Flat 2D attack animation

[zinnfandel]

Hello,
I've been struggling with making a nice relatively flat animation for a game which will require weapon/armor changes on its sprites. What this means is that the head and torso pieces need to be un-animated and only arms and legs can be animated. (I'm still allowed basic up/down movements, but can't change the armor/head itself). The animation is also built to be replace-able with weapons of similar attack style (like an axe in this case).
And I need to allow for shield to be optionally placed at the left hand (which I think is the animation's current weakness). Also no jumping/running on this one, has to be glued into place.
So... lots of limitations, but still I'm sure something better can be done with this, so any critique would help!

Also, any feedback on the sprite itself will be very welcome.

[PixelPiledriver]

Can you show us how characters will oppose each other?
Something like a group or a line?


Or something else?

Also what software are you using to draw/animate?


Here's my thoughts on this.
You have a lot of restrictions.
But no worries.
You can still squeeze a cool animation out of something like this.

First I changed a few things about the sprite.
Modified his face a little to better match his center line and make him face more to the side.
Put his sword arm to the back.
Added a shield to the front since you said you will have them as optional.
It's a good idea to fully load your character so that you know what he will look like.


Then I broke him into the following layers.


Then I made a simple attack.
The head and armor are static drawings as specified, only their position changes.
I left the shield unchanged as well.


Ignore some of the messiness.
Didn't take the time to draw in the other arm.
Sword is quick and dirty.
etc.


Also with combat animations it's good to mockup interaction.
Judging by your restrictions, especially "has to be glued into place.",  I assume you are going for something rpg battle style.

[zinnfandel]

Wow thanks PixelPiledriver! Switching the sword hand was brilliant, and also doing a half step works with the restrictions but feels much more alive.

The layout is more like advance wars tactical combat, so each character is an individual 2D, so they have to walk up to one another and attack from their tile.

My layers are divided like yours, and I'm using graphics gale.

Also, you're so right about placing them in front of each other to see the interaction. I was watching the Fire Emblem 7 sprites and on their own they're beautiful but don't make much sense. But played the game now and they got so much impact!

This is great, gonna rework it and update, thank you!