Capibara´s splicing nightmare

[Ycine]

1) The gigantic forehead is a little bit too much yeah. But I like her design a lot.

2) The main problem would be the hair. It just doesn't fit him.

3) Nice one, try adjusting the brown cloth a litlle bit more. It's too damn straight around the chest.

4) Nice mug too. I don't have anything else to say.

5) This must be my favorite from the lot. The hairstyle, the expression, freakin' great.

[Capibarainspace]

5 hours ago, Ycine said:

1) The gigantic forehead is a little bit too much yeah. But I like her design a lot.

2) The main problem would be the hair. It just doesn't fit him.

3) Nice one, try adjusting the brown cloth a litlle bit more. It's too damn straight around the chest.

4) Nice mug too. I don't have anything else to say.

5) This must be my favorite from the lot. The hairstyle, the expression, freakin' great.

1) Yep, I´ll tone it down, or maybe add hair.

2) True.

3) The cloth is the same as the fe6 mug I based it on but I guess it got screwed when changing the body proportions. It doesn´t add much to the design anyway.

Thanks for all the feedback, really appreciate it.

[Capibarainspace]

Small update, two more portraits and an edit.

I´m still not sure about the expression on the second one.

And this guy got a redesign,

It now shares face with one of the first cavaliers so I may need to change that.

[Ycine]

Onto the new ones!

1) Try adjust the eye, they look a little asymetric to me. Other than that, this is a nice portrait.

2) She reminds me a lot of Tanith (FE9 and FE10) and I find the expression to be okay.

Onto the edit!

Yeah, this new hairstyle fits him better.

[Capibarainspace]

1) Yep

2) I forgot all about Tanith but I see the similarities. ( Ages since I played fe9 and couldn´t get to fe10 yet).

[Kratos Aurion]

The jawline of the one with blue hair is weird. Well I'm not sure if its that or that the whole face is too small. Her shoulder is a bit to close of the neck (maybe like 1-3 pixel to our right). The shading on the shoulder doesnt work. I mean i guess the shaded line is a scar, if not I don't know what it is. Jaffar could be a reference for how to shade it and like she appears to be a mercenary, it's okay if she's muscular.

 

On the second one, the head seems a bit to short (I would raise the hair a couple pixels (maybe 3-5?)). The 3rd shade of her armor is to dark too : contrast is too high even for FE8 standards. Ohhhhh, th neck line is odd : it should go straight up from the collar of her clothe to the end of her jaw (same apply to your redesigned one)

 

I prefered the initial version. Hair appeared more customised and with more personnality. On the new version, he appears younger and looks like a teenager with a man body. I think it's because the neck on the clothes is too large. Other than that point, it looks good

[Capibarainspace]

13 hours ago, Kratos Aurion said:

The jawline of the one with blue hair is weird. Well I'm not sure if its that or that the whole face is too small. Her shoulder is a bit to close of the neck (maybe like 1-3 pixel to our right). The shading on the shoulder doesnt work. I mean i guess the shaded line is a scar, if not I don't know what it is. Jaffar could be a reference for how to shade it and like she appears to be a mercenary, it's okay if she's muscular.

 

On the second one, the head seems a bit to short (I would raise the hair a couple pixels (maybe 3-5?)). The 3rd shade of her armor is to dark too : contrast is too high even for FE8 standards. Ohhhhh, th neck line is odd : it should go straight up from the collar of her clothe to the end of her jaw (same apply to your redesigned one)

 

I prefered the initial version. Hair appeared more customised and with more personnality. On the new version, he appears younger and looks like a teenager with a man body. I think it's because the neck on the clothes is too large. Other than that point, it looks good

These tips are on point, thanks!

I agree with everything you said about the first two.

Regarding the monk, I get the old hair had more personality but it was a bit messy. I may try to redo it. I´ll slim down the neck and maybe do something about the body so it matches the younger face. 

Edit: Oh, which one do you mean by the redesigned one? I´m always going back and forth with my designs lol.

Edited May 12, 2017 by Capibarainspace

[Kratos Aurion]

I was referring the red head monk.

I think the messyness and the movement the blue hair monk had made a good contrast with the ''perfection'' we expect from monks and clercs!

If you redo the blue hair, i would suggest to raise the top of the hair by a couple pixel. It look a bit to flat, and it's MESSY hair : they chose where they want to go! 

[Capibarainspace]

Ok! Transformation Friday,

I always thought her hair turned out too like a blob so I changed it up. She is still missing something, more personality, I dunno.

(Not so) Fun fact: My intention so was to do a Lowen-like peg knight with the bangs covering the eyes but failed miserably, I may try again another time.

