So this is sprite 3 of Spritetober for me. I didn’t realise that of the Akaneian/Ylissian dragons Young Tiki and Nah are probably the most modestly dressed dragons. For some reason I thought Naga was also modestly dressed…
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Naga)
FE Awakening - Naga
So I actually forgot what impact Naga had in Awakening, the last thing I recall is that she died and that Tiki takes her place as the actual divine dragon in the Future Past DLC. Still I think Awakening was the first time you see Naga depicted in humanoid form if you don’t count Nagi (to be honest I’m not sure who Nagi is supposed to be either). At first glance her design seems pretty innocuous but on further inspection she is clothed quite scantily. I’ve done an alt with spirit glow and colours, which weird to me not having the outline colour being the outermost colour.
I’ve been a bit busy the last few days, having a break and visiting a con. Here is a “major” NPC and a major villain. Kozaki seems to like giving evil old men white patch highlights in their beards (look at Garon, Validar and Sumeragi (although I guess he doesn’t count as much)). I didn’t really notice it much on Validar until I did this sprite.
I’ve update the main post with the below entries under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Village Maiden and Validar)
FE Awakening - Village Maiden
So Chrom’s last non Robin wife and coincidentally the wife that will pass down to Lucina the highest def growth stat (although thats the only thing shes got going for her, she doesn’t pass classes or really any other positives). It always seemed weird to me that even after marrying Chrom she dresses rather plainly. Considering Emmeryn and Lissa wear more elaborate clothes. In fact maybe one day down the line I’ll give her a more elaborate outfit. However, even if you don’t use her in the capacity of being either Chrom’s wife or the wet nurse, she is still generic enough to use as generic villager NPC.
FE Awakening - Validar
The High priest of the Grimleal whose design is supposed to invoke snake imagery (thin and long in the face with makeup that gives him snake style eyes.) Honestly look at his facial structure in his 3D renditions either in warriors or the Awakening CG cutscenes and this guy’s head is tall as and thin as. It doesn’t even make sense to me his ears could be hidden. I had to make his head gear wider than it usually is depicted to hide his ears in the same style they are in his actual sprite and artwork. This pose is based off his artwork rather than his portrait, because I thought it would look more intimidating than his side profile.
Well grinded this one out in a day, I think I’ll do a handful of more unique NPCs and Bosses before moving onto the spotpass characters, in my head here is the list in no particular order;
Excellus
Ignatius (Awakening)
Victor
Vincent
Old Hubba
Holland
Vasto
Hierarch
Then the Spotpass Characters after would be in no particular order;
Aversa
Emmeryn
Gangrel
Walhart
and maybe a Priam touch up
I’ve updated the main post with the below entries under F2E - Fire Embelm (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Pheros)
FE Awakening - Pheros
The unique looking strategist from Valm (she’s actually Ylissian) who is devoted to Walhart and honorable ideals. There were a few characters similar to this in the Valm arc, really I have no idea why Walhart recruited Excellus, their ideals and methods stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of Walhart’s generals. Pheros used to follow the Ylissian faith where Emmeryn I think was the head of the faith. Then she felt her beliefs were shook and decided to devote her purpose to Walhart and despised the underhanded blackmail tactics of Excellus. I did her headdress last and liked her look without it so I made an alt without the headdress. I did get a bit lazy with the right shoulder plate, so if I ever get back to this one, its definitely getting a re do to be more in line with the left.
Next boss, Excellus. On revisiting the major villains, Awakening’s major male bosses (minus Mustafa) are all pretty cartoonishly exaggerated (Gangrel, Validar, Walhart, Excellus, Cervantes) with some pretty whacky designs. Also just noticed his outfit has some similarities with Jedah.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Excellus)
FE Awakening - Excellus
The Grimleal’s snake and spy within Walhart’s court. Apparently 2nd in command of the Valmese empire, but to be honest I am surprised Excellus even survived in Valm considering their might and honorable fighting modus operandi. I actually got semi stuck on this sprite for a while, trying to balance colour limits and look. I used Gheb as a reference for how to draw Excellus because they have some similarities in face shape (Excellus is skinnier though) and was surprised by how big Gheb’s sprite is. I also contemplated showing teeth in the default look, however I ran out of colours to make it discernable from the skin tone, so Excellus’ teeth are only visible during speaking frames.
P.S Fire Emblem GBA teeth can be cursed.
Well these next two were cranked out in a day. Somedays you get a good pace and flow going when you aren’t suffering from a block.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Victor and Vincent)
FE Awakening - Victor and Vincent
Awakening’s Bandit twins (see Paul, Jasmine, Agony, Pain, Maggie, Rose, Llewelyn and Lloyd etc.). These two were fun to do and due to their similarities, were easy to produce. I took some liberties with the armour to make them slightly more symmetrical in design and was actually happy to fit some of the spikes on the shoulder plates this time. You know what would be fun is if someone sprited all of the Bandit twins and made a hack around just having the entire playable cast be the twins. Maybe I’ll do that sometime down the line.
