Unit sprites for Invasion from the Unknown/After the Storm

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Shadow
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Post by Shadow »

Shadow Master wrote: ...

btw, Shadow, IMO your Elvish Guard looks pretty good in-game, specially now that it is TC-ed. It might be just because I don't have artistic eyes.

...
No it is more the fact that I never tested him ingame. 8)

The halo is nice, the wings too . I would perhaps shorten the upper body a bit she looks very stretched.
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Iris
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Post by Iris »

Um, shortened her body, it was really looking malformed.

Now, I also fixed her hair's right side (from the rightmost half of her sprite). It was looking malformed, like if her hair was extremely messy, or the wind was blowing from inside her body, rather than from East. So, I tested the modifications in-game, fixed the TC band in her staff, and voila!

EDIT: Disregard the GIMP palletization effects on main screenshot, that happens when the forum upload limit is 1 MB. I didn't want to upload a JPEG because of the horrible quality loss.
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With halo, but it is invisible against forum's background color.
With halo, but it is invisible against forum's background color.
lady-of-light.png (5.66 KiB) Viewed 5448 times
In-game screenshot. Shadow's gotta see his unit in action. :)
In-game screenshot. Shadow's gotta see his unit in action. :)
elynia_without_halo.png (360.75 KiB) Viewed 5462 times
TC tests of latest update, in red, blue and green.
TC tests of latest update, in red, blue and green.
elynia-tc-test.png (95.4 KiB) Viewed 5452 times
Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
Shadow
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Post by Shadow »

Yup much better. Now that I see it the last spirit could still need some clean ups damned. :annoyed:
... 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
Tom of wesnoth
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Post by Tom of wesnoth »

I have made the elven mage artwork.
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Here it is
Here it is
Elvenmage.png (2.8 KiB) Viewed 5351 times
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thespaceinvader
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Post by thespaceinvader »

How many times >.<

Unit art should be: 72x72 pixel .png image. Transparent background. Have a shadow with 60% opacity, blurry edges. Fit the hex (not an issue here). It's just about OK not to when you're frankensteining for fun, but if you're trying to submit something for inclusion into anything that will be used in-game, those conditions MUST be fulfilled.

That being said: Some of the recolouring's OK quality, though slightly the wrong colour to match the rest of the unit. Some of it's fuzzy airbrushing, and not. There's no definition to the right arm, and the staff's a bit wonky.
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Tom of wesnoth
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Post by Tom of wesnoth »

I do not know how to do that so can someone else take over



P.S My dads computer does not hide layers.
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thespaceinvader
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Post by thespaceinvader »

You're using photoshop. You just don't know how to use it correctly. It DOES hide layers, i guarantee you.
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Tom of wesnoth
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Post by Tom of wesnoth »

My dad did not have layers on so i asked him to turn them on and i came up with 2 images using brush tool,smudge tool and blur tool.
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Arcane blast
Arcane blast
Arcablast.png (4.94 KiB) Viewed 5313 times
Staff hit
Staff hit
a1.png (4.46 KiB) Viewed 5296 times
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thespaceinvader
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Post by thespaceinvader »

Those look significantly worse than the previous image - you've blurred up the one bit of recolouring that had actually worked, as well as blurring... everything, really.
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Post by Tom of wesnoth »

You make it then!
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thespaceinvader
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Post by thespaceinvader »

I have no inclination to make it I already have a full plate of artwork to do which will last me for many months. I'm providing you with critique on how YOU could make it better. The first, and most major, point is DON'T use fuzzy brushes. Some people can use them to great effect, but it's a difficult technique to master. Work at pixel level, 800%zoom, with a hard-edged, single-pixel pencil tool.

Particularly on the TColoured areas, blurred and fuzzy tools will mess up the way TColouring works, and leave you with a unit that, instead of having nice teamcoloured bandoliers and headband (in this case) has magenta ones. The use of fuzzy brushes also removes any sense of definition of the anatomy of the right arm, and messes up the skirt and feet, which were among the fairly decent bits of the original sprite you made..

In moving the staff to make the blast, you've chopped the unit's arm in half, and blurred the heck out of it. Don't use the rotate tools, particularly at the unit scale. If you must rotate, use this tutorial to do it with less blurring, but as a rule, don't rotate at all, unless it's by 90 degrees. DEFINITELY redraw the arm that you've chopped in half, pixel-by-pixel, WITHOUT using blurry-edged paint/airbrush tools. Usually, when rotating, completely redraw the thing you are rotating.

I couldn't speak for the creator of this campaign for certain, but i'd be more than willing to bet that your artwork is not of sufficient quality for inclusion.
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Tom of wesnoth
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Post by Tom of wesnoth »

What about this
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Elven mage
Elven mage
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thespaceinvader
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Post by thespaceinvader »

A little better, but still using fuzzy airbrushes. Also, a little broad in the body.
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Tom of wesnoth
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Post by Tom of wesnoth »

It would have patched armor and about 5 more hp than spearman.
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thespaceinvader
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Post by thespaceinvader »

...what would? The unit you're doing the artwork for for someone else? I don't think you have any control over the stats of these units...
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