Over the last week or so, I’ve been trying to create some custom character sprites inspired by Final Fantasy Job Classes and Dragon Quest vocations. So far, I’ve been creating:
- Freelancer
- Warrior
- Black Mage
- Red Mage
Dragon Quest – Mage 
Final Fantasy III – Freelancer 
Final Fantasy III – Red Mage 
Final Fantasy III – Warrior
On a side note, keen readers will probably recognise the art style used in the Dragon Quest series. The artist is none other than AKIRA TORIYAMA, the creator of Dragon Ball, and Dragon Ball Z. He’s always been the series designer, and I even studied his work for my GCSE Art (many years ago).
I’ve also been using the test shots that I took towards the start of the project (https://sldesignfmp.game.blog/2019/03/20/character-designs/), as well as some of the reading I did on medieval armour construction and materials (https://sldesignfmp.game.blog/2019/03/15/medieval-armour-research/) in order to make my sprites look a little bit more realistic. I know I won’t be able to go for full realism given the 16-bit style, but on the other hand, a bit of realism never hurt anyone.
My Mood Board helped me compare existing styles of charcater sprites, and see what sort of costumes have been used previously:
I started by making Tommyn‘s sprite, and I decided to make the hairstyle a bit more anime, as the game I’m trying to make is a JRPG; I thought it’d be more appropriate. I looked through my mood boards to get an idea of how I could anime-fy his appearance, and I came up with this after mush trial and error:
Freelancer 
Mage 
Red Mage 
Warrior
I’ve nearly finished the Mage, although I’m having a bit of an issue with the rear angled sprite. The cloak appears to be a very 1980’s one, with wide shoulders, but I’m having difficulty making the cloak look right. The others need to be finished, but as only the Red Mage has a cloak, they shouldn’t be too difficult, although they’ll take a while. I don’t have a graphics tablet, you see, so I’m having to use mouse controls. It’s a right pain.
One thing I’m finding difficult is creating female sprites. I can’t seem to make them actually look female! That’s why I’m starting with a male sprite, to kind of get my eye in. Hopefully, I should be able to create a custom sprite for Jeanné, but to be honest, I’m nott looking forward to the hassle of making it!
There we go! I’ve actually started making stuff for my project!!! But there’s a few songs I listened to that have helped me get through this:
As you may have guessed, music is a very important part of my creative process. It helps me think, clears my head, or just lets me relax. Anime and Game music in partcular is particularly evocative for me. Although I also like other types of music, when I’m creating game related content and material, I can only listen to this type of music.
Hopefully you like my work, and the music that I’ve posted here. I’m hoping to have some more stuff later on, so stay tuned!!!
SLGameDesign FMP 