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I looked at this website of different pixelated sprites and backgrounds to get an idea how to create different backgrounds and create the mood I wish to set for my world in it’s pre and post-war state.

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I have now created her animalistic feature which I forgot to add in the last video, although, it looks a little less like a lizard tail and more like a dragon tail.

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I noticed that I have forgotten to add my second hero’s animalistic trait, so I shall fix this problem soon, and once I do, I shall print off the finalised design.

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Because the previous colour scheme didn’t work in my opinion, I chose to colour it with the second most popular colour and I like this colour scheme a lot better now.

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Alien: Covenant

Alien: Covenant’s story in itself is a very predictable story and doesn’t do a good job of getting you to care about certain character’s deaths. But what I DO like about this movie, is the animation of the Xenomorphs and especially the Neomorphs (Facehuggers didn’t appear as much so not as impressive).

The body language shown within the Xenomorphs and Neomorphs from their subtle movements like their breathing to their erratic movements like their leaps and their attacks are presented very well to convey their emotions for such a blood thirsty creature.

The subtle movements of breathing can convey a calm atmosphere and give the character a look of true serenity that they are currently experiencing. Whereas, with jumpy movements they can often demonstrate headstrong and foolish behaviour. However, these emotions that CAN be conveyed isn’t set in stone, for example, subtle movements can also show that a character is shocked or scared and they don’t want to move at certain segments. Same goes for the sudden and quick movements, it could show the character has a very good grip of the situation and is a quick thinker, therefore acting quickly and in time that way.

These are elements I need to consider when animating my characters because different movements can convey an array of different behaviours and mannerisms within a character.

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What animals are considered to be scary?

Animals like sharks, crocodiles, spiders and snakes are consider to be scary because of either the way they move, how deadly they are, or because they have simply killed a human being before.

Spiders often scare people because of their unusual appearance or because of how they move, or because of how something so small can potentially harm or kill you. But not ALL spiders are like that, and they’re actually pretty beneficial to us, catching and eating insects in their webs.

Sharks because of them killing several humans before and how they lurk in the dark depths of the ocean which often links into the fear of the ocean and the unknown as we can only see so far into depths with our eyes, and that’s only with goggles! But people don’t consider the fact that Hippos have actually killed more humans than sharks and crocodiles.

Snakes, because, again, some can kill you with a single bite or some can choke you to death. But in reality, snakes just often feel threatened or they can’t determine you from any other meal in their territory. And again, not all snakes are bad, some of them are completely harmless.

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Classification of Animals

I want all of my characters to have animalistic traits within them that make them all look unique or different, this is why I am looking at different types of animals and how their physical traits can be added onto different characters I want to make and how, depending on their animal trait, how that effects their personality and behaviour.

Mammals:

Humans -

I think for every single character I create, a part of them will relate to the traits of a human, whether it be through how they communicate, what they look like and so forth.

Felidae -

Felidae is the term to express every kind of cat their is, whether small, big, domesticated or feral. A part of me wants to add a character with the physical attributes of a feline, but I think that WOULDN’T be a good idea because it’s been done countless times with anime before.

Canidae -

With Canines however, it has not been done as often as cats and I think would be an interesting physical features to add as dogs are well known for their keen sense of smell and hearing as well as running a lot which could result in very good advantages in terms of gameplay within my theoretical videogame.

Dolphins -

Dolphins, although it IS an interesting concept, I don’t think I’ll be able to work with their physical features as well, although, now that I think about it, adding just the beak or the flippers of a dolphin character would make them look silly but unique and strange at the same time.

Bats -

A bat’s physical features have already been used plenty of times with a human’s body because of the monster known as the vampire, although, it’s not very interesting as vampires just suck the blood of humans out of their necks and wear stupid capes normally (or sparkle -.-). But what would make it interesting is if I added just the bat’s face on a human body which would look very freaky and cool, but I need to be careful as there’s a DC villain named Man-Bat which have the physical attributes of a bat already so I need to be careful NOT to copy the design.

Fish:

Blobfish -

The blobfish is one of my favourite kinds of fish that exist because of how weird and squishy it looks, it looks like something you would see in a sci-fi movie which is why I’d love to incorporate the blobfish’s appearance into a character that I create.

