first attempt at weaponry - WIP

[Claude C Kenny]

my first attempt at making a custom weapon sprite, and i'm not gonna lie, I know there's probably tons wrong with it.

here's what it looks like smaller (maybe too small)

it's supposed to be the Gilded sword from The Legend of Zelda - Majoras Mask, and i'd like it to stay that way if possible.

as you can see, the palette from Camtechs recent weapon spriting contest is what I used. it's 16x16, don't know if that's standard, but it's what I see as a rule in the contest.

so, have at it! I need the advice. anything you can tell me about what is wrong, and what I can do to fix it. NO FLAMING!!!

and if anyone knows how to insert weapon sprites, that would help as well.

EDIT: one thing I do suspect is that I tried for too much shading. I expect to hear about that.

Edited April 6, 2011 by Claude_C_Kenny

[iavasechui]

Any chance you could post the image at actual size so we can see what it looks like without being super zoomed in? ^_^;

[Claude C Kenny]

Any chance you could post the image at actual size so we can see what it looks like without being super zoomed in? ^_^;

at your request, milady. might be too small, though.

EDIT: i'll just leave thi here for the night. I don't know how to get a decent size on the pictures, so hopefully you guys can come up with something from this. if anyone can give me the standard size, it would help. I used MS Paint after speaking with Cam, so I know he knows the proper size.

Edited April 6, 2011 by Claude_C_Kenny

[CT075]

That is in fact the standard FE color palette used in GBAFE.

Now, I can already see several problems if you plan to insert into GBAFE. Firstly, there's a lack of outline color which looks blurry and messy. I know FE3 does that, and there's no real reason not to, it's generally frowned upon. Secondly, you lack shading on the blade, which looks flat and dull. I know you say you have trouble with shading principles, but at this size shading goes like this.

Upper edge: lighter color

Lower edge: Darker color

That's all. It's not rocket science (which I know some spriters make it seem like), and it's not as complicated as mug or battle sprite shading. Just remember where the darker end is supposed to be, and you should be fine.

[deleted35362]

I has no outline. You really need an outline for something that small.

[Lord Glenn]

Adding to what's been mentioned, I might suggest that you take a read through the following two tutorials:

Custom Weapon Icon Tutorial v1.0

Custom Weapon Icon Tutorial v2.0

They should cover most of what the others have mentioned, as well as a few remaining points.

Also, in the GBAFE style, the darkest shade generally goes down the strip/center of the blade on a sword, if it's a doubled-edged blade (so, something like your real-world longsword, for instance; something like a real-world falchion would only be single-edged, since you can only use one side of the blade to cut with). If you want the blade to look golden in color, I would personally use white on the "upper" part of the blade (the lighter side), yellow on the "lower" part of the blade (the darker side) and the reddish-grey color (2nd row, 3rd column) as the color down the center of the blade.

Edited April 6, 2011 by Lord Glenn

[Claude C Kenny]

First, a joke tome:

looks like it might be too wide. any advice on tome sizes would help.

now, the fixed up Gilded Sword:

I don't know how to get the images to actaully save when zoomed in. I can zoom them in, but when I save, it reverts to this size. I switch between MS paint and paint.net, so if you guys can help, I would appreciate it.

Better? Worse?

Edited April 12, 2011 by Claude_C_Kenny

[Lord Glenn]

First, a joke tome:

looks like it might be too wide. any advice on tome sizes would help.

now, the fixed up Gilded Sword:

I don't know how to get the images to actaully save when zoomed in. I can zoom them in, but when I save, it reverts to this size. I switch between MS paint and paint.net, so if you guys can help, I would appreciate it.

Better? Worse?

For the tome, just use the regular tome size that FE6/7/8/11/12 use. Either just fill over an existing tome's design with white pixels or recreate the book outline pixel for pixel on your new canvas.

To have zoomed in images, you'll need to zoom in to the desired level, press Alt+PrtScr (Print Screen) to copy the active window to the clipboard, open a new window, paste, and then crop to the enlarged icon.

No critique on the actual icons as of yet since I'm not at my laptop and don't have access to any programs to zoom in and look at them.

[Claude C Kenny]

post updated to include zoomed images.

EDIT: crap, I missed the part about how to make it look gold. i'll have to fix that, but for now, at least tell me if my shading is alright at least.

