Unit sprites for Invasion from the Unknown/After the Storm

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Iris
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Unit sprites for Invasion from the Unknown/After the Storm

Post by Iris »

The artwork (and my personality, apparently) in the early pages of this thread is really outdated and obsolete. Generally speaking, I have completely replaced it in my campaigns. At the beginning I didn’t have any clue about pixel art, I guess. Of course, I still haven’t “achieved expertise” — quite the contrary.

I advise you don’t pay attention to pre-2010 posts.

— shadowmaster
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Last edited by Iris on October 22nd, 2012, 12:58 am, edited 10 times in total.
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Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
BloodIssyl
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Post by BloodIssyl »

mmm, the sprite of yourself looks rather good, IMO, although the "fists" look a little awkward in that he seems to be bending them back.
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Post by Iris »

Yeah, but I don't know how to improve it, nor can get the correct posture for a standing unit. They are robotical hands.

I attach the PNG version of my attempt at improving Elvish Shyde's base frame. Hope you like it. I need suggestions on making her look like an actual Level 3 unit (say, she should look a little more impressive), but first, let's check the background details, such as her hair and basic shape, which is the only part I've done as of now. I'll add later components once these are ready.

What do you think of her hairdo?

Apart from impressive, I want to make her look more... powerful. You see, an Elvish Shyde isn't supposed to be a little nice girl, but a defender of nature. Legend has it that they become quite aggressive when offended.

Did I mention that the Elvish Shyde used in BFW 0.9.6+ is what made me fell in love with this game? :wink:
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Elvish Shyde improvement try 1
Elvish Shyde improvement try 1
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Shadow
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Post by Shadow »

Huh the shyde looks already quite powerfull. I don't know where to improve it and the hair is already top notch.
... all romantics meet the same fate someday
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Post by BloodIssyl »

Yes the original doesn't need to be altered.

Although MAYBE a slight aura?
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Iris
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Post by Iris »

Right, the mainline graphics are already good. In such case, I could use this for my own unit anyway (or avatar).
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Post by Jetrel »

Shadow Master wrote:Apart from impressive, I want to make her look more... powerful. You see, an Elvish Shyde isn't supposed to be a little nice girl, but a defender of nature. Legend has it that they become quite aggressive when offended.

Did I mention that the Elvish Shyde used in BFW 0.9.6+ is what made me fell in love with this game? :wink:
Little history lesson, then:

0.9.6 is probably the third image from the right (e.g. the first one after the stretch where she had green hair). At this point I had a CRT, and the pixels blended together enough that it looked as smooth as the next version does. As soon as I got an LCD, it looked jagged and terrible, and I quickly worked to fix this in a lot of our art, not just the shyde.

I tried making her outfit TC in the most recent one, but that didn't pan out; it was just too bold with most colors. Changing her outfit to grey, I thought, really helped her to look more appropriate in a forest setting, since the interior of most forests is heavily grey and brown; it's only the ceiling that's predominantly green. It's best to have a mix of all three, rather than a bright green splash.


Adding a healing animation to the shyde was actually one of my first sprite contributions to the game. Fmuñoz was our lead artist at the time.
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Shadow
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Post by Shadow »

Shadow Master wrote:Right, the mainline graphics are already good. In such case, I could use this for my own unit anyway (or avatar).
No offence meant I just pointed out that the hair would need the least changes it can't get much better.
... all romantics meet the same fate someday
Cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe ...
All good dreamers pass this way some day
Hidin’ behind bottles in dark cafes
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Iris
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Post by Iris »

Jetryl wrote:0.9.6 is probably the third image from the right (e.g. the first one after the stretch where she had green hair).
I didn't notice any difference when switching from 0.9.6 to 1.0.2, nor from 1.0.2 to 1.1.2b. I guess that was because I had a CRT monitor then. When I switched to 1.1.10, I had already a LCD, and IIRC she was already team-coloured.
Jetryl wrote:I tried making her outfit TC in the most recent one, but that didn't pan out; it was just too bold with most colors.
Perhaps the engine should provide a more complex team colouring in the future, perhaps in version 1.6 or something. I can think of a good method, anyway, because by all means it would a) use more disk space or b) use more a larger memory space for the program.
Jetryl wrote:Changing her outfit to grey...
I don't know if it's my eyes, but I see it's a greenish gray in the 1.2.x, 1.3.x line. Almost unnoticeable, though.
Jetryl wrote:... really helped her to look more appropriate in a forest setting, since the interior of most forests is heavily grey and brown; it's only the ceiling that's predominantly green. It's best to have a mix of all three, rather than a bright green splash.
Um, right, I thought the same. However, before uploading the frame I made, I recoloured my gray version of the dress for some unknown reason. I guess I'll recolour it again back to greenish gray.
Shadow wrote:I just pointed out that the hair would need the least changes it can't get much better.
Not sure about this, but I kind of dislike the current official hair, it's like it looked like (?) *dry*. And the little pieces of wood and leaves in her hair are not noticeable enough.

In any case, I'm trying to put my mental image of her in the sprite, not sure if you understand what I mean. Probably a portrait would do a lot better, but I just suck at drawing portraits, and certainly my attempt last year was horrible (no, I didn't upload it here :P I keep it in my HD backups, though).

However, something I noticed while drawing this version, is that her skin colours (of the BFW 1.2.x/1.3.x pictures) is slightly different from that of other elvish units.
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Post by Weeksy »

While you're doing this, would it be possible to get you to do a 'desert' version using newer sprites? the UtBS version is very outdated, and looks rather crudely done compared to what I'm used to.
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Post by Iris »

I doubt that. I just want to say that what you call "my artwork" is actually edited pieces of other people. I do no artwork on my own, only minor edits to existing ones. Edits that rarely improve them. But I use "my artwork" for my own amusement anyway...

So could somebody tell me what's wrong with her belly?

The staff was stolen from one of the unit pictures used in "Saving Elensefar". Her right leg was stolen from the current Elvish Enchantress base frame; it's only the lower part of her dress and completely her left leg what I drew from scratch.
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Last edited by Iris on August 20th, 2007, 3:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Shadow »

She stretches it out too much.
Though you got better.
... all romantics meet the same fate someday
Cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe ...
All good dreamers pass this way some day
Hidin’ behind bottles in dark cafes
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Post by Iris »

Alright, after playing around with her stomach for, like, 3 hours, I think I finally got the cause of her pregnancy, and it seems to have been my fault... with her shape *and* shading, apart from the little TC-colour thingie in her belly, which I decided to remove while I find a solution for it.
EDIT: and updated the avatar accordingly.
EDIT2: and again, for I modified her boots' colouring and shading, to fit that of other elves.
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Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
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Post by Iris »

Some edit, combined parts of my first attempt, i.e. hair and eyes.
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Post by Sabata »

Shadow Master wrote:Some edit, combined parts of my first attempt, i.e. hair and eyes.
I prefer the old one =/
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