Making Molezart- Pixel Art Problems!

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Heya!

Yesterday and today I worked on Melodies of The Grove, where I am a creature designer and environment artist.

My focus and goal for this weekend was to finish the pixel art and animate a turnaround for the creature I have been assigned; the Classical Music themed Ground Type creature.

Last week I worked on refining my design for my concept: Molezart (get it? It's like a play on Mozart and a mole which is a creature known for being in the ground. I think it's funny. I also think it's funny to explain the joke, lol). 


After receiving some helpful feedback, I decided to ramp up the baby-ness. The first iteration looked too finalized, like it was the final evolution. I needed to make the design look more like a base-form Pokémon. So, I made him really squart. I kept his big Mozart wig, and made him almost starfish out on the ground. I made his face even chubbier, and his limbs less defined. I just wanted him to look soft.

I got approval from project lead (Joseph Hill)- wahoo!, and then I realized something.


I can't picture what that shape would look like from another angle.
.
.
.
Dangit.

As those who know me have learned, I have an unfortunate condition called Aphantasia, where I find it very difficult to hold an image in my head. 

You may be asking yourself- "how does an artist work with such a debilitating condition?" 

To that, I have an answer: be really quick with 3D modelling.

Yes, I did model him in Zbrush so that I could trace over it in Aseprite. If it works, it works.

Molezart Model Turnaround in Zbrush

The shader I'm using is the NPRShade that comes with Zbrush, I chose it because between the built in cell shading and the clear outlines, it was a good fit for what I needed.

It took roughly 15 to 20 min to model, and once I had recorded the turnaround (mainly for displaying here), I then took 5 screenshots of the angles I needed for the sprite sheet.
 Turnaround Screenshots

I then ported the screenshots over to Aseprite and got to work.

I have very limited experience in pixel art, and had never used Aseprite before, so I took a bit of time to get used to the interface. Luckily, the UI is pretty similar to Clip Studio, the software I use regularly for my own art projects.

Sprite Sheet

Not to toot my own horn, but TootToot! I think he turned out splendidly. These sprites are within a 32px by 32px square, which is the specified size for the creatures as they appear in the game world. 
Next, I will plan out and animate Molezart's walk animation, which I think will be mainly shown with his arms, given how moles use their massive paddle-like hands to almost swim through soil.

The New York Times did a short piece on exactly this- How Hard Do Moles Dig?. This video is a great resource for me, and I hope to create an accurate portrayal of the motions.

After I nail down the walk cycle in all 5 angles, I'll get started on the 64px design, shown in battle scenes. 



Anyhoo, that's all I've got for Molezart. Stay tuned (haha, get it? That's a music pun) for more creepy crawly creature creations.

PS: I did a lot of alliteration on this one mainly to entertain myself. Sorry if it's annoying xoxox

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