be lined up with the center of where his neck should be, so it looks like he has it on wrong.

Finally, the colors are generally a bit ugly. Consider going over them again for this character.

4. This one definitely needs some work. For starters, the solid yellow you gave to the light most part of the armor doesn't look right. This can be fixed easily by just adjusting the hue and saturation of that one color.

Second, I'm not sure if this was your intention, but this guy has REALLY broad shoulders. This is due in part to the armor you gave him. Reexamine Cormag's portrait. Notice how, while having the same armor, he doesn't appear to be as large. That's because his head is at a higher elevation, making him appear more proportionate. Raise the head a bit and see if that helps. If you don't want to do that, try and make the armor less wide.

Finally the head itself. I don't have a problem with the design you're going for, but it has errors all over the place. For example, it looks like you tried to do much of the hair custom, which you shouldn't be doing until you have more experience. If it wasn't attached to the top and right of his head, which actually looks like hair, I probably wouldn't know what it was. Additionally, the area around his ear and upper jaw is just a mess. The hair color bleeds onto the ear itself, and the hair below his ear is just a solid color. The hair above and to the left of the ear is has way too many unnatural looking lines in it. The shading around the jaw is also quite bizzare looking. It needs to be smoother. Look at other characters for reference.

5. Nothing too much to say about this one. The neck looks just a bit too long and skinny, but from a technical standpoint there isn't really anything wrong with it.

6. This one is probably my favorite, if just for the design and the ambition behind it. It could be really good if you clean it up a bit. For starters, try to imagine the character in that pose with the cowl removed. Given the angle her head is turning, it looks like her neck is coming behind her shoulder. What I would do, is I would keep the hair, but find a face at a different angle to replace it. You could probably keep the same eye if you want. 

I can't say for sure, but her skin looks like it's using Garret's skin palette. If you're going for SS colors, use Cormag or Glenn's instead.

She also doesn't appear to have a right (our left) arm. Fixing that is as simple as just plopping a shoulder pad down.

Finally, as you said, her clue color scheme is rather dull. I personally think this character might look nice with some dull colored armor, and a pale red for the hair, but that's just me. Feel free to experiment.

 

EDIT: For #3, he also has this thousand yard stare that looks unnatural. Consider going over the eyes again.

These are amazing tips, thank you so much!

1. I´m not entirely sure what you mean by this one but I´ll try to play with it a bit.

2. Yep, I erased some colour from around the eyes at the last minute, thought it would open the eyes a little bit but you are right.

3. His right side always bothered me too, and that´s what´s up with the collar!!, I knew it didn´t fit nicely but couldn´t put my finger on why. As for the colours I like the sky-blue but the red is utterly disgusting, you are right. I´ll experiment with other colours.

4. Wow, you destroyed my Wyvern Knight, haha. Nah, you are right. I´ll see what I can do. This one was rush, definitely messy, I don´t even remember the process behind it.

5. I´ll fix the neck, thanks

6. I really appreciate this tips, I´m fond of this charater and was sad when I couldn´t implement it well. 

 

[Capibarainspace]

Ok, here goes the first redemption.

From  to  or 

I used Vanessa´s face since it had a better angle. Changed nose and lips too so they weren´t tilted. Also added right shoulder pad but I have a feeling its too low.

Finally, I took the dull armour colour advice and I think it looks much more interesting. Not sure which colour I like best yet. 

I didn´t mention it earlier but I´d like to make a Fe8 hack so I´d like to improve on these and other characters as much as I can. I want to have the characters´ feel and story panned out before I start hacking though.

[Capibarainspace]

Soo... I´ve taken some tips and corrected the first mugs, thank you everyone!

Spoiler

 I just moved the upper part of his head one pixel to the left and it looks much better.

Applied eye shading.

 I hated this little monster before but now he looks closer to what I intented originally. I changed his face to Franz´s, placed the collar to the left and increased saturation to the hair and armour. Eyes are from lil´ Zephiel now, no more "thousand yard stare".

 This guy was a mess. I shortened the shoulders, corrected right hair and ear, elongated his neck and added a proper beard. I think he´s much better now.

Just shortened her neck and lightened the eyes.

 I decided to go with the green, gave her the full lip back. I still have some doubts on this one. Perhaps the colours are too dark.

 

 

I also started splicing new mugs. Here is the latest,

I´m quite happy with this one but I´m still undecided on the colour, Tana, Perceval or custom. I haven´t counted the colours yet but I should be near 16.

