Darth Vader as a Mega Man Boss! (Pixel Art Study and Redesign)

In this study and redesign, it's Darth Vader as a Robot Master! To get the most out of this, I'm breaking down some SNES-era Mega Man sprites to see how they are constructed - looking into things like outlines, silhouette, colour palette, and more!
----
Check out my art here:
/ brandonjamesgreer
/ bjgpixel
----
I commissioned the music in this video from these fantastic artists:
Title sequence theme music by Failpositive:
failpositive.bandcamp.com/
/ failpositiv
All other background music by mcguy215:
fiverr.com/mcguy215
/ mcguy215

[@costagiannaras7927]

0:00 "hello there" grievous: general pixnobi

[@AddlerMartin]

Kenopix

[@CristianARW]

Very impressive the whole study about the mega man's characters. Really loved the video

[@BJGpixel]

Thanks so much! Feel like I learned a lot by approaching it this way :D

[@mickeyrube6623]

Brandon: "a Villainous Silhouette, that'd be a good band name..." Me: "hell yeah it would! Finally, I have..." Brandon: "...I'm taking dibs." Me: "AW-GODAMNITT!!!"

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

Vader has become more machine now than Mega-Man, pixilated and evil...

[@Phyrolito]

As a programmer, I've always wanted to refine my art skills and you've inspired me to finally get to study pixel art properly. Keep up the awesome work!

[@PadraoAndrei]

"Vid Over, Continue? 10... 9... 8... 7..." Me: Pauses video Video: :O

[@pinkajou656]

Neraid I love that part of the videos, kinda like an old video game!

[@codywinter4818]

I love that outro. Its nostalgically novel and lets you know how much time is left before the end. Creative and awesome.

[@courtneymccracken4441]

"Most impressive"

[@mickeyrube6623]

6:56: "...kinda hard to imagine Vader with a buster cannon..." Well that's because it's not a Buster Cannon, it's Force Cannon! In a MegaMan/Star Wars mashup universe, The Force should be some kinda mechanically achieved unnatural fifth force besides the good, and natural electromagnetic, gravitational, weak, and strong forces.

[@matthewhamilton2913]

midichlorians

[@mickeyrube6623]

@@matthewhamilton2913 exactly.

[@codywinter4818]

I'll be patiently waiting for Villainous Sillhouette's Album

[@jonathanedgar9954]

Hey I just wanted say that I really like your channel! I've been studying pixel art for about 8 months or so and just came back after a short break! You are one of the only youtube channels that give simple pixel art tutorials, most don't explain it too well and I usually get frustrated after watching 30 minutes worth of tutorials and getting nowhere with it! However just seeing your workflow helped me a lot! I'm especially like how you study the sprites to mimic a certain style and I think I'm gonna start doing that (With that in mind, where do you get the sprites from? Just so I can have an idea of where to go.) I will definitely be coming back to this channel often to learn more. Thanks!

[@BJGpixel]

Hey there, thanks so much, I'm glad the video style has been useful, and welcome back to pixel art! :D You can find full sprite sheets by searching Google images or browsing aggregate sites like Spriter's Resource. Best of luck with your pixel art!

[@Rabbids_Go_Home]

Jonathan Edgar Hey I HEAVILY suggest a channel called mort mort he does really good tutorials too

[@pinkajou656]

I just found this channel, and it’s already one of my favourites! Your videos are amazing and so helpful!!!!!!

[@chimklee]

Might I recommend Pixel Pete also.

[@AdamSweeney85]

I don't know if you've ever covered something like this, but I'd love to learn some techniques on how to do some Castlevania Symphony of the Night looking sprite animation.

[@BJGpixel]

I love that game, and its pixel art is incredible! Might have to make a vid one day. If you haven't seen, you should check out Video Game Animation Study's vid about Alucard's run cycle: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHncZaFjfd9nrJo

[@AdamSweeney85]

@@BJGpixel thanks! I will definitely take a look as soon as I can. I hope you can cover this in the future, I really like how you explain your pixel art process and I'm sure others would be interested as well.

[@packwarden]

You make this seem so easy. I've spend days trying to make even satisfactory pixel art.

[@hazegonzalez6895]

Vader Man Stage: Death Star Space Fortress Boss: Vader Man Weapon: Sith Saber Weakness: Jedi Force Quote: "Join the Dark Side of the Force Jedi Mega Man!"

[@Johngvc100]

Really good material, through your simple (but effective) way of explaining I've learned a lot of important concepts. Thanks!

[@WD_RatLad]

Why is nobody talking about how good the stop motion is?