I followed Kratos´ tips and I think she improved quite a bit, specially the arm. It was very flimsy looking. The eyes are a bit higher so the face looks wider, her chin is a little big but I think it helps to give her a buffed up look. I didn´t think her left shoulder needed any change since it helps convey her tougher look with the update. Also, although a bit cliché I gave her a pirate shirt because she ...is a pirate...

I raised her hair a bit (maybe needs a crop at the top still) and tried to make it more interesting. Changed the shading on the armour so it´s less contrasting, gave her a shirt and some cape chains. 

Gave her some bangs to hide the giant forehead but I don´t know how I feel about it.

And last, I remade his hair. I made the second recolour because I think the red was too much for the updated hair but at the same time it look more mage-y as opposed to monk-y.

[Ycine]

1) I liked her old hairstyle but the new one isn't bad at all.

2) She improved a lot. The shading on her shoulder is a lot better and she just looks... well, better overall.

3) Like the new design, it's less "common".

4) The bangs are kind of messy/unnatural.

5) I like the new hairstyle, it looks really nice. And the color swap is fine. I mean, now that I see it, red eyes + red hair doesn't look as good as the new color in my opinion.

Farewell, take care and keep up the good work!

[Capibarainspace]

7 minutes ago, Ycine said:

1) I liked her old hairstyle but the new one isn't bad at all.

2) She improved a lot. The shading on her shoulder is a lot better and she just looks... well, better overall.

3) Like the new design, it's less "common".

4) The bangs are kind of messy/unnatural.

5) I like the new hairstyle, it looks really nice. And the color swap is fine. I mean, now that I see it, red eyes + red hair doesn't look as good as the new color in my opinion.

Farewell, take care and keep up the good work!

4) I think the same way, I need to look for a more seamless bang, shorter too.

Thanks for the advice as always Ycine!

[Capibarainspace]

I haven´t been inspired for a while but I managed to get some new mugs done.

I also tried to use the fe8 "right cheek shading" on some of my older mugs for consistency, I quite like it but don´t know if I´m doing it right. Some examples below,

Also, I´d like to make a collection of mugs for the community to use but I think it would be best to have a sizeable amount of sprites before. Would anyone be interested? Any feedback on this?

 

[Ycine]

First, the FE8's right cheek shadow. I don't know about it. It does look nice but it's not like it's really necessary.

The first (left) portrait is really nice. Though one thing. The headband is supposed to be under the hair or over it?

The second portrait (right) is alright too. I really like how you rework Yoder's heapiece (wich is I guess combine with Jaffar's?).

Have a nice day!

[Capibarainspace]

22 hours ago, Ycine said:

First, the FE8's right cheek shadow. I don't know about it. It does look nice but it's not like it's really necessary.

The first (left) portrait is really nice. Though one thing. The headband is supposed to be under the hair or over it?

The second portrait (right) is alright too. I really like how you rework Yoder's heapiece (wich is I guess combine with Jaffar's?).

Have a nice day!

I think I´m sticking with the "cheek shadow" but it´s tricky with mugs that are facing straight. I need to study the OG mugs more.

I tried with the headband over all of the hair but it looked weird so I settled for leaving the heavier flock of hair over it and the shorter hair on the sides below it. Maybe I should try to conceal the headband on her left side a little bit?

Thanks, yep, that´s Jaffar´s cowl + Yodel´s basket helmet (?). I tried other colours but Yodel´s just worked better.

Thank you as always!

[Kratos Aurion]

On 05/07/2017 at 0:40 AM, Capibarainspace said:

First mug is to tiny. Shoulder should be wider. I know its a child, but still child's head aren't the same size as their shoulders. The headband  should be hidden in my opinion : either its all above or all under the hair. Hairpin is nice, but seems to be hanging there out of nowhere instead or ''fixed'' on hair

I really like your second one. The line between hair and hat sould be in outline color. Without that line, hair and hat seems to blend a bit. I think you should add details on the hat (that last comment is completly personnal, i like detailed mugs!)

[Capibarainspace]

3 hours ago, Kratos Aurion said:

First mug is to tiny. Shoulder should be wider. I know its a child, but still child's head aren't the same size as their shoulders. The headband  should be hidden in my opinion : either its all above or all under the hair. Hairpin is nice, but seems to be hanging there out of nowhere instead or ''fixed'' on hair

I really like your second one. The line between hair and hat sould be in outline color. Without that line, hair and hat seems to blend a bit. I think you should add details on the hat (that last comment is completly personnal, i like detailed mugs!)

Yes, I recall noticing the shoulders too but then I completely forgot about it. I´ll get that fixed along some changes to the hairpin and headband.

