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I'm just getting into sprite drawing myself, so I'm definitely not an expert, but I'll give you some little critiques! First off, all my artist friends tell me that you never wanna hide your hands! It's a habit I ALWAYS do with my art, but hands provide you with the ability to gesture and add more personality to your sprites, and also make it seem more active.

My other critique is to maybe add some highlights to brighten up the piece. It feels a little dark, plus the highlights will help it from melding into the background too much!

bluebirdplays wrote:I'm just getting into sprite drawing myself, so I'm definitely not an expert, but I'll give you some little critiques! First off, all my artist friends tell me that you never wanna hide your hands! It's a habit I ALWAYS do with my art, but hands provide you with the ability to gesture and add more personality to your sprites, and also make it seem more active.

My other critique is to maybe add some highlights to brighten up the piece. It feels a little dark, plus the highlights will help it from melding into the background too much!

At the moment its really just a concept sprite but yeah I really struggled with those dang hands. He has a super flirtatious personality too, so I'm not sure how to go about showing that in the pose. His missing arm is more of a background thing than anything but i will admit that it came about because i gave up on drawing his hand on his hip
Anyway, thanks for the feedback! I normally try to avoid too many highlights because I feel like it makes them overly shiny, but I'm looking to play around with art style for my VN anyway. Personally I'm a little sick of the stereotypical anime art style.

AshenhartKrie wrote:I'd really like to hear people's first impressions on the design and what you think could be improved.

I assume the guy's left arm is bent at the elbow. (Or did he lose half of his arm due to an injury?) I tried to bend my left arm in a similar way so that it wouldn't be visible to a person looking at me. I didn't have any success trying this.

Also, I assume his angular mouth is an expression. It makes him look somewhat annoyed. Was this your intention?

AshenhartKrie wrote:At the moment its really just a concept sprite but yeah I really struggled with those dang hands. He has a super flirtatious personality too, so I'm not sure how to go about showing that in the pose. His missing arm is more of a background thing than anything but i will admit that it came about because i gave up on drawing his hand on his hip

Honestly, the first thing that I thought of when I saw the image was that putting his other hand on his hip would improve the pose, and it sounds like it would suit his personality too. Try taking some reference photos of yourself or a friend/family member and studying them to figure out how hands work in that sort of pose. It's not easy, but it's worth learning.

gekiganwing wrote:

AshenhartKrie wrote:I'd really like to hear people's first impressions on the design and what you think could be improved.

I assume the guy's left arm is bent at the elbow. (Or did he lose half of his arm due to an injury?) I tried to bend my left arm in a similar way so that it wouldn't be visible to a person looking at me. I didn't have any success trying this.

Also, I assume his angular mouth is an expression. It makes him look somewhat annoyed. Was this your intention?

Yes to both of those. He lost his arm, which is a major part of his story.

Agree 100% with bluebirdplays. I understand this is just a test sprite, but never hide your hands! The more you draw them, the better you'll get... even in your test art!

In terms of expressions, I draw each expression on a separate layer. To make sure they stay similar in size and shape, I will generally move the opacity down for my base expression, and draw over it (new layer, of course!) to affirm eye/mouth placement remains the same in all expressions.

As you mentioned, this pose is a little bland... But that's easy to fix for next time! Start by thinking about how a person actually stands... Right now your character is standing straight, with weight on both feet. This is a fairly uncommon posture, as most folk stand contrapposto with weight on one foot more than the other. With that as a base, I'd say really take a look at the type of character you're wanting to portray--look up references, and don't be afraid to exaggerate posture! You mention this character as being flirty, but right now he looks mostly worried and shy... so it would be nice to see some of that shine in his posing and expression.

I do think this character has a very interesting design, but I also think it could be pushed further. One thing I personally love seeing in a character design is flaws/markings, especially on bare skin. Things like rogue moles, freckles, scars, ect can create a lot of personality, and adds an element of realism. Even little things like making his bun slightly off-kilt can make a big difference in the final design. I would also love to see more intricate detailing in the fabric he is wearing... his outfit seems very luxurious already, but you could definitely take it further!

Good luck, hope this helps a bit!

His face is thin but his body is not??
Hand on hip can fit but it has been used so much now that it's becoming.....boring?? And I think it says little about the character. Be original! I think trying to give him a pose that says "i am a great person~" or "come to me~~" or playing with anything that he thinks is beautiful, like his necklace or hair, can be fitting for flirt

Here is some examples
https://thumb7.shutterstock.com/display ... 542979.jpg //the tilted body can say that he thinks "I am great!"

https://thumb9.shutterstock.com/display ... 432492.jpg //do a same pose but touching his necklace? He wants girls to think he has lots of money

https://thumb9.shutterstock.com/display ... 868826.jpg //with a wink

And you could give him lots of variations of smiles~

Hope this helps x)

Edit: and about hands, it's better to try to get better with them than running away all your life from them, otherwise you will get tired from running lol and you will think that it would have been better if you just tackled it from the start. looking up refs and copying them every day and one day it will get easier~ never run away from difficulty!! Face it and rest!!

King-sama wrote:His face is thin but his body is not??
Hand on hip can fit but it has been used so much now that it's becoming.....boring?? And I think it says little about the character. Be original! I think trying to give him a pose that says "i am a great person~" or "come to me~~" or playing with anything that he thinks is beautiful, like his necklace or hair, can be fitting for flirt

Yeah, its just his body type. I have a similiar one and my face is thing compared to my body, but I can twerk it a bit.
I actually didn't think of that, definitely playing with braids or his necklace would make things more interesting, thanks!

Moved to Personal Art Threads, because this is what this is.

AshenhartKrie wrote:Also - for sprite artists: Whats the easiest way for you to draw new expressions? Do you draw them all on new layers?

I'd rather say expressions should be drawn on new layer groups, not just on layers.
So you can apply layer group effects or layer group masks on them, with recent drawing applications (depending on your application - I remember old photoshop don't allow to add layer mask/effect on groups)
Another reason to suggest expressions on separate layers is, it allows coders to make sprites more efficiently coded.

nyaatrap wrote:

AshenhartKrie wrote:Also - for sprite artists: Whats the easiest way for you to draw new expressions? Do you draw them all on new layers?

I'd rather say expressions should be drawn on new layer groups, not just on layers.
So you can apply layer group effects or layer group masks on them, with recent drawing applications (depending on your application - I remember old photoshop don't allow to add layer mask/effect on groups)
Another reason to suggest expressions on separate layers is, it allows coders to make sprites more efficiently coded.

Thank you! I've never understood how exactly that code worked, I suppose I'd just send the coder the .psd file?
I use CS6 so I should be able to use layer masks and group effects