Soaring's Pixel whatnots

[SoaringSomeone]

Evenin' folks! Soaring here with some bits of pixels that I've hopefully arranged in an aesthetically pleasing fashion.

I've actually only started pixelling a few months ago, and would greatly appreciate any and all critiques to help me improve my arts. But you aren't here to read random words, you're here to see pictures! So without further ado...


Pokémon Azure

Quick info:
So Pokémon Azure is a fangame that me and rest of my buddies at tenFold Studios are making. It's completely from scratch, with an engine programmed in C#, and stuffed to the brim with a bunch of nice features. (Additional information can be found in our thread).
Currently I'm the head artist of Azure (and the only one doing Spriting), so if any rogue spriters could lend their hand, that'd be so amazing. OTL forever


Splash Screens*:
*I'll probably only be upping these four at a time, so for fun, you can open all four images in separate tabs. Keep them in order, and tab through! It's like a day is passing in that particular location. :)

Carmine Forest:

Spoiler:

Morning:



Day:



Evening:



Night:

Versus Sprites:

Bolton || Chadwick:



Trainer Sprites:

Birdkeeper (M) || Richboy || Lady


Socialite || Toxic Grunt (F) || Twins:


Juggler:



OW's*:
*These overworlds aren't actually completely scratched. I used various B&W ones as a template, then modified the crap out of them. Hopefully, it's difficult to discern which ones were the actual template for our original characters.

Keahi || Lady || Officer || Aide (M)



Misc/WIPs:
N/A



Miscellaneous stuff, not for Azure:
This section's for random things that aren't going into the game.



A picture of Bolton and Joltiks. It was a result of silliness within the team and severe boredom on my part. I liked the end result though, so here it is.

Spoiler:

Two panels from an unfinished mini-comic I was making.

[Dialga111]

Precious stuff. I love most of it! To the rating:

Bolton: I think the outline in the face could be a little bit lighter, it might make it flow a little better. Except that, perfect!

Birdkeeper: Awesome, I love the Starly in the cage! But I think the trainer itself is too big, specially when compared to the other two. I also think the shading in the lower part of its coat could flow a little better. I think the lines dividing the shade and the light are too straight, and should be more curved, to show the shape of the coat.

Rich Boy and Lady: Simply perfect. I love how you made the clothes, gave them volume and movement. The hair of both is specially great with the light.

Oh, I think I just realized something. You made the birdkeeper and the Toxic Grunt bigger than the others because they are adults and the others are kids, was that it? If so, then no problem xD

As you said the game is completely from scratch, I think there's no problem on making them all that big, but if you were to follow the game's size limits, I'd suggest you reducing them all a little (80x80px is the limit). However, that would take out the amazingness of your sprites.

Toxic Grunt: I think the shorts seem to be way too connected to the clothes under them (I have no idea what that purple thing in her leg is called), you should make it a little bit larger, so you can see that the shorts are above the other thing. My favorite part are the gloves, you made them perfect!

Splash Screen WIP: I love it *-* It might not be done yet, but I can see it will turn out great. I love the shading on the path on the floor, and you even added a small fallen branch! Amazing!

Bolt and Joltiks: Haha, funny. I like it. It's visible that it's not the same style as your other sprites, but it's still great! I like how the Joltiks are pretty small compared to him.

Pannel for the comic: It's great! Also WIP, I see, but I love how the corridor leading to the door is much darker than the room the psychic is in. Great job both on the trainer and in the Pokémon whose name I forgot xD. I'd suggest making the imediately surrounding areas of the flames a little bit brighter, to show that it is the source of the light in the room.

That's it! I love your work! If I weren't working on a project of my own and didn't know that starting from next Monday I'll have few to no free time to sprite, I'd join you as a spriter =), but, unfortunately, I can't =(. If I find a possibility, I'll let you know!

[Jazzles]

Ohhh... I like the sratches, but there is some lost pixels in the comic.

[Pr4da]

very nice chara and sprite .

