Some Help/Critique

[ErrantDShepherd]

Very cool. Definitely can tell incomplete from the choppiness of the animation... But a good start definitely. :)

So what is the difference between this Mage Knight and GBA one, aside from the shield, in your mind? :o

[Leif]

Very cool. Definitely can tell incomplete from the choppiness of the animation... But a good start definitely. :)

So what is the difference between this Mage Knight and GBA one, aside from the shield, in your mind? :o

It's the way they cast the spell. FE8's was very static. Thracia's had a ton of movement. I was trying to replicate that.

Here is a youtube clip of what I mean.

https://youtu.be/JOjTaIbWMtA?t=8m46s

Edited October 18, 2015 by Leif

[Agro]

He mostly means your frame timing and positioning is a bit off. One thing you might find helpful is this mod of FEditor, which is capable of ripping frames from any spritesheet in their correct positioning, making modifications of vanilla animations much easier.

[Leif]

I made a GBA version of the Thracia 776 Lopto Mage. 100% custom.

I was attempting to remake this sprite (see below).

I hope it isn't too tiny. I was keeping it the same pixel height as the vanilla GBA mage overworld sprite.

Edited October 22, 2015 by Leif

[ErrantDShepherd]

Oooh. I like this. We need more overworld spriting. :)

[Lenh]

The form is pretty good. Is that his arm flapping with in sync with the cape, though?

[Leif]

The form is pretty good. Is that his arm flapping with in sync with the cape, though?

Yeah, because the Thracia Lopto Mage does something similar.

I edited it a bit to make it a little bigger. It seemed too tiny.

It's amazing how much of a difference a few pixels can make.

[Agro]

If you're gonna do overworld sprites, you need to get the timing right. The timing for map sprites in their standing position is 52/7/52. You'd be surprised at how different this can make some of your sprites look.

[Lt.Smirks]

Posted Today, 08:38 PM

If you're gonna do overworld sprites, you need to get the timing right. The timing for map sprites in their standing position is 52/7/52. You'd be surprised at how different this can make some of your sprites look.

Something like this

[Leif]

If you're gonna do overworld sprites, you need to get the timing right. The timing for map sprites in their standing position is 52/7/52. You'd be surprised at how different this can make some of your sprites look.

Something like this

Oh. I use GIMP to make these animations. I'm relatively new to it so I'll have to find a way to replicate the GBA animation timing.

Thanks Smirks for the demonstration.

I guess I just want to know how the sprite is in of itself. Is there anything wrong with the individual frames? How's the shading?

The animation is an after thought. Should I just show the sheets?

Edited October 23, 2015 by Leif

[Agro]

The reason I said to get the timing right is because it affects the way the animation looks. Before the movement looked okay, but changing the timing points out how static a lot of the map sprite is. The cape kind of flows a bit unnaturally and almost looks like his arm is hiding under it, which is... funny.

Map sprites are all in the motion. Shading is usually an afterthought. It looks a bit unusual for everything except the cape and arms to be unmoving - there needs to be a bit more motioning of the body. I usually just reference other map sprites to get a better feel of how they should look.

[Leif]

I'll work on the Lopto Mage a bit later. How's this High Priest battle sprite? It's mostly custom; I only referenced Ross's Journeyman battle sprite for the height of this unit and FE8!Lyon's staff to make this.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Leif

[Ansem]

i like the thracia mk animation. you should work on that some more. maybe use the ranger sword animation for this sword, but i think it was already made.

[ErrantDShepherd]

The Sprite for the High Priest is by itself a nice battle sprite...

However, it seems perhaps a bit, too simple a design for a "High Priest"? What does the original art/sprite stuff look like?

This seems like it needs to be a bit fancier? :0

[Leif]

i like the thracia mk animation. you should work on that some more. maybe use the ranger sword animation for this sword, but i think it was already made.

I know, I know. Eventually. I don't think I'll be using a sword animation, but rather a new staff animation so it's in keeping with the GBA FE engine.

The Sprite for the High Priest is by itself a nice battle sprite...

However, it seems perhaps a bit, too simple a design for a "High Priest"? What does the original art/sprite stuff look like?

This seems like it needs to be a bit fancier? :0

True, it's just a start. I could add some of those shoulder pads like they have in FE4 and 5.

I fixed the Lopto Mage overworld. I finished the running animations and I will work on the cursor animation next. I'm gonna do a female version too. My mini-dream is to see these sprites function properly in a GBA FE game. haha.

Better?

I FINALLY figured out how to properly time the animation.

Edited October 24, 2015 by Leif

[Leif]

I think I finally perfected the animation. Now onto a female Lopto mage.

EDIT:

Cursor animation done. Wasn't very creative with it, I know. :(

Edited October 25, 2015 by Leif

[Leif]

Yikes, sorry to triple post, but I finished the Male/Female Lopto Mage sheets.

I am not too sure about the female Lopto mage. I would love some critique.

I also started the battle sprite for the male.

I have the generic palettes for ally, enemy, NPC, and other units. It's exactly 15 colors.

Something is off about the tunic. I need some input, badly. This is, again, completely custom. I only used the male monk as a base to build this sprite.

I was trying to make them similar to the Lopto Mage battle model from Thracia 776.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Leif

[Lt.Smirks]

I don't know very much about map sprites so I'll let someone else cover that.

Your primary problem is pillow shading. That and an overuse of the outline color.

Try referencing these. You'll notice that the lightest shade of cloak goes up to the edge whereas your's has a bunch of shading in between.

For the tunic, there seems to be a lot of banding going on. Think about where the center of each object is and that's primarily where the lightest tones should be found. (at least if the object is curved)

You could probably also make the darkest pants/tunic and hair shades just a little darker for a little more contrast.

Also your palette shows 15 colors but you say it only has 14?

Overall it looks really nice: I like the design. Keep it up!

(I'm not too good at explaining but I can show you a few tweaks, if you don't mind)

[Leif]

I don't know very much about map sprites so I'll let someone else cover that.

Your primary problem is pillow shading. That and an overuse of the outline color.

Try referencing these. You'll notice that the lightest shade of cloak goes up to the edge whereas your's has a bunch of shading in between.

For the tunic, there seems to be a lot of banding going on. Think about where the center of each object is and that's primarily where the lightest tones should be found. (at least if the object is curved)

You could probably also make the darkest pants/tunic and hair shades just a little darker for a little more contrast.

Also your palette shows 15 colors but you say it only has 14?

Overall it looks really nice: I like the design. Keep it up!

(I'm not too good at explaining but I can show you a few tweaks, if you don't mind)

Looks much better, thanks for the assistance. I'll try and replicate your shading pattern myself so I can learn how to shade properly. x(

And, yes, I forgot to count the black outline as a color, so you are right that it has 15 colors. @_@

I want to make a custom battle sheet, but it will be a heck of a project for a novice like me.

[ErrantDShepherd]

Yeah... I still haven't done a full sheet and I have been doing Fire Emblem style since '08... So you are not alone there bud. (I should get off my butt and do some >.>)

You look like you are getting the hang of things though. Smirks shading tips should help there as well.

Speaking of the mage. One suggestion I would have would be to widen the stance a little bit. It would be awkward to try to do any movements with your legs so close together. Spread them about a shoulder width apart, and you have a more solid footing for any movements. (Yeah, I remember making stuff off of the Monk at first too, he has a weird stance actually in some regards...)

[Leif]

Started the battle animation; four frames in. I want to know how the stance/form is. I'll work on the shading later. I used Lyon's Necromancer cape as a base.

[Eliwan]

For the second frame there, there needs to be a fold on the far side of the cape... if the arm is where I think it is.

For the third frame, I'm probably misinterpreting the cape structure, but it looks like it'd be going through his shoulder instead of around it based on how far left (our pov) the cape re-emerges from his arm.

[it looks nice]

[Leif]

For the second frame there, there needs to be a fold on the far side of the cape... if the arm is where I think it is.

For the third frame, I'm probably misinterpreting the cape structure, but it looks like it'd be going through his shoulder instead of around it based on how far left (our pov) the cape re-emerges from his arm.

[it looks nice]

Could you elaborate more on the third frame? I am not sure what you mean. =(

[Eliwan]

Could you elaborate more on the third frame? I am not sure what you mean. =(

if i remember that i actually posted, yes

See how at the top, in the idle, the shoulders [the stickfigure on top of the sprite] have the cape [the red] actually -resting- on them?

That's how it would be when shoulders are neutral.

But when the shoulder is raised, the cape would start splitting away from the shoulder sooner, because the shoulder doesn't catch the cape anywhere near as much.

The cape curls inward as it does in the idle, which doesn't make sense because we should be seeing the other side of his arm.

If you try and replicate the motions without flipping your arm out of the cape, the -entire cape- has to be lifted up and would therefore actually still be on his arm some: i'm not sure but I think we would see part of it on his arm or obscuring his face from the angle? too tired

Really, it all depends on what is between that second and third frame, but from what I can see so far it the cape doesn't line up with how I'm imagining the sequence of motion.

on the right is how i'd do it but I'm pretty sure I'm doing something else wrong there. I also edited the other side of the cape because it looked like his arm was doing a chicken-wing sort of motion and in that motion his elbow would have disturbed his cape.

but that may be my head just running and running farther away from the truth, so do ignore it if that's not what he's doing.

Edited October 29, 2015 by Eliwan

[Leif]

if i remember that i actually posted, yes

See how at the top, in the idle, the shoulders [the stickfigure on top of the sprite] have the cape [the red] actually -resting- on them?

That's how it would be when shoulders are neutral.

But when the shoulder is raised, the cape would start splitting away from the shoulder sooner, because the shoulder doesn't catch the cape anywhere near as much.

The cape curls inward as it does in the idle, which doesn't make sense because we should be seeing the other side of his arm.

If you try and replicate the motions without flipping your arm out of the cape, the -entire cape- has to be lifted up and would therefore actually still be on his arm some: i'm not sure but I think we would see part of it on his arm or obscuring his face from the angle? too tired

Really, it all depends on what is between that second and third frame, but from what I can see so far it the cape doesn't line up with how I'm imagining the sequence of motion.

on the right is how i'd do it but I'm pretty sure I'm doing something else wrong there. I also edited the other side of the cape because it looked like his arm was doing a chicken-wing sort of motion and in that motion his elbow would have disturbed his cape.

but that may be my head just running and running farther away from the truth, so do ignore it if that's not what he's doing.

I gotcha now. I'll have to work on that. Thanks for the input.

Proud of these tomes.

Top is anima, middle is light, and bottom is dark.

(Fire, Thunder, Elfire, Bolting, Fimbulvetr, Excalibur, Forblaze)

(Lightning, Shine, Divine, Purge, Aura, Luce, Aureola)

(Flux, Luna, Nosferatu, Eclipse, Fenrir, Gespenst, Ereshkigal)

They use the GBA palette, so they can be used in fan projects.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Leif