ComedyKid's Character Creation Tutorial (psd)


 Topic: ComedyKid's Character Creation Tutorial (psd)
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  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:15
ComedyKid
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#1
I'M BACK! :teeth
*throws confetti*

Ok so, Welcome to the best Character Creation guide ever. I'll try to make this as in-depth and easy as possible. This is the best ever; seriously.
No probably not; but its my 5000th post so I might as well help you guys make better characters for a couple reasons:

1) 5000th post should be meaningful.
2) I think I'm more than qualified enough.
3) I really hate looking at characters that could've been better had the creators known what they were doing.
4) Some people actually deserve help.
5) It's actually not that hard to make a good character.

Note:While going through this tutorial, I suggest you periodically check the Tips / Additional Info section at the bottom of this post because there's a lot of valuable advice there that I've written down while making this.

Anyways, here we go:
Quote:
Step One
You must first find a template to work on. You could try making your own or just use the one found here made by ELEMASTER.

Anyways, download the template and open it up. You should be looking at something like this:
Image1.jpg
Note:Dont worry if your template isn't exactly like mine. I've made minor edits to the titles and fonts.
Quote:
Step Two
Now we're going to preset your fonts.
If you want your character to have font like this character:
Set the name's font like this
Set the Skill's names' font like this
Set the Skill and Character Descriptions' font like this
And set the cooldowns font like this

If you'd rather have font likethis character
Set the name's font like this
Set the Skill's names' font like this
Set the Skill and Character Descriptions' and cooldowns font like this

Credit to Chardude for this Set. =D
Quote:
Step Three
This is probably the most important step, so pay attention.
Now, we all know that you can't make a (good) character without images so you obviously need to know where and how to get these images.
First off, I like to use Youtube. I've always used it and it's never really let me down. (Photobucket is an alright pick too but it really limits creativity because you have to make moves that fit around other people's images instead of just getting your own.)

Note:Youtube's quality could be better.. I mean you could get the best quality stuff by directly downloading the videos with torrents instead of streaming.... but I spend enough time on a character as it is. Its all up to you.

"But ComedyKid! How do I get stuff from Youtube? There's only videos there, not images!!!!"
Well luckily for you, you can screenshot, an instantaneous copying a frame from the video, and paste them into your editing program for editing and manipulation.
To screenshot, you'll first have to click the Print Screen button and then Paste (Ctrl + V) it wherever you want.
The Print screen key looks like this -click me! Hopefully you all know where "ctrl" and "v" are. If not, then I really wonder how you've gotten this far in the guide or even in your time on the computer in general.
Note:by holding Alt while you screenshot, you will screenshot just the content in the open window, instead of just your entire screen.

Now, you've got the skills needed, so just go to youtube, like I'm doing right now, pick a video, pause it at some point, screenshot and then paste the image onto a new document in Photoshop.
Note:After hitting Print-Screen, the new document will be automatically set to the same size as the stuff you screen-shotted. Pretty sweet.
So, now you have your Image pasted on a new document on photoshop and you're wondering and how you're going to re-size it. Try this.
Select the Crop tool; highlighted red here.
Zoom in closer on your image. Take your crop tool and outline what you want to cut out for your image.
Note:By holding Shift while you use the crop tool, you will automatically outline in perfect squares; an extremely handy feature because it makes it really easy and quick to resize the images to fit in those 75 x 75 boxes.
After outlining what you want to cut out; double-click it and it will be cropped. Now then right click the top of your image and choose Image Size.
Image11.jpg

Resize it to 75 x 75. Then just drag or copy and paste that image onto your template and move it over into the appropriate box. Figure out the attacks of course; and then repeat these instructions for their images.

An easy way to spice your images is to adjust the Contrast, brightness, Hue, Saturation and Color Balance, as well as a couple other things.
To access those features, simply go to Image and then Adjustments. You can use these features on entire images as once or you could use a variety of different tools, my favorite being the Magic Wand Tool, to edit only certain areas of an image.
Note:Avoid Over-doing the contrast or brightness of an image. There is a thing as too much.
If you're confused, look here

