Hedge Wizard Character Design v5
Yes. Yes. ANOTHER version of these. The changes are, with some exceptions, quite subtle and are mostly animation changes I figured out while working on the "emoting" animations. One big change is reshading the "back" sprites so they are less flat looking. Another is that I made the "left-facing" views properly different from the "right-facing ones", which were mostly just flipped horizontal. I also had to change a lot of arm and leg positions, in general, because they were incorrect. I also softened the internal outlines where possible, warming up the overall colors and shading a little.
I keep fine-tuning them as I develop other art. I think this is a kind of trap indie devs probably get into all the time. I think v5 might be the last, though. Might be!
Left out Eyva and Eyvar because I am currently looking at a deeper redesign for them.
Agrivar.
Mostly fixed animation issues such as arms and legs positions being wrong.
Athena.
Added bounce to her hair in the rearview. Got rid of her "flyline" on her pants. Did that for all chars who had one.
Barkle.
Gave his hat a bit more life. Showing his shoes! The feather is a bit better, too.
Bellamy.
Changed his hair, his scarf, his shirt, his pants... Also got rid of the over-wide stance all the kids had in side view sprites.
Bird Lady.
Lots of very small, subtle changes. One is that she looks older with some shading under her eyes. She's an OLD bird lady!
Cabbage Jack.
Lots of subtle, small changes here. Mainly shading. His eyebrows are green now?
Captain Cyan.
This design changed a lot. Prev. design was what pushed me to do this. Costume is completely different, colors and details.
Catriona.
Can see her shoes now. Relatively little change to her, though.
Claudette.
Big animation change to her hair, some big shading changes.
Cymbeline.
Big animation change to her hair (sways instead of bounces now). Also slightly changed how wide her skirts are.
Davidge.
Small changes to our man, here. The biggest is that he isn't flipped in the sideviews any more, but I did that for everyone!
Fen.
Biggest changes were shading and how his "skirt" armor moves when he walks. It was... messy before. I also got rid of the weird studs on his gauntlets. Too much detail, too little space.
Fishboy.
Small changes to shading. His eyes are brighter, his nostrils softer, and his shorts have changed color a bit.
Gillian.
I made only tiny little changes to Gillian. She's one I think I got pretty much right by like... v2. Whenever I added noses haha.
Gwen.
I made her eyes a bit "foggier" and made some minor shading changes. Her ears now hide under her braids like they should, but the top reveals when her hair bounces as she walks. Might change this more in future.
Halgeir.
Major changes to armor, espec. shading. Hair bounces different now, espec. in side and rear views.
Halgeir (w/ helmet)
Changes to helmet, of course. More rounded, simpler and better shading.
Huck.
Changes shading, added decal to his vest in back view. Changed his hat quite a bit to make it rounder and better shaded. It sits lower and bounces a bit better also. Next time, might make the little fishing tackle bounce too!
Maeve.
She's a former soldier and I wanted to emphasize that more, so I added a peg-leg indicating that she became a cook when she lost her leg in a battle.
Malachi.
Shading changes! I made his hair bounce a bit better and generally softened a lot of hard black edges.
McMurphy.
Some changes to his mustache and its bouncing! Other changes to shading on his apron.
Midas.
Rare case where I readded internal black outlines. For his beard, it just makes sense. If I do a v6, I may use the darker charcoal color in the palette, rather than this one which is close to true black.
Naoufel.
Costume very simplified. He had a lot of stripes, which were an eyesore. I tried some different pendant designs, too, but this always wound up the best one. Put the pouch on his front, too, better that way!
Regan.
Biggest change here is her hair. I added a bounce and changed the shading to look more like the creases in a brain, which was the original design that I changed for some reason.
Rhoda.
Big change to her hair. It's a bit spikier and looks more like her scalp is a buzzcut rather than a short black fro with a mohawk on it. Also made some shading changes to her clothes.
Taeo.
Some big changes. Lost his tools, drastically simplified his shading, but also added more definition to his face so he looks a bit more like a bull!
Tamra.
Big changes to her outfit. Color scheme is different, was way too brown before. Also made some changes to her hair, but not sure I like it yet.
Timeo.
Only minor changes here, mostly to keep him in line with the other kids. I did change the front of his coat, which had some weird purple nonsense before.
Toby.
Big changes. Almost all the shading was changed, his eyes are now shiny instead of flat, etc.
Vermillia.
Minor changes to her shading in most areas. Bigger changes to the shading and motion of the cape. I got rid of the weird line in her midriff and added POCKETS instead.
Vicks.
Like with Cyan and Wedge, there were a lot of changes to her outfit. In her case, her sword and hair are also way different. I also used the same design as Capt. Cyan's helmet, minus the tail cuz she's not an officer.
Waverly.
Minor changes. Gave her some bags under her eyes cuz she's middle aged and burnt out (like every healthcare worker in the world right now).
Wedge.
Definitely the most a character has changed in this round of revamps. Wedge used to be a human! Now he's a cat!
Zanzi.
Last but giantest woman! I made her mouth a bit more beastie, lost her tattoos cuz they were too busy, and simplified her shading across the board.