Edited April 12, 2011 by Claude_C_Kenny

[Claude C Kenny]

went a little crazy last night and tried some things. so here's more WIP's for you guys to critique:

Worried that it's just too bland.

yeah, it looks lame. need help with making it look like flames mostly.

probably has the solution for my flame problem. probably should've went with orange for the book cover, but didn't want it to collide with the other colors.

blade is supposed to look gold and silver. gold attempted with lord glenn's suggestion. if it doesn't look good, let me know why. this is probably the only one i'll make that will go in my hack, so it has to look good.

because non-FE related weapons are cool! really looking for critique here the most. and maybe a throwing animation for thieves and assassins.

I'm all open. Tell me what you think!

Edited April 12, 2011 by Claude_C_Kenny

[iavasechui]

Not sure what advice I could offer other than change the pink background on the tome, maybe white?

[Joerachi]

#1 It's a red Iron sword :V

#2 It does look like flames but something tells me it would hurt to wield. Like, really badly XD

#3 The Pink BG does work, but it would probably do better if it wasn't ONLY pink.

#4 Have the darker shade touch the edges, otherwise the blade will just look weird(er).

#5 I'd make the left part of the blade slightly more curved.

[Claude C Kenny]

#1 It's a red Iron sword :V

#2 It does look like flames but something tells me it would hurt to wield. Like, really badly XD

#3 The Pink BG does work, but it would probably do better if it wasn't ONLY pink.

#4 Have the darker shade touch the edges, otherwise the blade will just look weird(er).

#5 I'd make the left part of the blade slightly more curved.

#1 is there a way to make it look thinner?

#2 how do I fix that?

#3 what other color would you suggest?

#4 you mean the dark color going down the middle of the blade? should it go into the white area as well?

#5 any way you could show me what you mean?

[Claude C Kenny]

Double post, cuz i'm awesome:

[iavasechui]

You know you don't have to spoiler every image, they aren't that big and its your own gallery topic, unless its a metric ****ton of pics like in my Seisen Densetsu 3 palette swap patch topic I see no reason why you should spoiler tiny weapon icons.

[Claude C Kenny]

Cuz i'm just awesome like that.

I do that to keep the post looking clean, and to not spoil certain surprises like my Shuriken. I guess I don't have to keep doing it if it's bugging people, but it bugs me when the picture just pops up on-screen.

[iavasechui]

XD I'm lazy and hate to click spoiler tags

[Claude C Kenny]

Well, don't be so lazy then.

[iavasechui]

It wouldn't be so annoying if my mouse handn't broke... gah touch pad is so annoying to have to use all the time....

Edited April 16, 2011 by iavasechui

[Claude C Kenny]

So, I decided to take a different approach to making weapon icons. I took some weapon icons from the DS Castlevania games and re-did them to fit into the FE games and use the FE palette. Then, I attempted to modify the weapon to come up with something original. Here's where i'm at so far:

The icon as it looks in it's original game.

The icon modified to fit the FE games.

The icon further modified in an attempt at something original.

I don't know how the community will feel about this, but hopefully it is a good reception. The modified icon probably doesn't look right, because I tried to give the end of the blade 3 points. Just tell me what you think, and if I should try to do more.

Edited May 5, 2011 by Claude_C_Kenny

[Claude C Kenny]

Here's 2 more with some originality:

[iavasechui]

^_^ You know if you can get the blade of roses I would totally want to use it for Isabel's personal weapon.

[Claude C Kenny]

Yeah, but like you just told me, you can't insert into the ROM with that pink color. That causes a major problem.

[CT075]

Here's 2 more with some originality:

The shading on this one is interesting, but doesn't really fit FE shading conventions (and, unless the blade is totally flat, it's shaded in the wrong way, period.).

Now, this one looks rather flat (meaning, it's not shaded very well). Not to mention the hilt is bothering me on both.

I could show you how I would do it personally (with a critique/redline of course) if you wanted, but I dunno how much you care/are willing to fix it.

[Claude C Kenny]

The shading on this one is interesting, but doesn't really fit FE shading conventions (and, unless the blade is totally flat, it's shaded in the wrong way, period.).

Now, this one looks rather flat (meaning, it's not shaded very well). Not to mention the hilt is bothering me on both.

I could show you how I would do it personally (with a critique/redline of course) if you wanted, but I dunno how much you care/are willing to fix it.

If you want to, go ahead. It would help before I pump out too many of them.