[SoaringSomeone]

Thank you very much! :3

Originally Posted by Dialga111

Bolton: I think the outline in the face could be a little bit lighter, it might make it flow a little better. Except that, perfect!

I tried to lighten the outline:


How's that?

Originally Posted by Dialga111

Birdkeeper: Awesome, I love the Starly in the cage! But I think the trainer itself is too big, specially when compared to the other two. I also think the shading in the lower part of its coat could flow a little better. I think the lines dividing the shade and the light are too straight, and should be more curved, to show the shape of the coat.

Yeah, the birdkeeper's not really up to my standards, but I've been staring at it for so long, it's become a bit of a blur. xD

Thanks for the advice though, I'll try your suggestions and update as necessary.

Originally Posted by Dialga111

Oh, I think I just realized something. You made the birdkeeper and the Toxic Grunt bigger than the others because they are adults and the others are kids, was that it? If so, then no problem xD

As you said the game is completely from scratch, I think there's no problem on making them all that big, but if you were to follow the game's size limits, I'd suggest you reducing them all a little (80x80px is the limit). However, that would take out the amazingness of your sprites.

Hahaha yeah. Our max sprite size is 160x160 in order to better fit our particular window size (640x480). So essentially all our trainer sprites are four times as big! (Which translates to four times the work to put four times the details. OTL)

The downside is that these sprites will essentially be unavailable for anyone to use in a regular RPGX or ROM hack game. You'd have to use our custom engine (which will be available for modding using the toolsets we're including in the release).

And yeah, I tried to keep it at least slightly to scale. The twin sprites that I'm working on will be even smaller than the Lady and Richboy. But I do try to keep the headsize approximately equal since people's head sizes slow down increasing in size dramatically very early in their lives.

Originally Posted by Dialga111

Toxic Grunt: I think the shorts seem to be way too connected to the clothes under them (I have no idea what that purple thing in her leg is called), you should make it a little bit larger, so you can see that the shorts are above the other thing. My favorite part are the gloves, you made them perfect!

Toxic grunts work with hazardous materials on a daily basis (hurr durr who could have guessed?) so they're equipped with a sort of skin-tight rubber suit thingy that stops things from harming them. The respirator and the gloves are also for protection. :3

For the female grunts, the shorts they're wearing was supposed to be reminiscent of the female Rocket grunts via:


But I can see what you mean when you say they look like they're connected to their hazmat rubber suit. (Also thanks about the gloves. :D)

Originally Posted by Dialga111

Bolt and Joltiks: Haha, funny. I like it. It's visible that it's not the same style as your other sprites, but it's still great! I like how the Joltiks are pretty small compared to him.

Hahaha, thanks! This picture of Bolton's way different from my spriting style 'cause I didn't need to be worried about accuracy. My philosophy is that the official sprites have to have each pixel considered. This picture is more of a throwback to my Sai/Photoshop times where I just slapped colors on. (Only in MSPaint with no layers now. xD).

Originally Posted by Dialga111

Pannel for the comic: It's great! Also WIP, I see, but I love how the corridor leading to the door is much darker than the room the psychic is in. Great job both on the trainer and in the Pokémon whose name I forgot xD. I'd suggest making the imediately surrounding areas of the flames a little bit brighter, to show that it is the source of the light in the room.

Thanks! I've pretty much put this mini-comic on the backburner, but if I ever pick it up again, I'll definitely do that. The essential reason why only one (1.5?) panels are colored is because beforehand, the Yamask is minding his own depressing business when some jerk (you, the player) comes and catches it, the battles a psychic with him. The Yamask is seeing his own past in the colored panels.

Originally Posted by Dialga111

That's it! I love your work! If I weren't working on a project of my own and didn't know that starting from next Monday I'll have few to no free time to sprite, I'd join you as a spriter =), but, unfortunately, I can't =(. If I find a possibility, I'll let you know!

