1 more boss left in the boss set. Then to work on the Robins, although what I have planned may take a while. I’m also getting a bit busy outside of this again, so progress will also slow down. After the Robins are done, I’ll have to think some more on what to draw on next. This Awakening project has been kinda fun to do and has provided a constant source of things to draw (rather than getting artist block), however I’m not sure I’d undertake something so big again anytime soon. (That and I think Awakening isn’t one of the larger FE casts either).
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Orton/Xalbador)
FE Awakening - Orton/Xalbador
Like Gecko/Jamil/Ruger/Ezra I decided to do a alt of this guy without his facial hair as well. This guy was a bit harder to colour and draw. His pose is a bit tough to fit his shoulder pads into the hackbox so this was as good as I got. Due to also having a metallic piece of armour and not using white anywhere else in his sprite, his armour also took up 4 tones rather than 3. His hair remains 3 tone and his clothing under the armour is 2 tone and using his darkest skin tone as a 3rd tone. So still recolourable overall. I think if I was to go back to this sprite, I would maybe redo his shoulder pads.
Ok, boss set done and one more bonus Awakening mug thrown in as well. Since I’ve completed the main set of Awakening portraits I set out to do (next is my little Robin Project) I’ve also decided to compile the portraits into a big display similar to the old sprite rip and hack displays people used to do back in the day.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Chalard/Ardri and Donnel’s Mum)
FE Awakening - Chalard/Ardri
The last set in the duplicate bosses set. I thought this one would take a while be cause the pose is quite awkward. Turned out that was not true and their design is really simple. His red cloak is only 2 tone so keep that in mind if you are going to recolour it. His cap’s darkest tone is also used in the emblem on the front of the cap too, so keep that in mind as well for recolouring as well. Otherwise yeah I was dreading trying to fit the frames in for this one, but it turned out I drew them 1 pixel short for optimal frame fitting, so I just increased their height by one.
FE Awakening - Donnel’s Mum
Because Chalard/Ardri was so easy to do and quick, I decided to also do one more NPC which is Donnel’s mum, not much really to say about her besides that she has a lot of spare colour slots so she could easily be recoloured or even spliced or redressed.
Additionally the below display is available in the 2nd post under Sillies
Phew, this last batch was a lot of work and there is still a lot more to go, but you can see where I am going with the Robin’s and why I wanted to do them last. Next to work on is Female Robin’s default variants as well, then after that I am also considering both the older variants for both genders as well. I am probably not going to do the young variants (they’re basically Morgan alts), however it depends on if I am burnt out on Robin by that point considering each one is the base plus 11 variants so 12 mugs total each.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Robin (M1 Variants)
FE Awakening - Robin (M1 Variants)
So this is the default Male Robin body and his haircut variants, Grima colouring and hooded version. This was quite a task. I usually like to do 4 tone white hair colours, however in name of customisation and the fact that with Project Robin I wanted to make variants so people can make their own Robin’s I kept the hair colour to 3 tones for easy recolouring. This also meant I could not use their skin tone in his hair or use his hair colour in any other parts of their outfit. So this was a real challenge colour palette wise however I am really happy with the final results. The grima possesion colouring also only changes the colour palettes of his skin tone, so the customisation for hair remains. Next I intend to do Female Robin’s default variants as well, using the same colour palette.
You’ve gone above and beyond for Awakening, really clean sprites with good references to the original artworks.
The fidelity to Kozaki’s style is pretty close too, i see that you’ve improved a lot in terms of facial expressions compared to your older portraits, probably due to the amount of spriting that you’ve done so far.
Truly good stuff, it inspires me to put the same efforts for the FF VII Rebirth roster.
Keep up the good work~
Thanks for the comments, I don’t always try to emulate Kozaki’s style specifically, but I do try to keep characters recongisably who they are. Now the default Female Robin is done. You know its almost been an entire year since I decided to start this Awakening endeavor? I can see the finish line for this project but it has been fun to do and it has always given me something to draw. However I do long to draw other things but finishing this means I lay that task to rest in the back of my mind.
