I like the style of this sprite, makes me wanna do several variation edits.

I have a bit to say about improving these animations but I don't have computer access today.
Unfortunately gifs just do NOT play smoothly on my phone so I can't tell exactly what I'm looking at but one thing I'll say though is one I've roughed in an animation (and even as I'm working) and the basic motion feels right, I like to review to look for isolated pixels or groups of pixels that flicker on and off again too fast I.e. Only one frame.

While it made sense in slow-mo to do whatever caused the flicker and that frame alone looks good, i find the effect in real time is distracting and detracts from overall quality (unless obviously its one of those few cases where flickering really was the intention).

other question about what actions need more frames is the wrong question imo.
just do the actions first.
imo don't spend long on each one, do it fast and rough to block in the keyframes and post here I'd say.
and dont paint every detail as ur working or it will really hinder u and make for much repeated work and time wasted.
don't worry about the tweening, working without it is going to free u up to be more exaggerated.
Once u have good keyframes the tweening is generally straight forward especially if ur getting good feedback here.

Interesting points, I've never really considered that. When spriting, I like to do work hard on some of the details, especially if the sprite has a lot of them (which is the case). As I said, Alucard has been my reference ever since the beginning, and his sprites are simply awesome. They are very smooth and detailed, despite being small. I'm trying to get close to his spriting style: "small" sprites with nice changes between each frames.

Anyway, thanks for the post, it's was really really useful.

Btw, here's the most recent version of the idle animation (changed a few pixels haha):



What do you guys think?

I think I might start working on a running sprite for him on the next few days, but I'm not really sure where to start. Any ideas?

I do have a few running sprites I created a few months ago that I may use as a reference, although running cycles are a pain in the ass to work with imo haha.

Actually, I would recommend against making the animation smoother. Getting hurt, especially in a way that is implied here (I'm guessing being hit by other knights or monsters), is nothing something you do smoothly, it's snap reactions and instant reflexes. I think it would better, as in more painful and better conveying that, to have a very fast animation to an exaggerated pose instead of a smooth leaning back on getting hurt.

Oh, I've always thought that hurt animations required a lot of frames, especially when you have a very detailed sprite. The same would applies to walking/running animations.

Also, when should I use more frames than others? When ducking? Jumping? Dashing?

Btw, my idea was a front collision haha. Well, I added a few frames to it and here is what I've got so far:



For me it looks pretty "smooth" and solid at the same time. I was checking on some hurt animations online and most of them use that "kickback effect" by moving 1 pixel to the sides, so it looks like the attack is coming from the front. Any comments on how to improve?

Hey guys, thanks for the replies!

I like to search online for colour palettes (or even rip it from other sprites) and try them to see if they fit. I also use photoshop a lot to apply some contrast when necessary haha.

You don't even know how far up my alley this is.
Made some quick edits to illustrate some of the larger issues you're facing. Sadly it's really late and I should be sleeping, so I didn't get to finish the edit, but don't worry I'll work on it tomorrow again.



Your hair and face were very messy and I think I cleared up a few unnecessary colours.
I pushed his chest further forward to imply how strong he is.
I also applied some rules to help differentiate from things closer and further, in this case for further things to not have as much contrast, but I'll need to find a way to give the metal shine without that contrast tomorrow.
Mostly this was a clean up job focusing on clusters, so try to look at my changes and see if you can spot where I've chosen to group my pixels and for what reason.

I checked your edit and it looks pretty clean on some parts. Thank you!

I kept some parts of my sprite with some of your changes and this is what I've got so far:



When working on humanoids, I usually draw everything above a naked body so I know exactly where to draw some clothings/acessories or even use it again when drawing other humanoids. I don't know if this is a good technique, but most of the time it gets the job done haha. I'm currently working on updating to remove most of the outlines on most of my sprites (already did it on the legs and on the head, as you can see below).

This is the "torso sketch" I created:



I did the same on the legs:



Head:



Just a quick question: dithering the hair is a good idea?

EDIT:

New torso:

Hey, thanks for the reply!
Yeah, well, as I said, I'm not a professional pixel-artist, I just do some for fun, and since I saw some very good pixel-art on the forum, I decided to show some of mine and maybe receive some tips or advices. I tried to color without the black outline, but I do not know, I think that when there is this outline, it makes the sprite more beautiful, if you know what I mean, hehe. xD

Ps: I suck at choosing colors palette sometimes, hehe.

Well, here is some edit I have made so far on this soldier (still working on the other arm):



And something random, a mixture of megaman or something like that, hehe (still working on the animation of the mask, like in Dead Space 2):



Tips and advices would be appreciated!