[WIP] Action RPG Sprite

[Fry]

I'm having a lot of difficulty with this guy for a battle stance.  His legs in particular, I originally wanted to give him kind of a weight shifting bounce, something like what a boxer might have... On the other hand, I don't want it to be overly exaggerated and distracting either.  I was considering removing leg movement altogether considering it seemed to work rather well for a lot of the sprites in Breath of Fire 2.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Fry     

[AdamAtomic]

I think it might help if you anchor his toes in one place; I think fighters tend to move and start and push and turn on the balls of their feet; if you lock those in place the movement may seem a little more natural.  If you're looking for a way to unify the leg movement with the body, maybe move his hips a little - even a pixel or two, with the legs following (but pinned at the toes still); that should yield a relatively pleasant and organic result.

[Fry]

Thanks a lot AdamAtomic, i'll give that a try and post results shortly.  The sliding feet I currently have definately does not look pleasant or natural, so i'm sure it'll be a major improvement.

[Fool]

I think he swivels a bit to much for small move like that. Try to use subpixel more within figure. Which, perhaps, might be a disaster with these contrast hues as well.=)

Figure is also out of balance. And his right shoe longer than left one considering half turn.

Quick edit:

[Fry]

Wow, thanks Fool.  That's more of what I had in mind for a fighting stance.  It looks more natural as something that's still fairly subtle.  And thanks for pointing out the feet, I knew something didn't look right with the lower body in general.

I did a quick edit, which turned out a bit bouncier than before...



but it's still way to much.  I made this before seeing yours.. so now i'm going to revamp it again in a style closer to your edit.

Thanks,

-Fry

[Pownatized]

You should try and get the balls of his feet boucning. Rather than make him sort of contract, have his body bounce up and down to the left and right, with his toes locked in place. But this may be a bit too drastic...

I think his hip movement from left to right is a bit weird. I think his cape exaggerates it; reduce the movement on that.

Also, his right arm is moving a bit awkardly. I think if you made it about 2 times slower, (the arm seperately or the whole animation) it would look more natural. (Maybe make his hand move in a circle, too.)

Another thing, I think rather than contracting his knees quickly, he should fluidly bend and extend them, with equal frames for both.

[Froli]

Hey, I think the hair strands in the character is a bit chaotic, perhaps this edit might give you an idea 


Oh yeah..ignore the one without the mouth <was curious to see how it looks like when it's removed.

[Fry]

Thanks for the edit, the hair definately looks a lot cleaner... and it seems that this sprite has Illusion of Gaia disorder, haha.. it seems the nose reads as a very high mouth, which is what I was afraid of and I will likely need to revamp.