You´re right about the hair blend, and I´ll see if I can experiment with details a bit more. I like them aswell but wouldn´t bother much since I wanted to improve on the basics, now I think I´m confident enough to get more creative.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Capibarainspace]

Quick update:

1) Just recolored hat under outline.

2) Remade her hair to her original design (90´s look), it was rushed so probably needs more work. I concealed the headband below the hair and place the hairpin on it. Finally, exposed more of her shoulder to look wider.

[Capibarainspace]

Some fixes and reworks,

  

1) Just shortened the collar

2) Got rid of the weird bangs and no giant forehead either.

3) I tried to mesh the old concepts into one, opened up the face and changed colours. I`m not sure I like it.

Lastly some new mugs,

1) Quite proud of this one

2) First shaman! I thought the first one needed something more so I added the hood  but since I was happy with how the hair turned out Im keeping both versions.

Edited July 23, 2017 by Capibarainspace

[Ycine]

The fixes are really good. I don't know what to think about the last one too. Your pick.

As for the new ones.

1) You should definitely be proud about this one.

2) I don't know what to say, imo, it's pretty nice.

Have a nice day and keep up the good work.

[Kratos Aurion]

Better and cleaner on the first one.

I think i prefer the before hair on second one. I think they are a bit too much in FE4/FE5 style more than FE6-8 style. Headband is better under the hair, but i think you made is too small in this version (that 100% personnal opinion and not technical). Shoulders are much better now, you added just enough.

On 22/07/2017 at 8:36 PM, Capibarainspace said:

  

Hair just above the band doesn't work. They don't seem to start from a point. Rest f the hair are all clean and there's that patch that appears to have been paste there out of nowhere.

Second char is way better. The bang was odd, now it looks way cleaner. I think the hair till lack a bit of shading, they look a bit too plain in my opinion.

For the 3rd char, i prefer the before version, not that the hair isnt good, but i find the 2 first version gave her a more distinctive personality. Looks a bit to childish instead of dynamic (short hair) or kinda quirky (bottom version). 

 

I really like your first one. 2 things i notice. First, he seems to lack any chin. The neck is the right size, but his chin is too close of the neck, at least for the orientation of his face. Second, shading on shoulder isnt right : light comes from top right side of the sprite. A bigger part of the shoulder should be in light tone.

You second mug is better with hood on, I think she has a more crazy/don't mess with me scholar look that i prefer. Without the head seems to small (the back of the skull seems sorta flat. Although, with the hood, you should rework a bit the hair just under hood : hair are suppose to be ''affected'' by the weight of the hood, which they don't right now

Edited July 24, 2017 by Kratos Aurion

[Capibarainspace]

On 24/7/2017 at 0:09 PM, Kratos Aurion said:

Better and cleaner on the first one.

I think i prefer the before hair on second one. I think they are a bit too much in FE4/FE5 style more than FE6-8 style. Headband is better under the hair, but i think you made is too small in this version (that 100% personnal opinion and not technical). Shoulders are much better now, you added just enough.

I was going for a retro look, I think the other hairstyle was a little plain. You are right about the headband, it got lost underneath the hair.

Hair just above the band doesn't work. They don't seem to start from a point. Rest f the hair are all clean and there's that patch that appears to have been paste there out of nowhere.

It took me a minute but I see what you mean,  I have to take a look at the previous sketches for this mug because it was a long time ago. 

Second char is way better. The bang was odd, now it looks way cleaner. I think the hair till lack a bit of shading, they look a bit too plain in my opinion.

I´ll take a look.

For the 3rd char, i prefer the before version, not that the hair isnt good, but i find the 2 first version gave her a more distinctive personality. Looks a bit to childish instead of dynamic (short hair) or kinda quirky (bottom version). 

Yes! My original concept was on the quirky side and I may just have to go back to it because the new styles are not working for me.

I really like your first one. 2 things i notice. First, he seems to lack any chin. The neck is the right size, but his chin is too close of the neck, at least for the orientation of his face. Second, shading on shoulder isnt right : light comes from top right side of the sprite. A bigger part of the shoulder should be in light tone.

I can´t figure out what it is about the chin, maybe the beard + too much dark shading? As for the shoulder I knew something was off but couldn´t put my finger on it, thanks.

You second mug is better with hood on, I think she has a more crazy/don't mess with me scholar look that i prefer. Without the head seems to small (the back of the skull seems sorta flat. Although, with the hood, you should rework a bit the hair just under hood : hair are suppose to be ''affected'' by the weight of the hood, which they don't right now

I agree about the hood, I´ll try to give more volume to the hair on the hoodless one so it isn´t as plain, I´ll keep both versions because they show two different sides of her (if that makes any sense). Will work on the weight of the hood.

