Kain's Animated Battle Sprites

[Kain Nobel]

Hello and good day! I am working on some animated battle sprites for an RPG project, currently have a few in the rough draft stages. Deciding on fully animating the characters during combat is a big challenge on my part, plus I have set deadlines for certain sheets I need, so it is important that I learn quick!

For now I present to you the rough drafts of what I've got. Feel free to point out where I've screwed up or give me advice on anatomy and yadda yadda because I'm still rookie animator over here!

Shotgun Fighter

All I've got for this one is the motion of him firing his shotgun and then cocking it, I haven't added the ballistics fire yet. I think some of the other frames I could possibly handle on my own so I probably won't post them, just need advice on these ones for now.

Animation Sheet


Preview(s)


Sword Fighter

This isn't the first time I've made a swordsman sprite set, but this is probably one of the better ones I've ever made. The animated frames are 1.) idle (wait for turn), 2.) action selected, 3.) action pending, 4.) attack, 5.) magic casting, 6.) item usage. I was struggling earlier to create a defensive pose frame but, meh, I'll get there.

Animation Sheet


Preview(s)


Anyways, critique and advice much appreciated!

[9_6]

There's little point in posting animation sheets besides cluttering things up.
You should keep it at the animated gif since that is easier to work with anyway.

The fact that you post animation sheets also suggests that you use a program that has no animation preview so you work on each frame in an isolated way.
I'd suggest taking a look at graphics gale.

Also you should work in the resolution you need the thing in, not make a 2x stickman and then shrink it down.
Yeah it "works" but in the end, you're just slowing your workflow down.
Speaking of stickmen, don't use stick limbs, make them the thickness of limbs and work with shapes.
Those are much faster and easier to work with when it comes to animating.

[ScaryPotato]

I'd suggest speeding up the shotgun animation by getting rid of the second frame altogether. Right now, it looks like the character is tilting the gun up, rather than having it forced up by an explosion ie gunshot. It's lacking the impact that a real shot would have imo. It might look better with an inbetween after the high position of the gun and the one currently after it, but that might soften it up a little, if you're going for an abrupt action.

It's much the same with the sword attack action. You've got four frames, but they're all fairly evenly spaced, and it lessens the impact overall. I'd get rid of the second frame, put larger motion arcs on the third, and throw an inbetween in just before the very last frame. Then the slice will be a little more convincing.