Wow. I never noticed this thread before, I only stumbled across it via the OPs sig. Very very cool stuff! How are you doing these?
The short answer: very patiently. The long answer: I scour the internet for a photo of the figure, I shrink it down to the right size and then I slowly recreate the photo with pixels. I base the scale of the characters and artwork off of two things. I think Bumblebee is the same size of a Ryu sprite from Street Fighter. I use the Sunbow character model sheet to determine the size of everyone in relation to everyone else. So, for example, if Bumblebee is the same size as Ryu in Street Fighter, then Prowl will be like three head sizes taller then Ryu/Bumblebee. I don't have my art files on this computer but that's the gist of it. My long term project is to create sprites for most G1 Transformers, starting with 1984 through 1989. Every year is a "season" and every season has 24 Autobots and 24 Decepticons. I have already planned 120 Autobots for 1984-1988 and 120 Decepticons for 1984-1988. For 1989 I think there will be a lot fewer characters. But wait, there is more. I plan to make different versions of each character. I have G1, Cybertronian, CHUG, MP and IDW versions for many characters. So you multiply 120 x 5 and you get 600 potential sprites. Plus I have some other characters that don't fit into G1 that I want to include (Alternators, Lost G1, Neo G1). There are some years when we didn't get too many Decepticons-- that's where I get creative and have fun. You'll see some surprise Decepticons in every "season" in order to fill out the ranks. I'm going to be working on this for YEARS. I took a break in August because I had a lot of huge changes in my life but I plan on resuming things in the end of October, start of November. I'm currently working on a Gnaw sprite.
Lovely! When you ever get any time, please could you animate them in a "waiting" animation loop, like Street Fighter/videogame sprites, please?
Please include the BW incarnations of Prowl, Silverbolt, Grimlock, etc. I'm greedy for these designs!
11/2016 Update - Completed Season 2 Autobots and Decepticons! Moving onto Season 2 combiner figures! Group Posters
Where's Blaster? And I noticed Blitzwing isn't with the S2 Cons and with the S3 Cons? Also, you going to update Brawn to his Titans Return Legends body? Otherwise, this is awesome and I can't wait to see this completed!
Blaster will be with the season 3 Autobots. I stuck Blitzwing with the S3 Cons because it works out thematically when you look at all the characters I included. What I mean is, if I stuck Blitzwing in S2, then one of the S2 guys would have to move over to S3. When you look at the S2 guys that I have, none of them really fit well into S3. I also like to keep similar characters together, so the S2 Cons have three minibots, three rainmakers and three insecticons; I don't want to break-up those trios. The only real "odd man" is Exhaust and I feel he fits into S2 better then Blitzwing because he's an earth based vehicle and in S2 they were still on earth. That's my long explanation of why Blitzwing is in S3 versus S2. Besides, Blitzwing had a notable role in the movie and kinda fits well with S3 movie characters. Blitzwing will also get updated with his TR body (once its shown). I will update Brawn with his TR Legends body eventually. I hope that HasTak updates the Predacons sooner then later because they're in my S3 Cons group. I also want to use the TR update for Octane too.
Got it! Like I said earlier though, love your work here. Any plans for Season 4 and the Head/Targetmasters?
Fantastic work on these, I especially love how you've padded out the Decepticons' ranks with repaints. Are you also going to replace Blurr, Hot Rod, Galvatron, Scourge, etc. with their TR bodies too? And I second Starscream 91's question about Headmasters and Targetmasters.
Thank you guys for the compliments and the questions! I get a huge kick from this project. Here's a breakdown of my plans... Season 4 - Headmasters. I have it completely mapped out on who will be included the only problem is that there are several Autobot Targetmasters and Throttlebots with no updates. I could use 3P Throttlebots but I'd rather stick with HasTak versions and we are supposedly getting some. With the Decepticons I'll likely use 3P Terrorcons unless rumors suggest that HasTak are updating them. I might use "substitute" molds for the characters that haven't been updated but I'd rather avoid that unless the character actually shared the mold. Season 5 - Masterforce. Completely mapped out for both factions but very few characters with updates, so I'm unsure how far I'll be able to get. This season might stay mostly incomplete I am looking forward to making sprites for Ginrai, Overlord, Seacons (3P?), God Bomber and God Ginrai. I'm basing Ginrai off his Legends release and need a high res image of him to do the art. That won't happen until December... Season 6 - Victory. Minimally mapped out. I might ask for help from the community on who to include in this. This might also be the first season where the Decepticons really outnumber the Autobots. Leokaiser is part of this group but I hope that Takara releases a version of their own cause I don't think I'll use the Hasbro version. I also want a Deathsaurus! After that I have other ideas... Lost G1 - American exclusives, special e-hobby repaints and misc. characters that were released but I just didn't have space to fit into the regular seasons. Neo G1 - New characters that were retroactively inserted into G1. Like Windblade, Drift, the new combiner limbs in CW and misc. new characters. Binaltech - Cause I love it. And even more stuff... Regarding your questions-- I will be using TR updates for everyone except Megatron and Optimus. They still with their very original Classics editions. CHUG Blurr will become Drift. Classics Hot Rod will become Nemesis Hot Rod.
Sounds great, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how this all pans out. If you want any help for characters you're stuck on, I'm game.
Season 2 combiners are almost finished! Season 5 Autobots, Super Ginrai, Godbomber and God Ginrai completed! You can also check out some group images I made here. I'm working on Season 3 Autobots and Decepticons. Suggestions on what figures to use for the following characters is appreciated. (3P or an existing HasTak figure is fine.) Season 3 Autobots Hubcap Ramhorn Season 3 Decepticons Overkill Slugfest Predacon Team Thanks!
Well you already have a Hubcap from Classics Bee, no? If you're going to update Bee and his ilk to the TR mold, you could try making a Hubcap from TR Bee. As for the Predacons, I'd use the MMC Predacons. They're more or less the go-to Classics Predacons at the moment. You could use TR Overboard for Overkill, don't really have any ideas for Slugfest or Ramhorn.
I'm planning on keeping Bee and Cliffjumper in the original Classics mold. The newer characters will get the TR mold. I was also thinking of using the MMC Predacons. Basically, I had all the same ideas you had but I wanted to see if there was other ideas out there that I just hadn't thought up. Thanks for the suggestions though.