I wonder if I need to restructure my main post again, I feel like after adding all the Awakening portraits, its surely gotta be close to the limit again. I’ll need to re think how to divide up my thread again.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Robin (F1 Variants))
FE Awakening - Robin (F1 Variants)
So this is the default Female Robin body and her haircut variants, Grima colouring and hooded version. This one is easier than male Robin because after working on the male version I guess Kozaki decided these two versions would be the most similar to each other (the other variants older and younger looking are a lot more different to each other). Like the other variants, her hair is still 3 tone for ease of recolouring and I decided her neutral expression isn’t neutral enough for her Grima personification so I decided for the Grima alts to change the eyebrow expression a little as well. Because her proportions are slightly different from default male Robin and her face structure is also different, she also has a hooded version as well. To be honest I should of noticed when playing Awakening that the hooded tactician didn’t look proportionately correct to the non default male Robins.
So it happened again, as I was mentioning it last post. I hit the limit again in the first post, so I will organise with the kind mods again to help me rearrange my thread.
Almost done with the Robins, one more set to go. Since these sets are so big, I’ve left the hooded and default haircut variants upfront and the others will be kept in their respective spoilers to help manage the size of the post when expanding.
I’ve updated the Ylisse Saga post with the below entry under FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Robin (M2 Variants)
FE Awakening - Robin (M2 Variants)
So this is the older Male Robin option. I actually used this Robin more in my playthroughs of Awakening than the default one, mainly because at the time I had haircuts closer resembling the short spiky one in here. This one is a bit different from the M1 and F1 variants as they are bigger and broader, their pose is still similar however. You know the first haircut reminds me of Gadolt from Xenoblade a little bit. Even if you don’t use these Robin variants for Robin, I think they could make good splice fodder.
Ok with this done, this concludes Project Robin and my Awakening Project, I think I started this back in June last year, so it’s been quite the year. I’ll be probably taking a break over Easter for a bit and then thinking about what to draw next. Probably a few generics I wanted to do, maybe some more OCs and one or two personal projects. After that, who knows where the wind takes me.
I’ll probably slow down a bit as well, as I’ve been meaning to focus more on some other activities outside of spriting, and there is only so much time in the day.
I’ve updated the Ylisse Saga post with the below entry under FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Robin (F2 Variants)
FE Awakening - Robin (F2 Variants)
So this is the older Female Robin option. Her pose is the most deviating one from the standard Robins. She also wears her cloak different compared to the others, with having her cloak opened up to exaggerate her bust. I liked how most of her haircuts turned out, (actually dislike the default one I’ve selected here and prefer the other long haired options and the “Reina Mishima” cut). With this complete, this concludes Project Robin and my 1 year Awakening project (I started it after Easter around June I think from memory.)
Well I really I wanted to draw this sprite and have been sitting on the desire to do it since I was finishing up the bosses. So this one sneaks in before things slow down.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Fates Saga - FE 14 Fates - Hero)
FE 14 Fates - Hero
So this is one of the generic designs I wanted to sprite, I’m a sucker for cool winged helmets (thinking back to Warcraft 3’s Captain and Blood Elf footmen) That and I think there are some really cool looking generic designs. Although the colour palette looks simple, I actually ran out of colours and needed to use the red for their hair (I could of used the trimming to make him blonde like the actual generics, however I felt it would blend to much with his helmet) The red tones and armour grey could be recoloured easily, however the trimming and skin tones would probably need to be treated with some more care if you want to recolour this. If I were to revist this one, I would probably re look at his headgear. I also decided to draw his shield as well, although there is no way to fit that into the hackbox nicely even with a hackbox extension patch.
So I’m back with a simple one, I think the next 2 generics won’t be from Fates, but it does have a lot cool ones. I’m also thinking of doing an OC or two and maybe a Hero Ike, we’ll see what I feel like doing next.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Fates Saga - FE 14 Fates - Priestess)
FE 14 Fates - Priestess
So this one started because it was a neat but simple design, however on closer inspection this one uses way more colours (hair, gold headpiece, red shoulder pad, white top, etc. So balancing the colours for this one became real hard. You can recolour the red and the hair if you want, however if you want to recolour anything else, then you’d have to be creative. The other thing that was odd about this one was trying to match the pose, which ended up a bit awkward when working on it. I did also consider doing one where they haven’t got the shadow over the top of their head.
