Blog #1
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During the last week I have been working on creating a sprite for the predatory bird ”Falcon”. This predatory bird is considered to be the ”weakest” out of the three enemy types that the player will go up against in Trowl. I started by looking up some tutorials on pixel art, because I was not 100% sure on how to create sprites, but I have previously programmed sprites in c++ allegro but I have never created sprites from scratch. After ”extensive research” in pixel art I came to a conclusion that it was not that hard, as long as you use the pencil tool, eraser(pencil mode) and a pixel grid, then you are basically good to go. With that in mind, I created a new file (64x60px), changed the image interpolation to nearest neighbor and began sketching the falcon with the regular brush as a foundation for the pixel art. When it was time to do the sprite, I created a new layer on top of the foundation and began drawing the sprite with the pencil tool. I tried to follow the Rule of rhythm (when pixel in line follows a rhythm like 1-2-3 and 1-1-2-2-3-3) while I was drawing, but I realized that it was not so important because outlines are not included in our aesthetics according to our style guide. The hardest part about this artifact was making the predatory bird look deadly/dangerous while maintaining a simplistic look with pixel art. Adding menacing eyes, sharp beak and claws helped alot to convey that image. When it comes to colors, I used the color palettes from our style guide to color the Falcon. As you can see in the picture I only used 4 main colors, and rest of the colors are either darker or lighter tones of these colors in order give depth through shading and highlights. According to our style guide, we are not allowed to use multiple shading and highlight layers since we are trying keep a simplistic look. 
Not original resolution. We took a lot of inspiration from the concept document when it came to enemy design, and we did that because it fitted with our aesthetics. The main reason why this artifact is so important, is because it is one of the first challenges that the player will face. We wanted to at least complete this artifact before pre-alpha, in order to give programmers something to test on (like hitbox, movement, etc).
Kadar, Ali, Team#16  |
Original resolution
