First lot of scratches

[neckpunch73]

Right so I've been trying to teach myself how to make sprites from scratch. It is hard. But these are my first attempts at it. The mountain lion is a pixel-over but the other ones are drawn from scratch but based on real-life stuff. Ish. Any ideas on how I can get better are appreciated.

 

[Reck]

I think for a first attempt... they're great! But, alas I don't make battle sprites, I prefer tiles, but I'm gonna try and give you some crits anyway.

The grass grim reaper looks pretty cool, I like the concept here. One thing that jumps out though is that the leaf on its scythe is kinda bland. Maybe you could add a few veins on it like you would see on an actual leaf? Or even just some sort of texture.

The blow fish I absolutely love. The design is pretty nice. The only thing I really notice that's a bit off here is that the spikes on the cheeks are a little jagged. This can be fixed with some anti-aliasing. If you need me to elaborate, let me know.

The lion could be a cool concept, but there is something about the face that is awkward. Can't quite put my finger on it though.

The last one is pretty good in my opinion, but the lava runs look kind of weird applied to a living thing, don't know why. Also, the front leg needs to be skinnier. Most animals from the cat family are very slender and well toned, especially since this is a mountain lion concept, but right now this cat looks like hes been lazy a few weeks. :P

Overall, I think they're pretty good, especially on the lines of shading. You show a lot of promise. I hope you don't take what I said to harshly, and I hope to see more sprites in the future.

 

[neckpunch73]

No harshness taken at all, thanks for the feedback! I'll have a play with the leaf-scythe and see if anything looks cool. As for the other ones, I do see what you mean. The blowfish's spikes look a bit messy but i don't know what anti-aliasing is or how to do it. care to elaborate?? I think there's something not quite right with the lion's eyes because i was a lot happier with it before i put them in. eyes are difficult. And I agree the mountain lion's front leg is a bit big compared to it's hind leg, but i might just try to make it more muscular rather than slimmer since it's meant to be a "higher attack alt. evo" for the fire lion.

I really appreciate the encouragement on my shading because that has been pretty much guess work so its nice to hear it wasn't terrible. Will be posting some more up soon.

 

[IceyPinkLemons]

Most animals from the cat family are very slender and well toned, especially since this is a mountain lion concept, but right now this cat looks like hes been lazy a few weeks. :P

I'm sorry about getting scientifical about this, but this bugged me. :)

I'm fairly sure that wild cats are very slender due to having to hunt their food all the time. So when you apply the thought that this one has been lazy for weeks, it's actually contradictory. Either the mountain lion's prey would have to become suddenly extremely easy to catch or happen to find many readily available carcasses to eat in order for it to fatten. In reality, if a mountain lion had become lazy it would starve from lack of nutrients thereby causing it to lose weight instead of gaining. Sleek animals usually indicate sleek prey. Just needed to share that.

But anyways:

Are these supposed to be Pokemon-styled sprites? If so, the only one that particularly meets that point is the Qwilfish evolution. If not, then that's fine. :) But yes, the lion's face looks a bit smooshed, so you should take a look around at different poses on the internet to get a feel for what it would look like and do a little work on that. The bird's beak seems a bit stiff, so maybe you could put a curve to it? And adding a bit of shading on the back of its neck might help. But these look very promising. And I really like the choice of color.

 

[Reck]

Well it was more or less just a figure of speech. I do see your point, but most times a lion will often lay next to a carcass for several days while devouring it. That can be seen as lazy and cats are known scavengers and will steal food from other animals, so I guess both sides could be argued rather well.

Anyway, back on topic. I'll send you a pm later today describing what I meant. I'm in school (study hall) right now, so I can't elucidate right now. I promise that I will later tonight though.

 

[neckpunch73]

Haha, who knows, maybe a pokemon lion might have a different metabolism to a real-life lion. how would we know??

As far as if they're meant to be "pokemon-styled" sprites, i'm not sure what you mean. what features make a sprite particularly pokemon-like? Still playing with the lions and haven't come to anything worth posting but here is Massassin with a bit of altered shading and slightly different head (tried to curve the beak but i just think it looks better straight, kinda like how magpies swoop you like darts) and another scratch i did based on a mosquito.

 

[Essentials]

These are great for a first attempt. This, perhaps, has to be my favorite:

It's just so pretty -- no offense, I'm not saying it's girly -- but the flames look kind of wrong to me. The little flame on the tail is probably my least favorite part of this sprite, but it's still beautiful.

I've never done anything from scratch, honestly, but after seeing these, I think I'll try it. The bird, unfortunately, was my least favorite. It just sort of looks awkward, you know? Maybe a little tweaking could help.

The grim reaper looks kind of cool, though. Like Reck said, the leaf on his scythe is drawing attention. You could try shading it a little bit, or add something to make it blend with the whole picture.

The blow fish is magnificently made. Pure talent shows through you. The spikes are a little weird though, but it still doesn't change the fact that I love this sprite.

The lion, at first glance, is awesome. But when you look at it a little closer, the head of the lion is a little out of place. It looks awkward for some reason. Maybe it's the mouth, the teeth or I don't know, but it just looks weird.

But after all that, it's great! Don't know if I helped you much, but you certainly are talented. I'll try and follow in your footsteps, if it's even possible for me to do that. It's awesome, just do what you do, and maybe take tips from other people, and you'll make some of the best sprites ever imaginable. Good luck~ :)

 

[foxz.]

they're pretty good.
just work on your shading and outlines xD!