Thank you so much for your detailed post and compliments! I really appreciate it. :3

And thanks for the offer of recruitment. Anyone interested should definitely contact me or DJClass in our main thread. I'm totally willing to help train people who are willing to learn and our dev team is super awesome. tenFold promises we have cookies and other delicious treats. :D

Originally Posted by Jazzles

Ohhh... I like the sratches, but there is some lost pixels in the comic.

Hahaha yeah, I was going for more of a scratchy style rather than the accuracy OCD sort of method of the trainer sprites. Personally, I thought that the missing pixels here and there portrayed that it was a nostalgic memory trip better than a fully colored version, but different strokes for different people. :)

Originally Posted by Pr4da

very nice chara and sprite .

Thank you. :3


As for a small update, I'm almost done with our rival versus sprite, and can hopefully put it up over the weekend or so. I'm particularly happy about this one, so watch out!

[~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~]

Quick question, why is the picture background so big for? But other than that it is a great drawing. I love the coloring and the shading of this. Great job.


TG

[Dialga111]

Originally Posted by SoaringSomeone

Thank you very much! :3

No probs!

I tried to lighten the outline:

How's that?

Much better! It sace looks more realistic and better overall, with just s slight change! If I may suggest, I tried something. I changed one little pixel, but I think his cheek looks a little bir rounder, the way it was before, I think the change between the 2 pixel lines to the long line was too subtle, to I slightly changed the last one to make it run more slowly to the chin. It's hard to put into words, but here's what I mean: xD



It's just a suggestion, though. I got the idea that you wanted its face to be thin and not too round (my face is like that, tbh xD), but I thought this change would be interesting =). Of course, if you preffer the way it was before, just keep it (who am I to say you to change it? It's your sprite xD), but, it's still a suggestion =)

Also, I just realized the card he's holding are two luxios x3 Cute and Amazing.

Yeah, the birdkeeper's not really up to my standards, but I've been staring at it for so long, it's become a bit of a blur. xD
Thanks for the advice though, I'll try your suggestions and update as necessary.

Haha, I know exactly what you mean xD I do the same thing with my sprites. But the Birdkeeper is really good!

Hahaha yeah. Our max sprite size is 160x160 in order to better fit our particular window size (640x480). So essentially all our trainer sprites are four times as big! (Which translates to four times the work to put four times the details. OTL)

The downside is that these sprites will essentially be unavailable for anyone to use in a regular RPGX or ROM hack game. You'd have to use our custom engine (which will be available for modding using the toolsets we're including in the release).

And yeah, I tried to keep it at least slightly to scale. The twin sprites that I'm working on will be even smaller than the Lady and Richboy. But I do try to keep the headsize approximately equal since people's head sizes slow down increasing in size dramatically very early in their lives.

Oh, I see. I got it xD Really original, It's the first project I see that uses different size restrictions. Can't wait to see it finished! What program are you using?

Toxic grunts work with hazardous materials on a daily basis (hurr durr who could have guessed?) so they're equipped with a sort of skin-tight rubber suit thingy that stops things from harming them. The respirator and the gloves are also for protection. :3

For the female grunts, the shorts they're wearing was supposed to be reminiscent of the female Rocket grunts via:


But I can see what you mean when you say they look like they're connected to their hazmat rubber suit. (Also thanks about the gloves. :D)

Yeah, I see the resemblance. (Also you're welcome about the gloves xD)

Hahaha, thanks! This picture of Bolton's way different from my spriting style 'cause I didn't need to be worried about accuracy. My philosophy is that the official sprites have to have each pixel considered. This picture is more of a throwback to my Sai/Photoshop times where I just slapped colors on. (Only in MSPaint with no layers now. xD).

I follow that same philosophy, which, at times, sucks, because I need to compare dozens of versions of a sprite to see what looks better xD (And MS Paint rules x3)

Thanks! I've pretty much put this mini-comic on the backburner, but if I ever pick it up again, I'll definitely do that. The essential reason why only one (1.5?) panels are colored is because beforehand, the Yamask is minding his own depressing business when some jerk (you, the player) comes and catches it, the battles a psychic with him. The Yamask is seeing his own past in the colored panels.