Don´t be afraid to point out mistakes, messiness or just plain bad choices ;)

Edited February 9, 2017 by Capibarainspace

[Ycine]

Overall, they all look better. Good job!

The new portrait is really good (have a preference for the blue color).

[Capibarainspace]

Thank you! It takes a lot of time but it was worth it. I guess with practice I will splice faster.

The lighter hair colours were the original intention but you are right, I like the blue one too. It´s between that one and the peach(¿?) hair for now.

[Capibarainspace]

One more for today, 

I revived this girl from the trash can. I think she still needs some work but at least it´s better. 

 >>>> 

       Old                              New

(hair from NICKT´s)

[Capibarainspace]

Soo... I discovered I am very indecisive with colours.

I wasn´t sold on my stealthyPegKnight so I recoloured her more than ten (!)  times already. These are the best I came up with,

I started to get tunnel vision with the colours, any advice?

Two more to add to the collection,

I´m not happy with the second one at all, something is really off.

 

(Note to mods): I realized I´m spamming my own thread, I´m just excited. I´ll probably won´t be able to take this much time for a while. In any case, please tell me if I should slow my pace down) 

Edited February 12, 2017 by Capibarainspace
Sp.

[Zelkami]

Was going to respond to this a while ago, but I got distracted by something else and then forgot about it. Sorry about that. First up, trash can girl looks really good. Nice job on that one.

Personally, I think the Pegasus Knight looked much better with darker skin, and I don't think the bright warm colors for her armor and hair do her any favors either. Again that's more of a personal preference. The only real problem remaining is her head placement. I know I said this before, but I'll reiterate anyway. Look very closely at the angle her head is at, and then try to see her neck underneath the cowl. I get that she's cocking her head slightly, but it still looks like her neck is coming out of someplace it shouldn't be.

As for your new guys, they're pretty good to. I see for the first one, the only thing really sticking out to me as needing fixing is the hair behind the neck. It's very clear where the splice ends, and your custom drawing begins.

For the second one, I think the problem lies with the headband/eyepatch area, as you might've already guessed. The headband just doesn't look like it fits with the hair.

Also, you don't need to worry about spamming your own gallery thread with your own work. That's what it's here for.

 

 

[Capibarainspace]

23 hours ago, Zelkami said:

Was going to respond to this a while ago, but I got distracted by something else and then forgot about it. Sorry about that. First up, trash can girl looks really good. Nice job on that one.

Personally, I think the Pegasus Knight looked much better with darker skin, and I don't think the bright warm colors for her armor and hair do her any favors either. Again that's more of a personal preference. The only real problem remaining is her head placement. I know I said this before, but I'll reiterate anyway. Look very closely at the angle her head is at, and then try to see her neck underneath the cowl. I get that she's cocking her head slightly, but it still looks like her neck is coming out of someplace it shouldn't be.

As for your new guys, they're pretty good to. I see for the first one, the only thing really sticking out to me as needing fixing is the hair behind the neck. It's very clear where the splice ends, and your custom drawing begins.

For the second one, I think the problem lies with the headband/eyepatch area, as you might've already guessed. The headband just doesn't look like it fits with the hair.

Also, you don't need to worry about spamming your own gallery thread with your own work. That's what it's here for.

 

 

Thanks so much for the feedback, it´s encouraging.

I liked dark-skinned PegKnight too, I just changed it in the experimenting process as I did with the other colours. I´ll keep trying with the colours until I get it right. Now I see what you mean by the neck placement much better, I changed the head shape before but it still too similar. I think the armour needs to go more to the right side.

The patch on the white hair girl (Recruit) definitely needs a cleanup, I need to stop with the customs! lol

As for the last one (Wyvern Kn), I just don´t like her at all, I may start again. She was supposed to be a "lone wolf desert hero badass" and ended looking like a teenage schoolgirl after eye surgery. Meh.

PS: I really like your work, I haven´t commented on your thread yet cause I´m still a bit inexperienced.

Edited February 19, 2017 by Capibarainspace
Sp.

[Capibarainspace]

Ok, here we go,

I moved the armour a little to the right, I think (?) it fixes the head placement issue. Also removed her right shoulder again so as to emphasize that she is turning the left side of her body to us.

I´m happy with her skin tone, hair and armour. The colours fit the feel of the character well, but I´m still undecided on the cowl. Any preferences?

Also, this guy. He is the Abel cavalier, Cain being the sky-blue haired child from before.

