Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Pixel Art Feature Chest => Topic started by: numlock on March 17, 2012, 11:30:42 am
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So I made this character for a sidescroller/beatemup game like river city ransom (I'm going to try to animate exactly if I can) so far the nose is kinda bugging me also idk about if antialiasing would look quite good, this is kinda my first pixel character so I know I probably made a lot of mistakes, please do remind me of those
also the game is going to be in 384x224 size so I think height of the character is enough but if you think its big or small please tell.
(http://i.imgur.com/6M9eh.png)
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ah also I forgot to mention that idk if I should leave it with flat feeling or try to add a little bit more depth, in this one I tried to add boxing gloves and made lines brownish as well as changing colors on face, still unhappy with the nose.
(http://i.imgur.com/EotBg.png)
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Made a little animation with graphicsgale, I was using mspaint but seeing GG made me rethink about it, its kinda wobbly but I'm trying to make it simple so game would be responsive, I don't have much experience with making games so if you think I should make more frames I'll try, because walking kinda bugs me too, also I could try making his nose more reddish but idk.
(http://i.imgur.com/bmXFz.gif)
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The colors applied on the pants could use some work, to the unfocused eye it all looks like one solid color of black. The feet just appear to scoot across the floor, they legs appear to just slap together. It looks like there is a double pixel issue at the bottom of the animation's fists.
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sı I tried changing animation colors and giving it one more frame, also tried to fix double pixel issue, still don't know about nose also don't know how to save as bigger gifs in graphicsgale so I guess I'll have work on this much more than I think, thanks for critique though i didn't understand about unfocused eye thing
(http://i.imgur.com/k0nbH.gif)
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Agreed about the pants colour. They are too dark and look black.
I did a quick edit(Just click the image a few times to enlarge it) -
(http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/6299/ddduo.png)
I thought the nose was unreadable so I changed it to stand out more. The mouth was also quite hard for me to read(at first I though he was smiling!) so I took away detail there.
I tried to give a lightsource from the top-left but this is something Im new to myself, so it probably sucks.
Also, you used too many colours for his eyes so I just used black and white. The light grey was OK I suppose, but the dark grey/black was unneeded because it looks just the same as black. Same goes for the eyebrows.
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ty for your comment it helped very much with the nose, yours looks much better I think, I kinda combined both and I needed mouth since I can't really give funny/cartoonish emotions without lips so I kinda cut the nose a bit(I might use little icons over his head but it'll probably be harder to make than I think), I think I'm going to use less colors from now on so I used pants colors for eyebrows and light eye color, I liked the grey area so I'm probably going to leave it, color is not an issue I guess but I know if I use similar colors on game it'll look much better so again I'm going to have to make some color palette or something for the game, I might change looks of boxing gloves since I don't think they represent boxing gloves as it is, again ty for your comment, do correct me if you see any problem with character.
(http://i.imgur.com/sa86p.png)
edit: I forgot to mention that I'm still not sure about the outline color, both looks fine so I'll see how it goes with enviorments and other characters I guess.
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Glad I could help :)
I think you can still show cartoon emotions without adding lips and cutting the bottom part of the nose off though.
Heres an example(normal, surprised, sad...and very surprised at the bottom) -
(http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5449/eeeeoy.png)
And this is the same example again but with a pixel taken away from moustache(dont know if this was really needed but thought Id show it anyway) -
(http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/2414/fffffxh.png)
I dont see the point of using the pants colour for the eyebrows and bottom of the eyes because it really does look the same as black...especially when placed next to black. Unless your character is going to be really zoomed in and enlarged in your game, its not going to be a visible colour change from the black.
If you really want to use a different colour for eyebrows, I would suggest using the dark brown from his hair like in my example.
I dont think using the lip colour to shade the bruised nose really works either. Maybe try a different colour?
Well these are just my thoughts and hope it could help some.
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(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_U25PsdGjaI/T2Uxk69L0OI/AAAAAAAAA6k/vq1s7SMLNds/s1600/riverCityGuy2.png)
I'm a huge fan of River City Ransom.
It's a great game and the Technos style characters have a lot of charm.
But by following their design so closely you are also picking up a lot of the weaker elements.
RiverCity characters are very crunched, to the point they appear to be hugging themselves.
Try adding a bit of volume and perspective by separating the different parts of his body.
