2D My artwork progress thread

[TOWC]

Why, hello there.

In short: this character right there is the MC's best friend. You can kind of guess what kind of personality he has, I tried my best to emphasize it with these poses and basic expressions. That's about it for the short version.

I posted before in a different thread, where I was asking for an opinion about how thicc I should make him. After getting sufficient feedback, I stuck to the thinner version and did more poses based on decided anatomy. Keep in mind, art obviously still needs a bit of cleaning up: I'm gonna replace the slippers to the ones you can see in the awestruck pose(even despite the fact you'll probably never see them in-game), and I'll make sure to fix his eyes once I start seriously working on his expressions. But otherwise - the bulk is pretty much done.

On a related note, I would like to request someone to join my

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, where I constantly chatter and share the progress, to verbally whip my lazy ass to better focus on my work. While I do think I might be doing enough, considering that I have free time on my hands at the moment, I also think that I might be doing more. Anyone with artistic perspective and experience in game development is also very welcome, I'd love to receive some professional feedback, because I'm tone deaf when it comes to some more sophisticated side of things.

 

[TOWC]

Renamed the thread and decided to make it into some sort of a progress report type. Mostly for myself, because I like to document stuff, but also to show off the progress and gather the feedback you guys might have.

Right now I'm working on the character I've been itching to do for a while.

Timeframe-wise, she won't appear until the end of the first chapter, but she's a core addition to the main cast.
Character-wise she's seemingly a "tough girl" type and is not easily embarrassed, but she has a soft spot regarding "certain things". The stern look on her eyes is, basically, self-inflicted and she becomes much "cuter" when she melts. However, she can and will kick your ass, unless some special circumstances are involved.

She likes to exercise in her spare time, and to crack a bottle of a cold one after a hard day at work.

By the time she appears in the story, she's temporarily suspended her nurse practice and decided to mostly laze around until she decides whether she actually wants to continue her medical career or to pursue another path altogether. She's occasionally working part-time at the bar her friend owns.

Her name and relation to other characters will remain undisclosed for now, I hope you understand. That'll be the case with all the characters. Hence, outside the manuscript writing, I refer to them by arbitrary nicknames. Hers, in this case, is Tsundere Tomboy.

Here are some heavy WIP sprites out of the bunch that look the closes to what I'm trying to achieve. So far, she's the hardest character to work with, her outfit is slightly more detailed than the others', but I'm pretty sure I can make it look consistent enough.

 

[TOWC]

I've finalized her design, so now I'm going to stick to it. I was a bit at odds whether to keep the tears or not for that "rebel" vibe, but for now I've decided to go with standard jeans. Should I change my mind, the edits won't be that hard to make. It's been a bit tough adjusting the costume, but I've managed to learn some new techniques while I was at it, so I think I'll be able to finish the rest of her basic sprites in one go the next time I do it.

 

[TOWC]

Today I'm going to finish her basic sprites. I estimate that the two of them that I have done some preparational work on will be easy enough to adjust, but there's one that is going to be rather problematic to work with due to the angle. Needless to say, I look forward to see the finished result

 

[TOWC]

A couple of minor setbacks, but it's finally done. Originally I was going to experiment with her expressions and include an annoyed/angry type in this one, but I've been fucking with this one close to ten hours already, so I'll do it later. Also, my smol brain can't fully encompass the concept of dimensions, so I'm not sure if I've done her collar right. But, well, I tried.

 

[TOWC]

I made a small mistake in congratulating myself with a job well done on that angular shot by marathoning a 26-episode anime, so probably no new designs today. Instead, I'm gonna show off the first one I've done.

This big boy right there is the main character of the story. He's not a nameless self-insert character, he has a story and the past. Is known and remembered all across his hometown(where the story takes place) despite missing from there for seven whole years and cutting all contacts, save for his best friend. Although known in certain circles, and for all the wrong reasons. His relatively lame look is also intentional and is tailored for certain purposes, but he does occasionally slip and show his true colours, whatever it may be. He possesses both the smarts and the brawns, and prefers leading a relatively easy-going lifestyle.

That is... until things start to happen.


I'll probably sharpen up the sprites a bit at some point, because I made them before I've discovered the tricks that allow me to increase quality like in the last ones I posted. Although, they probably look fine. Gonna make sure to adjust the colors though.

 

[TOWC]

Right now I'm working on a head detective. His character is what can be described as incredibly easygoing and seemingly lazy at the first glance, but damn if he's isn't the best man for the job™. Has a lot of sway in police department, and is the sole reason why the town hasn't fully descended into corruption. Him and MC are old acquaintances and are on very good terms, however due to the latter cutting off all connections, they haven't spoken in years.

His design is heavily inspired by Makoto Date from Yakuza series. He's a bit of a challenge to make, because unlike other characters I've done so far, this one doesn't have a stable foundation to build from. But I'll probably find a way to resolve this issue.

 

[TOWC]

Yep, a bit tricky, but not impossible. I will focus on other sprites that I'll have easier time to create for now though. By the time his time comes, another tech might arrive that'll ease up creation process of sprites without a proper(or just a single one) base, who knows.

It was a fun process though, all in all.

Next time I'll either start working on backgrounds or do another female character on the list.

