Thoughts on a Character (New here)

[Cruckz]

Hi I'm new, first time posting  I'm quite new to pixel art and I'm not the best animator , I've seen that some of you guys are super talented and give some really in depth feedback for animation so when I have some done I'm ready for you guys to tear them apart 

Ok so I started making a 2D platformer game in Game Maker and I planned to paint it all individually and try make it super pretty....But it takes a life time to get anything done as everything is unique. So I decided to change direction and do the thing with tile sets and pixel art and still make it super pretty, that's where you guys come in and give me C+C. If I can get a dedicated programmer in the future then I'll do the more time consuming approach. 

Ok so here is my first crack at it. The character has a mask, and there will be an animation to put it on his head. A run animation ( I didn't know if that was a good pose for the run ) Slash animation and use bow.


my character concept


How it was in the previous game for anyone who was interested 

[Vagrant]

Hmm...

Are you sure about this?
You seem to have a character drawing that actually looks quite solid. Same for the mock-up below. It has quite a charm to it.

Though the progress may be slow, it seems to be working fairly well. Not so with the pixels you introduced, which completely destroys the image of quality you had before.
Ever thought of treating drawn images as tilesets, and repeating generic elements?

[ptoing]

Hi Louis, nice to see you hear, we chatted in the Polycount Hangout

As far as runs go I can show you this



What is also important to note about runs is that for a run to look like a proper run you need at least 1 frame (in each step, so 2 frames in the complete cycle) where both feet are off the ground. If you do not have that it will look like a powerwalk or something, but not a proper run.

Also made a quick edit on your dude.
Was trying to get a slightly bolder style and emphasise forms better, as well as reducing colours a bit.


That said, please do not post .jpg images. It took me a while to just get the colours reduced before I could sensibly edit this. Please use lossless formats for actual pixel stuff.

[Decroded]

hello and welcome 
i like ur character, interesting design and the red is going to help him/her stand out.

i don't know how u got jpegs from imgur.
for me i flatten image, copy and paste directly in imgur (in browser) and it makes it a png.
and i drag and drop animated gifs and it stores them fine too.

i think ur off to a great start here.
for animation, might i suggest don't do any detail work in the animation.
i start by having a dark red arm and a bright red arm, dark blue foot and light blue foot.
the motion needs to look good and there is guaranteed to be several/many tweaks to be made until its worth detailing.
graphicsgale is a great program for animating if u find photoshop annoying like i do.

for pro tips on animation, its always good to periodically trawl through this guy's post history - http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?action=profile;area=showposts;u=9280 (members - search - "pixelpiledriver" - posts).
he's somewhat of an animation god 

i look forward to seeing where this is going and hope u can transition OK from paint to pixels 

[Cruckz]

Hey guys, first of all thanks everyone for replying.

Vagrant yes I am sure, this is going to be a lot easier in the long run. and right now I just need to make something. and my sprite making will get better so I'm not worried about that

Thanks Ptoing the edit was AWESOME! sorry about the jpegs  won't happen again. See you on the hangout soon hopefully.

Ok so I tried animating him today, I'd like to hear your thoughts. I did 6 frames what do you guys normally default too ? I also did as you said Decroded and started rough then painted on top of the rough with the details. I was wondering do you guys ever do the arm or legs separate and build it up in layers was thinking trying doing it that way next time. as his arms seem a little off to me. 

Rough

Run

Run with weapons (quick mock up)


Please lemme know what you think

[Gil]

Default these days seems to be 6 frame runs, 8 frame walks, you're good . You can always in-between frames later if you want more (at that size, less would be undesirable).

Be sure to test this run out in motion in a game type setup. Too many people create treadmill runs, only to find out they don't look good in motion.

[PsylentKnight]

I'm no expert, but the run cycle looks good to me. The way the keyhole wiggles at the bottom is kind of weird and distracting, but not really all that noticeable unless zooming in. What scale will your assets be in game?

Also, I really love the original mockup. Shame you decided that style wasn't working for you.

[HarveyDentMustDie]

I think that you still need to work on this run cause it doesn't look very smooth. Some of his limbs change their length during the run. Head movement should be cleaner and he can't turn his head only on one side during the run. Leg positions in some frames are very similar which adds lag to this animation (Best way to understand this is to go trough Pixel Piledriver's posts here on this forum). Cape should also move accordingly to shoulders, and you should clean all the lines to make everything looks polished. Arms should move more upwards to suggest greater motion and speed.

Another idea, I think that it's not good solution that you have red belt over his chest and red gloves cause during the run they overlap each other and it's confusing for the eye. Try to make variation of color.

Here's the quick edit. It's not perfect, but some of the points I've mention are there.



Edit: I was terrefied how my previous edit was out of sync, so I change it. 

[Cruckz]

Thanks everyone especially Harvey :O that's such a big improvement! I was thinking the same thing about his chest strap but didn't want to introduce too many colours into the image. Been working on my tile sets today still a work in progress but thought I'd post my days work. I also made a little mock up to see what more I could want from the set and got a little carried away and tried to make my old set up 
Tile set


Mock up in Photoshop

[Gil]

The dark outlines around everything are a bit too noisy visually. The mockup looks too busy from a distance. When I back away from my monitor, the character gets lost in the background.

The lighting is very cool though. Good job. Is that additive blending?