I have been pixelling for 6 months now

[animann]

Well I did a little animation and pls help me with this...



I do not want to dither since Im after the flat shading because this is from an anime but pls help me with everything else.

[animann]

Man 33 views with no reply... Pls help me improve this, criticize it, point out my errors.

[Cure]

Don't beg for comments and criticism.  They come in their own time, never bump a topic, especially after so short of a time  period.
As for the animation, I'd like to see his legs move more as he shifts his weight from side to side.  It'd also be nice if his head bobbed, and if his hair and arms moved.

[animann]

Don't beg for comments and criticism.  They come in their own time, never bump a topic, especially after so short of a time  period.
As for the animation, I'd like to see his legs move more as he shifts his weight from side to side.  It'd also be nice if his head bobbed, and if his hair and arms moved.

Thanks and sorry, shading wise and other things similar what are my errors??

[Tremulant]

heh, Cure posted while I was typing, so I'll spare you the reprimand... and apologize in advance for repetition

Anyhoo, as to the actual piece...

The first thing that sticks out as problematic is the animation. It appears to basically be a cut and paste job (with certain sections sliding up and down). I'd suggest putting a little more polish into it, maybe drawing each frame individually or at least giving it a bit more attention than it's getting atm. It's a bit stiff, as well... kind of unnatural. When a person bounces, it tends to produce a more fluid motion that's hard for me to explain. Not having an animation program on hand, it's hard for me to make and example, but this SF sprite I found captures it to an extent:



As to the actual pixel work, it's decent. Contrast is ok, palette's a bit bland, but that's mainly personal preference. There is some pillow shading going on, and despite the extensive AA, you've got some jaggies lingering.

Overall s'pretty cool, but you've got some polish left to put on it. Good luck!

[animann]

Thanks for the advice and if its ok, could you tell me where pillow shade?

[AdamAtomic]

I think what you have here is a great first step toward a good idle animation.  This is how I usually work:

0 - Figure out my primary motion (in this case, torso bobbing)
1 - Cut & paste and then shift around existing parts of my pixel art (this is the stage you have completed)...
2 - Make subtle changes to the shading in the moving areas so that it doesn't LOOK like copy/paste...
3 - Figure out my SECONDARY motion (you have nooone of this)
4 - cut/paste/shift/alter/etc
5 - repeat!

What is secondary motion?  The interweb says:

"We use the term secondary motion to refer to these passive motions that are generated in response to environmental forces or the movements of characters and other objects. For example, the movement of clothing and hair will add visual complexity to an animated scene of a running figure."

In this case, bobbing the torso up and down would have a direct affect on the character's shoulders and head, which would then have an effect on his arms and hair.  Exaggerating these motions while still keeping them believable is the key to great animation!  If you need inspiration I recommend watching the Incredibles - the secondary in that movie is mind-blowing!

[Tremulant]

There are a number of areas where pillowing shows through (the bottom fringe of the vest, in the hands, the pantlegs). There is also some pillowing going on in your AA. I've noticed the pillow-aa thing is a pretty common occurance (among many) and often times, it's not even regarded or picked up on as pillowing. I made a little example, which someone at some point might find useful if they don't really know what, exactly, pillow shading is:



The upper rectangular shape exhibits a bad case of pillow aa'ing. Note that the point of aa is to smooth the piece, and if done like this, only adds jags and blur.

Hope it's helpful at some point. Keep in mind, too, that the pillow shading in this example is pretty extreme for the sake of illustrating the point. Pillowing is present in your piece, but not to anywhere near this extent.

[ptoing]

One small thing about animation: It's all about volumes and keeping them constant (few exceptions where you can break this in cartoony stuff).

In your anim his legs are shrinking. You should pixel them bending. Keep at it.

[animann]

Thanks guys for the tips and I will try my best to fix the things you guys pointed out. I know what pillow shading is but sometimes I do not know how to shade some parts so I end up pillow shading unintentionally. So I will re evaluate everything in terms of animation and shading. And another thing is that I never AA (is this anti-alias) anything since I do not know how. Anyway thanks again guys.

[animann]

Which one is better (the leg animation)

OLD     NEW

[Bo]

The new leg animation is better but far from perfect. the lower legs still have to move some.

there is a few white strays on the legs and one next to the hair.

the character design looks like naruto in one of his teachers clothes.

also. holding his fist againt his chest now that he doesnt have the knife looks kinda like hes gonna cough. you might want to look into that little problem

[animann]

The new leg animation is better but far from perfect. the lower legs still have to move some.

there is a few white strays on the legs and one next to the hair.

the character design looks like naruto in one of his teachers clothes.

also. holding his fist againt his chest now that he doesnt have the knife looks kinda like hes gonna cough. you might want to look into that little problem

there I fixed the white ones.. It is from naruto (Yondaime who sealed the demon into naruto) And what do you mean by moving the lower legs??

[Bo]

what do you mean by moving the lower legs??

The white part at the bottom of the pants is completely static.

[animann]

how is the left arm and leg animation??

[Feron]

how is the left arm and leg animation??

Yay for Masturbation 

[animann]

Yay for Masturbation 

lol I knew that someone will say that. Man How will I animate the arms and hands.

[S51]

I think one of the problems with the animation of the legs is that you have absolutely no horizontal movement in the knee. Get a mirror, stand in front of it and look at how the angle of your leg changes. Think of the leg as two parts, the thigh and calf. Here is a really crappy looking illustration:



This is a side view, though the same basic principle works in any perspective. In an effort to give the illusion that your character is moving up and down, you basically made his thigh stretch up and down. Then you made it so that his thigh and calf move up and down stretching the ankle. If you want to having him bobbing up and down the way that makes most sense, at least for a martial arts stance, is bending and unbending the knees ever so slightly. His torso doesn't move down because his leg gets shorter, it moves because his knee moves outwards, changing the angles of his calf and thigh. I suppose if you didn't want that kind of bobbing motion you could have him perched on the front of his foot (think muai thai), but it seems like that's not what you're going for.

And yes, it does look like he's touching his invisible dong.