16*32 sprite walk animation

[juoji]

him doing some sprite for a personal project, it's basically a zombie survival sandbox game,
i just wanted your feedback on it and what should i do to make it better

the sprite sheet (pretty obvious)

(the end result tuned at the right speed)

[Aniki]

If you upload the image 1:1 I'd be able to try and make an edit. This site has a click-to-zoom feature built in, so you should always upload at 100% size.

Anyway I think that this cycle looks halfway between walking and running. The arms bend rather than sway and I think they move too much, it makes it look as if the person is expending effort.
Also the knee sticking up in the 4th frame is too high and fast. Makes it look like they are kicking their leg up as they would if they were running. When walking, the knee doesn't raise up and then come back down, the leg just extends until the foot hits the ground. Your back leg follows this rule

[juoji]

thank for the reminder about the sprite sizing
if you work with or have pyxel edit, i could send you the file
here are the sprite sheet and the end result gif at a 1:1 size :

[Aniki]

Cool, I went ahead and made an edit as to how I would go about this and I did a few things:

1. The legs pick up less when walking, they don't go very high nor do they bend very much. I lessened that.

2. Similarly the arms just kind of sway. When a person runs they will manually move their arms, but walking just
naturally causes them to swing on their own. I straightened their arms more, though I did add a bit of an extra bend because this sprite is a little cartoony. Same with the legs, there is some exaggerated motion there.

3. I tried to keep the anatomy consistent. The knee needs to always be at the same place in each leg. The waist line should remain fixed (though the sprite bobs up an down, so the waistline should move along with it). Also I had to make sure not to deform the butt while changing the leg positions, ignoring the butt and treating it as if it were a leg can make it look floppy. Also make sure the limbs stay the same size as you move them

4. Lastly I made use of layers to make the animation symmetrical for each arm and leg. In the 8 frame cycle I literally copied each limb and pasted it in a new layer with an offset of 4 frames. I think it looks good and it makes life so much easier.

[Sersch]

It looks a bit like he is leaning back.
The edit of Aniki looks more natural

[juoji]

thank you, a lot, i see what i have done bad(to not say fucked up) , thank you for spending time on it

will update my result with the advice applied on it (also , should i keep the first animation for a sprint/running animation ?)

[yaomon17]

The first animation looks more like a chirpy casual walk, like someone just got a promotion at the office and is walking back to the bus stop after work on a Friday.

[juoji]

did I got it right this time ?


edit:
finished it , I tried to not do a copy paste .

[heyguy]

I think the last two by juoji still look off. All of the ones you created so far seem to leaning back a bit. That's one of the main issue with the animation in my opinion. Check frames 1,2,6, and 7. I think the back is leaning too far back.

The previous edit by Aniki looks more natural overall like the other poster mentioned and has a nice loop. Right now, your loop needs some tweaking. I can't fully explain it in detail but the loop looks like its "popping" for me, especially around the leg area. The arms flow nicer but still need some tweaking. I feel frame #7 needs work, the leg is moving/stretching unnaturally. I recommend searching out other images of walk cycles (like the one Aniki posted) and examining each pose

[Aniki]

I think yours looks like it's leaning backwards because the front upper leg/thigh never moves behind the torso. Both legs only cover ground straight beneath the torso and in front of it.

Also watch your character's butt. You'd think it wouldn't have one but if you watch it it looks like their butt is flapping up and down. See frame 6 and 7.

Though looking at this also made me notice something that looks off. Zoom in a bit and watch the upper leg, it looks kinda like a piston, like the thigh is growing and shrinking and the knee is moving in a circle. I think the knees shouldn't move up or down very much during the entire cycle.

Last little bit, watch the back hand, it comes out and then jumps up. Makes it look like their arm is moving in a circle.

These are all little things and none of these are rules I understood before looking at your sprite vs mine just now. I think you can look at the animation for awhile and find these types of subtle things by looking at any area that catches your eye. I noticed both the butt thing and the back arm thing because my eyes were surprised by movement where my brain wasn't expecting it and it took a bit before I could figure out what was wrong. Hopefully this technique helps you

[juoji]

did got it right this time ?



maybe the arm are a little fucked up

[Aniki]

Nice improvement, it's looking pretty good.

The upper leg though i think moves forward too soon. It should still be angled back in frame 2. Or at least down. It spends more time angled forward then it does back.

Your arm doesn't swing back enough and doesn't stay there for long enough I think. I'm not exactly sure but it looks like it's bouncing back forward when it swings back.

Lastly I think your character's butt is too high and sticking out.I think it should be around here,and kept a consistent height here.

[juoji]

applied the tips,


excepted the bulge on the back leg, i don't see how i could improve the frame

[Aniki]

I think you're just about there. I think pull the upper part of the back leg back one or two pixels in the last two frames. See how right now it looks like it kinda gets stuck and then flicks the lower leg out?

Everything else looks really good to me as far the animation goes.

[juoji]

Thankfully i will only need one walking animation on wich i will change skin tone and color it differently depending of the shirt,pant,shoe,...
Also, a big Thank for the help, it really helped me improve and see what i did wrong

edit: maybe i could add a little bit of shading on the back leg ?

[Ashedragon]

Maybe it's just me, but it feels like the arm is way too short proportionally. It should come down a bit past the waist rather than stopping at the end of the ribcage as it does there.