https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUeX2Ct2Zgs
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUeX2Ct2Zgs[/youtube]

I'm working on a more simplistic environment, which I believe matches my style better.  This one is rough, but I kinda like it because the carts almost look like they are pastel paintings.  It leaves a lot to the imagination, which I like.

The animation is not synced to the song here, and there is not audio, but I have expanded the moves of the merchant and added another supporting character to play the piccolo.

- ronaldaam

Previously I designed 128 original Black American character faces (Original Post).  Here, I tried to flesh out 14 of those characters by designing them further.  I placed them on a background I found online as a test, but I'll probably design a more simplistic background using the palette I have for the characters.

- ronaldaam 

https://imgur.com/44lVGLj

Thanks everyone for your feedback.  Above is the original image.  I understand why my idea sounds ambitious, but I think back to the classic SNK game Samurai Shodown 4 (or even Street Fighter 3).  Those characters seemed high res and were very lively.  My skill set is not there, but I wanted to aim high and see where I could go.

As far as dancing is concerned, my approach would be pose to pose.  So I just figured make the right poses, then make a few inbetweens.  Fringes and details would be placed last, but I can see that would be a lot of work.

I think the toughest part would be the fruit being sliced, or special effects to make the sword action believable.  Also timing to the music seems challenging, especially for a dance.

My thinking is, where are you going to go if you don't push yourself?  So with that in mind, I am trying to strategize this, to see the most effective way to go about with without taking forever to do.  I don't really want to use stick figures first, because I don't find them to be accurate in terms of the fullness of the actual character.  So right now, it's pose to pose, and inbetweens.

Thoughts?

Thanks again for the feedback.

ronaldaam

Hello,

I spent the weekend working hard on this marching animation of a character I designed a few months ago.  All I had was the face until yesterday, but I really tried to work on style and personality.  One of my favorite games growing up was Samurai Showdown (3 and 4 mainly).  I LOVE their animation (for me, those were the best SNK games!).  Anyways, I would like to animate the character striking a pose with his sword, then attacking and going back to a guarded position.  I think for what I'm doing right now, it will be from a front-facing point of view (unlike fighting games).  So I'm looking for advice for that and how you might approach it.  Also any critiques or feedback concerning my marching animation is greatly appreciated!  Thanks!

Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agBhXTU7P30

- ronaldaam