Enemy listings

[Fryguy64]

So, here I am with an idea that has come about from loving to draw Nintendo stuff so much. The enemy listings (which I have talked about before in my Nintendo Enemy thread in the fanart section) are very much something I would like to do soon.

Obviously the first step will be to reclaim my scanner's installation disk. That will happen this weekend or next.

But the step after that is exactly HOW to represent these things. First of all, I really want to include some kind of sprite reference. This could be a lone enlarged sprite or a series of all sprites in that character's animation - I've not yet decided on this. It will be accompanied by my artwork.

I will have an entry that explains what the creature is and how it moves. Obviously, this may change between different games that the enemy appears in. But this isn't a problem, as in some cases I will also have to do different drawings of the same enemy due to fundamental design changes (eg. Koopa Troopas... four legs or two?)

Quite how to lay this out has yet to be finalised. I'd like to keep it quite simple, and I'd like to make it look good as well.

Obviously this is a big job, and will go up in installments. Especially in cases where I can't find a sprite sheet or enemy list with sprites for a particular game, I may have to play through it myself to get all of the information. Luckily I also have access to quite a few Japanese websites with information on Japan-only releases and Japanese names.

This is where I could do with some help really. Sprite sheets. They're very popular on the 'net, but less so in recent times. The gathering of enemy sprites is vital to this project. I will later make a list of games that I've done, and ones I still need sprites for. Perhaps some happy helpers would be willing to help? ;D

Also, come up with any additional ideas you think would make this project even more awesome. Everyone loves awesomeness!

[Hiker of Games]

Is this like your Bestiary idea then?

[Fryguy64]

Yes... yes it is. Only it will be separated by game... at least at first... at least until I have some inkling of how to best use PHP ;D

[Wildcat]

Are you doing art on this alone, or can others help? I've been enjoying my dabbles into Nintendo enemy art (see my Nintendo fanart thread for what I mean), and you can use those if you want. I won't be able to put anymore up for some time, since I have no internet at my new home...but I would like to help in what ways I can. I am assuming you know about the Shyguy Kingdom (since it is affiliated with you)...have you asked them if you could use their sprite sheets?

As for ideas, how about how some enemies have evolved over time...like Gohma from Legend of Zelda, for example. He's popped up in several Zeldas, usually in a different way than before. Explaining his evolution from Legend of Zelda to Ocarina of Time to Wind Waker to Four Swords Adv. (and any games I left out) would be interesting, at least to me.

[Fryguy64]

I do intend for all of the enemy artwork to be my own. Unlike the Nintendo Stars section, this is something I am intent on writing and drawing all myself. Like a mini-project that doesn't involve rebuilding the entire site again.

[mrmolecule]

Awww, man! Just when I thought you could use my avatar to start the EarthBound list!

[Wildcat]

admin said:

I do intend for all of the enemy artwork to be my own. Unlike the Nintendo Stars section, this is something I am intent on writing and drawing all myself. Like a mini-project that doesn't involve rebuilding the entire site again.

Cool, cool. ^^ I wish you luck in this venture.

[Fryguy64]

mrmolecule said:

Awww, man! Just when I thought you could use my avatar to start the EarthBound list!

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the RPGs all that much

[Yamato.EXE V2]

I wish we can show tutorials for Adobe Photoshop about Layers.

[Fryguy64]

To get the kind of layer effect that I use it's a little bit fiddly.

I scan the black and white ink drawing into photoshop, making the lines as soft and dark as I can by playing with the contrast on my scanning program. I also scan things in at 200% of their size while I'm working on them.

In Photoshop, with your shiny new image, select the magic wand and set it to around 30-40% tolerance and Anti-Aliased. Click on one of the black lines, then right click and select "Similar". This will highlight all of the black lines on the drawing.

Now go up to Layer >> New >> New Layer and select it. The new layer should appear in the Layers window (if it's not open, go to Window >> Layers. Make sure this layer is active (it will be highlighted on the Layers window)... and notice that the mask (the dotted line selection created by the magic wand) applies to the selected layer, even if you used the magic wand on a different layer.

Use the Fill tool on black (or whatever outline colour you prefer, but black usually) and the new layer should have a clean black outline. On the Layers window, delete or hide (click the eye) the background layer...

Your drawing will have no background! Hoorah! The white space will be completely seethrough.

Now create ANOTHER new layer, and on the Layer window, make sure that it is BELOW the layer with your drawing on it, and that the new layer is selected.

Now it's merely a matter of colouring in on this layer as you see fit. You can use different layers for each colour if you like, or perhaps just one layer for colour and one layer for shading... or hundreds of layers if you're creating some kind of masterpiece on super-powered hardware.

Colour in using the method of your choice. At the moment I'm a big fan of using the polygon mask and fill tools to speed everything up a bit, with one layer for colour and one for shading.

Oh yes, and there's never any harm in cleaning up the image if it's a little grainy or nobbly.

Then, when you're done, you can Layer >> Flatten and save it as a JPG, GIF, PNG or whatever. If you don't flatten it then you're limited in what you can save it as, and most of them aren't compatible with the internet (TIF, EPS, etc.)

So flatten, save, upload to internet, show off your awesome new skillz.

Oh, and it may seem like quite a lot of work just to colour in a picture, but once you get used to it, the process is very fast and the results are awesome.

[Flip]

Very very cool 'shop tips, Fry. Thanks!

Btw, I assume you've come across www.mariomonsters.com in your internet travels, right? They have a really solid compendium that I've been a fan of for a long time now.

[Yamato.EXE V2]

I might want to do Kirby Enemies, i use to be obsessed with Kirby's Dream Land 2 beifre i was in Junior Hgh. I'll start off the first ones in 1992. Please keep your figers crossed with optimism.

EDIT: It basically depend if i joined deviant art

[kirbychu]

yamato said:

I might want to do Kirby Enemies, i use to be obsessed with Kirby's Dream Land 2 beifre i was in Junior Hgh. I'll start off the first ones in 1992. Please keep your figers crossed with optimism.

Uhm... Fryguy said already that he wanted to do them all himself.

[Fryguy64]

I'm already working on Kirby enemies... and Zelda, Kid Icarus, Metroid, Super Mario... and a ton of other games too. And I'm also doing a few more characters for the Nintendo Stars section. I love the doodling!! ;D