Character Concept Art

As some of you may know, one of my plans for the summer was to revamp the main character sprites. The ones for Bradley and Simon are too obviously mixed and the only thing we have for Alisa is to use the sprite originally intended for Cheryl, who is no longer a character.

I've started with some ideas for Bradley and Simon. What they look like now will likely not translate directly into their sprite, but this is the general idea. I haven't gotten to Alisa yet, but I wanted to post this before I go away for the weekend.

Likes, dislikes, and whatever else you have to say is appreciated.

http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/3143/simoncopy.pnghttp://img836.imageshack.us/img836/7547/bradleycopy.png

Hmmm... I agree that Bradley as previously done was far too massive, but here he almost seems youngster-ish. Simon should be fine, though the buckle flying in the wind seems the tiniest bit silly, and it's pretty clear the direction people will take to sprite him.

I happen to be quite good at spriting humans (although I'm far to bad at shading to shade stuff). So I guess I could work on these if I may.

Simon is awesome! Bradley seems a little too goofy though, like what IB said about being youngster-ish.

Is that a football/soccer shirt?

Other than that, good start. Can't really add to what's been said.

I've always noted that we lack trainer art (other than the big Willow sprite) when doing site designs. I've already tried to get two different artists to do Froy. One doesn't do humans and the other has a broken tablet.

Speaking of which, how are you drawing these?

I'll see how Bardley comes out in sprite form. I'll try to do them soon, but I can't make any promises. I've been busy with other stuff and have had little drive to complete.

@zero: It wasn't meant to be, I just tried to add some interest to the plain yellow, especially so big. The look will change when I sprite it because it has less space to fill.

I use my brother's tablet and photoshop. Really basic tools though. I'm going to see if he'll let me take it come September, so that I can use it when I'm at school and not just when I come home and have no time.

The reason I asked is because the drawing style is fairly unique. It resembles impressionism, which isn't common in digital art.

Started drawing Alisa. She's coming along nicely, I just hope that she doesn't come out too mature.
Her outfit is a lot better IMO than the other two, simply because it has more elements that tie it together. Though the clothes suit him, Bradley is just so... bland. Even Simon could use some extra things. I'll have to add some in when I try to sprite them later.

(The main reason, I realize, why I haven't been spriting is that I have to use a mouse to do it properly. At home, where I've been for the summer, I use my laptop on my bed, which makes using a mouse difficult. When I go back to school and start using my laptop on a desk again, I'll be able to actually do these sprites I keep talking about.)

That's another brainstorming subject, what could we use to accessorize Bradley?

What if we made him kind of a police officer wannabe? He wouldn't have a uniform necessarily but would wear things that are reminiscent of the motif, like badges and hats.

I kind of imagined giving him a cool, long neckerchief/scarf thing.
I was also thinking of some sort of satchel, since he was supposed to be an aide to Prof. Willow and would need something to collect samples ect.
I'll also try to style a jacket that is reminiscent of law enforcement.
I could also do some gloves/bracelets/bands as a little extra detail or style if I think it needs it.
I would stray away from badges and other such small details, since those will be hard to sprite effectively.

Do you have any ideas for hats? Alisa has a sort of military style cap, so anything else is fair game. Or we could go without one, and keep his hair a similar style.

A badge isn't too hard to sprite, given that it's large enough. I've never been very good with headgear though. I think a police-style hat would be laying it on too thick.

He is an aid to the Professor, so he'd be working in the field alot. He seems rather sensible, so he would wear a hat to protect himself from the sun. I'd go with something like a fishing hat or the kind of hat that the Hiker trainers wear, with the hat's brim going all the way around.

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/611/alisacopy.png
Eyes are covered because I didn't feel like drawing them. They will be visible in the sprite.

Also meant to do more detail on the vest, but forgot...

Looks about right, though perhaps a little moody compared to her personality. Another worry might be that her looks point her pretty clearly in the direction of the Rockets.

Maybe if I made the pants gold? I tried to make the shirt light, but I do agree that it looks a little dark overall.

Maybe there could be two versions of her, and this would be the rocket version? It would probably just have a few color differences to make it obvious which team she is on.

But that also poses a problem for the pre-team choice battles. It may be easier to have an outfit that reflects both, so it could be applied to either.

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/8309/alisaq.png

Maybe if the cap was gold instead? The cap is really what's screaming "ROCKET!" to me.

Try to pick a better color for the pants to match the shirt? Just looks awkward...