Badniks & Bosses Art

But isn't it the plan now to do it more like the official art than the original sprite.

 

That's what I thought too, but oh well. I already made the changes.

 

That's such a shame, I thought the original sprite looked really nice. Why is everyone so picky about the tiny details? In the original Sonic 2 as long as you recognised the badnik the artist had done a good job.

 

The Masher is just the first example of the art style we've set for badniks. Also:

The art style reflects the OFFICIAL direction badniks are going to be made in.

The idea is for them to go off the concept art where it'll look better, and appropriately mix in things from the sprite in the same way. CN can post up the evolutions of his Flasher as well to reinforce this, though I think that was recent enough that most people should remember it.

 

Rounded the bottom a little bit and made the top part a little bit smaller.

 

...Why did you make the "hat" smaller again? Isn't the art direction now supposed to mimic the artwork rather than the sprites?

Also, those arms still look a bit odd. Might have to do with the hand-arm proportions.

 

I did it because people keep telling me to go for the sprite design. I really hate peer pressure...

Made the hat bigger. also tried to fix the arm. Better or worse?

 

Looking at the sprite and the artwork I'm beginning to have a hard time figuring out whether or not that gray thing on the front is a highlight or a headlight. I actually think you should go with making that a headlight regardless, should add some interest to it overall. I'd also go back to the gun you had originally only make it yellow. One thing that I think could be really neat is if you form the top and bottom of the exterior shell so that they can close and form an egg shape. If you were to do this, then we could potentially work in some additional animation for them by having them come at you closed and then pop open as you get closer to them.

Oh, and try not to let peer pressure get to you too much or else you'll just keep doing and re-doing the same thing over and over again and people will still be dissatisfied. You won't always be able to make everyone happy. I'm not saying to ignore constructive feedback, though.

 

You could, but concept art tends to come before the actual art, and the manual images look more like concept art to me. They certainly look like concept art it in Sonic 1's manual, so it's not a completely wacky theory. It's a fairly obvious mistake to make so you'd think someone would have pointed it out in 1992 if they didn't want a smaller hat.

 

Yup, you definitely will need to pick and choose what feedback you are going to listen to, otherwise you will go insane pretty quick!

I think that the gun should be silver, to give him a nice balance of silver and yellow, instead of all that yellow. Concerning the arm, your newer version has it way too fat, and the older version has his shoulder in the wrong place. Take your older arm and move the shoulder more to where it is in the original sprite, and it will be perfect. If you don't understand what I mean, I can draw something up for you quick.

One last thing I haven't seen come up yet is his nose. It is my take that this guy is supposed to look like some sort of mole. That would mean that black thing under his left eye is actually his nose, and it adds a bit of perspective to his face. It will also make him look less like a South Park character

You may want to include the 'bracelets' his has on his arms in the manual art, but that is up to you.

 

Alright, changed the gun to what I originally had, but yellow. Also, about your idea regarding the top and bottom forming an egg-shape when closed. I made a quick edit, and...



If I were to do it this way, then that hat would be way bigger than both the concept and the actual sprite shows. I dunno, I really like the idea, so I'm going to try it with the bottom modified.

 

After further examination, I'm starting to think it's a highlight that just wasn't too convincing in the sprite.


...Yes, regardless of my unofficial artwork. =P


EDIT:

No, that's definately his other hand:

 

You can go beyond the scope of the original sprite and artwork. Use your imagination, and if you think it will work well, use it.

 

Actually, both lids can be closed to form an egg-like shape in the artwork.

 

No, in that picture his nose would be out of view. If that was his other hand, then his eyeball is popping out of his head.

 

This is kinda how I'm envisioning this thing.

 

Okay, well, another quickie. It might look a little better if it was a circle instead of an egg. Also, I know that in the sprite and artwork that the hat and bottom still closes to form an egg, but in the sprite it just looks like it "floats" there, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, here's that quickie I mentioned.



Also, regarding the nose. I really don't think he had a nose to begin with. And regardless if it was there, it would still look like the eye was popping out of the head due to the top part of the eye being almost completely off the body itself.

 

I always took it as being some kind of evil turtle / tortoise in the middle section of the Nebula, with the green hunched back bit being its' shell. Then again, I might just have been influenced by the fact there's already turtle enemies and small animals in that stage...

Incidentally, you've gotta feel sorry for the little turtles - Sonic's actually murdering them rather than saving them, dropping them however many thousands of feet to the ground like that. ='(

;P

 

Yup, I was just discussing that with LOst before you posted, and I believe you are correct. It sure does look like there is a little turtle in there, and it makes the most sense considering the other badniks in the level. Looking at the concept art it is even more apparent. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

That's what I've always though too. And I thought their was a little bit of a "nose" or top of his mouth sticking out under the left eye (not the hand bit - part of his head). A purely circle head just seems a little too basic or something. It's really hard to tell in either the sprite or the art though...