I understand. Pretty creative, usually it's the other way round, real time being black and white and memories being colored, but I like your twist to it. I think it contributes a lot to develop the psychological aspects of your character. A Gray present reveals a sad and depressed Yamask, that, when thinking about the past, shows a colorful memory, revealing it remembers its past in details, the past itself being a time with more joy and happiness than the present, showing how much Yamask misses its Past, and its feeling of Nostalgia. Very clever! (Please correct me if I'm over-reading it xD)

Thank you so much for your detailed post and compliments! I really appreciate it. :3

No problem! It's an honor to help such a great spriter and person to improve even more. The best reward is seeing how you take constructive criticism as a way to improve. That's a hard quality to find in people nowadays xD

And thanks for the offer of recruitment. Anyone interested should definitely contact me or DJClass in our main thread. I'm totally willing to help train people who are willing to learn and our dev team is super awesome. tenFold promises we have cookies and other delicious treats. :D

Haha, I promise that if I find a possibility, I'll join you. It would be great to learn your style and get those cookies

As for a small update, I'm almost done with our rival versus sprite, and can hopefully put it up over the weekend or so. I'm particularly happy about this one, so watch out!

Yay. When great spriters say they are happy with the results of their work, it sure means something outstanding is bound to be shown.

[SoaringSomeone]

Originally Posted by ~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~

Quick question, why is the picture background so big for? But other than that it is a great drawing. I love the coloring and the shading of this. Great job.


TG

The splash screen is so large because our custom resolution size is 640x480 rather than the usual size that's used in RPGMaker or ROM hacking. For more information, you can head over to the Azure thread and ask our wonderful programmers, who are all happy to answer questions.

Originally Posted by Dialga111

It's just a suggestion, though. I got the idea that you wanted its face to be thin and not too round (my face is like that, tbh xD), but I thought this change would be interesting =). Of course, if you preffer the way it was before, just keep it (who am I to say you to change it? It's your sprite xD), but, it's still a suggestion =)

Ahh, I see what you've done. Your edit actually brings my notice to one pixel that I do need to change. Can't believe I didn't notice that...

Originally Posted by Dialga111

Also, I just realized the card he's holding are two luxios x3 Cute and Amazing.

Haha, yeah. Bolton believes in the heart of the cards has special cards for <spoilered stuff that I shouldn't really reveal goes here>, so I wanted to make it extra detailed.

Originally Posted by Dialga111

Oh, I see. I got it xD Really original, It's the first project I see that uses different size restrictions. Can't wait to see it finished! What program are you using?

If you mean what program I use for my sprites, I use MSPaint, alternating between Vista and XP version depending on whatever computer I'm on. I also have a Bamboo tablet that I use extensively.

If you mean what program Azure's on, it's a custom engine made in C#. More information can be found in our PC thread Clickity click over here.

Originally Posted by Dialga111

I understand. Pretty creative, usually it's the other way round, real time being black and white and memories being colored, but I like your twist to it. I think it contributes a lot to develop the psychological aspects of your character. A Gray present reveals a sad and depressed Yamask, that, when thinking about the past, shows a colorful memory, revealing it remembers its past in details, the past itself being a time with more joy and happiness than the present, showing how much Yamask misses its Past, and its feeling of Nostalgia. Very clever! (Please correct me if I'm over-reading it xD)

Heh, that's actually very very close to my original intention. Glad it came through in the end. :3

Originally Posted by Dialga111

Haha, I promise that if I find a possibility, I'll join you. It would be great to learn your style and get those cookies

Awesome sauce, thank you so much~

Cookies for all!

[~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~]

The splash screen is so large because our custom resolution size is 640x480 rather than the usual size that's used in RPGMaker or ROM hacking. For more information, you can head over to the Azure thread and ask our wonderful programmers, who are all happy to answer questions.

I understand now, thank you for telling me this and looking forward to more work


TG

[SoaringSomeone]

Update!

First up, we have a revision of the Birdkeeper trainer sprite. I tried to take into account Dialga111's advice. What think?


