[WIP] [C&C] WrestleBot Character

[heyguy]

Update on the jump animation. Not sure if I need that addition frame where the robot is extending his legs for the jump. I'd appreciate any critiques. What does everyone think of this jump pose and animation. The foreshortening on the boots? As I look at them now, they seem a little big. Starting to work on the grab and throw attack now.

[Joe]

I don't think the pose itself follows, assuming that's a vertical jump. If you jump up you'll see your tibia actually goes behind, slightly, as your femur goes forward. As for the arms, the elbows should stay raised but the forearms shouldn't be angled so steep, and the hands should still face the player. That would result in a more competent jump.

[heyguy]

Does this look any better? Still a WIP. The robot is jumping in an arc. Sort of like a ball bounce, like how some bosses from  Megaman X jump.

[heyguy]

Another jump pose. A little more dynamic but I'll need a couple more unique frames of animation to make it all flow correctly from idle to jump to belly flop pose to land (to standing back up to idle???). More frames than I'd prefer to draw probably. Should I go with this one instead though. I think I might be able to reuse torso to create the actual frame where he's jumping off the ground.

Fleshing out the grab and throw attack animation too. Reusing the grab and throw pose, just changing the hands on each frame and adding some "whoosh" to the throw. I like the general motion of the animation overall. The winding up pose behind his back looks a bit weird maybe.

[Joe]

Well what I'm saying is if you throw your arms back and forelegs forward, that would have the result of turning your entire weight backward, you can't jump like that and land straight. So if he's jumping more or less straight up and down, that pose would result in a sloppy landing.
But if he's jumping backward that pose is good, though the hands should still be bent down, always at the ready. It looks to me like you have backwards and forward/up jumps, and should use them accordingly.
Grab animation looks good.

[heyguy]

Thanks for elaborating Joe! I'm going to create the forward jump pose after I finish this grab move. So here's a quick update on the grab and throw animation. Still working on individual sets of  hands for grab and the throw frame. Does this new pose seem to match proportionally to the original models idling proportions?

[heyguy]

Here's a wip update for the jump. I feel I'm 95% done with the poses and shading. I'm still experimenting with the animation.  What's better, jump 1 or jump 2?

I'll might add some more bouncy-ness and variation to the arms during the fall and the landing. Any comments or critiques anything? Does the anatomy, proportions of limbs, foreshortening, etc all match and flow smoothly? Try and imagine him jump forward from right to left in an arc. I guess I should probably even animate the arc motion too. I'm also still having some trouble giving him a metallic sheen.