[WIP]Sprites for a game

[Trub]

Wow nice, I am trying to make a similar class of sprite though yours is much better than mine (and bigger), but you arms don't seems right at all. One of them looks like a fist pointing at an awkward angle to us while the other arm is alright but looks a little odd. But thats just my perception

[Jad]

You should definitely redraw and touch up the sprite yourself - don't work from blumunkee's edit, especially if you don't wanna pay him whenever you sell your game : D

But mostly because you should feel the pixel placements yourself and learn the hard way <3

[blumunkee]

Yeah, we're trying to teach you how to fish, not catch fish for you. Plus I think I butchered the hair slightly.

Jad's edit is solid gold and deserves some deconstruction. He has basically added two simple elements to the animation that are lacking in yours: anticipation and follow-through.



I have split the animation into its three parts. The first part is the anticipation or the windup. Anticipation is the visual clue that a counter-motion is about to begin. In this case it's the arm and fist moving behind the body, and the upper body shifting backwards to put more kinetic energy into the punch.

The second part is the delivery. This is short, only two frames, but it does its job of delivering the blow. Jad has used a nifty motion-blur effect to give it a greater sense of speed. You see this a lot in fighters.

The final part is the follow-through. The first frame of the follow-through is very similar to the last frame of the delivery. Our fighter guy had all this momentum pushing forward, so his fist can't instantly snap back. It needs to hang there for a second to transfer all its energy.



This is the same simple formula taken to greater extremes. Here the windup is bigger with more frames. He crouches down to build up more energy and keeps his kicking foot grounded all the way through the windup.

The delivery is again just two frames with a blur for effect. Here you can see one of Jad's tricks. He cut out the leg and shifted it forward a bit. This sets up the begining of the follow-through frames.

He leaves his leg out longer in the follow-through, again because a leg will generate much more momentum than a fist. Jad also adds a little hair moving effect to show that the character is returning to his neutral stance.

[Jad]

He crouches down to build up more energy and keeps his kicking foot grounded all the way through the windup.

I'm not saying this is the 'correct' way to do it, though, I think it can look equally cool with him first lifting his leg into the air and then delivering the kick, but I thought of it as him basically kicking his own leg off the ground first and then .. kicking. Yep.

[jbeave]

Yeah, we're trying to teach you how to fish, not catch fish for you.

haha, I like that. You're right.

Ok. I've got a few questions before I start from here. Jad, that fightersgeneration website doesn't want to show up right, I'm not sure why. Would you happen to know what's up with that?

Thanks for making that sheet of Jad's animation, really helpful. I'm assuming on the parts where there is little detail were just rushed to get the point across, but I thought I'd ask anyway, is it necessary to do that or would I get the same effect if I did add detail?

And what did you use to get that effect, Jad? All I've been using up until now is MSPaint. Downloaded GraphicsGale last night and it's looking to be way complicated...Could I get that effect somehow in Gimp you think?

[TheRobinHood]

And what did you use to get that effect, Jad? All I've been using up until now is MSPaint. Downloaded GraphicsGale last night and it's looking to be way complicated...Could I get that effect somehow in Gimp you think?

I'm not sure what Jad uses, but you can just about get that effect in any program.  I use Paint too, but I would suggest GIMP, seeing as its free and still rivals Photoshop.
If you're going to make him crouch down before he kicks or wind up before he punches, keep in mind that a long delay between the time you hit the button and the time the punch is thrown or the kick is kicked shouldn't be too long
Jad's motion streak should definitely be added to your animations, but for the the leg,  I would do two frames of motion streak, the second one having less of a streak so it doesn't disappear too quickly, like on the punch.  Try to experiment! 

Everyone else pretty uch summed up what I had in mind

[jbeave]

Well, can't say I've been slaving away working on sprites since I posted this but I'm back, wanting more C+C. =D



I tried to do the same jump kick as the bigger one, came out close enough, right? I still need to add in shading, details, etc but I CAN NOT get that blurred effect for the life of me. This lacks "power" just like my other ones did. PLEASE, I need advice on better ways to get that effect. Be specific, and I don't want anybody to just edit it in for me because I can't learn like that.

[1ucas]

This lacks "power" just like my other ones did. PLEASE, I need advice on better ways to get that effect. Be specific, and I don't want anybody to just edit it in for me because I can't learn like that.

That "power" effect comes from the timing of the movment. Notice how your character moves forward in a constant speed? Your reference sprite's animation looks better because there's a very subtle "charging" of the movement at the top of the jump, before the kick, which gives the illusion of weight and force.

This is one of the 12 basic principles of animation (anticipation). It's key for dramatic actions.

[Jad]

The blur effect, aside from the drawing aspect, is made possible by tweaking frame speeds/delay, that is to say, the time any frame stays on-screen when played.

Graphics Gale is one of the least complicated programs in the world, seriously, just give it some time - you'll want to configure some custom keys for animation (especially for browsing through frames left and right quickly, and adding frames) but the rest is totally just super easy. Ok, so it's a bit complicated but it all makes sense if you just play around with it a bit. Also its 16 color mode should help you with color conservation! O:!

Also I don't think the terry bogard original has a lot of impact either so if you wanted to achieve that level of impact I'd say you succeeded!

For more impact OVERREACH is your friend - make a single frame where the contact happens where the leg is outstretched just a bit too much, and then let it snap back again, it tricks the brain into seeing 'impact' O: TRY IT, although I'm not sure whether this would actually work for an air-kick like this one. Try it still.

Also you could improve upon the terry movement by having his torso move before the legs, with this logic: he starts rotating his body when he lifts from the ground, then he offsets the balance by rotating his torso further, delaying his legs a bit, so he can later snap his legs back into rotation even quicker. Am I making sense?

[jbeave]

Here's a v2


I extended the leg like 4-5 pixels the first kick frame, and I made it so he's not flying across the little white box. I think it helped some..

Here's a little combo I've been working on, now with the v2 jump kick


Someone mentioned he should come down faster, so here's a v3


I used the one pose with the blur you made me, I hope you don't mind. I really need to figure out how to do that myself..

is made possible by tweaking frame speeds/delay, that is to say, the time any frame stays on-screen when played.

So you're saying I can do this just with my animation program? Mine is a POS because I can't find any settings like timing, etc. What do you use?

I honestly haven't picked up Graphics Gale since I posted that I downloaded it, it's too far out of my MSPaint comfort zone. And I thought the animation parts to it were only in the paid version? I only have the free one.

Also you could improve upon the terry movement by having his torso move before the legs, with this logic: he starts rotating his body when he lifts from the ground, then he offsets the balance by rotating his torso further, delaying his legs a bit, so he can later snap his legs back into rotation even quicker. Am I making sense?

I sort see where you're going with that, I'll give it a try.