I started this sprite and got a bit carried away and finished this pretty much 6 hours after the Priestess. However I decided to sleep and then clean it up a bit before posting it first. Have also been considering doing a Emblem variant of this one too. With this I’ve finished Ike’s 4 classes as well. If I were to do more variants there is only really FEH and Cipher Alts left (or something entirely new).
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Tellius Saga - FE RD - Hero Ike)
FE RD - Hero Ike
So now I’ve done Ike in all 4 of his stages. Out of the 4 classes I like this design probably the least (still cool) because it looks the most simple to me, but I do like kind of the colour theme-ing sort of wrapping back round to Ranger Ike again (Blue, Yellow, Red, kind of like a Gundam). However due to possibly the largest colour palette portrait Ike, I did struggle a bit more with balancing the colours. If I had 3 more colours I would also recolour the cape clasp into a silver one and the lining on his collar into a dark grey rather than blue. I also changed the tone of his hair to be in between my Lord Ike and Vanguard Ike colours. Its subtle, but kind of noticeable when you put them next to each other. The pose and look rather than going with his RD portrait was based on Kozaki’s take on him in Fates. I feel like the pose better suits the hackbox and makes him look taller. I liked how his body turned out, so I also decided to post his shirtless version here (I do make shirtless versions of most of my sprites so I can put their clothes on top of them so I can make sure their anatomy looks/makes sense) If I were to revisit this one, I’d probably re do his hair, its the thing I’m least happy with in this sprite.
I’ve also updated the other post with the below entry under Sillies (The Ike-olution)
The Ike-olution
Here are all my takes on the various mainline game Ike classes, I decided to sprite different variations rather than base them on his PoR and RD portraits on purpose to make them stand out from the tons of other ones people have already done, that and I like some of the other artist’s takes on Ike as well (although Kita Senri is still the OG)
So I’ve been having a break and I finally got around to finishing Baldurs Gate 3 (I have like 380 hours on that game, but I’ve only finished one playthrough (I had a tendency to play up to the final act and then start a new character)). Anyway aside from that here is the next generic class.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Fodlan Saga - FE 3 Houses/Hopes - Female Bishop)
FE 3 Houses/Hopes - Female Bishop
So I was looking through some generic designs and thought about, what are some cool ones from the Fodlan era. I didnt realise so many are bland looking, but I think its because you dont really notice them as much next to the main cast. Interestingly the Valkyrie class design hasn’t actually changed between Awakening through to 3 Houses. Another thing that was interesting was most of the male variants were much more bland than the female variants of the generic classes in the Fodlan era too. Which is why I decided to do the female bishop, she is a lot more dripped out than the male variants. While working on this one I decided to also choose a brighter palette than what Three Houses/Hopes uses because I think that kind of adds to the blandness of their looks. The colours I chose ended up reminding me of Lumera from Engage a little bit too. I think the only thing I’m not really happy with in this are the chains on her hat/veil, chains that small are always a kind of difficult to get to look right.
So I’ve still been taking a break and taking things slowly. I think that bishop design is neat (kinda looks like a longer haired Laura or a shorter haired Ayra in the bishop outfit), however I think in terms of hackboxing it will probably be pretty plain. That said I’ve been feeling like tackling another Tellius character recently, but we’ll see if I get around to it.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE 14 Fates - Master of Arms/Rallyman)
Its everyone’s favourite Fates NPC, the Rallyman! But seriously, when doing generics this guy sorta sat on the must do list. Although when actually working on him, the part of him that is visible is kinda plain and simple (minus the hand). I tried fitting his hand up to eye level, but then it just covered his face so I had to lower it a bit. Aside from that I’m pretty happy with how he turned out. I still think the arm looks a little odd so I have done an alt without his arm there.
I just want to say I am constantly impressed with your consistent high-quality sprites. You’re an inspiration to us all, and I am excited to use some of these in my romhack with credit!
