Harry Sullivan

[Khris_2]

Hey there, first post. Long time stalker, first time poster, but I've been (attempting) pixel art for a while now.

What I'd like to get critiqued on would be the following character sprite (if you couldn't tell by the topic title, his name is Harry).



On the left is the most updated version in which I've started cleaning up stuff and shading, on the right is some lines (with quite a bit of messiness in some areas that I'm pretty aware of). What I'm hoping to get is some good anatomy and clothing critique. When I say that, I basically mean I'm looking for some proper posing (he's got his hands in his pockets) and maybe some help with the folds and wrinkles in his clothes.

Before I go on I'll say straight up (to avoid any sort of accusations) that I used a sprite of Q from Street Fighter very loosely for obtaining a standard base size and getting some proportion down, and I used a sprite of Ryuji Yamazaki from The King of Fighters (not the exact sprite I used, but you get the picture) for a reference on the pose.

Anyways, moving right along. Some things you can go ahead and ignore are why there currently aren't small details (like buttons and the trench coat belt, etc) on the most recent version, and colors. The game I'm making this for will be in black 'n' white, so unless it's an issue with the shading itself (I could probably use help with that, too), it's probably a pointless issue to bring up (but totally feel free to make an edit of how he would look with color, if you'd like).

And to avoid making another post, I might as well ask for some critique on my avatar. Even I'm confused on what I was doing with the back of the bandana. :/

It's Ralf Jones from The King of Fighters in some sort of chibi style.

[Meta|Fox]

Cool, thats good line art. anatomy seems fine (though abit super heroish). but i cant really crit you on it.

One thing though. about the shades of grey you started shading with. Theres too many of them and there contrast with each other is abit low. i see you trying to AA the shades together abit but a small amount of dithering (nothing to major) would give the same effect.

Before I go on I'll say straight up (to avoid any sort of accusations) that I used a sprite of Q from Street Fighter very loosely for obtaining a standard base size and getting some proportion down, and I used a sprite of Ryuji Yamazaki from The King of Fighters (not the exact sprite I used, but you get the picture) for a reference on the pose.

Ha, no one will accuse you over that. using references in art is extremely commen. it would be an issue if you line traced or something butyou clearly didn't.

[Khris_2]

It's been a few days but here's a bit of an update. I've been working on this opening animation for him and I think I've finally got something down, though the coat ends are gonna have to be reworked when I get to the final steps of this. You guys have any suggestions on animating (or maybe examples) that sort of thing?

[Xion]

When animating fabric, remember that fabric flows from the source of movement in 'ripples.' As you have it now, it looks like the bottom of the jacket is leading the rest of it in motion. Instead, it should flow in a wave from the hands/waist down and flip up at the end before coming to rest. Very fluid animation, though.
I noticed that in his initial stance, the jacket seems to go from thin to really offset from the torso beneath the < hand...if that made sense. I see what it's supposed to look like, but I think it'd look better it the transition from above the hand to below the hand was a bit smoother.

His tie should go out from his body a bit when he's going back in the animation, unless it's extremely starched.

'Side from those things, this is lookin' pretty sweet.

[Godslayer]

The transition between pocketed hands and ready hands seems too slow. My advice:
Cut out some of the frames andtake a larger jump, between hands just out of pocket, to hands in position, with a blurry type movement indicator in the ready frame.

Directly after he raises his hands, for added realism, they shouldnt immediately get to the ready position. When you snap your hands, you usualy go a little bit over the limit of what you where shooting for for a split second, and instantly your hands jerk back into the proper postition. I think you should hav it go- hands fully out of pocket- blurred path of hands on one frame, with hands ending up a little higher than the hands of the final stance- then final stance, where the hands go down a pixel.

[Khris_2]

Awesome, most helpful comments on this so far. I'll have to go back and see if I can fix this guy and start cleaning him up.

EDIT: Crap, I just realized something. I have no idea how to properly draw a blurred frame, though I know exactly what you're talking about. Any tutorials on that sort of thing?

[Khris_2]

I think I successfully addressed the problem with the endings of the coat and added a few other things people have mentioned about it. I'll probably take one more go at this by attempting the blurred frame idea, but other than that, I think I'm done. What about you guys?

[robalan]

One thing that jumped out at me when I saw this most recent update is that the coat appears to get larger as the animation progresses.  That is to say, the gap in the coat in front of his legs is considerably smaller at the end of the animation than it is at the beginning.  Admittedly, his hands are in his pockets at first, but it still looks strange.  Perhaps some wrinkles in the coat to show that it is being pushed back by his hands at first would help keep this from looking odd.

Also, I think his tie moves a bit too much for the motion of his body.  It kind of looks like it's moving of its own accord.

Another thing I notice as I watch the animation more is that his coat kind of snaps down at the end.  Perhaps having it settle a bit slower, sort of how the tie settles now, would help it look a bit more fluid.

Other than those things, this is a very smooth animation.  I can't wait to see what it looks like in color.

[Tremulant]

This is a cool aniamtion, and watching the progress has been really interesting so far. One thing that's bugging me, though, is the speed at which the coat moves. I haven't studied animation at all, nor have I studied this piece's subject matter, but it seems strange to me that the coat falls at almost exactly the same speed as the hands are raised, meaning both reach their endpoints at exactly the same frame. I think it'd look more natural if they weren't so in synch. The coat should 'close' before the hands are fully raised, or vice versa... like I said, I haven't looked into it, so I don't really know. Just a poorly planned thought, so maybe someone else can back me up/refute this.

Seriously though, nice and smooth, good proportions,etc. Makes me want to play with animation.

[Khris_2]

One thing that jumped out at me when I saw this most recent update is that the coat appears to get larger as the animation progresses.  That is to say, the gap in the coat in front of his legs is considerably smaller at the end of the animation than it is at the beginning.  Admittedly, his hands are in his pockets at first, but it still looks strange.  Perhaps some wrinkles in the coat to show that it is being pushed back by his hands at first would help keep this from looking odd.

Yeah, I completely agree. I'll have to make it a bit more obvious that his hands are keeping the coat pulled back at the beginning . I guess after looking at the animation for so long, it's easier to see how it's supposed to be even though it might not look that way to others. Thanks for pointing that out.

Also, I think his tie moves a bit too much for the motion of his body.  It kind of looks like it's moving of its own accord.

Another thing I notice as I watch the animation more is that his coat kind of snaps down at the end.  Perhaps having it settle a bit slower, sort of how the tie settles now, would help it look a bit more fluid.

Just as with what Tremulant pointed out, I agree. Admittedly, I got a bit lazy on doing those last few details that I decided to just upload how it is. I'm going to fix that up when I'm cleaning everything and hopefully the next update you see is a really nice-looking version of this.

Thanks for the help and comments so far, everyone!

Seriously though, nice and smooth, good proportions,etc. Makes me want to play with animation.

You should definitely go for it, I'm sure with your skill with pixels already, you could pull off some awesome looking things.