Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: surt on February 24, 2007, 03:39:18 am
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I'm trying my hand at animating a largish sprite, but I've very little anim experience, so please engage maximum criticism mode.
I'm reasonably happy with the flow of the walk, but I really don't like the bite or slash, they look really pussy, when I would rather them look mean.
Shape guide: (http://surtspixels.googlepages.com/gnasher_front_and_back.png)
Rough silhouette anim (bite, slash, walk): (http://surtspixels.googlepages.com/gnasher3.gif)
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Wow, surt the walk is very good I agree indeed.
Ok making that Bite and slash more vicious, if i were a bite/slash monster what would I do?
Slash:
Right now hes not slashing it's sort of a punch. Slashing for him would be at the bottom of the claws heres some advice:
Make the slashes come fom a lower angle meaning the place his arm behind him and swinging up at a 45' angle (makingis body turn in the direction of the slash) Don't be shy get up of your chair assume possision and swing a couple of slashes to get the feel and image into your mind. the second slash (if you doing combos) can be more of a uppercut slash fllowing ap fom the initial 45' slash. (really try the actions yourself)
So pretty much:
*Angle those slashes (A couple from the top couldn't hurt either will add to variety of attacks)
*Make the character turn accordingly to display momentum and power
*Get up and feel the motion
Bite:
it looks so slow, (I cant practise a beaatie bit now since I had all my wisdom teeth removed yesterday and my mouth is swollen :( ) My off the bat suggestions would be :
* Speed it up, make him spring into that bite, sap his jaw and yank back as if to ripp away the flesh of his opponent. (Also requires motion so get up and feel it)
* Also add some form of angle to it.
* Try making him bend down from lower and bite to higher position
* Make it more "snappy" like his really going to bite whatever he is biting OFF!
I can only think of those right now, you are however off to a great start and I do applaud you for your work so far. I love animation and altough I probably crit better than I animate I can't wait to see these improvements!
Best of luck,
SCiDT
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very nice peice so far, I love the animation, but both the claw slash, and the bite lack ferocity, as SCi mentioned, make it more snappy, and fast. Make it look like it wants nothing more than to rip its oppenents arms off.
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I think the bite has too little action.
It seems much too timid to be some sort of attack.
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agree with souly.
I think if there were fewer frames where he was moving his head forward (as well as closing his jaw) in the bite, it would look more rapid and vicious.
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I think scidt's comments are on the right track. Speed is an issue, as is the actual motion. I'm not sure what your limitations are as far as sprite size, but it looks like you are trying to stay within a specific width, and the motion is suffering because of it. When he bites, the basic body motion should be similar to like a crazy kung fu headbutt. His arms should fly back, making his shoulders surge forward, propelling the head into action! Let's see a snappy bite too - this sprite is so large that with fast motions you are going to want to use some kind of motion blurring techniques on your tweens. scidt's commentary on the slashes is dead on, you really need to twist the upper body a LOT more, and it has to be a frame or two before the actual slash, so that the movement has weight and power. Very nice start, and it is encouraging to see you ironing out these problems at such an early stage. Nice work!
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Here I'll try and find you some examples.
The B.O.B.:
(http://pixeljoint.com/files/icons/full/pirahna_update.gif)
Notice how it slows down and then snaps?
It makes the bite look a lot more vicious.
I think for your slash you just need more movement.
Right now he's dancing.
He shouldn't hit with the back of his hands though.
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(http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/2830/gnashgnashxi4.gif)
NOWHERE near as good as Souly's, but hopefully this will give you an idea bout angry arm swinging.
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The animation wasn't actually Souly's, but we know what you mean.
Anyway, the arm flailing is a good example there, but his arms could be a little stiffer. I'm sure surt gets the general idea, i cannot wait to see the beastie animated. :)
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What you really need is timing. Let him pull the arm back, hold it back there for one or two frames, then just let it SWOOSH right across with heavy "blurring" for just one frame, then let him rest with the arm in its final position for two frames or so before he pulls it back to the idle stance.
The most important thing when making an animation that is supposed to look powerful, isn't to get the motion itself right. It's what happens before and after the strike that affects how strong it looks. With a long pre-slash "charging" and a long cool-down after, it'll look like he swung that arm around with a couple of tons of force. Which is what you want to do. I would try drawing an example, but my computer's KER-BROKEN and I don't have an animation program installed right now.
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Thanks for the comments all.
(http://surtspixels.googlepages.com/gnasher4.gif)
Reworked the bite to have some withdrawl and lunge. Much better but still not there.
Reworked arm motion in slash, but have yet to carry it through to the body and legs, so lots more work here.
Reduced frame delay on both attacks.
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Looks like the arms shrink when he slashes. Other than that, extremely muchly improved. I love the new bite.
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I agree, big improvement, but, I hope when this is done, there is crazy ferocity, like the B.O.B's peice, but its getitng there :y:
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Malor: While I love B.O.B.'s flower I don't want deforming motion as I'm aiming for a less cartoony feel.
(http://surtspixels.googlepages.com/gnasher6.gif)
Lengthened arms during slash.
Added cheap turn anim.
Added more body motion and removed a frame from the slash.
Removed a frame from the bite.
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Hey, this is great. The arms seem longer when walking though. I'm not sure but maybe the bite was smoother on the withdrawal
on the previous version (and better imo). What about moving the body up and down when walking?
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Nice I really love it now, and I cannot wait until it is completely finished! And I can assume the arms are short because of the angle they are while resting? Anyways, looks very nice right now ;D
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His walk reminds me of a fashion model walking on heels, which is not the most adequate for the kind of weight and character you're conveying. I'd recommend the forward foot not move past where the neck meets the lower jaw, rather than go past the head. Think of how T-Rex's are usually animated (the body is lunged much more forward than the feet are placed on each step of the walk). Also, i don't think the arms should swing (forward) so much. Maybe also delay their movement relative to the steps, to relate greater weight.
It looks awesome anyways, good work! :)
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v490/jadmadeyes/gnasher6edit.gif)
Man, I keep doing these edits, dangit.
Anyways, more anticipation frames, more frames after the action (what would I call them? Relief frames? :p) make action so much more action-y. And off course, faster movement.
I'm a frame whore, always adding in more and more frames, but here I think they help a bit with timing. Yus yus. And I made him bob up and down a bit in the walking frames too.
Alas, it's all very rough. I'm lazy when I edit :|
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I like how Jad's edit gives him a lot more weight. He looks very formidable.
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After Jad's edit it looks much better, but I would change the slash a bit more... This way it looks like it's swimming crawl, maybe if his arms make a whole curve while slashing it would look better... If you guys didn't get it I can make a scheme...
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I think something more like Digitaldust's edit would be more slash/claw-suggestive. However, i think it could be toned down and less elastic so it doesn't just look like random flailing and more like rigid clawing motioon. The current one does look a little like crawling or swimming.