An easy way to test the compactness of your sprite is to overlay each major piece with a box.
This will allow you to measure and adjust the amount of overlap:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1PuNLbpO_QI/T2VFieKEt0I/AAAAAAAAA6s/YQTPFCdFplw/s1600/guyVolumeSpace.png)
However it's also cool to match the style verbatim if your intention is to be as retro as possible.
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seeing this exaggerated emotion (http://i.imgur.com/wj6MZ.png)I made eyes 2 more pixels so now nose and lips doesn't cut eachother and looks somehow more balanced, it helped me a lot actually, obviously its still not finished but I think its in much better shape than I started, so again thank you very much
also to pixelpiledriver, that pixel art of yours amazing:) youre right about crunched thing I'll try to fix that though making those yours kind of pixel art for all game is kinda impossible for me at this level,considering this is my second pixel character and first one isn't better than this one, still I'm determinated to make something I like, also youre right about making it look retro, at least I want to see lines around characters, also I think less frame animation would be easier for me and it actually looks ok in my book like in river city ransom, still we'll see where it goes, ty all for your help, must sleep now, will try to update when I progress more.
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RiverCity characters are very crunched, to the point they appear to be hugging themselves.
That's not a weakness. That's basically what a boxing stance looking like. In a beat-em-up, that's a perfect stance to be in.
Your guy looks like he's wants to get punched in the gut/ribs repeatedly. =P
My vote goes to the River City/original sprite from this thread, because they actually look like they're about to fight someone.
Your guy is cool looking, but he looks like he's getting ready to ski or something, hahah.
youre right about crunched thing....
No, your pose was correct. Keep it as is! Fighters shouldn't look "open" in the first place! That's the exact opposite of how they want to look! XD
(http://kiyoshin.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/hajime-no-ippo1.jpg)
See? Small and compact! Of course, your guy isn't covering his face, which is also wrong, but in the cartoon form he's in, his pose still gives off a fighter's aura. Pixel's edit looks way too open to me.
You should probably raise your guys hand's a bit though, num. If you just have his back hand up to his face, it wouldn't be blocking his expressions, plus he'd look a lot more like he knew what he was doing. That'd probably be a good compromise.
Bonus reference:
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh56/NevadaWildcard/ippo-1.gif)
Take note of the pose of the guy getting punched in the face, heheh. =)
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a little update
since I'm going for kinda retro looking thing I decided to use nes color palette for all game, probably drawing scenes will be harder than I thought but with fixed color palette it'll look balanced(if I can pull it off), maybe with 1 scene exception which is it has to be that way I guess
-I tried to make boxing gloves better, probably will add shiny surface once I get hang of pixels
-again I tried to make 4 frame walking but it sucked so I looked up some walking frame instructions and made 8 frame animation, it still needs to get polished but it seemed so smooth I was kinda proud of it, still I thought I should upload it here before polishing and get someone elses opinion
plus ty about the making me raise guys hands a bit it looks much better I think
I'm hoping next time I post I'll polish walking and make basic punch-kick
new colors
(http://i.imgur.com/GNubj.png)
walking
(http://i.imgur.com/vYxrJ.gif)
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My vote goes to the River City/original sprite from this thread, because they actually look like they're about to fight someone.
Although it's good to point out what a fighting stance should actually look like I have to disagree.(but no offense intended jams, very valid point :))
The RiverCity pose is very generic, which actually works well in game since the player does other things than fight.
Here we see the player shopping, talking to a child, and engaging an enemy:
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zv1-Agb6rsM/T2bKg8dbfWI/AAAAAAAAA8U/8L4jvNkL9OE/s1600/genericStance.png)
A few years later Technos made sprites that have much more attention to volume and still retain the same style and charm:
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KbBtugYCwmE/T2bKgTiIwYI/AAAAAAAAA8E/Foptva6S66k/s1600/differntFightStances.png)
They also have a good variety of fighting poses that read really well.
Now let's drop one of those sprites into RiverCity.
Here we see the player threatening the store clerk, ready to punch a kid, and about to engage an enemy:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-unHprtC-RNw/T2bKghFZypI/AAAAAAAAA8M/XW8NFCrQNaE/s1600/fightStance.png)
It's good to have a "generic action" pose in your sprite sheet so that it can pass off as just about anything (yes even skiing!).
