The NP member comic discussion thread!

[bluestarultor]

Normally I just step aside when people throw a casting call on the table, but feel free to use any of my characters if they're needed (not that I ever expected anyone to use anyone but Blue, but they're available anyway).

[Thadius]

Allow me to say it like this, Mauve: I would enjoy reading it if I were in it or not. (Mainly because everything you do has an awesome and classy touch.) But if you did decide to include me for some hitherto unknown reason, I would welcome it and hit you up with any of my sprite sheets you required.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

That reminds me, I still don't have a decent sheet for full-dragon me. Should think about fixing that...

[phil_]

Include me, Mauve! I need to feel involved!

Also, stick figures! Draw it on a napkin! Just let me know some sort of ending to the awful dead-end I drew us into!

[Loyal]

Originally Posted by Shyria Dracnoir

That reminds me, I still don't have a decent sheet for full-dragon me. Should think about fixing that...

Full-dragon mode is better off drawn or pixel-arted on a case-by-case basis than sprited. The size (and by extension required level of detail) would be too massive for sprites to be practical.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Loyal

Full-dragon mode is better off drawn or pixel-arted on a case-by-case basis than sprited. The size (and by extension required level of detail) would be too massive for sprites to be practical.

Drawn, yes, but if you're going to be pixel-arting anyway, you may as well make a sheet out of it. Maybe just make it modular in some program with layers. That way you can do a couple heads, a couple legs, etc. and put them together as needed.

[Loyal]

Maybe just make it modular in some program with layers. That way you can do a couple heads, a couple legs, etc. and put them together as needed.

Yeah, that's the thing, modular sprites are typically only useful for animations (whether .gif or in the context of an actual game), as it usually looks too obvious in still images (i.e. comics).

I say "pixel art" in that if you're going to mix drawn work with spritework, you should probably try to use a medium and style that will make the drawing blend more naturally with the sprites. If, in the context of this conversation, your pixel art is compact and animation-friendly enough to make a sprite sheet of it, you've either made your dragon too small or too undetailed, or your complete sprite sheet likely dwarfs the size of most of the NPF sprite 'archive' combined. Bear in mind that Shyria's dragon form is easily several times larger than any other NPFer I can think of, including ArmouredBishoujo's M-Tek armor.

You can do it any way you like, of course. You can also try to make a sheet like this, but there are few (if any) dragon-sprites with a full range of motion for casual actions out there, and I pity the man who tries to extrapolate a whole, proper sheet out of what little Fire Emblem, or any other game, has to offer.

[mauve]

Huh. After not thinking about the Phil, Rick and Mauve comic for the past year and three months, I randomly came up with a plotline for it. It's a miracle or something.

We'll see what happens with it.


As for the new comic venture, I haven't decided if I'm gonna sprite or draw (read: really simple chibis or something) it yet.

[phil_]

Miracles are good, as are drawn comics.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Loyal

Yeah, that's the thing, modular sprites are typically only useful for animations (whether .gif or in the context of an actual game), as it usually looks too obvious in still images (i.e. comics).

I say "pixel art" in that if you're going to mix drawn work with spritework, you should probably try to use a medium and style that will make the drawing blend more naturally with the sprites. If, in the context of this conversation, your pixel art is compact and animation-friendly enough to make a sprite sheet of it, you've either made your dragon too small or too undetailed, or your complete sprite sheet likely dwarfs the size of most of the NPF sprite 'archive' combined. Bear in mind that Shyria's dragon form is easily several times larger than any other NPFer I can think of, including ArmouredBishoujo's M-Tek armor.

You can do it any way you like, of course. You can also try to make a sheet like this, but there are few (if any) dragon-sprites with a full range of motion for casual actions out there, and I pity the man who tries to extrapolate a whole, proper sheet out of what little Fire Emblem, or any other game, has to offer.

The difference is that you aren't animating it and can therefore go modular without making it obvious that it's modular, since there's no reason to treat it like it's actually going to move. Just leave a marker for yourself where the limbs connect in magic pink or something, use alpha to match the dots, turn them back opaque, nip the top marker with an appropriate color eyedropped from nearby, merge down, copy, undo the merge, and paste your sprite elsewhere to resize for the comic.

I mean, it's theoretically not that hard, but I don't have the talent or frankly time to do something like a dragon from scratch. At least not without a drawn reference for how it's going to look. If Shyria were to sketch up a base for how she wanted her side position, it could be resized and pixeled over in new layers. Sure, her "sheet" would be a .PSD or .PDN or whatever she happens to own, at least to start, but it would be possible.