Latest animation draft, ready for some C+C except for the sword:

Video is really interesteing, the shield looks alot lighter than I imagined.

Yeah, they don't really seem like those brutes you get in a lot of popular culture, the weapons and gear is very agile and designed for tactics, at least according to Hammaborg's research (which I just recently learned from youtube, I'm far from an expert).

So it looks like when ur guy is walking he is not quite really ready to block, rather it looks like he is going for a walk with no enemies in sight.
I just don't know if that would look quite right if u r going to have zombies every where or do u have other ideas?
I guess I'm interested in how the game will play, the pace of it, the frequency of combat etc to be able to give feed back on wether the sprites are appropriate.
Maybe its an intentional part of ur control scheme that he automatically blocks when standing still?

You've got a point there, I have something in mind that you have a block key, and that you move a lot slower when blocking (using a different animation of course).  But I should think stuff through properly and plan more, I kind of just go along with what comes up right now.
It could look awkward being surrounded by zombies and not blocking with the current animation. On the other hand, even though it's a bad excuse, I think several games get away with rather casual walking animations.  Then again, it would be cool to top those.
I have done like one animation before, it's posted here on the forums, so there's a lot to take in during the process. Thanks for pointing out things I don't think about!

Touch up:


Going to move on to another frame now.

Also, a note: The walking sprite is saved with some kind of layer feature in the .gif-format through GrafX2.  If anyone is having trouble opening it, let me know.

First attempt at an animation frame, looking for some C+C on the general stance, feeling etc. before I continue.



I'm updating the OP too, for better overview.

Final version (Yeah right):

Awesome! Sounds so cool :-)
Can't wait to see him hacking through some zombies!
Its good that you took the blue out because I'm assuming there will be alot of snow?

I can't wait either! About the snow, I don't know how much of it there will be.  Chances are he'll be spending a lot of time indoors or underground, but now that you mentioned it, it could be fun drawing some outdoor scenery.

Legs are much better. You could straighten the front shin a little to define it but it does give a good puffy fur-skin boot look as it is.
I like what you did with the back calf.
I think it would look better if back foot was firmly planted on the ground, at the moment it sort of looks like it is up on its toe but is a bit odd looking.
I went for flat foot also because of the weight of the shield.

Yup, looks better with the foot planted firmly on the ground.  I like that you get the fur-skin impression of the boots!

Here's another edit I did partly because he is fun to edit 
I tried to emphasise the chest again but maybe its too much.
Also tried to make the hair highlights instead of just all bright - top of head doesn't look quite right on mine but just watch out for how your version looks against black or a dark background.
<snip>

I'm really glad you like it, means a lot.  I think it's a bit much on the chest, I don't want him to be some Californian Governor kind of guy, I think his abs are just fine.  They are working muscles, not showing muscles.
I have the transparency channel as black in my editor, so I feel more ready for the dark backgrounds than the light ones actually.

I think I'm going to have to stop working on this and get my ass off towards the next one.

To be continued...

Latest:

I really like this guy - an ancient Swedish warrior perhaps?
I spotted him when you first posted but couldn't crit at the time.
General tone of colours is great but with the latest one you might want to watch out for how those blue tones will recede and blend into the background.

Ancient Swedish warrior sounds like it yes, I'm not sure if that geography will be consistent with the game though.
I saw what you meant by the blue tones, and changed them.

I like what Joe did with the hair as a flat colour - gives it a much smoother feel than having noisy lines of pixel highlights like you have which makes him look like an old grey jamacan guy with dreads.
<snip>

Okay okay, two against one, I made my own hair edit and I have to admit it looks better.

While I was at it I tried to resolve the legs which bother me a bit and touched up a few pixels around face.
<snip>

Yeah they were bothering me too, I tried to improve them in this edit.

Thanks for the input!