Thank you Joe and IrresponsibleFreelancer for your comments!
I should probably be more informative about the the game description, it's supposed to be a somewhat fast vertical scrolling shmup with the ability to scroll sideways that has relatively wide mazes(hence the
rocks) It works in my head anyways...
The stingray is technically a 'magical space stingray ' and he's fighting 'fascist alien cyborg zombie fish' so yeah...
I need to animate 7 more directions and I'd like to make transitional animations as well so I don't believe I can spare any more than the 6 frames per animation.
The animation doesn't have to be realistic but it needs to be functional for a fast moving stingray and i'd like it to be as compelling as I can.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't know a way of slowing down without adding more frames, I'll try adding waving to the wings for now.