Angler -

The angler fish is a terrifying looking creature and I think would be interesting to see a protagonist having teeth overlapping their lips, possibly making them a cast out character, but I wouldn’t let that character be alone, otherwise there’s a potential for this character to become evil in spite of the prejudice and differences from other characters and protagonists.

Neon Tetra -

I purely picked this fish because I thought a character with bright neon colours like this fish would look really cool and interesting, I MAY add gills to this character and have their head in a fishbowl so they can breath on land which sounds quite funny to me.

Megalodon -

The megalodon is known to be the biggest size of shark that we have discovered so far. Creating a character with the physical aspects of this shark ought to be terrifying which is probably why I would end up putting them with the character inspired by the angler fish as a duo of friends. The character with megalodon features will most likely be massive in size with sharp teeth and large mouth.

European Eel -

For the European eel, I can imagine using it’s long tail in place of their arms, making them look very strange and possibly easier to animate.

Birds:

Parrot -

With a parrot inspired character, I would be extremely worried about mimicking the look of the Rito from the Legend of Zelda franchise, so, I would probably actively use colour palettes and designs that deviate from what the Rito look like and how they act.

Hummingbird -

Hummingbirds are beautifully and brightly coloured with a long thin beak and small but quick wings, because of how quickly the hummingbird flaps it’s wings, I feel like the character that has the traits of a hummingbird would naturally be one of the quickest attackers within my theoretical videogame.

Owl -

Because of owls most commonly being associated with wisdom because of the Greek goddess Athena, naturally, the character with the influence of having the physical features of an owl would be wise, but then again, I could play around with this and flip it round and make the character impulsive and foolish.

Toucan -

Toucans have large beaks and small bodies, their beaks are deceptively lightweight so I would like to use that and make my toucan based character be deceptively strong, as lots of people believe the toucan to be strong because of their large beak which they commonly think is heavy in weight.

Gulls -

With a gull character, I think I would make the character very annoying and irritating, this is because I really hate seagulls and they’re just flying rats and they’re just a pest to pretty much everyone I know.

Reptiles:

Snakes -

With snakes, I’d like to make a lamia based character that’s possibly a protagonist or maybe an antihero based on the stories from Greek mythology.

Lizards -

With lizards, there are plenty of different species to choose from, but when the word “lizard” comes to mind, the first two types I think of are Chameleons and the Basiliscus or better known as the Jesus lizard for it’s ability to run across water because of how quickly it moves it’s lets and how lightweight it is. That would be an interesting ability to include in a character as well as give them the abilities of a chameleon to blend in with their surroundings.

Crocodiles -

Crocodiles have clever strategies when it comes to killing their prey and they are very patient when it comes to waiting for prey to get close enough to them, these traits sort of makes me think of some sort of spy or assassin that I think would be an antagonist for my theoretical videogame.

Dinosaurs -

Dinosaurs never really interested me much so I doubt I’ll create a character based on them.

Turtles -

Turtles are mostly based in water for their life, so I can’t see them being very helpful unless I were to add a water based level that NO ONE likes to play.

Amphibians:

Frogs -

Frogs are awesome and come in all different colours, sizes and abilities, the frogs I will think about influencing a character are poison dart frogs for the character to have poisonous skin and red-eyed tree frogs, for them to have an impeccable climbing ability.

Salamanders -

Salamanders aren’t as impressive as they look like underdeveloped frogs so I see no need to include the salamander to influence a character creation.

Caecilians -

Caecilians just look like overgrown worms and are similar to snakes except they can go into the water as well as travel on land, which water snakes can do anyway.

Invertebrates:

Butterflies -

Butterflies have lovely and mesmerising patterns in their wings, making me think that a character with butterfly’s wings could have a hypnotising pattern on it to hypnotise victims with the ability to see, but this character I think I’d like to make an antagonist only because of the power that could more be used for evil than it could for good.

Spiders -

Spiders are creepy to most people, they even creep me out sometimes, but I find this is another excuse to add a spider like character as a protagonist, to show that they’re not completely bad, just a bit startling is all.