Anyways, after a while you should have something that looks like this:
Image13.jpg
Character Creation Guideemotawesomepm9.gif
Shippuuden Character Collection
Quote:
When I realized you had an higher IQ then 80, I thought I could talk seriously.
Quote:
Cause your gay and the computer doesnt like homos.
  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:15
ComedyKid
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Posts: 6308
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#2
Quote:
Step Four
Now all we have left to do are the attacks. Hopefully, you've got a basic idea of what your character will do (Unless you picked random images for the attacks and are going to base the skills off the images <-- Bad idea..)
The 2nd Font set is the official one while the first one is my own style.. and Im guessing you guys want to make yours as official looking as possible so for this tutorial, I will use the 2nd set as well.
Onto picking out names for the skills:
We all know about those really stupid noob clans out there with names like "Ultimate Shadow Kyuubi Sharingan Avenger Destroyer Warrior Fighter Clan," and we can all agree that we wouldn't be caught dead in one of them, so logically, none of us would ever give our skills names like that.
For Example, Im making Kyuubi Naruto but I'm not gona start every move with Kyuubi; like Kyuubi Claw, Kyuubi Cannon; etc. Nor am I gona start every description with Kyuubi either. Its repetitive, redundant and just bad writing actually. You want to sound intelligent and not annoy the reader with your character.

When picking out the skills, try to give your character a focus. Temari's is AoE damage and Walling, Kimmimaro's is High damage with little chakra in exchange for health loss. Creating characters with a focus allows you to make them very strong in a single area in exchange for not being as versatile (although, since you have an entire team and not just a single character, it's easy to make up for their weaknesses.)
A character that doesn't really have a theme is Jiroubou. He has an Single Target move, an AoE move, a Wall, and a Draining move. As you can see, he can do a lot, but nothing particularly well. You can't really rely on him for much but he does come in handy because he's so versatile.
I guess it's okay to make characters without a real focus, but its just more fun, more impressive and harder to make a character with a focus. It's a lot more interesting as well.
Note:Make sure that your character isn't incredibly versatile and incredibly strong at everything they do. Jiroubou's skills are individually weak because he can be used in a lot of situations. His versatility makes up for his individual weaknesses.
Note:Dont give your character too many skills that cost a lot of chakra. It would be too hard to use if all of the moves used 2 or more specific chakra each.

The easiest ways to make sure your characters are balanced are to compare them to the characters Here, follow what I've said up there and to use your best judgment.

When writing up the descriptions for a character, fit enough detail in there so that's interesting to read, but don't exceed the limits of the text box.
Note:Avoid repeating words. You'll sound smarter this way. :blink

When selecting chakra, for god's sakes, make sure you're picking the right chakra for what the attack is.
Taijutsu is hand-to-hand combat. Ninjutsu is a Ninja Technique (usually accompanied by hand-signs). Genjutsu is pretty much any illusionary technique. Bloodline is any ability that a character is born with (For the most part, hand-signs aren't required.)
Note:The characters in the game don't always follow the basic rules of chakra. Naruto's Shadow Clones aren't really Genjutsu. Ino and Shikamaru's techniques aren't really bloodline. But the reason for this is so that there is a good balance of each type of attack. If not for this balance, almost all the characters in the game would use Ninjutsu, followed in popularity by Taijutsu, and then Genjutsu and Bloodline would make up the smallest in number by A LOT

Alright well, after all that, your final product should look something like this:

4TailedKyuubiNaruto.jpg
Quote:
HURRAY YOU'RE DONE!!

Yup, that's basically all that goes into making a character and trust me, it gets a lot easier as you go on because the most tedious stuff just takes some memorization.

So, I hope I've helped. If there's anything that I could add to the guide, just tell me. =D

If you've got any questions, just ask and I'll make a Q/A section as well.


Tips / Additional Info:
-Dont ever steal or rip anything. I will personally make sure you get banned for it and I hope all of you out there would also do the same.
-Try to make your characters interesting. What's the point in doing all this work if your character's skills are lackluster and boring? No one wants to look at the same 30 damage 2 chakra attack over and over again. Or the same ol' 25 damage AoE attack.
I'd suggest watching a battle, picking out 1 move to base your character off of and work off that.
-Avoid making a lot of Insta-kill characters. Especially ones that also have a stun. Because its just like making another Gaara. (Avoiding making an Instakill character that also has a damaging attack; because then they'll probably just be an overpowered Demon Bros.) ---> That basically leaves you making an instakill character that has their 3rd move being something defensive.. which is just another Gaara. Basically, be creative and innovative.
-Only screenshot images from high-quality sources. Also, pause the video before you screenshot to ensure that you get the perfect image.
-When getting images for the face, always make them close-up enough; from Chin to part of the headband is best. Also, make sure the face isn't looking directly at you nor that the face is looking right at the side; somewhere in between is good.
-When finished, take a step back, look at your work and be honest to yourself. Did you try your best? Is it good enough to be shown in public and not be embarrassed over?
-Use the chakra supplied to you by ELEMASTER. Trying to make your own, while not very difficult, is just a waste of time and usually just looks bad anyways. Dont use different colors either; you will look like an idiot if you. Well maybe you wont. But your work will; try to be as professional as possible.

