Utility: Sprite Editing Tutorial

[Aezeal]

I think you either chose a wrong color, or.. more likely since it's what I've done about a zillion times (as the dom 3 K crew can confirm) you've got an alpha channel in there.

[Aezeal]

PS dave I love the sprites

[DaveCG]

Thanks on both things Aezael!

I think there is an alpha channel in there somewhere, from combine layers maybe? I'm going to go check now, and then I'll post the minor touch up (they're still fashion disasters, but now they're slightly less disastery) and the couple of new units, complete with NAMES(dun dun dun).

Anyway, thanks for all the help and support!

EDIT

Yeah, there's an alpha channel in there, but it seem like it won't let me delete it, am I boned? it's in the section with the RED/GREEN/BLUE and when I right click on it the delete channel button is greyed out, anyway ideas? or will I have to redo?

EDIT2

Nevermind, just found it, online help for gimp is great!

[DaveCG]

Alright, first things first, sorry for the double post, bad internet form and all that.

Second, sofar2.jpeg is go!

In order...

A = Lion King (no, not mufasha) the capital city only king, boasting a epic fighting style and minor 'bling' I must admit I really like this one, being as it was the witch doctor sprite, and I butchered it.

B = Great Hunter is a would be hero unit version of the half white toga folks, I'm not too happy with this one atm, I feel that the white is too white, and you can't really make out the gold bit on the head set, I might darkern him over all, but what does everyone else think?

C = King Hero, sporting major bling and a royal purple plume (totally bad ***) I must admit I just went silly with this one, what I'd like to know is does the armour look too messy? should I tidy it up? if so what would you guy reccomend? I tried burning and dodging it to shade it, but I'm hopeless with shading.

D = Lion Cubs, poor guys, just a orange-y toga recolour for you, oh well, you'll die in thousands.

E = Generic witch doctor! I like this one, although I can never tell if it's a guy or not, if it is, it's got a hell of a chest...

F = Sacred archers, otherwise know as huntsmen (hinting towards poisoned bows, the whole spider thing in the furture) I like this one, I think I've darkened the toga just right, I'd like to get the hero in line with this one.

G = Lion Spears, Bog standard long spear guys.

H = Lion Bows, Bog standard archer guys.

I = Sacred warriors, something epic like "ROARING LIONS!" or something jazzy, fresh from stealing mictlan hats, this was the first one I did, I've got back and touched up the hat alittle, I quite like them.

J = Lion Javs, bog standard one shot ranged guys, like a unsacred I.

K = Woo, body choping, part Lion Cub, part marvini slinger! I'm happy with how this one turned out.

And that's it, any comment would be great, I'm just so blinded by the lion heroes bling I can't see!

[lch]

Dark colored sprites on a black background is a bad idea...

[DaveCG]

That's a good point, hmm, I've a cunning plan...

Nope, changing it to white was a bad idea, and so was shocking pink to be honest

Joking aside, do you mean for working on? I've seen the odd sprite thing with white instead of black background, or do you mean for previewing?

[llamabeast]

Try dark green.

I have a comment, for both your and Burnsaber's sprites - the whites and yellows are significantly too bright. White clothing should be coloured actually grey, with highlights which approach pure white only at the very brightest points. In some points (the bottoms of folds and so forth), the white clothing should be really quite dark grey. I learned this with painting miniatures, it's very unintuitive but it's true, honestly! Try it.

For gold, find some vanilla units (or else my Tomb Kings) as examples. I spent quite a while on the gold for my Kings (the ones who look like pharoahs). They're meant to be wearing ridiculously bright gold, so they should probably be an example of an upper limit of brightness. Mostly I think gold should be rather darker. I you think about it, gold is more shiny brown than shiny yellow.

[llamabeast]

Sorry, by the way, I think your sprites look excellent with the exception of the white and gold. I thought that in my head earlier on so I was imagining you obviously already knew that!

[llamabeast]

Oh yeah, Burnsaber, the thing of yours I thought was too white was the crusader's shield, on post #13. The robe of your avatar is actually an excellent example of how I think white should be done.

Now I seem like some crazy white-and-gold obsessed nutter!

[DaveCG]

Thanks for the advice llama! funny enough I've been recolouring my guys, darking them up, and praticing shading, I'll keep at it untill I'm happy and then as long as noone minds I'll show them off again, thanks again!