I want to make a StarCraft mod, but I've never really sprited before. So what I need is some tips and suggestions on how to make a good sprite for CC.

I've dug up some references of other great CC spriters, and I've looked a bunch of pictures of my first project, the Terran Marine. I don't have much, but I did the shoulder for the arm. This is all based off the StarCraft II units by the way.


I personally think it looks pretty decent, but I need to know what you guys think, and how I can improve. I'll be adding more as I progress with the sprites.

It appears to be very well shaded, but it would benefit from a few seams. Otherwise it's very good...
Also, never jpg your sprites...

It was probably his image uploading service that did the jpeging.

Anyways, yes that looks great, but only for something that will be staying upright, like a terrain object or pinned object. Which it is not.
A shoulder is going to rotate a lot, and when it rotates, that sprite that includes the shading rotates, and the lighting will look all messed up.

You want to avoid distinct, static shading on objects that are dynamic.

Alone, maybe the light source could be moving with it, aligned, but with everything else out there, it's clearly not. So in CC, for anything that will rotate much, it's best to avoid such distinct shading. And a lot of things in CC rotate a lot. Including body parts. See: my current avatar, and dropship gibs.

A central light source from the angle of the viewing perspective is good for anything that will be spinning like crazy, and for anything that will generally be upright, a somewhat more upward and maybe even leftward light source would be good (as this seems to be the general way prom does it, and for obvious reasons, matching his style is best.) On anything static, any light source would be fine, but for the sake of consistency and context, I would recommend a similar angle for the light source to the dynamic objects for anything associated with them.

It's no big deal, it's really a rather petty detail, but it's always been a mistake I've seen people make and have wanted to explain.


tl;dr: Your shading is too distinct for an object that will be rotating as much as a shoulder. But absolutely great for something with a fixed light source from that angle. For this sprite you want an apparent light source that's only somewhat upward and leftward, while mostly 'backwards'; in the direction of the viewer's perspective on the z axis.
Don't worry about it, but do consider it.

I understand this far better than I can explain it, and better than I practice it.

So you're saying the lighting should come more from the top left/middle area, right?

Here's what I came up with.

Well not so much. I'm pretty sure you're missing what I'm saying here.
What I mean is that the light source should be from the angle that the view of the perspective is.

Imagine that there's a completely dark room, with an object in front of you. We want to make the object have shading like with want for the sprite.
Right now, you have an elevated light to the left of the object, facing down and rightwards towards the object.
What I'm saying, for rotationally dynamic objects such as your shoulder here, is that instead of that light, you should have a flashlight pointed at the object, held above your head

Illustration, anyone?

Just pretend that in frame 2 you're holding the flashlight more upwards and in the center; above the square in the picture.


Edit: Oh, wait, you said middle. Uh yeah kinda. But more 'in the middle' than that. And somewhat less contrast, maybe. Or maybe not, and that's good enough. Up to you. But I'm just saying, if your sprite is going to rotate a lot, you want that rotation to change the perceived light source as least as possible, but you also want to avoid completely z-negative light sources (like frame 3) so there's more shading detail when it'll look okay, such as something that generally upright, like torsos and dropships. And you also want consistency. And you also don't need to worry about it. Just consider it.

There was something else I also had not considered either. AHumans and their parts and devices turn around. So actually, you only want a 'middle'/upward light source, not to the left. So, more like dummy rocket than the mk1 rocket.

I figured if I tried phrasing it as middle it could just generate more confusion.