I’ve been a bit busy, I just finished working on a big personal project, and now I’m back. Probably shouldn’t of attempted this guy to warm back up, but seeing his resplendent art kind of pushed me to want to try him again. Maybe I’ll attempt his Muspell variant, or his Bengion armour.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Tellius Saga - FE PoR/RD - Black Knight MkV)
FE PoR/RD - Black Knight MkV
So this is my 5th attempt at the Black Knight, this time it was made with being able to have Zelgius’ head on top in mind so I had to limit my colour palette options greatly (having 5 tone skin, 3 tone hair leaves only 6 tones for armour, cape and trimming). This time I based the proportions of his collar guard more so on his Daisuke Inazuke art from FEH and Cipher so it doesn’t quite go up as high. I decided to also do variants that are compatible with the mug exceed patch as well to make his shoulder plate look a little nicer proportion wise and his helmet regain a bit of its shaping by extending the points a little bit. Overall I’m happy with how his armour turned out, its mainly the helmet that is bugging me. I may do an Muspell variant as well (look at his FEH Resplendent alt). One thing I noticed while looking at reference pictures is that you never see the bottom of his helmet in his art, its generally covered by his chest piece or when held, his gauntlets.
Coordinates as below
Well I’ve also gone back and also added an exceeded portrait Walhart as well if you would like to use that as well, although I feel like his horns usually get covered up by speech boxes. (I’ve also gone back and added the co ordinates for the Black Knight ones)
Also I decided to do one more alt for the Black Knight/Zelgius for the fun (also because I just had to remove some layers)
I’ve updated the Awakening post under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening - Walhart)
FE Awakening - Walhart Update
EDIT: Added a alt of Walhart with extended horns using the exceed portrait patch
below are the coordinates for the pieces
How it looks in game;
I’ve also updated the 3rd post with the below entry under Sillies - Summer Black Knight (This one is F2E)
Sillies - Summer Black Knight
Just because IS are cowards and won’t make one. But otherwise I thought would be hilarious after mixing and matching my layers of my sprite. There is a hackbox extended one as well for his helmet (you must be using the exceed The Portrait Hackbox patch)
Coordinates as below
I’ve finally gotten around to 100% Baldurs Gate achievements so thats one less distraction to go through and one more game off my backlog list to complete. Otherwise I’ve done this one up pretty quick and think I’ll move back towards whatever tickles my fancy at the time. Working on generics, you end up with similar colour palettes for most of them and you generally try to colour them in a way to be notably recolourable for faction changing.
I’ve updated the Awakening post under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Ylisse Saga - FE Awakening Soldier)
FE Awakening - Soldier
Still warming up after a break. Without a self assigned project to work on it is harder again to come up with things to sprite without being told what to draw (which is usually a big turn off for me, I prefer organically being inspired or incensed to draw something). Once I started working on the line art for this soldier, I realised it was going to be like 70% head cloth. I like the pose and look of the Awakening soldiers, but prefer the clothing of the Fates ones (very similar) for Kozaki’s soldiers. I still think the Tellius soldiers probably look the best (although the Fodlan ones are probably the ones dressed closest to European knights). The cloth is made up of 3 colours separate from the skin so it can be recoloured to the blue version of the soldier or whatever preference you have. Now that I think about it you don’t really see non blue or red coloured generics post Tellius.
After drawing 3 guys publicly last and with pretty dullish colour palettes I needed to draw something a bit more refreshing, so here is my 2nd Engage sprite.
I was thinking of drawing two more OC ideas, but both of them were going to be white haired and of the last 10 sprites I publicly drew, only one of them didnt utilise white in a way.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Elyos Saga - Fire Emblem Engage - Mitan)
Fire Emblem Engage - Mitan
Fire Emblem’s first female Barbarian/Brigand. Decided to do this one because I wanted to do something a bit more colourful compared to my recent public sprites. One thing you can say Engage’s designs have is that they are definitely colourful. I didnt realise how busty a lot of Engage’s cast is as well. Another reason to do this one was because aside from Magvel (FE8), I think it’s the cast I have drawn the least for. That said Valentia (FE2/Echoes) and Zenith (FEH) are not that far ahead either. I just tend not to do the GBA era characters as much because well, they originated this style already.
EDIT: Updated the stat screen frames so it should show correctly
Also realised Brady’s frames have the same problem and have fixed that too
