rad-ramenkingles

[rad-ramenkingles]

Pixel Hiatus

No pixels for a bit, sorry in advance to the couple people who follow along. Just can't do much physically at the moment. If I can I'll try just slapping together all I've done in a master post, but if not I'll just save it all up until I can actually manage to do things again.

Until then I'll probably use this space abit for opinions and text based little fan nonsense, when I can. I don't know, just wish I could pixel really. My bad guys.

All that said,

Ramen out. ✌️🍜

#Hiatus

[rad-ramenkingles]

Kinko Revamp Process

Wanted to try something slightly different with this post, call it a little behind the scenes process.

As you all know, I am Ramenking…

I make pixels, and I have done for a good long while, and today to lead up to my next Blurry Boy post, I want to show you a little bit of what my process has been for these revamps. Let's start with Kinko, as he is the first to have been revealed.

So when it comes to Kinkotsuman, out of the whole group I did. He is a character I mainly like for the uniqueness of his look, and the specific body type on him. As a character he is abit of a… Iffy guy for me. Just I'm not the biggest fan of trash Dad’s, like Kinko just falls right into that category full stop guys. Poor Bone Cold. 😔

All that said when approaching him it was quite an interesting task, as he is actually one of only 8 characters from the Kinnikuman franchise I've been spriting since I started in this little pixel square field. I did start other characters but they always were forever WIP stuff. All of those works though are long gone, probably on an old laptop somewhere in a storage room. That said, I at least have Kinko here looking nice and rough.

This period of spriting for myself wasn't the best one looking back on it. Majority of my work was more akin to sloppy edits and recolours trying to fit into a style I had little to no skill at all in. That being said it was still fun to actually make pixels for the first time, so it drove me to further dabble.

That nicely leads us to 2011 Kinko next to 2011 Kinnikuman…

Kinkotsuman and others get a face lift, or just get made for the first time in some cases. What's a bit neat about the Kinkotsuman Pixel of 2011, this sprite was initially a revamp made by an old forum buddy of mine (with heavy tweaks after made by myself). I had a mighty struggle with his head, my brain just couldn't get it and his could, the hair as well I kept having a problem with and Poof all of these issues were non existent, to him. What I really liked about this Kinko compared to the 2009 attempt was the body type actually got closer to what I envisioned. (Still a bit too tall though, and wide to a degree though)

See I've never been a massive fan of slightly buff Kinko as a norm. Not saying it couldn't make for an interesting growth of the character body wise throughout the series. Just in my head, he is Skull and Bones guy, and that type of person shouldn't have to much meat on his bones. All that said I do enjoy me a good character evolution over time chart. Might do one for all the Kinniku Characters like I did this quick mock up of Kinnikuman one day.

Onto now… When I approached Kinko this time, I wanted to try and strike a balance between the newer look Yude does for him, his first appearance look, and the anime look.

So I had examples of all three works as I went to it. I took the 2011 sprite and stripped off the colors and from there I readjusted placements of black lines inside the framework, and trimmed the framework down where I saw fit aswell. Then I laid back in some of the flat Colors across it all when I was happy with my framework. Then came the first run of shades. I take a look, see how I feel, then I will make adjustments where I see fit in different ways, just to get across the “Feel of the Character” that I want to achieve with this sprite.

Aside - |{When I say “Feel of the Character”, I am meaning I want whatever I do, however complex or simplistic it is with my pixels. I want someone to look at that, and the drawn character and be like “Oh yeah, I see it. That's them.” Like I'm not after getting every detail 100% perfect, really if you are working in pixels as small as I am. You flat out can't be. But what I want to do, is get that feel of them across as best as I can. Sometimes that means sacrificing certain elements (You will see that in some sprites to come), other times it means really emphasizing sometimes a single aspect of the sprite. It's a fun little challenge every time, sprite by sprite I have to play with. By no means though am I a master at this pixel thing, nor do I want to disparage others who have a different approach. This is just how I prefer to do it.}|

Next once I got the sprite down, I threw up my faceset. Used my WIP Kinnikuman as a base to make edits to find Kinko in the pixels. I chipped away, and remolded bit by bit until. Poof. I got my faceset I was happy with. (Which I was so happy with, it made me not too happy with the sprite so I actually later went back and made yet a last adjustment after the initial posting. Whoops!)

With all that done, I quickly did up a little I'll call it a “Pixel Showcase”. Gathered some old GameBoy text assets for the lettering, and just free handed some shapes and lines to put Kinko and his Face on display for you all. As the last “Showcase” background I realized was a bit busy for the eyes, and you kind of can't appreciate the sprites on display in it. I still very much like it though, so maybe I'll do something with it later on.

And that is all peeples. My behind the scenes Esque thing, to somewhat build interest for the next Blur Boy coming. (Which will come hopefully soon, if work doesn't beat me down too much before) Hope you all enjoyed this, if it's liked enough I might try doing more in the future as it's nice to almost get my process down for all to understand the approach from sprite to sprite, and for my own benefit as well as most of these ideas and practices aren't written but just in my head.

Until the next Blurry Boy post, I gotta rest my fingers now. Seeyah…

Ramen Out!

#Kinnikuman #Kinkotsuman #Yudetamago #PixelArt #Fanart #Shonen #PixelProcess #Breakdown #KinnikuPixels

[rad-ramenkingles]

First Blurry Boy up, with surprisingly the most votes… Kinkotsuman!