Octopi -

Again, in terms of sea creatures, I can’t get very far unless I were to add an annoying water level in my theoretical videogame.

Crabs -

Using crabs, I can just imagine an enemy with giant claws for hands and eyes popping out of their sockets on stems which would freak me out in real life.

Bees/Hornets -

If I were to make a character based on Bees I would most likely make them a protagonist, as bees don’t attack you unless they really feel threatened, whereas, if the character were to be influenced by a hornet, they would definitely be an enemy because hornets are incredibly aggressive.

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Evolution VS Christianity

Christianity:

In the story of Adam and Eve, after God had created the world in seven days, he first created Adam and then Eve and gave them the garden Eden to live in. God gave them all kinds of beautiful trees, flowers, fruits and plants within this garden, but there was one tree called the “Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil”, God said if they were to eat the fruits from this tree, they would die.

But, it is said in the Bible that the Devil entered a snake that tempted Eve to take a bite from an apple from the Tree of Knowledge. Because of how delicious the apple was, she brought the apple to Adam in which he ate from it, they then immediately realised that they had disobeyed God and that they would be punished for doing so.

Charles Darwin:

The Theory evolution came from Charles Darwin from his book “On the Origin of Species”. The idea behind this theory is that every single living species and organism on this planet have evolved from bacteria that existed about three billion years ago.

I am looking at this argument because I’d like to incorporate a comparison between these two beliefs that makes the real world seem horrific and so I can manipulate a story out of it possibly for my theoretical videogame for world building and lore.

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Prey and Predators - Defence and Offence

Prey:

Prey survives predators in a variety of ways, they do this through: avoiding detection, fighting back, warding off attacks, having safety in numbers or by escaping the attacker altogether.

Predators:

Predators often attack their prey using a number of strategies or by simply rushing in to catch their prey. Some predators lie in wait for their prey to come to them whereas some will chase down their prey like cheetahs and lionesses.

I’m looking at how prey defend themselves and how predators attack to think about the ways this could influence my character’s decisions within the theoretical videogame.

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Fantasy and Heroes

Heroes in Fantasy are often depicted as being either beautiful, likeable or humanoid. This is based on the stereotype that things that we’re used to is good, and things we aren’t either familiar with or get along with are bad.

Good examples of this in videogames are Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros, and so forth, both games depicting humanoid protagonists and and either ugly and ill-willed antagonists.

I may consider breaking away from this stereotype as it’s not shown often enough that maybe, someone that’s either ugly or unimpressive can still make for a good protagonist and have room for character development in my theoretical videogame.

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Famous Demons

Mephistopheles:

Mephistopheles comes from the story of Faust from German folklore. Faust was a scholar, but he became bored and depressed with his life being this way. After attempting to take his own life, he ends up making a deal with the devil to have a certain set of powers for a certain amount of time with the help of one of his devils, Mephistopheles who helps Faust to seduce an innocent girl named Gretchen.

Most of the time, the story ends with Faust’s soul being thankfully saved by God thanks to Gretchen pleading and praying for his life. But in one instance of the story, Faust believes his sins cannot be forgiven, therefore his soul is doomed to an eternal life of enslavement for the devil.

Succubus:

Succubi originate from folklore. The succubus is believed to be a demon in a female form that appears in men’s dreams as a beautiful woman and seduces them through sexual activity.

In Zoharistic Kabbalah, there were four succubi that mated with the archangel Samael, their names being Lilith, Eisheth, Agrat bat Mahlat, and Naamah.

Lucifer:

Lucifer is known as the “light-bringer” and within Christian tradition, they came to use Lucifer’s name to name the devil as he was before becoming a fallen angel. But this is a common mistake to associate Lucifer with the term of the devil because his name means Morningstar, Morningstar being a symbol of enlightenment.

Leviathan:

Leviathan is a sea monster referenced within the Hebrew Bible and is associated with one of the seven deadly sins, Envy, in Christianity.

In both St Thomas Aquinas’ and Peter Binsfeld’s depiction of the Leviathan, he is presented as representing the sin, Envy, in which he is depicted to punish the corresponding sinners to his trait of Envy.