Character Creation Guideemotawesomepm9.gif
Shippuuden Character Collection
Quote:
When I realized you had an higher IQ then 80, I thought I could talk seriously.
Quote:
Cause your gay and the computer doesnt like homos.
  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:16
ComedyKid
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#3
How to make Characters with more than 4 Skills
To be added...


How to properly balance characters
To be added...
Character Creation Guideemotawesomepm9.gif
Shippuuden Character Collection
Quote:
When I realized you had an higher IQ then 80, I thought I could talk seriously.
Quote:
Cause your gay and the computer doesnt like homos.
  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:19
Kingz_ro
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#4
Verry helpfull...

Think some ppl will start using that and stop ripping each other`s characters. <.<

Verry good made. Nice 4-tail kyuuby ...

10/10 FTW! :amazed
Strib nicht vor mir
ou3192.jpg


  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:20
SharinganRAB
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#5
that is nice 8/10 to da tut, but 5/10 to 4 tail, to overpowerful
Former|GFXer|--I can still GFX, i just don't wanna.
xVelocixRaptorx_1675.jpg
  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:22
CharDude
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#6
Oh meh gawd. Too lazy to read but it looks well thought out and explained well. =O
Good job Comedy. :blink
  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:23
ComedyKid
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#7
Thanks for the rates everybody =D

I cant believe I got an 8 though o_o. You try doing this much work.
Character Creation Guideemotawesomepm9.gif
Shippuuden Character Collection
Quote:
When I realized you had an higher IQ then 80, I thought I could talk seriously.
Quote:
Cause your gay and the computer doesnt like homos.
  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:23
SharinganRAB
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#8
mod! stick this!
Former|GFXer|--I can still GFX, i just don't wanna.
xVelocixRaptorx_1675.jpg
  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:27
CharDude
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#9
ComedyKid wrote:
Thanks for the rates everybody =D

I cant believe I got an 8 though o_o. You try doing this much work.
Don't be so modest. <.<
xD No just kidding seriously don't kill me for that. @_@
I thought it was great. But there will always be people who don't know how to rate correctly comedy.
  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:29
ComedyKid
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#10
XD

Well, I'm glad there are still smart / honest people around here :D
Character Creation Guideemotawesomepm9.gif
Shippuuden Character Collection
Quote:
When I realized you had an higher IQ then 80, I thought I could talk seriously.
Quote:
Cause your gay and the computer doesnt like homos.
  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:32
rockywrist989
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#11
NICE this should be STICKIED!

100/10
2je7i2q.jpg
"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I just beat people up."-Muhammad Ali-
My Showcase
  Posted on January 26, 2008 23:33
ComedyKid
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#12
Yeah; I dont see how anyone with Psd would be able to make a bad character while following this guide o_O

Sticky please!
Character Creation Guideemotawesomepm9.gif
Shippuuden Character Collection
Quote:
When I realized you had an higher IQ then 80, I thought I could talk seriously.
Quote:
Cause your gay and the computer doesnt like homos.
  Posted on January 27, 2008 01:14
Sharingan_Hatake
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#13
Congrats on 5000 ComedyKid. This definitely needs a Sticky.

Quick Question: Like you said, Youtube has average quality, so where can I download episodes?
Signature.png
  Posted on January 27, 2008 01:22
ComedyKid
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#14
Well the people that fansub the Naruto episodes that are usually on youtube offer torrents.. *cough Narutokun cough*

Edit by Asmattack (please refrain from double posting)
ComedyKid wrote:
Thanks Asma for the Stickey!

(See, I broke the rules to show my deep appreciation and gratitude)

<3, I still have to keep order around here XD.
Character Creation Guideemotawesomepm9.gif
Shippuuden Character Collection
Quote:
When I realized you had an higher IQ then 80, I thought I could talk seriously.
Quote:
Cause your gay and the computer doesnt like homos.
  Posted on January 27, 2008 02:43
rodneyiscool
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#15
Great Job and welcome back CK!:teeth
I can see lots of effort put into this guide.