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So this one actually wasn't as in-depth of a revamp as the others in the set, and didn't have really any extras. In a sense though I guess that makes him a perfect start to this group before I drop the others.

Hope you all enjoy the Skelly Boy, and stay tuned for the next one I drop in about a week or so, and thanks to everyone who voted again. Appreciate you peeps! One down, five more to go...

(Also I've presented him here at 300x the normal size just for convenience on the eyes.)

Until the next post, stay cool everyone. *Slight update, altered the Kinko sprite a bit upon reflection and changed some text, and the blue bands to purple*

-Ramen

#Kinnikuman #Kinkotsuman #PixelArt #Yudetamago #Fanart #Skeleton #Skullduggery #Baddie #Chojin #Kinniku #KinnikuPixels

[rad-ramenkingles]

Reading through the first volume, and it's wild how Yude with time actually got the swole level Suguru always imagined himself to be in the first chapters, within this new run.

I'm not the biggest fan of every character in the new run basically all having the same body type in some shots. But I'm immensely happy for Suguru finally getting that level of big the man dreamed he could do.

Think it, believe it, do it... And so he did!! Hoorah!!

💪

P.S. Poll ends in a couple hours (Really excited to see who you all voted for), I'll roll out the winner of it in the next post I do on here. Keep your eyes on this space. 🤙🙂

-Ramen

#Kinnikuman #Shonen #YUDETAMAGO #Manga #Panel Comparison #Swole Bro #Man Got Big #Ultimate Muscle

[rad-ramenkingles]

Going Down the Rabbit Hole

Going to start reading this from the beginning for the first time in a long time. Fill my brain up with that mad knowledge, and maybe jot down some ideas for Pixels along the way. 😏

Speaking of... 3 Days left on the poll peeps, cast that vote for the Blur Boy you want revealed. Time is running out.

See you all in the next post.

-Ramen

#kinnikuman #Shonen #YUDETAMAGO #Manga #Reading Time #reliving my childhood

[rad-ramenkingles]

Poll anyone??

So I thought this would be a bit of fun to decide who I throw up next on here. I'll let this poll run a bit and who ever gets the most votes in the end, goes up for the next Pixel post I do.

Happy Voting everybody. 🗳️

-Ramen

#kinnikuman #Pixel Art #Fanart #Kinniku #Poll #Shonen #Who's Next #Cast the Vote

[rad-ramenkingles]

Happy Kinnikuman Day!!!!

🍜🎊🐽🎊🍜

Have a bit of Kinnikuman and Meat, in their Anime Colors, Manga Colors, and Manga BW looks. Also a Kinnikuman W.I.P. Face set. (All upscaled by 200 for the eyes to better see) Heres to 45 years!!

Hopefully I'll have something even bigger and better for the next one.

-Ramen

#Kinnikuman #Meat #yudetamago #Kinnikuman Day #pixelart #fanart #shonen #CelebrateTheGreats #Anime #Manga #KinnikuPixels

[rad-ramenkingles]

So before I drop the next bit of pixels, I just wanted to briefly say a big thank you to Yudetamago. They made a cast of characters and franchise that has been such an integral part of my life since 2002 when my tiny self first saw Ultimate Muscle on the FoxBox. From there my mind was opened to a wild world, and I started collecting loads of Ultimate Muscle merch, figures, keshi, the manga. It was only with time I realized this was a sequel series. Years later I sought out the original work “Kinnikuman”, but all there was at the time were really rough translated to English fan scans of the manga. I didn’t care though, I ate it up to the point that I ran out of translated chapters. Then I just had to hunt down raws and look at them and just try to follow the story as best I could without text. It just drew me in, and inspired me to draw new characters, pixel as much of the cast as I could at the time, even write some of my own teenage fan fiction. These characters and their designs, the message of friendship, perseverance, and determination. It's all so good, and I'm thankful for its existence, as I'm sure many Shonen fans are as this was the granddaddy of all their faves out there. Here's to Kinnikuman and his friends, enemies, and kid and friends kids, on Kinnikuman Day, to many many more to come. Thanks Yude, thanks. Truly appreciate you both!! - Ramen

#Yudetamago #Kinnikuman #Kinnikuman Day #Shonen #CelebratingTheGreats

[rad-ramenkingles]

Just following up the last post with a good portion of my old work from 2011. Just to prime you all for the remakes I will drop soon. I personally don't like a good amount of my stuff structure wise here, but I think some of my color choices aren't half bad. So I have implemented some of those colors into the new works coming up. (First Image is actual sprite size, the rest are 200 upscaled for the eyes to more easily see) - Ramen

#Kinnikuman #pixel art #anime #fanart #YUDETAMAGO #M.U.S.C.L.E. #Shonen #Ultimate Muscle #Warsman #Terryman #Ramenman #Brocken Jr #Neptuneman #Robin Mask #Doryman #Kid Muscle

[rad-ramenkingles]

Redo of my old Kinnikuman pixel work. First one 2009, Second one 2011, Third one 2024. More to come... - Ramen

#Kinnikuman #pixel art #Anime #YUDETAMAGO #M.U.S.C.L.E. #Shonen #Ultimate Muscle #Suguru #Kinniku #Fanart #KinnikuPixels