Lizard Stab Concept Animation & Still

[Dhaos]

[ANIMATION]

[STILL SHOT]


Just showing what I've been working on today. Playing around with some animation and design. I tried keeping the detail on the lizard low to make animating a bit easier. Alot of people have already expressed mixed feelings (mostly negative actually) about its design. Comments ranging from 'boring' to 'impossibly posed' etc. I'm curious about what people here think of the pics.

Here's an old screen shot of a project I was working on (decided to raise the art level thus the above image)...

*blue scan lined bgs were cged

[OLD CREATURES]


-screwed up face, I know
-wrong mouth...
-NOT a chocobo dammit >_>...


[SKILL ICONS]

-fight/item/escape
-claw/kick/vine grasp
-jump/fire-breath
Pretty much any comments, critiques, or questions are welcome....yes it looks like pokemon, no it does not play like pokemon...

[Ryumaru]

nice animation =)

the red totally over powers the green. youll have to do something about that.
i think there should be a bit more depth in it(cartoony i know) it seems to be only on 1 or 2 planes.
other than that...

i love it

[ndchristie]

frankly i tihnk the greens are too far apart, thus making itlook a bit confused.  aside form that i see nothing wrong with this, its really quite nice.  reminds me much of Jade Coccoon

[Xion]

I can't tell if the dark green is supposed to be in shadow or just a different colored skin area. The colors are too similar to be at different depths, as Ryumaru said, so that will confuse it when animated, I think. He has a kind of flat, saturated, Kenneth Fejer-y feeling. That's a good thing.
My only problems with the animation are the way the arm snaps back in preparation for the strike and the way the tail doesn't move smoothly back to its starting position. Also, the foot-claws are at different heights on the colored version.

[cough]Those things look alot like pokčmon.[/cough]

[Dhaos]

@Ryumaru: I think I'll probably reshade him using mvc-shading patterns. That will give him more depth. Too tired to pixel more today though lol.

@Adarias: You aren't the first person who mentioned that. I was trying to bring in more color by using the teal for the shadows. I think I really see colors differently because it seems very contrasted to me. But I will bring the greens closer together and contrast it a bit more more.

@Xion Night: The teal is supposed to be the shadows, apparently it didn't work. I think I see the problem with the arm snapping back, it looks like he's gonna take a swing, but since the lizard is making a piercing strike it shouldn't do that...or perhaps I misunderstood. I'll work on it. As for the tail, I'm not quite sure how to make the transition better. I knew that was a problem when I posted it, however I'm trying to think how to squeeze in another frame properly. The animation is supposed to be linkable with other attacks, and frankly the tail complicates that x.x. Hopefully I can do something about it though.

Thanks for the crits everybody.

[Turbo]

On the design, i like it, but the inner outline color doesn't work, not even at 2x zoom. I'd darken it considerably (between 10-20% lightnesst).

Regarding the animation, i see you've worked on it a lot and made it quite smooth, but i think that punch would be quite uneffective. It only reaches slightly beyond the creature's head, he would have to be really close to the foe to do any damage, and that's unrealistic. He'd have a much better use for the tail or legs, which have much greater reach. To have an effective punch, make the shoulder move way forward with the arm (while the other shoulder moves simmetrically way back, and have the waist rotate significantly), or even make his right hip move forward too, moving the whole upper body forward increasing the range. Otherwise, it's a pretty useless (or symbolical) jab.

Also, the tail seems to pop into place, at the last frame. Make it slide back into place.

On the other creatures and icons, they're great! The Pokemon inspiration is quite obvious though, but that's not bad.

Edit: Also, the toes on the foot are moving in the wrong direction. They should move back instead of forward, since he's putting his weight on the ball of the foot so the heel moves forward, and the toes appear to move back.

[Ryumaru]

yeah, it seems that hes putting in a good amount of power into it, and usually when you put that much force into a punch, some of your body does go with it( i punched air for you dhaos =))

[Tremulant]

The only thing I can see right off (which I hope hasn't been mentioned yet) is pretty minor, and maybe intentional, but... the background foot is lower than the foreground one, which, for me, kinda blows the stance. Raising the background foot above the foreground one, even by a single pixel, increases the sense of power conveyed by the stance, and given that this is an attack animation, power is key, no?

That's all I've got for now, and it probably makes no sense 'cause it's late and I missed my nap today, but from the animation lines and the work you've done so far, it looks like this is gonna be pretty class. Love.

[Dhaos]

@Turbo: Yeah that 'lil guy can't really punch, its supposed be kinda a cute 'poke/jab' attempt, but being that he's got sharp claws and all it isn't so cute XD. I get what you mean about the shoulder/lack of reach, etc. This is it's weakest 'attack' if you will. Just ment to be a quike prod to the target. The other attacks: swing, kicks, etc will have much more reach...maybe... his head is gonna get in the way of alot of it XD. I'll see if I can adjust the anim so his arm comes forward a bit more, not sure if its anatomically possible at this point kkekeke.

@Ryumaru: You show that air who's boss! Yeah, punching hard makes your body go forward quite a bit. Hopefully I can correct it.

