June animations

[BlackFang]

Well, now that i've almost finished my space shooter game i wanna start a plataformer, and i had never animated humans before, so ill need some help here

what i have now (started yesterday):


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On the animation i think i need 2 more frames when the legs are in the middle of the body
On the portrait, a lot of work, especially AA
need some critics here

[robotacon]

Here's are a few pointers.

Animation:
I think there is too much going on in the design of the character. I can't easily separate body parts from eachother. The hands and feet get lost in the animation. She looks cool but is hard to read currently.

The supposed contact frames are weak. You could add frames with a better heal strike and a better foot leaving the ground but I wish you had drawn those first. You'll probably get your frames out of sync otherwise.

Her head is bounching around rather randomly. Try and find path it can move along be that eliptical or in the shape of an 8 or something like that.

Portait:
Plus points for not using any dithering
Minus points for "banding"

[thedaemon]

When you walk you head bobs up and down a bit, maybe an inch. When you jog you head bobs up and down quite a lot. When you run your head bobs a bit like when you walk. The reason is because when you jog your body has to pause and wait for the other foot to catch up. When running and walking your body times everything out much better and you get a smoother vertical movement. Analyze some reference footage, take it of yourself if you want, and walk, jog, then run.

I also thing her arms are timed wrong. You should have her arm in the middle of its arc for 1 frame, then the other frames it should be closer to then ends. When you swing your arms you have to slow down and turn around, so therefore your arm has to spend more time at the ends.

Well, hope this helps.

[Nebopolassar]

I like the look of the full-tilt run, but the way she is leaning farward kind of awkwardly like shes about to fall forward. The way that she is leaning forward almost makes it look like she's plodding along under a heavy weight or something. But I definitely like the style of the run.

[Helm]

This won't read as a run until both frames visibly are off the ground at the same time. Right now it's an agitated power-walk! It's an easy fix though

[BlackFang]

Ill add 2 more frames then, with the legs off the ground and the arms on the extreme to fix the timing thedaemon pointed

the head ill try to fix it... its hard since im making the frams on the mspaint, so i dont really know where the head should be without seeing the entire animation, but ill try

the read problem that robotacon pointed i dont really think thats a problem, the legs i think its readable enough and the arm you can see the bracelet, so you know where the arm is, and with the animation you can follow its movement... but if everyone think im wrong i can add another color to fix it

[BlackFang]

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I tried to do what helm said without  making another frame, i dont know but i think its a little more fluid now... i tried to change her arm in one frame but its hard to notice... ill try again now, and the problem with the head is kinda hard to fix

Changed her name too

-EDIT-
now ill focus on the shoulder and the metal colors

[sharprm]

You get a big improvement if you delete frame 4 and 8.

Also make sure arms are as far back when the leg is as far forward. I think your arms are one frame too far ahead.

Getting rid of gloves would help make it more readable (or maybe different color?).

edit: Are you using a reference?

[ndchristie]

push the armor back to the chest i think, or even remove, that whole section is unreadable right now.

[BlackFang]

I dont think is worth to change the character concept only to make the hand more readable, dont you guys think that its enough for an action game?? i prefer to make something simple and pretty than 100% readable, im mory worried with the mistakes than the style, like the head and the shoulder movement.

Of course im not complaining about the critics, im pretty happy with the feedback here, but i think everybody is pointing at a subject that isnīt that important, as long as the legs and arms movement are ok, its only a matter of adding another shade color to fix the read problem

and i didnt use any references, started from here (of course a lot have changed):

[ndchristie]

I dont think is worth to change the character concept only to make the hand more readable, dont you guys think that its enough for an action game?? i prefer to make something simple and pretty than 100% readable, im mory worried with the mistakes than the style, like the head and the shoulder movement.

the large design that you pixelled is fine, the running animation literally has the breasts misplaced.  It's neither simple nor pretty, has nothing to do with changing the design, and is definitely a mistake, not a style point.

as long as the legs and arms movement are ok, its only a matter of adding another shade color to fix the read problem

this is where you are going wrong.  you can't just throw down pixels between the arms and call them a chest, they need to make sense.  right now they don't and it's hurting the entire animation.

sorry to be so frank

[BlackFang]

I tottaly agree with you about the chest, im trying right now to fix it and the shoulder (its not working anyway, i just suck at small pixels), i was talking about taking off the gloves or change the color...

-EDIT-
i think i fixed the shoulder and the head, now ill try the chest
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[sharprm]

No worries about changing gloves, just suggestion. With removing the frames, I thought it made the animation seem like she is running faster, but if your looking for something smooth then you can keep em. But look into getting those arms still in sync with the legs, since they are still out.

edit:This is just to show that your portrait the armour is less chunky and u can try to get that on the sprite.



hehe i think you should ditch your whole concept and make her pregnant, 'juno animations'.

[Lazycow]

In each animation frame, at least one leg is on the ground. I have seen this running style in some animes, but like this the animation looks a bit like ice-skating. So if you want to add more frames to the the animation, why not adding 2 more frames where no leg touches the ground? I would say, between frame #1 and #2 and another between #4 and #5.

[Ben2theEdge]

I think the body is bent waaaay too far forward, unless she's running at supersonic speeds she would fall on her face.

[Lawrence]

I think the reason she looks like she's power-walking/skating is because the legs are spending most of their time push along the ground, when usually in running cycles they probably should spend more time "swooping" back to the front.

[BlackFang]

Lazycow and ben2theedge, i think both of you are talking about the 1st animation frame (that orange thing, i posted to show some sort of WIP) i made, a lot have changed, here the last update of the sheet and a small update on the portrait (with some AA and stuff). Lawrence are you talking about the WIP sheet too or about the last GIF i posted?



Thanks sharp! that body you made is perfect, i just dont like what you did with the arms legs and face, thats what i was saying before about style, but the chest armor is amazing, ill analize it and make some changes here

[robotacon]

The animation is much easier to read now!
 It would be even better with a proper heel-strike.

[BlackFang]

Thats all i could do to make the torso more readable, it you guys still think its too random just tell me that i make it all over again.Changed the arm on some frames too

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Im also adding the fighting stance (after running/fighting plays this animation, then she crosses her arms). And im not posting here to hear critics, i know there is a lot of anatomical problems, i didnt give it any attention because i hated the result, the movement is so "default" and looks like crap, im here to ask some suggestions about how she should move, if anyone have some creative ideas just tell me.


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[BlackFang]

Added some colors... 1 on the skin, 2 blacks to the cloth and changed the armor palete to more greenish and added one color too, this may help the read too
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