Juicet1n's Sprites & Music

[juicet1n]

hello!

i may be a familiar face on the discord and on twitter, but i’ve been meaning to make a thread for a while now!

my digital art on twitter is pretty well-known, but i’d like to showcase some relevant skills for hacking; spriting and music. spriting is something that comes to me just as naturally as drawing does, although there is always room for improvement. music, on the other hand, is something that i don’t have as much experience with, but i experiment with melodies and edits from time to time.

with that being said, enjoy! please note that all portraits and music are NOT F2U/F2E, unless it is stated otherwise!

Sprites (OC / Alts)

the sprites shown below are all part of a work-in-progress hack and are therefore not available to be used or edited without my permission. it is also not an exhaustive collection of sprites, as it is currently in development.

Music / Music Edits

music is something of a slightly-explored endeavor for me. for now, i’m not a professional, nor can i call myself a music hobbyist(?). but i know i can get better at it. once again, these pieces are NOT free for use or editing.

FE6 - Scars of the Scouring w/ percussion

OC - March to Battle

OC - March to War

thanks for viewing my content!

[Gunnar]

The sprites look amazing! And judging by the overall style of the characters, I guess your hack will have a steppe-like theme(?
Already looking forward to know more about it!

[ErrantDShepherd]

I’ve commented on a lot of these sprites on the discord, but it’s great seeing them all together like this.

You do fun designs, and I am loving the Sacaen based cast you’ve got here.

If I had to give some criticism, the Male Generic Wenresh, and Arban seem to have slightly oversized heads compared to everyone else. Especially the Generic is a lil wide in the face imo?

Awesome stuff though, keep it up!

[Rammerrush]

Speak of the devil… Is that my boy Glass in that sprite-sheet all scarred up?

Whether it is or not, you’ve got a lot of good work up there.

[juicet1n]

thank you, and thanks for the tip! i’ll adjust them accordingly while i’m working on the other sprites.

[JeyTheCount]

Cool.

[juicet1n]

some new sprite additions to the cast!

Tungge, the sociable Sacaean fighter:

Pensha, the irritable Sacaean cleric:

Eina, a good-natured “Christmas” merc who fights alongside Adun:

and Nohai, the critical Djute general:

[Rammerrush]

I will always have a soft spot for turned head mugs lol. Looking great

[juicet1n]

new versions of zephiel and brunnya:

judain the observant cavalier and delger the aspiring swordfighter:

(big thanks to the blind archer for the edit and tips on zephiel)

[TomCruise]

Awesome stuff! Always a treat seeing your spritework on Discord. A very unique and refreshing take on FE style.

[juicet1n]

the rebellious, yet ambitious wyvern rider, johanna:

and her long-lost brother(?), captain of brunnya’s wyvern rider squad, jordan:

additionally, the studious son of marquess kathelet, garland (wip?):

and finally, a new, intense player phase map theme against a very particular enemy - “gales of bern”:

enjoy : )

[juicet1n]

hello! long time no see. unfortunately i do not have any recent sprites in progress, but i do have several new soundbites for you to listen to:

OC - Lurking Hostiles (Player Phase Map Theme) [WIP]

OC - Legacy of the Lorca (Player Phase Map Theme) [WIP]

OC - Heartfelt (Conversation Theme)

OC - Lycian Stratagem (Preparation Theme) [WIP]

OC - Unnamed Battle Theme [WIP]

enjoy! let me know which ones you like (any feedback is much appreciated!)

[Agro]

So I have some general feedback for your compositions, which is that you could certainly afford to get a bit more contrast in your music. By that I mean pitch, melody, timbre and volume/dynamics.

Many of your compositions have cool rhythmic and textural ideas but are contained within 1-2 octaves, or have the same rhythmic figure repeated without any variety, which can make listening to them a bit monotonous. (If that’s your intention, then it’s working?)

The best compositions take full advantage of all the different sounds and techniques that instruments are capable of. Even on crappy ~13379Hz samples, each instrument has a unique property and range in which they sound best, so look to capitalise on the strengths on each instrument. On a more general levels, there are lots of places where the bass line might be a bit clearer if you picked a different sample or used the bass guitar instrument since I find most of the string samples in FE a bit muddy on the lower end.

What’s your approach to making music like? Do you have a specific vibe in mind for each song, or do you just wing it and slap some notes and instruments down? I’d love to hear what your intentions are for each composition. You might consider thinking of each instrument as a character, or each section of a composition like parts of a story - what does each instrument represent? What does “pensive” sound like? What does “decisive” sound like? What does “careful and calculated” sound like?