If it feels too generic for certain actions however, like jams is pointing out, you'll have to add an additional pose that is more specific.
And of course the opposite is also true. If a pose is too specific it could give the wrong impression.
So it's good to have both.
The new post is a good improvement!
His volume, lighting and color are all much more appealing.
The crotch is a bit forward facing compared to the rest of his body.
You may want to consider bumping it over a few pixels:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qhn60ZPItZs/T2bS898YNXI/AAAAAAAAA8c/LVguSc5i1kA/s1600/crothAlign.png)
How many pixels exactly?
It's up to you.
The walk cycle is a good start.
But I'd like to address it in a separate post, as I'm a bit tired.
You're making great progress. Keep it up. :)
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Although it's good to point out what a fighting stance should actually look like I have to disagree.(but no offense intended jams, very valid point Smiley)
The RiverCity pose is very generic, which actually works well in game since the player does other things than fight.
Here we see the player shopping, talking to a child, and engaging an enemy:
I have to disagree with your disagreement. XD
Even though the RCR pose isn't a full-blown boxing stance, it's close enough to read that way when faced with an enemy. The pose looks even more like a fighting stance, because for 95% of the game, it is a fighting stance. The little text bubble comic you did was cute, but he still looks like he wants to punch that girl in the mouth, hahah.
The problem I had with your edit was that even though it's slightly generic like the RCR sprite is, in that it's not a true fighting stance, that unlike the RCR sprite, I don't feel it could serve as a fighting sprite, even with enemies on the screen. He looks a bit angry, sure, but it's not a pose I see him fluidly attacking from. Or at least he shouldn't be.
What he does look good for, in my opinion, is one of those big slow-type enemies. The one's that you have to beat on for like ten minutes before they die. And they only attack once in awhile, doing a huge charge-up/telegraphing animation before throwing a punishing haymaker.
So I'm not saying your sprite is bad or has no place in a brawler. It's just that the RCR pose is closer to a believable fighting pose the main character should be using, since the main character should react to input and throw punches quickly, usually working into combos. Your guy is fine (and really nice looking, actually) for one of the bigger slower enemies who takes a lot of punishment. =)
And again, note that my whole argument is based on the assumption that numlock doesn't want do have different poses for different actions. Like you said, if he's willing to animate multiple poses, that'll obviously always be the best option.
Numlock, I'm liking his new pose, but his face looks too happy to me for some reason, even though his eyebrows say he's angry, hahah!
And is that your first walk cycle? If so, that's really impressive. If not, it's still looking pretty good. =)
Now that you have his basic walk movement down, you should add some secondary animations to give him some weight. Have his fists and hair lag behind a bit when his body falls, and then have them come back up. Have his hair move around. Etc, etc. It'll make him look more lively.
Also, small, crappy edit for you:
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b352/jimthegreat1012/boxer.png)
Just to show you what I meant when I said you might want to put his left hand a bit more than his right. Your newest one is good too, though, so I'm not sure what you want to do. If you want to do a full-blown fighting stance, Pixel's updated RCR poses are better than mine, anyway. Those guys were/are pros for a reason, after all. X3
Also, I just have to say that I applaud your design decision to have the main character walk around in boxing gloves all day. It's awesomely silly and retro of you.
Nothing says "I'm gonna kick your ass!" like walking around town in boxing gloves scowling at people. This guy means business! XD
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I have to say that this might be a case where style trumps realism. As much as people familiar with boxing would appreciate a realistic stance, I'm guessing the majority of the audience wouldn't be familiar with it and would just see it as rigid rather than realistic. Either way works, but numlock should keep everything in mind when/if he considers changing it or not.
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I have to say that this might be a case where style trumps realism. As much as people familiar with boxing would appreciate a realistic stance, I'm guessing the majority of the audience wouldn't be familiar with it and would just see it as rigid rather than realistic. Either way works, but numlock should keep everything in mind when/if he considers changing it or not.
Aye, definitely something to consider. The main thing I'm worried about with having the arms done isn't that it looks unrealistic, it's that it looks slow. Your punches take longer to reach someone's face when they're down by your hips.
If you check out KoF or Street Fighter or any other fighter, they do have some pretty weird poses sometimes, but their hands are always up, at the very least. I read somewhere that the goal of animation isn't realism, but believability; as long as it looks cool and believable, it's fine.
If someone can make Pixel's pose look cool and aggressive in an animation, then of course it's totally fine. I just think it'd be easier to make an actual fighting stance read like a fighting stance, rather than trying to work from something that very obviously isn't a fighting stance. Well, again, if the main character was going to throw all slow hooks, with a bunch of grappling involved, Pixel's stance might work just fine. Usually people want the character they're controlling to be quick, though.
*shrug.*
As long as it looks good, that's all that matters in the end, hahah. I'd love to see both animated, honestly. I do like Pixel's style a lot. =)
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About the fighting stances, Im a long time boxing and MMA fan so I thought I would share what I know about different stances.
Im no expert though so some of what I say might not be 100% accurate. Im more of a fan than a practitioner.
A boxing stance should have the rear hand up high if anything. The lead hand can be high too but some fighters(mostly counter fighters) like to leave it down.
Jams, I know you said you didnt draw the rear hand up high in your edit because it might block the face details, but it makes your stance look more like a karate stance with the lead hand up high and the rear hand low. Still looks cool though...just not a boxing stance.
Im pretty sure that grappling stances like BJJ, judo and wrestling are usually hunched with the elbows in tight and both hands up to about chest level? I should actually know this because because I just started BJJ classes. :blind:
I think Jams is right about most people liking the fighter to be quick, and a compact stance does give speed.
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today I didn't do many things but here my progress
I polished walking and tried to add weight to hair, it doesn't look as good as I want though I'll try fixing it
(http://i.imgur.com/JBgSz.gif) (http://i.imgur.com/L4Yg9.gif)
I definitely want fast puncher character, so I tried making fast punches it was harder than I thought, I really could't add weight I think I should stop using prototype except head for each animation
(http://i.imgur.com/4Hy5f.gif)
I started this one but I kinda get lazy and it didn't give the punch feeling that I want I guess
(http://i.imgur.com/uef09.gif)
this one was first tried to make exactly like rcr
(http://i.imgur.com/e15jE.gif)
Numlock, I'm liking his new pose, but his face looks too happy to me for some reason, even though his eyebrows say he's angry, hahah!
And is that your first walk cycle? If so, that's really impressive. If not, it's still looking pretty good. =)
he actually should look determined more than angry:), also this was my second walk cycle though first one was so bad and floppy it hurts to look at it, I'll try to give more time to animate, I like smooth animations and I can see people like to see smooth pixel animations too so I guess you can't go wrong with that
-also characters pose looking slow noted, I think I like it as it is but it might change with time, tough I think I need to work on animations before that
-also I don't know much about it but I should make tiles even for beatemup right? or should I draw every room by hand?
again thank you all for your time and help, I can see that its progressing lot faster with your help.
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(http://i42.tinypic.com/1zc0e8w.gif)
(http://i42.tinypic.com/359g1f4.gif)
You need anticipation frames.
As a general rule of thumb, if something is supposed to suddenly move forward, something has to move backwards first. Here, the whole body moves backwards.
While it moves forward, something else is likely to move backwards to balance it. That would be the other fist.
You would also not just punch with your arms only, you actually punch with the weight of your whole body so that should move too.
Most notably, your torso will want to move forward and your shoulder will want to rotate. Try it.
This goes for the heaviest as well as the lightest punches. Your body just does that motion due to the sheer sudden acceleration.
If the body remains static, it's barely more than a gentle slap.
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(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--1ilvShpY4U/T2hLWZTfz5I/AAAAAAAAA8k/19bLqLqxQ3k/s1600/walkEdit.gif)
Read this if you are not already familiar with it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_basic_principles_of_animation
Game animation has slightly different challenges than film.
But a large portion of the principles carry over just fine.
There is probably a link somewhere that covers the principles in much better detail.
It lacks good examples but the theory is mostly correct.
Sorry for such a vague post but I gotta hit the sack.
Will explain my edits with diagrams soon.
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About the fighting stances, Im a long time boxing and MMA fan so I thought I would share what I know about different stances.
Im no expert though so some of what I say might not be 100% accurate. Im more of a fan than a practitioner.
A boxing stance should have the rear hand up high if anything. The lead hand can be high too but some fighters(mostly counter fighters) like to leave it down.