Decided to take a mini break on Awakening Sprites because honestly, its a lot of guys drawn in a row. Still decided to do a Kozaki design though in Camilla from Fates (Xander needs a sister to match Ryoma and Hinoka :p). I’ll probably do all the Fates Royals at some point, but thats a ways away, still got the goal of finishing of Awakening this year.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Fates Saga - FE Fates - Camilla)
FE 14 Fates - Camilla
This one was done as mini break from Awakening portraits. I figured I had done Hinoka, Ryoma and Xander, so I should also probably do Hinoka’s opposite in Camilla. Man I forgot how much hair she had. Actually was kinda fun to do this one, with it being somewhat simple (especially since I decided to forego doing her hand). I also decided to do an alt based on her colours as an Emblem from Engage as well, since after doing Spirit Naga it was kind of refreshingly fun to do as well. I also really liked how her hair turned out and did an alt without her headdress too. I may do a queen or Hoshidan alt someday down the line as well to match Hinoka in her outfit.
And we’re back to Awakening, also the League of Legends World’s Tournament is going on at the moment, so I have that in the background. I’ll be taking a break from the middle of November to go on some holidays so we’ll see how much I get done until then. I also realised in my previous list I also missed Farber as a unique Awakening boss.
I’ve update the main post with the below entry under F2E - Other Game Franchises (League of Legends - Akali) and F2E Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Vasto)
League of Legends - Akali
So I like to vary up my sprites from just doing purely a singular IP and at the time of spriting and writing this it is currently the League of Legends World’s Tournament, so doing a League sprite felt fitting. Getting her hair to fit into the hackbox was a challenge as well as utilising colours to the best of my abilities. I wish I had a few more colours so I could add the cloud tattoos to her shoulders, but this what I got to work with. If I were to revisit this, I would maybe touch up the mask, I’m not 100% happy with it and maybe do an alt without the mask. I did sprite a face underneath it, but it didnt turn out quite well enough that I was happy to post it.
FE Awakening - Vasto
Another Awakening boss. I originally thought for some reason he was Valmese, but he is a Plegian. He is the one that maneuvers Emmeryn into being captured by the Plegians ultimately. He has a unique design and is not repeated which is partly why I am spriting this guy. He also has an interesting pose which was part of the fun. I’m actually quite happy with how this one turned out. I had to do some finessing with the colours to have enough but it worked out in the end.
Maybe I’ll do Ahri down the line, but not likely anytime soon, furs and animal ears have always been hard for me to do. There are so many champions in League that I doubt I’d do them all and so many are so unfriendly to the hackbox (too armoured, not humanoid enough) or colour limitations.
Anyhow, continuing Awakening, I’ve done a Merchant alt for Anna and the Dark Knight boss Farber.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening Anna and Farber)
FE Awakening - Anna UPDATE
FE Awakening - Farber
Another Valm boss, Farber is another unique boss sprite. I think his design looks pretty cool, even though its just a un-helmeted Dark Knight. His pose I think is similar or the same as Walhart’s. I like how this one turned out overall, however I wish I had one more tone colour for the red to add some more detail to his armour and cloak more. I did try substituting the brown in his hair with the 4th skin tone colour (2nd darkest brown), but it didnt look quite right.
Another Valmese boss, this leaves I think the Hierarch, Old Hubba and Holland out of the unique enemy/NPC character sprites. After them, I’ll look towards the Spotpass characters (Aversa, Emmeryn, Gangrel, Walhart and maybe a Priam touch up). With Ignatius done, I think I’m done with the hard armour sprites bar generic enemy boss sprites (which is a maybe on the list) and Walhart.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening Ignatius)
FE Awakening - Ignatius
Its Ignatius… From Awakening, I forgot there was someone else named this before Fates. Funny occurrences that happen with different localization plans of names, I do encourage looking them up sometime, there are a lot. Anyhow about this sprite… I thought I was done with Armour Knights and Generals in Awakening, turns out I wasn’t. Another Valmese boss, thankfully his hair colour allowed me the opportunity to re use Cervantes’ armour colours (the number of colours used on the armour means I have to cut one tone shorter for the usual 3 dedicated for hair). Unfortunately I don’t think I have enough colours to make his face scar any darker than it is now.
Been a while, been busy, about to go on some holidays so we’ll see if I can finish off Holland before I go. Then when I’m back we’ll see how much I can get done before year’s end (I have a personal goal of 100 sprites to complete this year, currently sitting on 85 (not all of them are public) as of this post).
I doubt I’ll finish my Awakening sprite through before the end of the year, but we’ll also see how that goes, however we will be definitely finishing the Unique Boss/NPC grouping very soon.
I’ve updated the main posts with the below entries under F2E Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Old Hubba and Hierarch) and F2E Non Game Franchises (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End - Frieren)
FE Awakening - Old Hubba
The matchmaker and Awakening’s version of the bald old man NPC whose eyes you can’t see. For some reason I thought he was in Fates as well, but then remembered he was replaced by the Rainbow Sage in that one. One thing about shut eyed characters are they feel easier to do, because eyes are difficult to get right most of the time and you don’t have to do blinking frames for them either :p. If I were to revisit this one, I’d probably re do the trimming on his cloak/coat thing.
FE Awakening - Hierarch
Emmeryn’s traitor, I did consider doing the recolour for this one where they are a generic risen enemy bishop I think as well. However I decided not to in the end as I can see the end goal of the unique NPC/Boss finish line. I wish I had more colours available to use, but felt I did pretty good with the limitations i had. Maybe if I made him yellow in skin tone, I could of used more greens, but I felt like I made the shading harsh enough to differentiate his cloak from his shirt.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End - Frieren
So I was sitting with a bit of a spriters block towards the end of October and a friend was telling me about this anime/manga series she was watching at a party. The premise sounded kinda fun, sort of a logical/emotional human deconstruction of the usual adventurer’s/hero’s fantasy journey (whereas One Punch is a comical deconstruction of a Shonen/Super Hero series). I’ve added it to my to watch through list now and decided to sprite the main character to break up the bunch of old guys I just sprited for Awakening. I tried a different style for shading her hair to give it a more silver sheen look. I wish I had more colours available to make her red jewelery bits stand out a bit better, but otherwise I am pretty happy with how it turned out.
The smoke has not even cleared and I have finished Holland. With that the next Awakening sprite groups will be playable characters again, starting with the Spotpass crew, then the children and then from there it will be a toss up between the Robins or the non unique bosses.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Holland)
FE Awakening - Holland
The Enemy/NPC villager way over his head that gets bailed out by Severa in Awakening. With his completion he marks the end of the unique NPC/Bosses that I set out to do. He was kind of fun to do, I managed to fit his arms on head pose into the hackbox which was fun and I had better colours to work with for him than I did with Donnel’s so I feel like his clothing turned out better. I did have to change his hair colour from red brown to his darkest skin tones because I did run out of colours again. However I think the cost of his hair colour (which to be honest gets mostly covered by the pot) to gain colours everywhere else is a plus.
So this is probably the last sprite I submit before I go on holidays for a bit, so you wont see me posting sprites for a while. I’ll still pop in to the forum to read topics and maybe voice a thing or two if I see something I want to comment on, so you all better be on your best behaviors’ still .
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Emmeryn)
FE Awakening - Emmeryn
Finishing off the Ylisse Sibling trio and starting my second Spotpass character is Emmeryn. I just noticed now after doing her, that she and Old Hubba both wear the same kind of cloak. I wonder if the Roman Numeral laden cloak has something to do with the Exalts or something to do with just the religion (cue your crack pot Old Hubba theories). I tossed up on whether to draw her hair like it is in the sprites or how it is in the cutscenes (it honestly looks nicer there) and then noticed when looking at reference pictures, her clothing is also inconsistent between all depictions (CG Cutscene, Portrait and Cutscene stills) most notably with the collar of her cloak (sometimes its not even her cloak that has a collar). Still she was fun to do, I liked drawing the exalt mark on her and Chrom.
It seems to be more of a thing for the sage class in Awakening:
…Which is kinda weird that they gave an important character like Emmeryn a more “generic” outfit
These are all very great! I’ve been following your work with great interest. My understanding is that we are allowed to splice from your portraits with credit, correct? I just wanted to get your permission first.
Its a Kozaki thing, only certain characters in both Fates and Awakening have unique outfits. (Frederick, Xander, Priam (ish)', Takumi Swordmaster/Sumeragi to name a few from memory) it’s probably easier to name the unique ones than not. Otherwise they usually wear their class outfit.
So I’m back from holidays and starting to get back into things after settling back in. To warm up before continuing work on the Awakening series, here is a sprite I did as a request.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E Fire Emblem (FE Fodlan Saga - FE 3 Houses - Hilda Academy Design)
FE 3 Houses - Hilda Academy Design
Here is another Golden Deer girl, this one was done at a request, however it is a good warm up sprite to get back into things after being away on holiday not drawing for about a month. Her pose was based on a 2017 anniversary artwork drawn by Kusakihara Toshiyuki for Fire Emblem Heroes, because I wanted to do something slightly different from her regular pose from Three Houses and Heroes. I find Pink is always a hard colour to balance (depending on the pink you are after), its very easy to go too dark or too pale, or the transition shades don’t blend well or have to sharp of a contrast. So working with Pink feels like a good “level up” exercise when you get it right. I considered adding the gold trimming to her uniform on her chest, but when I attempted it, it didnt look quite right, so I decided to leave it out in this one.
Continuing the Awakening Spotpass characters, here is Gangrel. That leaves me with Yen’fay, Aversa and Walhart and maybe retouching Priam.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Gangrel)
FE Awakening - Gangrel
The main villain of Act 1, Gangrel the Trickster King of Plegia. This one was interesting to do. His outfit and pose are pretty big in his Awakening portrait and after closer inspection uses a lot of colours. Actually learning of Validar and Hilda, I was able to manipulate the colours in ways to get all I needed out of it. Was a fun challenge to do nonetheless. Fitting I guess to complete Gangrel after Emmeryn.
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