[WIP] Misc Animations

[IrresponsibleFreelancer]

One thing i think you should do to really get the effect of the shuffle is motion blur the legs a bit.  Or at least a bit more than you may have already.  Without the fluidity of an added motion blur it looks a bit stiff and not as cool.  Even in the Ali gif you get a bit of motion blur.  It looks really cool though and is a really good idea. 

[Rosier]

One thing i think you should do to really get the effect of the shuffle is motion blur the legs a bit.  Or at least a bit more than you may have already.  Without the fluidity of an added motion blur it looks a bit stiff and not as cool.  Even in the Ali gif you get a bit of motion blur.  It looks really cool though and is a really good idea. 

I added a bit of blur when the legs cross, but I can try to add more; maybe if I add another detail like a leg band or something it might come across better.  I'm more or less satisfied with the motion, so adding some variation seems good.


In other news, a One Two Punch.  The shuffle flows into to this, but it looks a bit weaker than I'd like it to...  Maybe the follow up might help when I finish that.

[The B.O.B.]

   If the character is meant to be a boxer, the posturing is the opposite of what it should be. In other words, your character's leg is moving with the arm that is leading the punch. It should be the opposite, in that the leg on the same side of the arm should be staying back to stabilize and exert more power on the punch. If it's a jab, there really shouldn't be much movement on the legs at all.
   I suggest paying close attention to the way boxers train and look at their feet positioning in comparison to their body and arms. In fact, try to do what your character is doing in real life, and honestly ask yourself if that is a wise way to move one's body for an attack.

[Rosier]

Switched the arm sides and lessened the leg movement for the quick jab, plus added a few more details to make it easier to read.

[The B.O.B.]

Switched the arm sides and lessened the leg movement for the quick jab, plus added a few more details to make it easier to read.

Looking a little better.

   I decided to give the sprite a quick edit, just to kinda' calm him down abit. I feel like the colors you choose don't have much separation. in some cases. It makes it a bit hard for the eyes to distinguish in some parts. I tried working with the palette you used and edited it with colors that were more distinguishable. Here's a sample of it in this idle animation I did:


   
   I feel like the pose you have seems a bit off for a boxer. That's not to say that all boxers have the above stance, but it's far more common. In the animation above, I gave him a bit of a hunched position where his fists are a bit more closer to the face, to allow for mixture of guard and punches during battle. The version on the left(ver.1), is a more subtle idle, whereas the idle on the right(ver.2) is more springy and active. You can get a better idea by the little dot beside each character, which is set at the top of the head. You can see the extremes the dots bounce up and down to, to understand the differences in distance with the character's movement. Of course, It's all based on the attitude of the character and his personality, but thought that would be important to mention.



   The jab is there to demonstrate how that punch can be transitioned from the idle. This is just in the case that your attempting a jab animation, as I can't tell what exactly you're going for. The stance allows for it, with minimal movement of the legs and body. However, it seems like you're trying to mix the Ali shuffle with a combination of straights of sorts(like Balrog/Bison of Street Fighter fame) so I did a quick(rough) edit of it:



   When Ali does the shuffle he does set back JUST a bit. His arms hang back a bit to prep for either a jab, a straight, or a combination of a jab into a straight. The shoulders and arms don't move as much as your sprite is as well. Also, the thighs aren't moving as much either. Transitioned from the idle to show the stance can be done with that type of showboat style. Of course, there is the combo in the end which can be set up after the shuffle, so I added it below as well:



   It pretty much resembles Balrog/Bison/Boxer from the Street Fighter games. I'm just referencing it as that is what it seems like you're going for; two straights being produced from the legs(which is why the sturdy leg on the side of the punching arm is what sets back for stability and effectiveness in the power of the punch). Of course, there is a quick couple of frames during the transition of each key pose. Timing is sped up for each punch key, to make the impact of the punch seem more realistic.

