I went ahead and did the top and bottom attack animations:





I had a friend point out, that as this will be in a rather fast based combat/action game the anticipation might be too much. If that's the case I'll drop the in-between and go straight to anticipation > contact.'

Edit: I've just notice in my right attack animation, his sword leg is staying behind while his body is twisting forward with the attack.. I'll have to edit it to bring it forward to add power behind his attack.

Edit2: I've already tweaked the top attacking animation:

I've kept his shield static for two frames after the attack, it looked too fluid/weird otherwise... I think it distracted from the attack overall.

Edit3: I tweaked the top animation again, I was told his attack looked like it was from the wrist, which is exactly right as I didn't move the arm at all. Looks much better now:


I also fixed the right side attack like I pointed out above:



To avoid spamming by constantly replying I'll throw these in as an edit too:

Here's a death animation:


And here is a generic "Use" animation for doors, chests, levers etc: