Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: piotrek255 on July 03, 2007, 10:15:37 pm
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here's a WIP of my sword slash, he glows on purpose, and his sword goes to his other hand for purpose too.
8 colors
ok, so here's pretty much, the "nearly" final version of my knight.
(http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/966/slash5si5.png)
and here's his first animation attempt
(http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/4489/slice5fw5.gif)
(second animation) (http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/2780/slice5ur9.gif) edit->(http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9103/slice5oc6.gif)->(http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9366/slice5tr3.gif)
For now, I dont want to follow my shiluette... why?
I spent hours watching pixelart from games like castlevania, and this is the conclusion i came up with. Following my though about animating pixelart equals massive redrawing :( and i see from other people's work that you can make animations with nearly no effort at all, by knowing which parts to move, think ahead about the structure of animation and what small areas to redraw. Those animations look really great. but i guess you just have to get to that level of making compicated things, simple...
here's a wip of the knight
(http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/4972/slash2oo6.png) edit---> (http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/907/slash3zr0.png) edit---> (http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/1261/slash2qh6.png) edit---> (10 colors) (http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/7937/slash2rb4.png) edit---> (http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/966/slash5si5.png)
here is his finished animation (http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/4898/slicewg9.gif)
nearly finished animation of attack ---> (http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/5608/slice3dc5.gif)
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but.....you should extend glowing or make it blend it through frames....
'cause some points reads as noise....hope you get to fix it.
altough, it's a very nice animation, but i cant read very well it's poses....they seem antinatural....well a living skeleton is already antinatural so who matters that? :D
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It looks strange that all his body motion just suddenly stops as soon as the sword leaves his hand. His motion needs to continue during and after the sword's flight.
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forgive me, but this doesn't seem right...
First, it is a pre-render, the glow is not intentional (why would his shadow glow?) the sword continuing to his right hand looks like its just to cover up that you only managed to rip the first couple of frames of the full slash anim, and then added the sword's motion blur.
please clarify
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Weight distribution is sloppy. Swinging a sword while pigeon-toed won't result in a very effective swing. Have his left leg move forward as he swings, and the blow will appear to have more weight, and thus power, afforded to it.
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Firstly, TakaM is right, this isn't pixelled.
Second, why on earth would you put your feet closer together when you swing? That completely screws with your balance.
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Those random gold dots all along the body spell color reduction.
And yeah, the stance is really weird, why would you go from a more active stance to a more flat-footed one if you're attacking? ???
Another sure sign of color reduction in an animation is that the colors are different in each frame. In your animation, no two frames have one color in common, even though they looked very close.
*shuts suitcase*
Case closed.
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isnt it fortesque from medievil? if so, that's a rip, but i'm not acusing anyone....¬¬
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While it's been established in previous threads that you start off with renders, I think that, given the reactions (and, more to the point, the spirit of Pixelation), it would be prudent to state clearly that you've started with a render.
Though to be honest, it would be even more prudent to actually do some pixel work on the render before posting for crits. Because really, this is a noisy mess full of artifacting.
Plus, the actual animation leaves a LOT to be desired, and wouldn't even work in 3D.
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The slash seems pixel art, but really, on the pixel level there's not much to say about this other than 'do it in pixel art'. About stance, heed the advice of sonic_reaper. Please state clearly when you're using 3d sources next time, or your threads will be locked and you will be given strikes.
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Helm- i stated clearly in my latter post that all my pixelart starts from a 3D object.
but here is something entirely done by hand, i hope that i will get enough help(crits) to stay with my decision to rely more on my hand, rather than apps. , because i noticed that using 3D apps for small pixelart fails in the longer run.
i use graphics gale. for animation i noticed that firstly you have to notice what parts stay the same, and what parts need a total remap.
after an hour i came up with this anim (10 colors, 8 frames)
(http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/3231/sliceva8.gif)
PS: some of his areas like HAIR, especially, were redrawn nearly every single frame, i experimented with shading.
thanks for the help
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He seems incredibly stiff in the animation now to be honest. The weird fold he does doesn't help much. I do not know which way he is trying to slash either. He seems to come from forward and then suddenly turn and slash backwards? Not a very powerfull slash either. For such a huge blade, you will need to put your entire body into it for the slash to land at good speed on your target.
I made a small edit, roughly about your sprite/sword size to illustrate what I mean. It's not perfect, certainly not. But I hope it helps:
(http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/8625/slashexamplebq0.gif)
He first lifts his sword up, so that he can put extra weight into the slash, then viciously strikes down. Note also how his legs, arms and just entire body move.
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my 30 minute animation inspired by opacus, i will add the armor as i have time..... i'm ready for criticism.
(http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3374/slice2ll8.gif)
PS: doing animation by hand is so much more interesting than doing it in 3d.... i know he's jagged, its a very rough wip.
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(http://Helm- i stated clearly in my latter post that all my pixelart starts from a 3D object.)
That doesn't mean you get to stop mentioning it for new threads. Not everybody reads every thread/remembers everything.
About your latest animation, the sword slash should go away like in opacus' piece pretty fast, not fade out like it's made of liquid.
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here's a wip of the knight (http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/4972/slash2oo6.png)
here is his finished animation (http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/4898/slicewg9.gif)
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(http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/4972/slash2oo6.png) edit---> (http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/907/slash3zr0.png)
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Is that black thing his mouth or what? Also, anatomy looks odd, legs are too short, shoulders and torso are also weird.... and it kind of looks like he has an "extra sword" in his metal pants.
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animation WIP (http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/9315/slice2zw8.gif)
bengoshia- you made me notice it, i'll edit this right away, i dunno what you meant about this "extra sword"
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..... I guess I'll have to point it out: (http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1042/bonarmx4.gif)
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another edit -> (10 colors) (http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/7937/slash2rb4.png)
last edit before i go to sleep
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Latest edit is quite better in terms of lightsources and colors. It still could stand to be refine much more, shapes and detail and contrast and such.
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here is his finished animation (http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/4898/slicewg9.gif)
I think its way too fast. Heres a quick edit.
(http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/5803/slicevw0.gif)
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yeah, it looks way better now, but this animation is just for refference. i will post a thread on general forums concerning animation, becouse i'm fairly new to animating by hand.
right now i make a character, and after i make it, i completely remap him for every frame.... i think there are some rules, and hints on animating by hand to save a lot of time and make the animation look clean.
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whoooaaa what happened? your silhouette looked great...and then you made him like a freaky skinny slidey-feet guy who waves his arms around?? Study that silhouette some more!
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whoooaaa what happened? your silhouette looked great...and then you made him like a freaky skinny slidey-feet guy who waves his arms around?? Study that silhouette some more!
I think he should study real people swinging swords. Lord of the Rings has some of that.
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ok, so here's pretty much, the "nearly" final version of my knight.
(http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/966/slash5si5.png)
and here's his first animation attempt
(http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/4489/slice5fw5.gif)
For now, I dont want to follow my shiluette... why?
I spent hours watching pixelart from games like castlevania, and this is the conclusion i came up with. Following my though about animating pixelart equals massive redrawing :( and i see from other people's work that you can make animations with nearly no effort at all, by knowing which parts to move, think ahead about the structure of animation and what small areas to redraw. Those animations look really great. but i guess you just have to get to that level of making compicated things, simple...
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Swords tend to be lifted and then thrown down, kind of like your first animation, what I would suggest doing is making it more like your first animation but either make his other arm holding something of sorts(A shield, even another sword) or having both hands lift the sword, of couse this would probably imply that the sword is heavier than it would be if it were just swung with on arm., so you'd probably want to increase the size of the sword. If you want him to still do some sort of horizontal slash, I would suggest doing something like Alucard's sword slash(http://www.gsarchives.net/psx/castlevania_symphony_of_the_night/sprites/animated/alusword.gif).
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Honestly bengoshia, for the longest time I have not seen any constructive posts by you. You usually just ridicule and berate the persons hard work. He's learning man, let him learn.
@Piotrek: The animation is snappy and does not flow well. Think of weight and volume. A swordsman flows with his weapon as if it is an extension of his own arm. Also, his face looks a little off. Try moving the whole face up a little.
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yes, bengoshia, please avoid one-liners, try for constructive, in-depth critique. Please keep this on topic from now on however.
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Eh yeah, it does sound harsh, I'll try to be more constructive from now on, fixed so I don't look like an arse.
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i know that the animation is not done in a very clean way, but i have a serious problem with patience... as for the pro motion, do you know a place where i can get some tutorials on this program? or does it ship with a manual? i searched on google and there were no tutorials. on this forum there are some tutorials but they show how to create pixelart, and do not explain the program itself.
here's the anim. I've done an update some time ago, but forgot to make a reply.
As i wrote in the first post, i will fix the alpha channel as soon as i have time.
(http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/2780/slice5ur9.gif)
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Much better, his head looks a bit odd in some frames though.
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Seriously, what is that? He swings his sword, doesnt move it, then a slash appears that makes no sense at all...and thats it. Didnt you notice that?._.
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He just swings his sword so fast that its faster than the slash, it was intentional :P
But to be honest, I noticed it this morning, and i'm working on a edit. and the next animation attempt.
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You are making progress but you have a few issues to take care of.
If you look closely the arm looks like it goes behind the back counter-clockwise.
The back foot should not slide back and forth.
The back knee should not slide up and down
I would also suggest a neutral position that was less relaxed and more like a combat stance.
The highlight on the sword is on the bottom edge after the swing/slash.
Tip: Try and act out the action in front of a mirror.
Suggestion: The slash should start where it ends and go the other way from left and swing up otherwise I would attack with the other foot. Think forehand backhand in tennis.
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I noticed that every time something is illogical, innatural or physically impossible you say it was intentional without it being actually as worked out as the rest of what you do....
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"He just swings his sword so fast that its faster than the slash, it was intentional :P
But to be honest..."
can't you understand the part which i underlined? anyway, i always say everything i do is intentional, becouse i dont plan anything, so as i do everything on the fly everything i do is done with intention of making it happen.
i'm not so good with english, try to understand
here's the anim with some fixes, i know that his left hand and the head is strange at the end, but for now i dont have the patience to fix it...
(http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9103/slice5oc6.gif)
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his right leg bends in an impossible way :o
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That is just because that plate should be at the top of the leg and not at the front in this position.
But may I give you notice that that plate rather represents the knee than the upper leg so you make it bend at the wrong position.
It got quite something better now :D
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another update , fixed the leg and changed the colors a bit. i see the weight problems, and will train with silhouettes after finishing this character.
(http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9366/slice5tr3.gif)
PS: he is too saturated.... now i noticed, but i dont have more patience for him... i will start making something else with what i learned, thanks for the tips.
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I must say, this has come a long way and has much improved. :y:
If you're still looking for crits, his far leg just seems to shrink or retract into the hip or something without actually bending.
A few pixels makes a big difference in animations, and if you were to make the sword go just a little further than where it stops at, it would give a sense of weight. As it is, the weapon just stops as if it hit something or something, without continuing its momentum.
And if the arm were to actually cross back over the chest when returning to its original position, it would smoothen things out nicely, as well as maybe having a frame where the big sword trail fades away. Just one, though. Too smooth and it'll lose that "umph".
But like I said, this has come a long way. Good work :y: