billeh - that is the discharged cartridge

indigo - i guess i'm just a 1% kind of guy because i made the firing animation yesterday with no references.  also, this sprite is only 32x32.  i assume yours must have been 16x16 or 8x8 if it was "much smaller"?  if you find it be sure to post it, i would love to see it   i have tried some 16s and they're really not easy, especially for full-body characters.

sonic_reaper - thx for crits, he is supposed to be kind of shuffling back into place after the force of the gunshot moved him back some.  he picks up his knees as he steps back into place, but maybe it is not clear enough.  I think i am going to keep the 1 pixel slide though, it gives me an excuse to use some blur lines

adarias - i guess i should have explained more in my first post, my intent was to make some cartoony, exaggerated animations.  If it was realistic, there would not be very much to animate - a little kick from the gun, a little flash maybe.  that isn't fun to make!  My goal was to make something, well, animated   thus the big head, way out of proportion body, etc.
EDIT - adarias i really like your tactics model btw, seeing your WIPs has been very helpful!

in general, these were practice for animated, metal-slug style characters.  thank you for the feedback regardless, i will keep it in mind for my next project!

(4 frames)


(6 frames)


(6 frames)

i am new here, though i used to post on one of Pixelation's previous iterations.  I am trying to tune my character animation skills, particularly stretch/squash and blur effects.  These guys are mostly inspired by Metal Slug and Paul Robertson.  15 colors + alpha, 32x32.