Secondly, I managed to dig up the first "page" of the Yamask comic thingy, which isn't as impressive, but it'll give the second part a little more context anyways.

Spoiler:

Finally, fresh off the line is this versus sprite of the game's main jerkface rival, Chadwick.


Chad at the moment happens to be one of my favorite characters, so I really wanted to make his versus sprite of high quality. Also, I noticed that he and Bolton are making the same faces. I promise that all the versus sprites aren't eyebrow-cocked half grinning templates...these two dudes just happen to have similar tastes in poses I suppose. OTL

Originally Posted by ~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~

I understand now, thank you for telling me this and looking forward to more work


TG

No prob dude.

[IV62110]

Looks great! Do you plan on finishing your comic?

[Exxmaniac]

On Chadwick's sprite, it seems he lost a few fingers on his left hand. XD
That was the first thing my eyes shifted to when I saw it, so I recommend adding fingers, unless that was somehow intentional.

[SoaringSomeone]

Originally Posted by IV62110

Looks great! Do you plan on finishing your comic?

Thanks! No plans for right now since I'm fairly busy with Pokemon Azure. However, I suppose there's a chance that if I get bored enough I'll pick it up again. It's only supposed to be a few pages longer.

Originally Posted by Exxmaniac

On Chadwick's sprite, it seems he lost a few fingers on his left hand. XD
That was the first thing my eyes shifted to when I saw it, so I recommend adding fingers, unless that was somehow intentional.

Right, that's the part of the sprite that made me tear out my hair the most. Seconds before this totally candid and very much not posed versus shot</s>, Chad flings his beloved scarf dramatically behind him, which places his hand in a "check 'em" sort of way. The hand is bent as backwards as he could get them, which makes the fingers disappear behind his palm at this straight angle. I tried to model it with my own hand and couldn't see my fingers, which I took as a sign that the player probably wouldn't be able to see it either. Instead, I tried to give the hand a few bumps where the joints of the hand are sticking out slightly from the bending backwards action.

However, I do agree it does look a little strange, and I'll try to stick some fingers in there somehow. :)

[SoaringSomeone]

Update: Splash screens!

Those of you that have been watching the Azure thread will have already seen this update, but for those of you who haven't, here it is!

Ladies and mentlegen, I present to you, splash screens of a very special location within our game!

Spoiler:

Morning:


Day:


Evening:


Night:


(Bonus fun, open all images in separate tabs in order, then Ctrl+Tab through to watch a day pass. :3)

And now for the obligatory information bit.

I always thought that the splash screens featured on HGSS/FRLG were something that gave the games a little more life, and, since I was regularly getting bored of making only trainers or OW's, I wanted to give these a try. These splash screens were created for Azure, originally as a bit of a pilot run to see if they would fit with our game/were something that the team liked/were something that I could execute fully. So the challenge had been set, but who should be the victim? Polling around, one of our forests was suggested, and consequently adopted as our little guinea pig. After extended periods in spriting hell, and even more in procrastinating lagoon, lo and behold, they were completed! Here they stand just glowing with that shine of pride and happiness!

This was essentially my first attempt at scenery like this, and am fairly pleased with the end results. There's obviously a list of things that can be tweaked, but for now, I'll lay this forest to rest.


And now for the obligatory plea for help.

As per usual, if you are interested in Pokemon Azure, please stop by our thread (linked in one beautifully rendered userbar by our lovely DJClass). Don't be shy! Plenty of our programmers and scripters and whatnot browse this site, and are perfectly ready and willing to answer any and all questions! Or, you can join our forums, which is linked in DJClass' signature.

We are in great need for musicians and spriters! I am perfectly willing to teach anyone who wants to learn how to sprite in the Soaring style, and would be very very very grateful for any help that anyone can provide!

