Seeking advice for: Poses & Expressions | Format & Critique

[Azmor]

Hello guys, right now I'm creating short sketches about the frontal expression of a character which will be one of the player's companions.

But I already see some problems about the way the poses have to work together. Do you guys have a special trick when turning the character to the sides or do you just simply create a total new sprite? I really have some problems in letting the character stand turned without losing a bit of her facial art quality.

Is it a lack of skills for drawing characters in a slightly different angle or is there some kind of trick I could learn from you?

I'll post 3 sketches so that you can judge a bit better by the drawing. In my opinion the faces loses it's cheeks and the hair gets some awkard looks.

I've seen some pictures where the character's faces were drawn so perfectly fine in their angle that there were no real differences between the expression, the eyes, the nose and so on.

If possible, please explain me how I can set the characters face properties in all the different angles.
I always have been learning by doing.


P.S.: Sorry, she looks a bit grumpy, because she's sort of a grumpy cat. The missing shoulders may be ignored!

Edit: As I just saw, I think this topic will have to be moved, since it's no general discussion.

- Azmor

[hiko27]

But I already see some problems about the way the poses have to work together. Do you guys have a special trick when turning the character to the sides or do you just simply create a total new sprite? I really have some problems in letting the character stand turned without losing a bit of her facial art quality.

You don't need to change the angle to a 3/4ths view. I have this sprite right here that's not facing the front completely but you can still pretty much see her face. As for turning the character to the sides. If you're changing the whole pose itself, yeah I create a new sprite, but if it's something minimal where I can work with the finished sprite, I just change that part. I mean, I already have a finished piece that I can alter, it saves me time and effort. It also keeps the consistency of the sprite.

I've seen some pictures where the character's faces were drawn so perfectly fine in their angle that there were no real differences between the expression, the eyes, the nose and so on.

If possible, please explain me how I can set the characters face properties in all the different angles.

Use guidelines. Also look up proportions. Your proportions have to be the same, the positioning of all the features need to be in proportion to the face. The thing with not using guidelines is you're not only thinking about the features, but also proportion and things like that. Take it one step at a time. Draw a guideline for your face, that way you can focus solely on getting the guidelines right instead of juggling that with drawing the actual features.

As for the difference part of the features themselves, it's more about style rather than skill. If you've got a certain way of drawing your eyes, then it'll be the same throughout unless you change it.

Not sure if any of this helps. I feel like I'm just rambling.

[Azmor]

It did help me quite a bit.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how I should save the files properly without letting myself feel dizzy when I open up the folder with the sprites. I'm going for something like: outfit1\nohood\1nhImpressed.png etc.

This will take some time but at least I advance step by step.

I will try to use more guidelines in the future.

Thank you for your post.


- Azmor

[Akai85]

Yep, I have a technique that works pretty well for me. I call it the "ball and anchor" and I developed it from messing around with anatomy and guidelines for a while.

Unfortunately I had to use MSPaint and a mousepad to do this so the images suck balls (and aren't remotely anatomically correct which defeats the process) but at least it makes the concept easy to understand.

step 0.jpg (6.53 KiB) Viewed 1340 times

Step 1) Draw a circle. This circle is the base of the skull - the section that meets the back neck and disconnects at the jaw. This circle is now a sphere - not a circle. Think of it as a sphere!
Step 2) Choose an anchoring point. This point is approximately a little off the centre of the skull, below where the eyes and nose meet. Draw a line from this point to where you want the chin to be. (The blue line w/ the arrow in this case.) You must picture the chin as an attachment. Visualizing the shapes as three dimensional objects is crucial!

step 1.jpg (10.12 KiB) Viewed 1340 times

Step 3) Fill in the rest of the face keeping in mind that - chin and jaw start tapering from the circular skull base, ears are a little above the jaw level, hairline placement etc. Remember to keep viewing the circle as a three dimensional shape and this will not even be hard. For the face - eyes go about halfway on the head, draw a triangle from eyes down to find nose placement on centre line, bottom lip in b/w jaw and nose - you know, the usual shit. And also don't forget the hairline it's mega important!

Even when I'm too lazy to do guidelines and match up all the proportions I always do the ball and anchor.

Note: You may need some knowledge of anatomy to do this. Alternately you could just feel your own head to find where the shapes would go.

Sorry again for the ugliness, I did this in like two minutes but I hope it helps!
If you'd like a better example I can do another one on paper with an actual face. It's how I've been doing my sprites after all.

[truefaiterman]

I'd give you some advice, but... honestly I'd be just quoting this:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 8D190B7C97

Take a good look, that stuff is awesome.