[Capibarainspace]

Village girl nº5 grew up to be a Mercenary.

 >>>> //

[Ycine]

On 20/02/2017 at 5:22 AM, Capibarainspace said:

I´m happy with her skin tone, hair and armour. The colours fit the feel of the character well, but I´m still undecided on the cowl. Any preferences?

How come you're so indecisive with color? (I prefer the pale green)

33 minutes ago, Capibarainspace said:

Village girl nº5 grew up to be a Mercenary.

I get the feeling her neck is a little bit too tall.

[Capibarainspace]

47 minutes ago, Ycine said:

How come you're so indecisive with color? (I prefer the pale green)

I get the feeling her neck is a little bit too tall.

Haha, I don´t know about the colours. I think I experiment with them too much and then I have too many options to choose from. I was going for the pale green as well.

Her neck is long indeed, I´ll fix that, thanks.

[Capibarainspace]

A couple more mugs for the collection,

These were the first mugs I did but they were on a hard disk I didn´t have access until now. I fixed lots of things so they were up to par with the newer ones,

Below are some updates to previous mugs,

And the newest addition.

Edited February 26, 2017 by Capibarainspace

[Ycine]

Hm, let's do this.

*First line from left to right:

-I don't have anyhting to say about him. Except that it seems his face is attached to his neck. Maybe working on shadow?

-She's pretty cool. Nothing much to say.

-Ain't it your old Profile picture? Really nice design.

-Great sprite. At first seeing this one I was confused about the hair. But that's because of the outfit's outline color.

-His cheek is too "edgy". Try some curve!

*Second line from left to right:

-Do I really need to say something else? It's a good sprite.

-She gives a Nephenee vibe with this helmet on. I dig it.

-I'm torn apart. The old look was great but this one is exceptionnally great too. 

*Third and last line:

-The headgear seems off. Try adjusting it a little more.

[Capibarainspace]

3 hours ago, Ycine said:

Hm, let's do this.

*First line from left to right:

-I don't have anyhting to say about him. Except that it seems his face is attached to his neck. Maybe working on shadow?

-She's pretty cool. Nothing much to say.

-Ain't it your old Profile picture? Really nice design.

-Great sprite. At first seeing this one I was confused about the hair. But that's because of the outfit's outline color.

-His cheek is too "edgy". Try some curve!

*Second line from left to right:

-Do I really need to say something else? It's a good sprite.

-She gives a Nephenee vibe with this helmet on. I dig it.

-I'm torn apart. The old look was great but this one is exceptionnally great too. 

*Third and last line:

-The headgear seems off. Try adjusting it a little more.

Thanks for the kind comments! Let´s see,

1. I didn´t notice it before but you are right, his chin looks too inwards.

2. Thanks, she is one of my favourite characters. (She will have Lyn´s sprite, if I ever get to do a romhack...)

3. Yes, it was! This was my first splice but I can´t take too much credit for it because it relies heavily on Nickt´s stuff. I just changed the expression, colours and added some things here and there. (One of the "Lords" )

4. I can see that about the red lines.

5. Yep, I´ll fix that. Sometimes I start retouching pixels and f´up.

6. Thanks, I promise, this guy is done!

7. Wow, Nephenee never crossed my mind. Might be my subconscious because I really like her.

8. Her previous eyes never did it for me but I liked the colours (still up for debate :P)

9. Yep, the headgear was a lot of work and I got tired of it. Needs polishing indeed.

 

[Capibarainspace]

First attempt at a "bad guy",

[Capibarainspace]

Big Update!

I cleaned up all of the portraits and changed a few. Some had fe6/fe7 skin shades (ups...), now they are consistent.

 

[Ycine]

Ooh. They're looking good.

But wait, who's that guy with the green armor? And it looks like his face is a little bit too long?

[Capibarainspace]

6 hours ago, Ycine said:

Ooh. They're looking good.

But wait, who's that guy with the green armor? And it looks like his face is a little bit too long?

Thanks!

Haha, that´s Gawain the"Abel" cavalier. I´ll shorten his face, thanks.

Here is his evolution just for the lolz:

   (don´t even know)  >>     derp face       >> long face    >> better but still long face

Edit: Fixed! (Thanks Ycine)

Edited March 24, 2017 by Capibarainspace

[Ycine]

Heh, the "don't even know" and "derp face" are actually not that bad.

But yeah, nice improvements on Gawain.