[~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~]

these are amazing, I'm loving the Night time one since I am a night time person after all. Great job


TG

[SoaringSomeone]

Originally Posted by ~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~

these are amazing, I'm loving the Night time one since I am a night time person after all. Great job


:t354:TG

Why thank you kindly. Night also happens to be that one I favor slightly, but I think it has to do partially with the fact that I was able to nail down the pallet pretty quickly. OTL forever.



This is something that I quickly cobbled together, but I thought it was cool. Since I use MSPaint for all my sprites, including the splash screens, I managed to accrue a massive amount of "save states", which I have turned into a sort of work progression gif. Enjoy. :)

[Logiedan]

Very nice progress, and i'm loving the backdrop of the forest. (:

[~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~]

Are you going to make your pictures animated like you did to your latest one?


TG

[SoaringSomeone]

Originally Posted by Logiedan

Very nice progress, and i'm loving the backdrop of the forest. (:

Awww shucks. Thanks a lot. :)

Originally Posted by ~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~

Are you going to make your pictures animated like you did to your latest one?


:t354:TG

Animated? Do you mean make all my splash screens a progress gif? If that's what you mean, then I could 'cause chances are pretty good that I'll have an odd 30 save files for each splash screen again. It just becomes an easy copy paste into a gif animator after completing the product. But I guess if there's any more interest in the progress gifs, I'll make one for my next splash screen too.

[Posiden]

These are awsome, I particularly like the splash screens and Bolton (playing cards are cool ).
I'm not sure how it fits into your game, but an underwater splash screen in that style would look amazing

[SoaringSomeone]

Originally Posted by Posiden

These are awsome, I particularly like the splash screens and Bolton (playing cards are cool ).
I'm not sure how it fits into your game, but an underwater splash screen in that style would look amazing

Why thank you kindly! :3

As for underwater scenes, well, let's just say that because our game is set in the western coastland of the US/Canada, there's a fairly good chance there will be lots of water everywhere. ;D

[~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~]

Animated? Do you mean make all my splash screens a progress gif? If that's what you mean, then I could 'cause chances are pretty good that I'll have an odd 30 save files for each splash screen again. It just becomes an easy copy paste into a gif animator after completing the product. But I guess if there's any more interest in the progress gifs, I'll make one for my next splash screen too.

yes that is what I meant and that would be awesome, looking forward to it


TG

[SoaringSomeone]

Teeny tiny update today:



Socialite trainer sprite! These classy old ladies are very pleased to meet you deary, and would indeed fancy a small tiff if you wouldn't mind. They are absolutely loaded, and might just be tickled pink if you were to defeat then and their beautifully refined pokeys! With hats sporting feathers from a shiny pidgeot, these socialites are based on the real life organization, the Red Hat Society.

'Fraid sprite updates are a little slow currently. There's been a shedload of work done in the backend part of the game, in the next set of splash screens (Which I am also pretty excited about as I've never attempted anything quite like this particular set), as well as non-sprite work. Needless to say, hopefully once the art is revealed, it'll be as impressive as I may or may not be deluded into thinking! Until next time, Soaring out!

[GFA]

Why are the trainer & VS Sprites so much larger then normal? o.O

[SoaringSomeone]

Originally Posted by GFA

Why are the trainer & VS Sprites so much larger then normal? o.O

The trainer sprites, versus sprites, splash screens, and overworlds are larger than the normal sizes that are used in hacks and the usual RPGMaker dimensions because we are constructing this game from the ground up.


Pokemon: Azure is essentially a game that's going to showcase the engine (built in C#) that the tenFold team is constructing. The engine will function like the Pokemon game engines, but with additions like a gorgeous new user UI that's designed to be as streamlined and intuitive as possible.

Because this is going to be for computers rather than say, a DS, we wanted to take advantage of the increased processing power, memory storage and resolution. Our screen size is 640x480 in order to showcase this. Of course, that also means that we need to scale up our versus, OW's, and trainer sprites to the appropriate proportions, which is the essential reason why everything is so large.

But personally, I see this as a chance to create something a lot more detailed and immersible game world for everyone to enjoy; not only for Pokemon Azure, but also for anyone who uses our engine to make their own games.