Thanks for all the comments, definitely helps to have another perspective. (My response in blue!)

On 23/7/2017 at 2:43 AM, Ycine said:

The fixes are really good. I don't know what to think about the last one too. Your pick.

As for the new ones.

1) You should definitely be proud about this one.

2) I don't know what to say, imo, it's pretty nice.

Have a nice day and keep up the good work.

Thanks for the kind comments, have a nice day!

[Kratos Aurion]

7 hours ago, Capibarainspace said:

I really like your first one. 2 things i notice. First, he seems to lack any chin. The neck is the right size, but his chin is too close of the neck, at least for the orientation of his face. Second, shading on shoulder isnt right : light comes from top right side of the sprite. A bigger part of the shoulder should be in light tone.

I can´t figure out what it is about the chin, maybe the beard + too much dark shading? As for the shoulder I knew something was off but couldn´t put my finger on it, thanks.

Ohhh ohh!, just figured out. You used - what his name again.... Roland? - as a base for the body. He's much more sprited on the side than most characters. Since the face you used isnt in the same orientation is gives that sorta weird aspect. Or peraphs it's just his adam apple that mess my mind up.

[Capibarainspace]

On 26/7/2017 at 9:44 AM, Kratos Aurion said:

Ohhh ohh!, just figured out. You used - what his name again.... Roland? - as a base for the body. He's much more sprited on the side than most characters. Since the face you used isnt in the same orientation is gives that sorta weird aspect. Or peraphs it's just his adam apple that mess my mind up.

Actually I used Linus´ body mixed in with Dieck´s, that was the problem. I kept Dieck´s neck because I didn´t like Linus´ shading (he is tilting his head downwards as opposed to Astolfo´s slightly upwards) and had those ugly belt things I wanted to remove. Unfortunately that made for a very short neck in relation to the body.

I fixed it using Linus´neck and just shading manually and it looks cleaner. Now I cannot unsee the horse face of the previous mug lol.

Also shaded the shoulder taking the light into account and made it slightly thicker. Shortened the back of the collar too.

Thanks so much, I think it looks way better. 

[Capibarainspace]

More fixes and 3 new ones,

1st Row) Adjusted hair shading on the first one and reworked hair on the others.        

2nd R) Complete rework. I like it better this way but still needs work. I feel the chin is too big? Also, the colour on the cowl is too light.

3dr R) Just her again..., will keep this style for now.

4rd R) 1º: I wanted to experiment with a darker skin, I like the result but I feel it belongs in fe6-7. Maybe I´ll ramp up the contrast or                           smthg. The body is a mess though , especially the cowl because I couldn´t found one that fitted.

           2º: I never spliced a proper Lord before so I made a Sniper Lord, best type of Lord if it existed. Turned out ok I think.

           3º: I slowly began to hate this one. I don´t what it is but it´s not working.

                                             

 

Edited August 4, 2017 by Capibarainspace

[ZaManSwings]

Yo duuude, so Im a beginner, so take this with a bag or morton salt: 
 
Row 1 left, SWEET druidess, the monacle is on point. Something about the bang on the right side of her face seems choppy.
Row 1 mid, that bandana is super contrasted with the face below it, and thats probably from the border colours. The body on this one ROCKS. 
Row 1 right the collar and chest orientation are mismatched, but the face is SUPER clean. 

Row 2, the right side of her face and hair are super split up, the border colour separates them pretty handilly. Maybe try blending those? Her face on the right side, the eye is pretty high up, maybe down a pixel?

Row 3, her hair on the right side going over the pauldron, probably some sort of shading needed. It'd make a shadow in real life, I feel like? 

Row 4 left, LOVING the darker dude's colour choices. give yourself more credit, the body looks aight! The right hand side where the cloak comes under the pauldron is a bit wonky, but those details are super hard to nail down. 
Row 4 mid, this is probably the most obvious splice, but only because you diddn't do too much to BabyZeph's head as a base.  The royal blue of that cloak also hurts my eyes a bit, it's almost neon. The left hand side where the cloak goes over his shoulder also needs a bit of blending to smoothe it out. 
Row 4 right, thats above my pay grade.. but if I had to guess,  her right shoulder needs some TLC. I'd just match it up with Lalum's dancer ribbons, like you did on the left hand side, at least for now. that should give you some leway to focus on the the only real issue, the headpiece. Thats a ballsy sprite, dude . The head piece could probably be lightened up a tad. ignoring the wings, i'd say try blending the part where the headpiece goes across the forehead. With my jewelry pieces on my folks, I usually use the same as the darkest shaded pixel on the skin to help it out.  

Heres to your good luck! Hopefully thats not overstepping nuthin'!