@Tremulant: YES I'm suprised nobody mentioned that, I didn't even notice till about an hour or so ago. I'm fixing that, total accident >_<. Thanks for reminding me, see what happens when you work on one image for too long?!!! SEE DO YOU SEE IT?!!...because I don't. *falls over*

*huddles back off into the dungeon*

[Turbo]

Remember Guile's fast punch? It was done with his leading hand (which corresponds to your sprite's right), the one closer to the opponent. The medium punch, requiring more anticipation, was done with the "back" hand, and was slower. I wouldn't advise doing jabs with that "back" hand. Maybe you could rework this to a strong punch, and do a new jab with the other hand.

[ndchristie]

Remember Guile's fast punch? It was done with his leading hand (which corresponds to your sprite's right), the one closer to the opponent. The medium punch, requiring more anticipation, was done with the "back" hand, and was slower. I wouldn't advise doing jabs with that "back" hand. Maybe you could rework this to a strong punch, and do a new jab with the other hand.

lol you cant jab with the back hand by definition

but yeah, spriting crosses is a good way to confuse the sprite, but also A.: you have animated a cross and B.: people actually do throw crosses, though i think of it as a counter instead of a lead

oh, and sicne you seemed to misread my post, i reccomend keeping the shadow teal and the highlight warm green, but make the difference in values less.  i like your hues, but the teal is so much darker that they dont look like they are shading the same object.

[Filax_666]

I donīt really have the time to write some proper C&C, so I shall let my edits speak for me...



On the second one i was just trying to break the monotony on the face, but the solution wasnīt the best and itīll probably be hard to animate it...I hope this helps, at least a bit.

[Dhaos]

UPDATE

[STILL]

-adjusted hues (closer together this time)
-changed shading placement to mvc style
*will be detailing his face more later...

[ANIMATION]

-pushed body forward more
-tried to soften the tail transition (failed)
-pushed the head out further to not squash the chest
*body should still probably move more
*probably need to add more frames for the tail to come back (link them to his breathing stance might wark!)

Any more C&C is greatly appreciated.

[Helm]

I just love the colors so much. I edit in pmotion and just sit and stare at the pretty colors. Good choices.



pulled the right leg exactly one pixel up, which I thought was a valid crit, and shadowed all the deeper stuff so it doesn't all seem to be on the same plane. Just an idea. Minor alterations to colors so the different planes work.

[Rox]

Woah... woah... Dude.

First thing that struck me is how awesome that animation looks. Even for a sketch, it's super-ultra-smooth. Almost smooth enough to make me forget about the backhand jabbing thing. And then the colors! I just... stared at them for a while... then realized it made me think of Jazz Jackrabbit and fell into nostalgic bliss.

I LOVE those colors.

[ndchristie]

one thing i noticed was the hand but i couldnt figure out why it looked odd..now i know though, its because hes punching with his fingers.  image what would happen if you punched like that? needless to say yuo wouldnt be typing a response lol.  punches should more or less lead with the first knuckles, not the fingers themselves

[Dhaos]

@Filax: I see what you ment about the head detail, I really should add some more segementation/emblems to it. Thanks for bringing it up

@Helm: Yeah I really shoulda moved that foot up some more XD. I'll tweak the colors some more to get the planes right.

@Rox: Hehehe, glad you liked it. Still more work to be done on it though.

@Adrias: hehe, thats just it, he's not really 'punching' so much as he's impaling you with his claws (which I didn't add in yet). And that's why his fingers are so puffy (aside from the cute cuddly factor). Maybe it didn't work out like I had hope though >_<.

Got myself into two sprite duels at pixeltendo, so I wont be updating this image for another day or two. Again thanks to everybody who commented, it helped me alot =3.

For the comp I have to make giygas from earthbound, and ffac sepiroth. I didn't get to pick the 2nd challange topic >_<... Wish meh luck!

[Xion]

Ay, much better colors...and just about everything else, too.

-tried to soften the tail transition (failed)

Actually, I think you should go back to the first tail whippage. I see how it would be difficult to make the tail transition smoothly without adding unnessecary frames, so I think the first was best, actually.

Aside from that, no further crits.

It's awesome.

[Ryuria]

Holy Crap. Now, I realise I should be fearing/ worshipping you more.

[CrumbBread]

one thing i noticed was the hand but i couldnt figure out why it looked odd..now i know though, its because hes punching with his fingers.  image what would happen if you punched like that? needless to say yuo wouldnt be typing a response lol.  punches should more or less lead with the first knuckles, not the fingers themselves

Art of the Knife Hand ^_^ it works!

[ndchristie]

 ok, that makes sense now

though i would suggest, since the claws are curved, perhaps a stabbing motion issnt the best way to go, and would be better done with a slashing motion (which wouldnt take too big of a reworking if you are going to a quick, weak attack)

something like might work better for claws

[Conzeit]

I think the biggest problem with the lizard isnt the level of detail or the pose.

it's just that the build you gave him doesnt match his cutesy pokemonish features, the body looks more like something of a chibified Street Fighter 3 sprite, all of the body features are relatively blocky and thus the blocky lines clash with the smooth face features.

I dont know why you went with this style, your usual style for drawing dragons and fantasy creatures has curves that fit this kind of design much more.

[vedsten]

great stuff !

a coupple of suggestions for the anim: The motion of the tail looks a bit too fast. The first few frames are fine, but i seems to speed up in the end. Add a few frames and slow the last part down. A bit of tail action after he finishes his punch would look cool anyway. Also, you might wanna contrast the arm/torso abit, otherwise the animation might end up a bit too cluttered.

Anyhow, great job, looking forward to the colored vers. of the anim!