When I came
to write this chapter I nearly freaked out at how hard it will be for me
to create a tutorial for making small isometric people. Then I realised
that you are probably here reading this to find out. So I gave in to my
urge to watch some TV and I started writing it. Isometric people are really
the most difficult things to create in IPA. What I usually do may seem a
tad odd but it works most of the time.
First things first. I start by creating a small vertical isometric rectangle,
about the size I want my person to be. I then cut a small portion off the
top of it until I reach the neck line.
Figure
4.9
Next, I create a small oval shape around where I think the head should be
placed. What you should have now is a rectangle with a head. Next are the
torso and legs.
Figure
5.0
I first mark where the torso ends and the legs begin. Then I divide the
bottom half of the rectangle into two even halves. These will be my legs.
Then I go back up near my neck and round the shoulders off until they look
about right (see the example images if you aren't too sure. So basically,
all i'm actually doing at the moment is carving a person out of a block
of virtual wood. I might also bring the legs in a bit, and the body so the
person becomes skinnier.
Figure 5.1
Now I add my arms to the person. Two thin isometric rectangles down each
side of the body usually works. Although, you can bend them around as I
have done in my example below. Posing your people will be explained soon.
Add some little hands to the ends of the arms and add some shoes for the
feet. I have also touched up the legs to make them a bit straighter. I also
made the head smaller and neater.
Figure
5.2
All thats left to do now is to add some hair, clothes and facial features.
I usually start with the clothes first. They need to be slightly larger
than the body and any bare skin should be distinguishable from the clothing.
What I do is create an outline of the clothing 1 pixel out from the original
body frame, then erase the inside line to clear things up. As you can see
below, I have my original body frame, then the clothing being added and
then the final product.
Figure
5.3
Next, add a small face and some hair. You don't really need to stick with
the isometric guidelines when it comes to creating hair, as we all know
hair has a mind of its own and can stick out wherever it wants.
Figure
5.4
Colouring is all that is left to do, as well as some minor shading to make
the person look more 3D.
Figure
5.5
Figure 5.6
The Basic Outline & Scaling
Below I have
included the basic outline of both a female and male for you to study. Both
have been enlarged so you can study how each pixel works with each other
to create the person.
Figure
5.7
Scaling your people to fit your scene is very important. Otherwise you'll
end up having the scene from the "50ft Woman", instead of a childrens playground
as you originally intended. Doors need to be high enough for the people,
as if they were alive and could walk through them. Chairs need to be the
right size for people to comfortably sit on and the actual people need to
be somewhat realistic. You don't for example have a 5-year-old child towering
over an NBA basketballer asking for an autograph.
Poses
Posing your people can be an interesting challenge. If you have a wooden
manequein handy then your life will be a whole lot easier. If you don't
have a wooden manequein, use a nearby friend or relative to pose how you
want, study them and try to recreate it in your scene using your isometric
person. A person running would have legs bent in the running fashion. All
you really need to do is imagine yourself and how you would perform the
pose or action. Making the character seem that they are performing the action
by sometimes over-exaggerating their movement is the best way to get your
point across on the virtual canvas.
Colour & Outlines
Colouring and outlining your people is more or less the same as colouring
and outlining your buildings and objects. It all really depends on the overall
feel of your piece. If your buildings have a washed out colour then its
most preferable that you colour and shade your people the same way, as so
they fit into the scene without looking out of place. My people in my recent
works all have a single black outline and the inside lines are all darker
colours of the clothing and skin shades. As I said, colouring and outlining
people is really much the same as I have already explained.
Examples For Further Reference
Below are
some examples of both my own work and the work of the awesome team at www.Eboy.com.
As you can see, their work is really well created and you will learn a lot
from studying how they create their work and their people.
I have been on habbo for years and i learned how to do pixel art form here 2 years ago and scince then i have made some incredible stuff- i am very pleased and FYI habbo is cool