[@DirtySouthSOHK]

The gold trim on the boots was a little odd because there were no other elements that it matched. Awesome design overall though. I've never seen a Star Wars movie but I'd definitely play a Mega Man style game based on the characters.

[@magicspell_bs2294]

cartoon darth's face is sick!

[@brandonjacksoon]

Amazing work! Thank you so much Brandon! Enjoyed watching your tutorials!

[@andrewobuchow]

Soooooooo amazing, loved this so much !!!!!

[@josephs.3372]

BJG, THANK YOU. Your channel the most helpful for creating characters in pixel art. I've been starting with the silhouette the whole time, and what happens is as I develop the character I get trapped with a bad form thinking it was because of something else. I'm SO stealing your work flow, thank you again.

[@mattm5826]

When you implemented the the boss scene intro for him like a mega man game would do I lost my shit! Absolutely crushed this concept from idea to final iteration. Incredible talent man thank you for sharing your craft.

[@boomertiro1422]

Well that was an inspiring tutorial I needed. Personally I'd have kept the one arm as a hand and done a couple different detailed hand positions. Each one for a different force power in the boss fight. I imagine him slowing and stopping blaster shots, shifting the fight arena geometry, affecting player character movement, and having random junk as projectiles come in from off screen. He can only use one at a time and the change in the hand communicates which one he is switching to. Get too close and a few saber swings can finish off the player character. At some health point reached he goes from passively using his force powers in a corner to actually moving across the arena to swing directly at the player, alternating move and swings and power use. He starts with a dash across the screen, communicated by a forward lean that he's about to use his power to just slide across the screen, and then from there he alternates between ominously stomping forward and doing a slide dash, and stopping to use his force powers. I just love the idea of his hand position being a tell for attacks that are about changing the environment.

[@DadVader]

This is sooooo COOL! Thank you KZbin for this suggestion! 😍🔥🔥🔥

[@rogeliovillasanojr.5932]

Dude, this was so impressive! Learned so many good pointers! Keep it up!

[@roofchild2290]

I,ve ponly recently come across your channel and i have to say out of all of the youtube art channels you are one of the most interesting and unique to me. maybe it is bercause of the medium but they way you break down real life examples in a way and that is easy to consume make's you really good at what you do. always enjoy your content keep doing a great job.

[@pmmbb3344]

Pure blast of talent blowing my mind away!

[@vaibhavgoel4125]

Just found your channel. Saw a couple of vids. Subscribed. Thanks for all the awesome info. Really helpful.

[@xXDragonTribalXx]

I absolutely love your style and workflow so much. I hope one day you will do a brief tackle on pixel art animation. Animations and backgrounds are the hardest things to tackle for me in pixel art. Coming from 3D software I almost gave up and just made the work tedious and shackling by rendering 3d mockups and animations that I would "trace" frame by frame for my animations and backgrounds + there really isn't a lot of material on pixel art on video teaching platforms for pixel art, surprisingly.

[@BJGpixel]

Thanks! Yes I'd like to create some kind of comprehensive animation tutorials at some point. As you can imagine, due to the complexity, it's also difficult to conceptualize and structure a tutorial! I've slowly started touching on animations in some of my more recent videos though, when it's relevant

[@DDCRExposed]

I've seen you flip the canvas in other videos and seconds before you answered my question I asked that to myself. There it is! 😄🙌 The intro to Vader Man's level was 👨‍🍳🤏 perfection and extremely inspiring! Also, Cartoon Darth reminds me a lot of Skeletor. 🤘

[@Edgejuice]

Haha i loved that stopmotion at the start. Great video!

[@cloudycrisps7290]

Me: watches this video Also me: Now he needs custom boss music 🤩

[@kendadon5163]

Yooo you are a legend in mmy eyes! you have changed my pixel art FOREVER Thank You

[@tedbendixson]

I LOVE your channel. I'm making a 2D game and this is incredibly useful

[@270jonp]

Dude, amazing content, wish I had this when I started.

[@StevenCasteelYT]

Love your show. Quality content sir!

[@goodgameplays9571]

amazing man im speechless! i wish i had your skils

[@hunterklie]

love your work. recently subscribed. so much fun and really well explained. great planning goes into your videos i can tell. thanks for sharing your work with us!

[@Danielsalazario]

Muchísimas gracias por este gran tutorial ha sido lo mejor que he encontrado para entender mejor el manejo de color el concepto y diseño en Spritebit. Nice Work!!!

[@patbaitman3357]

That's some good insight regarding lightsabers/swords. I suppose the way to get around that in animation is by using smear frames during the slashes. But, for a 32-bit game where animation can be more fluid, if a character wiggled/waved his sword idly on the hilt, would it be better to suspend the diagonal "rule" or stick to stricter diagonals?

