@stickynavels
could you give some explaination about how you work?
it would probaply be really interresting for many how you got it so realistic
I'm not sure a process rundown would be very useful - pixel art is still new to me (I made a crappy frigate a few months back and that was it, until now) and I'm still sort of feeling my way. In other words, I don't have a solid workflow yet.
I can describe how I made the bioship, but it shouldn't be viewed as a set of instructions. I will probably use a different approach for the next ship.
However, there is one (more or less) consistent factor, and that's the process of thumbnailing, i.e. creating a bunch of small and loose sketches/silhouettes in order to eke out a general shape and important features. I believe it's common to do the thumbnails digitally, but I prefer to use a stack of post-it notes and a pen with flowy ink.
The creation of the bioship, which I've tentatively named "Horseshoe", went roughly as follows:
1) Make a bunch of thumbnails, get ink all over self. Decide on a thumbnail to develop further.
2) Create a bigger and more detailed sketch on the computer. I take my time on this step - I constantly re-check the sketch from all angles, rotating it as well as flipping it horizontally and vertically. This is an excellent way to detect any disturbances in the sketch's shape and flow. It's very easy to miss "obvious" flaws when you become too comfortable with the current perspective.
3) Clean the sketch and / or create a new layer with clean and clear linework.
4) Start on the values (on a new layer) / shading. With the Horseshoe, I worked in black and white. On a motive that wouldn't be scaled down so dramatically, I'd probably work in colour from the beginning, checking the values using a black and white adjustment layer in Photoshop (or similar). If you work in LAB you can just check the lightness channel (this method is superior, I think).
5) Combine linework and values, scale down to the final size.
6) Begin detailing. Like the intial sketch, this part is time-consuming (but also a lot of fun). I don't use dodge / burn or other special tools.
7) Add colour. For the Horseshoe, I simply adjusted the hue for each tone, doing some pixel-by-pixel work where I deemed it necessary.
On this scale, I think it's a good idea to contain a ship within a simple shape. It makes the ship easier to read and in this particular case offsets the "weirdness" a bit. The Horseshoe is more or less aligned within a kite, like so:
(The Horseshoe used to have a tail, but I cut it off!)
I hope this was of some use. I'll likely write up something more comprehensive when I've established a decent process, if there's interest.
Vinya: I think one important thing about Starsector's ships is that they're evenly lit, with the light coming from "above". In your sprite, the light source is right/front-right. Other than that, it's a very nice-looking ship.
MShadowy: Thanks! What's BYDO? And what do you think of the new hardpoints (pictured above)? I'm using coloured triangles to represent weapon type, class and direction. I.e, a single blue front-facing arrow represents a light energy hardpoint aligned frontwards. Two blue triangles facing front AND back represent a medium energy hardpoint with an omnidirectional / greater than normal turn radius.
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Topic: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed] (Read 2224112 times)