Oni:

Oni originate from Japanese mythology and are often depicted as either: Demons, Ogres or Trolls. They originally depicted to be invisible spirits or Gods which caused disaster, disease and so forth. They were also said to be able to take on different forms to deceive and often devour humans.

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What is Sci-Fi and Why are we so Fascinated by it?

Sci-Fi is obviously Science Fiction and the reason why it fascinates everyone so much is that it’s something that is out of our world that can still be possibly achievable by human kind.

For example, Back to the Future was and still is a very popular science fiction trilogy based on time travel, time travel being a very interesting concept for people in the 80s. And there’s a funny imagination of what the the modern would’ve looked like back in 2015 featured in the second film, most of which still doesn’t exist NOW but COULD possibly exist in the future.

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Greek Mythology - Greek Gods and Goddesses

The Gods that interest me most from Greek mythology is: Athena, Hermes, Zeus, Poseidon, and Demeter. My reasoning for this is because these Greek gods and goddesses have either been horrible to humans and more, which I see for potential villains, or to look at their abilities and how they would affect my theoretical videogame.

Demeter and Athena I have seen stories where they have affected people and beings with their cruel and selfish actions. Athena where she grew jealous and enraged by Arachne in a weaving contest and terrifying Arachne into killing herself only to be brought back as a spider by Athena.

Whereas with Demeter, it’s her actions that caused the Sirens to be vicious and become evil creatures that kill nearby sailors and voyagers. This was caused as she originally sent the Sirens to save her daughter Persephone, but as they were unsuccessful to save her daughter from being kidnapped, Demeter cursed them to fall down to earth and lose their wings, condemning them to the sea, and in which, if anyone were to hear their song and live, the Siren would die.

Hermes, Zeus and poseidon I can see as making their abilities into temporary power-ups for my theoretical videogame, or even an essential part of the videogame. Hermes, for example, is most popularly known for being the God of Travel, so his abilities could be associated with the temporary ability to teleport at will to help in a fight against your enemies.

Zeus is obviously the God of thunder and lightning, so possibly could be used for a character’s special attack on the enemy.

And Poseidon’s powers could be a powerful water manipulation spell, but it can only be used when it’s ran or if there is some source of water nearby.

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Life, Death and Religion - Beliefs in Death

Christianity:

In Christianity, Jesus Christ died on the cross to atone for mankind’s sins and to restore the relationship between God and mankind, and according to Christianity, on the third day after Jesus’ crucifixion, God rose Jesus from the dead, and Jesus appeared to his disciples. Based on this, Christians developed the belief of life after death and if they believe in Christ and do not sin, they will be sent to Heaven, an eternal life beside God.

Buddhism:

In Buddhism, they believe that after you die, you are reincarnated into a new body and life, they believe that the karma you had in your past life determines the kind of animal or creature that you will be reincarnated as in your next life.

I am discussing these subjects because I have been thinking, in theory for my videogame, I was considering once a certain character is dead, they are dead for the rest of the game and that effects how the rest of the game turns out which could be a good element to add to the game, because depending on how carefully you would play the game would determine your ending to the videogame.

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Charlie Terrell

Charlie Terrell is a digital artist that creates portraits of women often depicted in different religions and roles and the colour palette used is often autumn based colours.

I have taken a liking to these Autumn colours and realistic style, but unfortunately, this does not fit the aesthetic of the type of fantasy world I’m going for, so I most likely will NOT be using these colours. And again, in terms of detail, I cannot create extensive detail using pixel art because it would be too time consuming.

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Diego Sanches

Diego Sanches is a talented pixel artist and animator that often create animations for things like internet magazines and events.

I especially like his Science Kombat animations because each character has unique attacks and special moves associated with their discoveries.

This level of detail is something I really appreciate and is something I’d like to do with each of my characters so their attacks aren’t all the same because if they were, it would make them very boring. Obviously, my characters aren’t associated with famous scientific discoveries so instead, I may create special attack animations based on their animalistic or supernatural traits.

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William Alexander

William Alexander is a pixel artist and animator for pixel based videogames. I love this artist as I can look at his development of characters from regular 2D sketches to pixel art and how he creates and animates environments to influence my work.