this is pretty good for your first fake. I like sektors double light saber, but I can't tell what Smoke's weapons are. The shadows came out pretty good also. It's good for a first fake.

Well... like you said it's pretty basic, but at least you want to get a feel for editing; rather than just copy/pasting like most firsts are. You seem to know about the basics, but the shadows.. those aren't so good. Classically, the shadows fall away from the characters, meaning the shadows should be going toward the back of the arena, and not appearing on the arena floor. Check the bottom of my post for the 'shadow tutorial', you can check out the original thread at the top of the forum if you want to know more about anything fake pic wise.

I'm not too keen on the weapons. Sektor's could use more color, and possibly some sort of 'glow' effect if you have a program capable of producing it, as it very difficult to do such things in paint. I really can't tell what Smoke's weapons are, though to me, they look like two knives. They are a bit too jagged around the edges, doesn't seem like they were cut out the best. Smoke's position in this is also sort of strange. Doesn't look like he'd be able to hold knives in that sort of pose. Anyway, just experiment, and read the comments made by everyone in the sticky thread at the top of the forum dealing with fakes. This tutorial can be found there as well, along with alot of other good advice. Credit to TimsMK, this tutorial was created by him:

actually i did see this but after i sent it in i checked it while working on my second one which is alot more detailed, but what do you meen about the shadows, going toward the back of the arena? do you mean going toward the backround, and not behind them?

Shadows usually don't run behind the characters like that, basically I mean they shouldn't be running the length of the arena floor. In this case, all you would really need to do is shadow the legs, as the remainder of the shadow will be over in the pool itself on this particular background. You could get fancy if you are able to do reflections, but unless you have high-tech programs I wouldn't suggest trying it.

But if you are working with a BG that has a wall, then the shadows can be cast on that, simple enough. Also if you have a defined light source in the stage, the shadows should be cast in the opposite direction, as an actual shadow in real life would be. That is the only time I would say the shadows should be cast any other way than toward the back of the arena, just be sure to line up the feet, and if you skew it like the above diagram shows it should look correct. Study some of the fakes that have been critiqued that get positive reviews for their shadows if you need an example.

thanks that helps, i might go play some mk2 and look at the shadows heh.
EDIT: i read this again and it sounded like i was being sarcastic it was alot of help, thanks again crow.

First of all, I would just like to point out that like many others, you didn't bother to take out the transparency in Sektor's sprite, and that reveals laziness.
As for the rest of the fake, well, the shadows are absolutely dreadful. Smoke's sprite edit is ok, though. I like the weapons on him. Can't say I like Sektor's lightsaber much. It looks like the handle is just one color black.
1.5/5 - It would be 2.5, or maybe even 3, but then there's the laziness part involved, so yeah, 1.5.

Here's a list (wasn't that direct? ).

- Shadows. Well, they stand out here, lol, and not for the right reasons. Take note of my tutorial above, that Crow kindly posted. One of the simplest ways to do them I feel.
- About the lifebars. The lifebars are filling up instead of depleting. In other words, the lifebars deplete MKDA style, instead of MK2 where they fill up going towards the end, not the centre.
- Zentile is correct. There are transparencies on Sektor's head and his belt, and just slightly on his leg pad thingies.
- About the weapons, nice idea, however the colours on them are a bit simplistic.

Good things:
+ I like the weapons idea, and I particularly like Smoke's. But as I said above, the colours are a bit simple.
+ Lifebars are fine.

Good for your first though, and uh, welcome to the world of fakes, lol .