Jams, I know you said you didnt draw the rear hand up high in your edit because it might block the face details, but it makes your stance look more like a karate stance with the lead hand up high and the rear hand low. Still looks cool though...just not a boxing stance.
Yar, definitely true about the rear hand being the one that's usually tucked in closer. If I were doing the animation, I'd definitely let his rear hand block his face, hahah. But I don't think numlock wants to block the face, so I thought it'd be a decent compromise.
And please don't mention BJJ near me. I'm six months into Judo (started it because I broke my thumb boxing, actually, lol; going to Japan April to July to study!) , which makes us sworn and bitter enemies, hahah! My friend is a hobbyist BJJ'er. I'm going to teach him the power of Judo when I get back from my trip, heheh. XD
And you're right that pure grappling arts usually have a lower, more open stance than striking arts, but that's because we don't need to worry about getting punched in the face while we're doing grappling competitions, lol. I'd be in a karate stance if I ever got into a real fight, hahah.
And I freaking love those edits, 9_6 and pixel_driver. Especially that walk cycle. Fits the character perfectly! I think his straight might be a little too sluggish though, 9_6. Not a lot of oomph behind it, since it's got so many frames. The jab's really nice, though!
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Hey, Im a massive fan of Judo too! Those throws are LETHAL! Usually the fight would be over from one throw on concrete lol
I dont know if you have heard of Ronda Rousey? Shes a judoka who went into MMA and is now champ after just 4 or 5 fights. Her armbars are badass!
One thing lacking from BJJ is the takedowns/trips/throws. I think BJJ and judo suit each other perfectly tbh.
Anyway, dont want to go off the subject of this thread. Great edits 9_6 and PixelPiledriver. :y: Im working on a jabbing animation edit but its not working out well right now! I will show it if I can finish it.
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I started this one but I kinda get lazy and it didn't give the punch feeling that I want I guess
Just by working with timing and spacing you can pull a lot more impact out of an animation:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qujxepRAzgU/T2l8qk7PhlI/AAAAAAAAA-A/iyAWF036Pak/s1600/heavyPunch.gif)
Don't get disheartened if the first pass isn't exactly what you want.
Each pass is a tool for the next.
Animation can be frustrating at first.
Stick to it and the payoff will be awesome.
Drawing in a simple dude to punch makes for good reference.
It also just keeps me entertained and more likely stay interested in doing the work.
Make duplicates of your file, try different things and compare them.
To keep track of my progress I use a very simple file naming convention:
punch_1.gal
punch_2.gal
punch_3.gal
etc...
If I break away from the original direction and get something else that I'd also like to progress I just slap an index in front of the name as well:
punch_1.gal
punch_2.gal
punch_3.gal
punch2_1.gal
punch2_2.gal
punch3_1.gal
Thanks to 9_6 for some good looking frames.
I barely had to do any drawing.
I swear I'll make some helpful diagrams in the near future. :blind:
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wow pixel your walking animation is making look it like alive, it looks so awesome and 9_6 I now understand about animation much better thanks to you, yesterday my close friend had birthday and today I'm going to visit my parents(they are in another city) so I really couldn't work on things much(and probably tomorrow will be the same) but I didn't want to cool off so I tried to polish punching animations as well as giving hair motion, I tried to add gloves shiny surface but I think its pretty distracting,I should make one or two creatures for punching(probably will be little demons and skeletons), also I probably should start doing tilesets or drawing enviorment(I guess RCR had tilesets)
so heres polished animations
(http://i.imgur.com/DWIdd.gif) not shiny+bigger shoes+no pockets
(http://i.imgur.com/MDTA9.gif)shiny
(http://i.imgur.com/pK6qT.gif)polished
I guess I should work on hair animations bit more still I think it looks great on game engine, I don't really want to rush things but I'm really enjoying doing this and I want to work on more things, also thanks to you I'm making fast progress
ah also when I make punchable demon or skeleton I could upload some demo exe if you guys are wondering how it'll look ingame,
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little update,
I've decided to make demon as first punchable thing instead of skeleton, I though skeleton might be easier so heres my demon
(http://i.imgur.com/94alm.gif)
I don't know if you can see it but his eyes are burning his attack will be bite and his walk probably will be like this
(http://i.imgur.com/uyiIe.gif)
I'm still at my parents so I don't have much time or calm place for doing pixel work but my mind keeps pulling me there, I hope demon looks irritating as I want so ingame you won't get bored punching tens of those,
I guess what am I missing for a solid punch is
I should make demons; biting,walking and getting punched animations
I should make characters getting bite/punched or hurt animation
I could make characters standing animation I guess, also I need enviorment, I probably should study beat em up enviorments since I can't really do pixel work here and I'm weak on drawing enviorments/stages.
ah I also made loading image, this famicom style cartridge, I should work on this a bit more I guess, still it has that silly air I think.
