Simple jump animation

[erickmazer]

Hey guys, I'm new here and new with Pixel Art as well.

I've been drawing some stuff for some time and always wanted to study a little bit better the animation field.
So last weekend I tried to make a really really simple Mario-style character just to exercise some animation principles like squash and stretch.

I fiddled with it but still can't figure out why the jump seems a bit weird. Do you have any tips?
Also, any recommendation on how to study animation? Some simple exercises maybe?

Animation


Spritesheet


Thanks in advance!

[eishiya]

The character should slow down as they reach the top, and then start descending slowly and speed up again. Gravity takes time to counteract the upward momentum and reverse it!

[wolfenoctis]

A few quick thoughts:

[erickmazer]

The character should slow down as they reach the top, and then start descending slowly and speed up again. Gravity takes time to counteract the upward momentum and reverse it!

That makes a lot of sense. Probably that was the main thing I messed up and that's why the movement looks weird. Thanks a lot!

[erickmazer]

A few quick thoughts:

That movement looks a lot more natural. I will try to replicate your frames to learn from it. Thanks a LOT!