Because I can't think of any stable storyboard for the hack I'll work on, I have made some sprites instead.

Introducing: The Boo Buddy and Magikoopa!
If someone could please do me a favor and give criticism, that would be great.





A)B)

Which Magikoopa looks best? You don't have to give a reason, just whether you like A or B.

For comparison, here are some sprites from SMRPG:




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Thanks for the criticism. Well, is it right on the money?



I made these from scratch. I pretty much studied and compared how the original sprites looked and understand why they look the way they do. I also imagined what the sprite might look like if it was a model, since all of SMRPG's sprites are pre-rendered, then are converted into a sprite form.

One of the most important things to consider before spriting is where the light source is coming from. In SMRPG, the light is coming from the south-west. You must keep this is mind when studying the sprites.

One other thing I did was I visualized what they might look like in game.

For the Magikoopa, I studied how Geno's hood looks from the side and the front. On the side, you'll notice the tip of his cap is drooping, and on the face view it shows.
The next thing I tried to look at was how the Magikoopa's hat looked. It looked like it was sort of pointed upward, so I added some lines for depth. There was a rim there around the hat too, so that was considered...

For proportioning, I used a backdrop with 8x8 tiles, like this:

On the frontal view of characters, they're all usually centered.

From there, I just kept drawing blobs, and visualized what it might look like shaded. First I drew the hat, and for the basic shape of how it might look with a head attached to it. Then I drew the glasses, then the nose... Then I kind of just went and drew the basic silhouette of the body, then I visualized where the arms would be... Then I just kept going from there. I also kept asking the question, "What would make sense to the eye?" If it looked weird or disproportional, change it accordingly so it works better with the whole picture.

Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect the first time, you can always change the sprite later on (I'm sure you already know that). Also consider that you do not have to use all the colors in the palette (for some reason I have trouble with this, so I'm just telling you). And zoom out to get a view of the sprite as it would be seen in game.

The best advice I can give you is to just visualize how the sprite would look, study how the sprites look, and compare if you have to. Do not be afraid to just draw, either. Blobs do help get the structure going.

I'll admit though, I'm not an expert, this is just the stuff that's worked for me.

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Those are some pretty sweet looking sprites, kudos to both of you.

@M.E.R.255 - I especially like the Koopas, and the Shadow Queen. They look like they fit the theme very well. Though, this isn't to say the other sprites don't fit (I'm not sure what to think of Valentina ) I'm in love with the Punk Koopas, though.
(...Please do more...)

@AnAxemRanger - The back of the green Koopa Bro's head looks a bit flat to me. The rest looks pretty good though.
I have to agree with you about spriting. I only really sprite for hacks, but it really isn't all that enjoyable to me. It can be a quite a hassle trying to make something look the way you want it to (especially for this game where EVERYTHING is prerendered in a 3D program).

Also, have you guys seen the preview for LS 3.9.3? It was posted on the 5th:



Pretty rad, right? I'm psyched! (I wonder what Gian does when he isn't programing this...)

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