(http://i.imgur.com/I51rz.png)
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I wasn't working on this for quite a while, almost a month, but hopefully I'm back and will try to keep my daily work
so today I tried to see how would three legged demon walk altough it walks kinda clumsy I don't think its that bad, but I definitely should animate this better so I didn't clean it yet, also I kinda can't animate his tail as I like, it goes for his flaming eyes aswell, tough its late and I'll leave this for tomorrow, like I said I'm back and right after I get this motivation feeling I did these(there is also this girl) but I must sleep now :).
(http://i.imgur.com/xs3Wb.gif?1)
and this lady will be arch enemy of main character, since she won't fight much (she'll just summon annoying demons and skeletons) I tought I'll give her a cape and make animating her easier.
this is her
(http://i.imgur.com/xyPXw.png)
this is her summoning things with her book
(http://i.imgur.com/qvsX0.png)
first I draw her completely naked and then put her cloth on, but idk what nudity policy here so I won't post that, also I don't want to make new threads so I can use this one for my other sprites right? I hope I can, again please let me know if you'd like something to change with these, I'll sleep now and read 12 rules of animation sometime, I still didn't read that.
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It's not really what you're going for, but I was curious about what she'd look like if she was a little more detailed.
(http://s13.postimage.org/8d3ks0swj/hottie.png)
It may help you, it may not.
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I deleted one frame from this and played around a little bit, just wanted to show my progress before I go to bed, still need more stable jumping, better eyeflames and a tail I guess, might remove the wings but idk if I should, I'll see how it will wourk out
also Rydin, I'm trying to make more toonish because of my bad animation skills, next time I'll make her walking animation and try to improve demon a bit more so I'll consider your edit when I'm animating her, tough I don't think I'll use dithering for characters I think she could use a beauty spot, I'll post more later.
(http://i.imgur.com/H3c8m.gif)
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One significant oversight I would like to point out about the little boxer guy - those patches of light on his upper legs moves with his legs like they're "baked on" textures.
I assume they're not wear marks because they'd be centered on the knees.
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This is how I usually start a walk cycle:
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nOqLefSxsnY/T5UFmk4nv7I/AAAAAAAABJY/bM7u_uOuEeM/s1600/demonWalk1.gif)
Just move around the main mass and figure out the amount of time and space you want to take up.
This would be after removing his limbs, so go ahead and draw them in when designing what he'll look like.
Don't worry about it being perfect, just move stuff around and make something happen.
Then go for the feet.
You can start out by making them all look the same:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4JzmR479CVw/T5UFm3oqBvI/AAAAAAAABJg/bbpynh6cuHs/s1600/demonWalk2.gif)
The eye is drawn towards objects of focus like hands and feet.
The end of a limb is more important than the limb itself (but of course still important).
The bend of the limb can be determined directly from the placement of the foot.
No need to worry about drawing that now.
Focus on contact.
The feet will generally have more motion and action than the body in this sort of cycle.
This will affect your time and space.
Don't be afraid of this.
Just add new frames where you need more time and move around the body if its position doesn't make sense relative to the feet.
Also I threw these on a new layer just to make things a little more flexible.
Once you get the general idea of your motion we can add more passes to it:
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ny1MDyONUvU/T5UFnNoLB_I/AAAAAAAABJo/CHmgcqEc0Hc/s1600/demonWalk3.gif)
Add the limbs.
Change the form of the feet to better match the action of each frame.
Add follow through elements such as the tail.
Tweak the timing.
More passes could be done to clean up, introduce asymmetrical timing, add the flaming eye fx, etc.
The tail I've done isn't as polished as I'd like but serves as a guide if I were to finish it.
Get used to working in passes.
Every step is a tool to the next.