 

[TOWC]

Okay, so, this character is a bit tricky, I can't quite finalize her design. More specifically, I struggle with her top.

All of them are good in their own way and it's really damn hard to choose something specific. I think, once I sleep on it, my mind might clear up. Still, if someone has some feedback - now is a good time to share it, it would be REALLY helpful.

There's no need for more context about what her character is, it won't factor into your choice: just go with your gut - and you'll probably be right.

 

[TOWC]

Just like with all the complicated unfinished designs, this one was quite a tough one, but, thanks to properly working on that, I've created and carved out various assets that will help me to slightly(at the very least) accelerate the process once I get to making her other poses.

This character... well, there's really no point talking about her. All I can tell you is that she's gonna be a huge pain in the MC's ass at almost every point in the story where she appears, in one way or another.

Overall - I'm very satisfied with the result. This one was the most complex to work with so far, which makes its completion so much more satisfying. I can still see some very minor flaws that need to be ironed out, but it's the task for another day when all the sprites will be ready for adjustment.

For the next time, I will properly map out the MC's(or, to be more specific, his BFF's) home, where he'll move around and interact with the inhabitants in-between city exploration, and start seriously thinking about how to go about the overall interior.

 

[TOWC]

After some prolonged and rather painful deliberation I've managed to properly map out the house. I'd make a horrible architect, but at the very least I can say that I tried my best.
This is probably going to be one of the very few locations with some sort of cohesiveness(as in, if you exit "Room A" you'll enter "Room B" kinda "hub" way), because the rest are going to be something where you "pop in/pop out of the global map" kinda thing.

I already did the MC's room and the Fiancée's room(also the kitchen, but it needs a whole lot more of refinement). All I'm left to do with these is to make some minor edits and corrections, properly upscale the former and fill in the latter with more details like that teddy bear to give it more character. As for the MC's room, it's supposed to empty at the beginning of the story, for obvious reasons, but the player will be able to fill it up with various accessories and furniture as the game progresses.

The next time I will make the BFF's room and see about the room 1 on the 2F. These two rooms are basically mirrored versions of what I've showed in this post, but I want to see how much I can make them to differentiate in contrast to their counterparts and how well I can make them correlate to the personalities of the characters they belong to.

 

[TOWC]

It's been a bit tough, I have absolutely no feeling for the background work, and I doubt it'll improve. It just doesn't "click" with me. But maybe I'm just too pessimistic. I'll give it a go later on again.

The room #1 on the 2F is done, but it looks frustratingly off. I will leave it as it is and use it in my future prototype and then, if there'll be some feedback regarding that, I'll edit it and patch in the better version of it in later updates.

The BFF's room was also a toughie, but not as much as the room #1, because it's more spacious and this angle is easier to work with overall. I wanted to find a way to emphasize the guy's dormant femininity through surroundings while also making sure not to neglect his tomboyish side and so far I have no idea how exactly to do that. I think I'll add a couple more plush toys later on, but I doubt it'll be enough. Once the design is actually finalized, I will clean the rest up.

Also had some work done on the previous character I introduced. And yes, this aspect of her personality shines through often enough to make a dedicated sprite for it.

The next time I'll either introduce another character on the list or expand on the poses for the existing ones.

 

[TOWC]

Right now I'm working on two side characters. Took me a while to figure out the design and make it consistent, but I finally did it.

The first one is a girl from one of the prominent families in the town. She's finishing the last year of her high school. She has a lot of "friends" at school and, more often than not, her behaviour in public could be described as your typical ojou-sama type, however in reality she's pretty timid and is under constant pressure trying to fulfil the expectations her influential parents set for her. She's extremely careful in managing her public character, but some unexpected elements might be enough to disrupt it. Like the main character, for example.
Despite her being one of the untouchable elites, eventually, if the player is very negligent and careless, the town may claim her as well.

The second character is a nun of a minor religion, barely recognizable by the town. She lives in the church together with her pastor stepfather and her responsibility, aside from managing donations and helping with sermons, is taking care of the place and managing confessional whenever her stepfather is away. Pure of heart, always wholeheartedly ready to help, offer an ear, an advice and a shoulder to cry - a true follower of her religion, in other words. While not completely abandoned by the main church at the capital, the meager amount of her own church's followers and, consequently, donations makes it harder and harder to maintain the place with every passing month. Perhaps, all is lost for her home where she grew up, but the girl will not give up until she tried out doing everything she can.
Let's pray that she won't have to try doing literally everything.

 

[TOWC]

They were pretty fun to work with. Only the nun character was a bit tough, because I couldn't get her eyes right, but in the end I've improved and gained some instinctual understanding on how to shape them. They still look a bit unusual, but at the same time they sorta align with the image I had in my head.

The next time I post there, I'll probably try to make some of the male characters, but as for my immediate plans, I'll try to see how complicated it'll be to work with the engine. At first I was thinking of going with Godot, but after some advice on the side, after I described the gameplay outlines, they've recommended Ren'Py to me instead. I'm a bit biased against Ren'Py games in general, but after digging a bit deeper, I've realised that it might just work. Might be easier to work with, too.

 

[OfficialHentakuGames]

Thrse are really fucking good. What's your project?