[juicet1n]

firstly, i greatly appreciate critique for my music-- as you can tell, there’s a lot of room for improvement!

with that being said, the lack of variety in both volume and pitch aren’t intentional; during the composing process, i tend to stick to the guidelines that i create for each song, for the whole song. it’s something of a pitfall for me to get comfortable with an existing rhythm that doesnt change in any of the other parameters (volume especially).

as someone who hasn’t studied music theory or played any physical instruments (or any “proper” educated music background, for that matter), there’s a lot of trial and error in figuring out how hypothetical moments in a story “sound”, especially in regards to the melody and what it conveys in the context of the game.

therefore, my approach to music is something of the former. it’s… something of a daydream, and “imagining” what that idea sounds like, and putting that soundbite from memory into my music program (which is difficult if i don’t know how the sound translates into a music scale! its less of a problem for me now, but back then it was itching at my brain).

for example, in “Legacy of the Lorca”, i initially started with a melody that i wanted to convey as ‘mysterious’ yet dangerous, with an anxiety that’s always nipping at you. the strings and the ““FX 6 - Goblins”” (i have no idea what instrument it’s supposed to be) gives that sense of a place that’s had history. the bass, to me, is something like movement and decision-making in the midst of this place that reeks of a bygone era of Sacae. after that, the Lyn’s Theme motif plays in a lower pitch, and i attempted to translate it into the same “vibe” that the rest of the song has, before transitioning into the conclusion and loop point.

i’m not sure if that makes sense, but ‘visualizing’ the music really helps me through the composing process. i could definitely work out the kinks in that method (especially in making the song more dynamic) but it’s a train of thought that acts as a guideline for me.

for Legacy of the Lorca specifically, i was considering adding another motif after the Lyn’s Theme one (winds across the plains) but i may have to step back and polish the original composition first, and maybe make it longer before it transitions into the motif. again, it’s not final, so im always looking for feedback there!

[Agro]

@juicet1n

““FX 6 - Goblins”” (i have no idea what instrument it’s supposed to be)

It’s a french horn

@juicet1n

therefore, my approach to music is something of the former. it’s… something of a daydream, and “imagining” what that idea sounds like, and putting that soundbite from memory into my music program (which is difficult if i don’t know how the sound translates into a music scale! its less of a problem for me now, but back then it was itching at my brain).

See if you can get a MIDI keyboard second hand somewhere? I can often find them on places like Facebook Marketplace going for dirt cheap. It might just help with the experimentation phase.

@juicet1n

for Legacy of the Lorca specifically, i was considering adding another motif after the Lyn’s Theme one (winds across the plains) but i may have to step back and polish the original composition first, and maybe make it longer before it transitions into the motif. again, it’s not final, so im always looking for feedback there!

I don’t think there are any issues with the length! I think that it’s very important to just “finish” a composition, even if you’re not 100% happy with it, and then move on to other pieces so that you get the dopamine hit of finishing something which will help keep the passion alive.

I’m trying to avoid being prescriptive, but it’s certainly worth at least doing a little bit of research into functional harmony and music theory so you have foundational skills that you can use to analyse existing pieces of music. It’ll make borrowing/stealing ideas a lot easier and you won’t be stumbling in the dark as much.

[juicet1n]

@Agro

See if you can get a MIDI keyboard second hand somewhere? I can often find them on places like Facebook Marketplace going for dirt cheap. It might just help with the experimentation phase.

i’ll definitely look into that-- might as well learn how to play a piano and get the basics down while i’m at it (that sounds sarcastic, but i assure you its not)

@Agro

I’m trying to avoid being prescriptive, but it’s certainly worth at least doing a little bit of research into functional harmony and music theory so you have foundational skills that you can use to analyse existing pieces of music. It’ll make borrowing/stealing ideas a lot easier and you won’t be stumbling in the dark as much.

that’s totally understandable. as frustrating as it is, i’ve been in this spot before with my artwork in the past, so it’s not unfamiliar territory at least

with that being said, i do have an arrangement to share-- one for the title screen of my hack-in-progress! i posted a video of it on my twitter, but i had to tweak it in a few places after that, so here’s the updated audio:

as you can tell, i inserted the FE6 strings into this arrangement and let the more “modern” FE7/8 strings hang in the back. besides the slower tempo and the slightly lower pitch, there’s a couple other small embellishments to the song as well. also it’s looped, for once

[Pandan]

your work is super cool, looking forward to seeing more. I’m getting huge Sword of Heaven & Earth vibes and I’m here for it.

[juicet1n]

thank you! when i first started working on this project, i was told to play SoHaE in the hopes of drawing inspiration and getting an idea of how a concept similar to mine turned out-- and i was very pleased, to say the least!

i’ve also been tinkering with another WIP song; this one is the main player phase map theme for the hack, Over the Horizon:

(i apologize for the start, though it’s proof that it’s in-game audio lol)