November 3rd, 2010
The next real site update will be next week but I’m throwing some extra stuff out there for the funk of it. Here’s what’s cracklin’ today:
GFX Generators – The “name graphic display” part of the second menu has been cleaned up, more Vampire Savior/Hunter 2 name graphics were added (Arthur, Dracula, R.Taylor) and Arthur just got a custom portrait:
Game List – I forgot to mention that I got the best early Christmas present last week. Why should you give a crap? Because the game that I got with it has just been added to the Game List. What game is that? Little Big Planet. I finally have a so-called current gaming console so I’ll be able to work in more content about certain game re-releases and revivals.
Nice work with the Death & Simon Belmont sprites (also the new fake screenshot), they fit in well with the Alucard one. Did you use the Neca toys as a reference when doing them? Incidentally, as much as I love Neca’s sculpts, I didn’t like the heads/faces of either Alucard or Simon- I say this because to me it looks like the artist made He-Man, not Simon Belmont.
http://www.poeghostal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/belmont_8.jpg
I did like Ayami’s design, but mostly because she did something a little different in an interesting way (but Takeshi Obata went too far in my opinion, too gothy), the red hair & the style, his outfit- otherwise even I have to admit he was too effeminate. I would have done it more traditional but only slightly updated. When it comes to characters, I’m pretty particular about the face. If it doesn’t look right to me I get cranky. In my mind, just because Simon is a sh*t brick house doesn’t mean he should look like Conan. This is closer to how I see him:
http://x0d.xanga.com/b3dc8bf363d33219382293/m171920535.jpg
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/5/59190/1315367-dra010.jpg
Your sprite of him remarkably doesn’t make him look like blond paige boy. Thank you for that.
Anyway- just rambling thoughts of an aging gamer.
Glad you like the new stuff. I try to use official artwork for reference so Simon’s look there was mostly a mix of these two pics:
http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/File:Castlevania_I_Wallpaper.jpg
http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/File:Truesimon.JPG
But I mostly wanted him to look like the NES standing sprite as much as I could. Alucard’s sprite details were based on the Ayami Kojima art from SotN. I think Succubus is the only one with Neca influence because of the corset.
I’m not a fan of the Chronicles Simon design for that character but I’m sure I’d have liked it more if he turned out to be a completely different Belmont. Is that first screenshot from the latest Soul Calibur? The design in your third link looks like it was based on the same design that my second link. I think that may be my favorite Simon design so far.
Hey, this entire website is one giant ramble from an aging gamer so don’t feel bad about rambling in the comment section. I always appreciate it when you post here.
Oh yeah, that was definitely Soul Calibur- the face, hair & pose really seem Simon-y to me. Right! I didn’t think of that… The pixel art is technically the ‘final’ word on the character design so of course… It’s why I’d choose to make Jennifer Wills a red head & Samus with green hair.
You can’t go wrong with the production art- I suppose even though I gripe about it, it helps to have diverse styles to look at, though the curse of too much research causes indecision from too many choices.
I can understand why you’d go with that design for the Succubus, so far as I’m aware it’s the only one where she’s eh- ‘decent’.
Take it easy & don’t work too hard!
You’re exactly right about too much reference because I spent far too much time trying to mentally boil all the looks down into something that would be used in a Capcom fighter. Things like that slow me down on a lot of pixel art as well as line art. I plan to have the Simon’s Quest outfit done eventually and I’ll probably make another with the single shoulder pad look. I’ll probably recreate the caped intro sprite of Trevor from CVIII one of these days.
I always think of Samus as a brunette because of the ending picture. That’s why I put extra palette work into those sprite edits of her when I added them to the GFX Generator. There’s something cool about seeing her in a purple Zero suit with green hair.
I’m taking it a bit easier by getting some gaming in but work on paid art commission projects come first. I’ll probably try to ease up a bit in mid-December but that never works out. Thanks again for the comments!