Art of Trial and Error

Above shows just some of the iterations toward creating the final "death animation". Basically the above image would be used for when the player dies, this is the end result. The process I use to create the final image is pretty much trial and error applied many times through several iterations. First I started by just taking any two colors and doing a really rough sketch in a few seconds to give myself an idea of what im trying to make the final image turn out like. I then just used a series of lines attempting to map out the outline of the character I am creating, starting with the largest and easiest part, and working my way toward the more in depth areas. Overtime its easy to see how the drawing turns from something cartoony at best into something more believable by applying gradients and added details. In all, its a long process but the end result is a satisfying one.