Hi,

Since i am new around here i would like to briefly introduce myself. I am 26, live in Montreal and have a dream of creating a game before i turn 30.

To archive the above mentioned goal, on Jan 1st, 2012 I have started the coding process. It's been a month, and to be honest I only have about 48kb of code so far.
I'm not proud of myself, but needing a break from the keyboard, i decided to work a bit on the visual aspect of the game.

This is where i am in need of help. I need advice, and comments from experienced game artists, or even just an outside opinion, perhaps even some advice.

Wanting to clear the hurdle that previously has brought me down, I have started my art adventure with Isometric sprites.

I envisioned having anime like sprites and character stands, but i quickly learned that with my art experience, i am unable to draw anime so here is the best i was able to do.

They are still a work in progress, but i wanted to make any needed corrections before continuing,
So please let me know what you think, I know it is a bit hard, without a background, or other image reference to go along with, i will try to add thous as soon as i get them done.

Thanks in advance.

edit 1: As they say, no news is good news. I continued with the before posted style and colored in the sprites, so please do let me know if you think they are suitable for an tactical rpg.

Here is some more bait to try to get some comments ...

Here is the base for the male character.


Looking forward to reading your comments.

These naked mannequins, without meaningful details, without animations, and without any context of how they will be used, are very hard to evaluate.
The only comment I can offer at this stage is that the heads are too large for the bodies: you might be doing this on purpose to have more room for face detail, but in this case I cannot imagine how a mixture of deformed and realistic style could look good.

Thanks for the comment.

Let me clarify. The sprites are intended for a turn based tactical portion of the game, I am waiting to start the animation till i work out all of the issues with the base sprites, since it currently takes me about 1h30 to do each image.
I plan to have 6 different sprites that can be customized with different hair styles and clothing.

Here is an earlier version of a male sprite. I tried going for a deformed style in order to increase it's screen presence, and to make it a bit cuter.
At the moment it seemed to suit my coloring scheme more as well. However now that you mentioned, i do agree with you about the heads, and the style problems.

Would you suggest i try to going for a simpler facial structure or just reduce the head size?

Although i don't have any environments finished yet, here is a screenshot of the two sprites side by side in a test environment.

Since this is my first real attempt at drawing sprites, i appreciate all the comments and suggestions i can get.

Thanks

In your side by side comparison, the old sprite looks like an oversized toddler and the new one looks like an adult: a significant step forward.
What about adding clothes now?

You hit the nail on it`s head again
I did the proper proportion(adult version) first, but then tried making it look "chuby" and got the deformed (tudler) sprite. I was hoping to get something close to a RO sprites,
but as you can see, my art skills are not there yet.
I am trying to do something inbetween the two right now, since i find the "adult" version to be a bit too seriouse, I have the general outline finished, but I am
debating about the color scheme.
Do you think i should keep the highlights, or just go with a simpler two tone models?

I will post a more complete (hair, clothing, animated) sprites hopefully sometime this week.

Sorry, i know i stated that next time I would have a finished sprite, but i couldn't resist.
After i posted the above post, a co-worker suggested i try an even more deformed style.
As i was trying it out it, i though to try something completely opposite, more suited to my style (at list that is what i believe).

Luckily it was a slaw day at work and i had plenty of time to work on the new prototypes. It helped that the boss was in reunions all day as well.

I have more or less decided on the style i am going to use, but LorenzoGatti, i still wanted to get your opinion on both sprites. As i might use the other style in the future.

I have also tried a 2 tone shading, and am now thinking of perhaps darkening the highlights a bit, that way they will still be there, but less noticeable.

Thanks in advance, and I promise a complete sprite for next time

edit: Found some errors with the sprites, fixing them now