#63.1 Treasure
Ok, it wasn't an abandonment, it was straight-up hibernation. I was sleeping for 14-18 hours a day... I don't know why... it's normal, right? RIGHT???
After that, Christmas, and then I started working on this cursor, all days just on it... I'm sorry, I should really improve my work ethics...
This is my second cursor I was working on, so this time I had some experience. It's still not great... or good... or average...
But this time I want to make this post as informative and detailed as I can. Show my thought processes, mistakes, and shortcuts.
I have recorded over 5 hours, but it was only active work (not even all of it). I spent at least double that on designing, troubleshooting, and staring blankly into the screen intending to delete it all. It was draining both physically and mentally. I'm probably just mentally weak, so don't worry about it, but as always, I promised to be honest.
Constant stream of thoughts: "they will hate it", "it's not good, enough", "you will only hurt them by providing something so pathetic", "they deserve better"
And you know what? It's all probably true. But what else can I do? Comeback to not doing anything? Waiting for the perfect opportunity, when will I come out of the shadows and save the day? Like this will ever happen. I can't make decent art, but somehow I will be able to do that? That's stupid.
If this is out of the question, there is only one option left. Accept that I'm me. I will fuck up, hurt, underdeliver. But nobody else can do those things for me. I can hide in shame... or do it the Citrus way: the way that this site was always going.
We are taking our shame, our mistakes, imperfections and waving them like a flag. Our cries are our anthem. We will stand.
But enough of that nonsense, let's get to work.
This set was made on a 64x64 canvas. Bigger resolution allows more details, but also has its own problems. Something I wish I knew sooner. Windows has 32x32 cursors as a baseline. And will butcher anything bigger UNLESS you will change the size of the cursor in the settings. It took me 2 hours of tilting my ass off to discover that. Be aware of that.
I don't know if making the square cursors is just a tradition or if it has any real advantages. They look nice, and it's an elegant way of making a chibi.
Clothing was a problem for me, as always. I knew that hands would look more or less like this, so I made them for a reference point.
I wanted to be as close to a source material as possible, but sometimes it's not possible for pixel art. Simplicity really is your best friend. It's cool when everything is detailed, but there are times when you just have to be minimalistic and make sure that people will look somewhere else.
The head isn't that big for no reason, the clothing is just a background for it.
Just a bunch of tricks we already know, but I said that this post will be very precise. So for everyone who does not know her yet, I present my love: the light line!!! I'm not joking, it changes sooooo much.
Next, the vertical lines, darker at the bottom.
And the outline. See? In 3 simple steps we went from plain spot to decent-looking hair. By the way, if you are using Aseprite like me, you can auto-outline things using shift+o.
A little weight loss. It's another plus for simple designs, they are much easier to move and modify.
This is the point where I started animating. Don't pay too much attention to the cursor. I didn't have a clear vision for this part. It's best if you have the animated parts ready because changing them later is a pain.
Ok, I think I will stop here for now. We have a character ready to animate, and our first doubt if we can even finish this project. Maybe we can't, who knows? We can only try our best, because we are the only one us doing it... I don't know if it makes any sense. Everything you do is unique and amazing because you are. So we are not in competition with anyone else, only ourselves.
Just do your best. Citrus believes in you.