   Again, none of this is what you have to go with or follow to the Tee. I see you're trying to go for dramatic affect in your animations via Conceit's posts, which is fine. The only thing I can recommend is to study general movement, so you know where the dramatic movement stems from in the end. Also, as a general criticism, it seems all your characters have stick figure bodies with round heads. I just wonder if you will be attempting more complex shapes in animation in the future. Here's to hopin'!


Cheers and good luck!

[Rosier]

Color/Pose Stuff

The colors are a definite improvement, but, at least for the moment, I'm not too fussed about shading as I'm just focused on animation.  When/If I'm satisfied with the motion, I may fully shade it, or I may not, and I'll definitely scrutinize yours if I do.  The face on mine definitely does need more differentiation now, though.  Also, it's a she, but that doesn't really matter in this context.

I need to make a sort of "idle animation" like yours, which would be the default stance  The shuffle to punch is just linking the animations together, but for now there's no default.  That being said, I want this character to have a much looser feel.  I recently finished catching up to boxing manga Hajime no Ippo, so the comparison here is Ippo (Whose stance is almost identical to yours) and Miyata (Whose more focused on speed and doesn't guard much and in fact occasionally drops his hands altogether).  She leans more to the speed side, which would involve more active arm movement, but the shuffle further exaggerates it (Though that doesn't appear to be accurate...  I'll look into that more).  Her non moving stance will look a bit more like Dudley's than yours. (Similar shoulder/waist movement, too, though that was somewhat unintentional.  Then again, this isn't the shuffle, so that might have been my mistake.)

Punch Stuff

Again, I need an idle for a simple jab, but these punches are step ins from the shuffle.  Once I add a normal stance, I'll add a normal jab.

After looking at a bunch of animated gifs, there's a few poses Ali tends to take.  One has him still leaning in a bit forward, but I'll probably work more on the lean back and tone down the arms.
Otherwise, I'll look more into linking everything and improving the current punches.



TLDR; I need to make an idle pose, may have confused Ali Shuffle with normal boxer movement, and look more into said movements.





And yeah, I tend to default to a very limited number of body types, typically really short or really tall.  I might try a more unique design for my next animation to branch out though...  that seems like a good idea.

[Rosier]

I went ahead and shaded it, sans the hair highlights for now.  This gives off a good impression of what I want the character to give off: loose, somewhat impatient, and constantly ticking or just general inexperience.

I want the default stance to be perfected before I continue on to anything else, so anything that can be substantially improved?

[astraldata]

Animation-wise, I cant see too much horribly wrong, but the height of the torso-to-hip area seems to shrink too badly and the shoulders are a bit out of place. You could indicate some more depth by making the forearms swing in and out of the background/foreground as they move because, right now, he kind of looks fly-swatted upper-body-wise.

His shoulders are twitchy, which, I know you'd like a nervous tick sort of thing going on, but that sort of thing would be best indicated via face/head/neck than with his body much. It is way too distracting as is, if that's what you're going for.

Lastly, and not as importantly I guess, but he kinda looks like he has boobs. Men's hips aren't wider than their shoulders are across. This oversight just makes the pixel placement on his chest more glaringly female-looking...

[Rosier]

Animation-wise, I cant see too much horribly wrong, but the height of the torso-to-hip area seems to shrink too badly and the shoulders are a bit out of place. You could indicate some more depth by making the forearms swing in and out of the background/foreground as they move because, right now, he kind of looks fly-swatted upper-body-wise.

His shoulders are twitchy, which, I know you'd like a nervous tick sort of thing going on, but that sort of thing would be best indicated via face/head/neck than with his body much. It is way too distracting as is, if that's what you're going for.

Lastly, and not as importantly I guess, but he kinda looks like he has boobs. Men's hips aren't wider than their shoulders are across. This oversight just makes the pixel placement on his chest more glaringly female-looking...

Messed with the torso area, made the arms circle around a bit more towards the screen, and hopefully untwitched the shoulders.  Also toyed with the hair so it doesn't look like she's twisting so much.

Also, again, she's a she.  I made the breasts more noticeable because of that exact reason.

[Rosier]

A quick jab followed by rapid jabs, based mostly on the first strike of Dudley's Special.