Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: philjones on June 03, 2009, 07:16:50 pm
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I'm working on a murder mystery game using an RPG town style engine.
This is Penny, the main character.
(http://lj.philippejones.com/other_sites/pixelation/paper_lake/penny01.png)
I need to make a walking, running, and (likely multiple) "investigating" animations.
I would love some feed back on this.
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Man these look really good, since this is a murder mystery game maybe you should make the palette grayer? Thats all I got, keep up the good work, I'd love to see more of this.
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I'd like to make an edit but I've got my laptop in a place without tablet right now. So! Simple points:
She's leaning very much forward. Move hips forward so her balance gets more centered.
Front and back view are a little confusing - her legs look tacked on, like doll legs, lack of crotch is showing, see if you can fix that somehow!
Otherwise this is a solid start - please do post more as you go along!
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@bengoshia: I was thinking of using a grayer palette, but I too often use a rather dull palette in the first place. The game will also be using a palette swap for various times of the day, so I figured pushing for higher chroma would be good for me.
@Jad: The crotch is hidden under the shirt front and back, but it does make it look awkward, I agree. I'll lower the bum and crotch a pixel. I'll see what I can do about the hips.
Edt: I believe this addresses the issues.
(http://lj.philippejones.com/other_sites/pixelation/paper_lake/penny02.png)
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And here's the first walking animation:
(http://lj.philippejones.com/other_sites/pixelation/paper_lake/penny_walk_south.gif)
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Needs to have body movement. Focus on the chest area for a moment, it looks like she isn't moving at all, just jiggling her boobs. I'll make an edit.
(http://lj.philippejones.com/other_sites/pixelation/paper_lake/penny_walk_south.gif) --> (http://www.game-designer.org/art/pixelart/edit/penny_walk_south.gif)
I don't think the subpixeling on the head works at all, but I tried to run with it.
Here's another piece of advice, animations rely a lot on silhouette and contours, try looking if the silhouette is okay too.
(http://www.game-designer.org/art/pixelart/edit/penny_walk_south_silh.gif)
There's a very distinct lack of movement in the silhouette, subpixeling just the face won't fix this.
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the arm movement is way too drastic for her walk, seems like she's power-walking from the waist up.
the leg movement is odd too. by watching just the feet, i noticed they sort of slowly sliiiiiide back, then get picked up and plopped back in front,
the foot really shouldn't spend that much time on the ground, maybe you've got too many frames in the legs? maybe too many frames altogether?
the consistent chubbiness of the thighs also bugs me. i'm not animator, so sorry if i'm unclear or unhelpful.
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I dunno, I like the exaggeration of the movements, I have been known to totally overdo the animation too. But yeah, it IS definately very powerful walking, so if that's not what you're going for, you might want to cut back a little.
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Gil has a good point with his edit. Her arms look strange because her elbows are the driving force - her shoulders and wrists are being dragged back and forth by her elbows. This is very unnatural and you'd never see someone walking like this in real life. Pay attention to your arms when you walk and you will see that it's actually the other way around - your hands and shoulders do the leading with the elbows following.
Also her legs are much thicker in the walk cycle than her standing animation. It looks like you tried to give some perspective to her knee when it bends but at this scale the effect of perspective should be minimal.
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Thank you all. You've made me realize that this walk is between the two cycles I want, that is, a walk and a run. So I'll make the walk far less powerful, with straighter limbs and more subtle movement.
@Gil: I do like it with that extra bounce.
@Cure: I did want a confident walk, I suppose, but this definitely is too drastic. As for the feet, it's actually three frames on the ground, three frames in the air, and two frames half on half off. It may be difficult to tell with because there's no clear indication of what is and isn't ground, but I think exaggerating it any more would make it... overly exaggerated. And yeah, chubby legs.
@Ben2theEdge: I think I'll make the arms far more passive, along with the legs, so that they're swinging more idly than they are chugging forward.
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As a rule in pixel art animation, we always have to do that bob. If the head doesn't bob at least a pixel up and down, the mind doesn't register it as a walk. I haven't seen anyone do it right with just a subpixel animation yet.
For small animations this really can be a pain, because 1 pixel can be a lot.
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Old -> New
(http://lj.philippejones.com/other_sites/pixelation/paper_lake/penny_walk_south.gif) -> (http://lj.philippejones.com/other_sites/pixelation/paper_lake/penny_walk_down.gif)
Was 8 frames, now 6.
While it's certainly less chunky-legged power-walking, is it more convincing as a walk cycle?
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:'( No. Just... no. She's lost her characteristic walk completely!
the chunky legs gave her personality, and the strut made her look confident, as any investigator must be whilst, er, investigating.
Please bring it back, bring it back, bring it back! :'( :'( :'(
I suggest going back to that 8-frame cycle, and fixing the wonky sub-pixelling on her head.
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@Accident: So do you prefer the first, or would you argue for something between the two?