[@colinyoung3685]

I'd really overlooked pixel art's ability to convey detailed information at low resolution. It looks like a great form to study art fundamentals. The videos are high quality, as is the art thoroughly entertaining and thought provoking.

[@95VD]

amazing work, the video was rly didactic

[@regisps4989]

I love this channel so much

[@WaylonFlinn]

Another great video!

[@Harkness197]

That is so awesome!

[@HaydenTheEeeeeeeeevilEukaryote]

looks really cool

[@bluffinburg2233]

This is actually really cool

[@VitalikNerdChannel]

Thanks for the interesting tutorial!

[@asemabuelhija4501]

loved the video! wish you can make a video on your tricks in the motion graphics area,, it really feels like being inside a retro game!

[@stardiskmusic]

Recommended on IG and it was a perfect recommend! Great crossover! Subscribed!

[@BJGpixel]

Ah that's great to hear, thanks! Cool music btw!

[@stardiskmusic]

@@BJGpixel thanks, much appreciated!

[@bausHuck]

I really like the sprite. Colour use is awesome. I am learning so much by watching your videos. I feel like you lost the shape of the helmet. The angle on the back end is very iconic. Also the grill on the mask seems to get lost. The cape on the toy actually covers some of the chest and shoulder pads, this would have helped attach the cape to the rest of the sprite, especially to the shoulder with the blaster. The pants on the sprite look like they have a horizontal texture when the toy has a vertical. I'm sure there is a reason why you changed this but never really explained. His chest is missing the same texture as his legs though. And the boots, the gold trim is cool, but Vader's boots seem to have a knee cap covering. I feel like its a missed opportunity to exaggerate one of his features instead of just giving him larger boots from a different universe. The Darth Vader throat choke is like the most iconic move he has. Would have been good to actually see it attempted at as pixel art. The blaster is still good though, fits the universe you are putting him into.

[@CYON4D]

Awesome stuff.

[@Chacho_s]

Fun fact about vaders helmet is if im not mistaken modeled after the WW1 "stahlhelm" which was one of a few helmets German soldiers would wear such as the picklehaube and later the stahlhelm would become the standard helmet for Germany's armed forces (the Wehrmacht) during WW2 and its design was really good allowing its user to see a good amount ahead of them while also doing the original intention of a helmet protecting the user from shrapnel it did these so well that many military's based their helmets off of the stahlhelm. I could be wrong I dunno. But military's did base many of their helmets off of the stahlhelm.

[@j.r7872]

FUN TO WACH !

[@GameArts1]

Chewbacca as Zero. All jokes aside, great vid. I like the outlining - your channel breaks things down into steps, learning a lot!

[@spoonimefan]

I'm late to the party, but I might have a semi-serious suggestion for a Chewie mashup: Auto, from the classic series. Auto isn't as tall as Chewie, but they are both big characters. Auto has what looks like a oil can or sprayer for one of his arms in some art, and that could be modified into Chewie's bowcaster? I dunno; just a wild hair I thought someone might like.

[@jens6335]

Chevy needs more screen time please. She is a STAR!

[@Al-bt1pr]

super sick!

[@nicolascaminoa5715]

Cartoon Darth is an amazing design

[@CyberneticSheep]

Incredible, Shade Man actually living up to his name.

[@nosoymaxi]

Awesome!

[@brecoldyls]

This is cool!

[@nickstrife8312]

Man, this is amazing. Could you make a video about so to create a MMX character from scratch? Like X, Zero or Mavericks? Anyway, great work! You earned a new subscriber!

[@Rrsouza22]

awesome

[@aithirskylord7196]

awesome! i am just starting to somehow learn to pixelart as a hobby, and i am really struggling with pretty much everything.

[@tedredac]

If Vader Man's name was fully translated into english, then you'd get the name "Father Man."

[@corgikun2579]

this was impressive!!!!

[@spamtong.spamton6993]

Mega big brain idea Instead of him him having a gun, it could be a compartment for his lightsaber And keeping the opening you made, he'd fist pull out his lightsaber

[@hachimitsu00]

i love your videos!! i want to learn how to do pixel arts like you!! :)

[@BJGpixel]

Thank you, glad to hear! Best of luck with your pixel art! :)

[@TheMemoryOfWrenAndMe]

This is where the fun begins

[@Giffeln]

Really fun to see! Next one need to shoot lightning from the fingers ^^

[@BJGpixel]

Didn't even think about that; that would be really cool! Maybe even a Mega-style Emperor Palpatine 😅

[@spoonimefan]

@@BJGpixel : That just inspired me with a brief brain storm: Palpatine as an over-sized final boss. He could be like one of Wily's skull-walker machines (an AT-ST, I think?), or a wall-style final boss (like Sigma's final form from X1--though that would take too much work). And when defeated he becomes a wire-frame or translucent Force ghost (like the Sigma head in X2 or the Sigma Virus heads and Zero Nightmare bodies that show up in the 32-bit MMX games). I'm not expecting you or anyone to do it; what you've done here, along with some of the comments just sparked a brain storm I wanted to share. It's also thinking of fully adapting/translating the game play/structure/design(?) without thinking of how much work the art would take. Dream big but have realistic expectations, eh?

[@paquotl]

WOOOW! can you do more characters as a MegaMan boss? please c:

[@pullipittiti]

awesome

[@stormelsuperjamon8789]

Just my wings make me the biggest sprite

[@thesmilingman7576]

6:26 thats for breathing and other important functions

[@ryangraff102]

Neat!

[@gavinconnor5946]

Fittingly, not ironically, but otherwise excellent video and script

[@mateusbertolaccini3805]

The back leg was better before you change its angle on my humble opinion. But the last result is great! Congratulations!

[@user-em9su3dd9y]

Nice.

[@That__Guy]

In my imagination he would have a hand with a gun, but it would not shoot, it would just release the light saber with which he would fight. For his ranged attack he would use his other hand, which would be a regular hand, but kinda magnetic, so he can throw around metal junk parts like he was using the force. I really like your design though

[@swanofnutella4734]

Really cool, though I would have liked to have seen a greater commitment to a darker, colorless Vaderman. I think the green lights would have 'read' just fine with just 1 light on either side and added to the sense of Vader's size. Not fond of the gold trim. All that said, this is super fantastic and I would have struggled to get it half as cool as yours. It probably would not have been appropriate here, given the size of his face, but I would like to see more people do their Vader themed fan art with his actual asymmetrical, harlequin black-silver features. Most people just portray his face as black. The most famous villain on the planet, and a lion's share of his most ardent fans don't know what he ACTUALLy looks like. Kinda crazy. XD

[@g-blade9983]

Darth Man's stage if he had one should have storm trooper enemies while being inspired by the death star.

[@LowerBlack64]

I believe that the chest area could have used a bit more shading. When put against the other sprites, the lack of shine in the torso really becomes apparent. In another note, I think that the leg that is on the same side as the lightsaber is a bit awkward, and that's because the whole pose feels a bit off, and it's a matter of adjusting how the leg piece faces. if you look at the forefront legs in most sprites, you'll find that they follow a somewhat triangular form, and MegaVader's leg feels a bit blocky, which I pin on using the Sigma sprite as a base. The leg would look more natural if it followed Bass' form. Still, pretty nice work!

[@commenturthegreat2915]

I think the cape could also use a bit of work. It's the only part in the piece lacking any shading. It looks strange especially in the section behind the body, which should be in the shade.

[@AvangionQ]

10:32 Looks good.

[@jorgeeduardoreynoso6790]

This Darth Vader reminded me of the dad of Buzz Light Year in toy story 😂

[@thesmilingman7576]

If vader would be in a mega man game his weakness should be something related to electricity because his armor is designed to be weak to eletrical attacks

[@EuMestre]

What megaman power would he gain? The force to move objects? Or some darkside stuff?

[@PandaJerk007]

0:18 When is he starting his stop-motion animation channel !?! xD

[@ro1y]

10:08 I can't unhear the EBOOPBOOP! EBOOPBOOP! EBOOPBOOP!

[@mimisaiko]

How about design the buster using the reference of the tie fighter? 😋

[@bonbonpony]

Do you plan to make some tutorials about character motion / animation in pixel art games?

[@raptecclawtooth9046]

say hi to lyra for me

[@soundsofstabbing3627]

boba could also be sniper joe to stay in classic mega man and have the same colors

[@ro1y]

How do you make the SFX in your videos?

[@mateuszodrzywoek8658]

fun fact: shade man was animated by a guy from Disney, plus if you hold a specific button his stage will have Ghosts N' Goblins music

[@itsus7449]

cool channel

[@confushiarch3421]

angling it for jaggy bits could be perfect for a Kylo Ren sprite because his light sabre should be jaggy..

[@megamanx5760]

What app do you suggest for pixel art on Android

[@Scp-rq1ip]

What you use to do pixel art

[@merck8743]

Danger master

[@French_guy]

anyone now what that megaman figure at the start is called, like brand or something

[@tengudwn57]

Ah yes Father Man

[@NoxmilesDe]

Please make a pixel art with 50 shades of grey 😉

[@megamanx5760]

Could you do zero vs darth