Crow Enemy Walking

[jahasaja]

Continuing the snail pace updating of the A Bastard's Tale.

Trying to make one more crow enemy. Not sure if got the head animation correct.

[MysteryMeat]

The head motion is fine, but it's a bit choppy and the shading seems to be a bit inconsistent around the torso area.
These are not necessarily bad things if you're going for a "this shit ain't natural" vibe though, long as you have smoother animated stuff to contrast against.

[jahasaja]

Thanks for the Input. I tried to make the shading better.

I also exaggerated the head movement to make it more bird like.

[Roach]

The shading is still rather inconsistent, mainly towards its back. It appears to me, rather than the light being transferred to different parts of the body, the body is being warped. Keep the light source stationary, let the body move into the light. Not move the body with the light. Think reasonably about what would possibly be creating those shadows in the first place.

[jahasaja]

Thanks Roach.

Did some changes to the shading still not perfect but better I hope.

[Roach]

Your light source is still inconsistent. I made a quick edit to try to explain. the biggest problem I found on this, was in its stomach. His abdominal muscles awkwardly lit up rather than keeping their consistent color. Speaking of the stomach, his abdominal muscles seem to warp extremely awkwardly. try to find a way to keep them consistent. also if you can see detail from his torso at this angle, you should be able to see some detail on his back. I made a quick edit to his side, adding a hint of a lat, its not perfect, just an idea of what you should do. If you touch up on these  you're a step closer to making a really dynamic sprite.

[jahasaja]

Thanks for the edit Roach!


I tried to follow you advice as well as improving the stomach and chest.

I also made him taller but that was mainly for gameplay purposes.

[KonradGM]

Very good work, only problem with i have with it, is the head, if you pay close attention to the head it feel's like it moved by itself while not being attached to the chest, if anything i'd reduce the movement of it, and made it stick to the chest more, but that is just me

[MysteryMeat]

I think that may actually be more of an issue with how birds work.

See, the reason (many, not all) birds bob their head is because they can't move their eyes, so they have to rely on stabilization of their heads in order to see well. Like with us, we can keep our eyes focused on a thing while birds have to move the entire head.

Because of this, those birds try to keep their heads as static as possible when they move, resulting in the forward-bobbing motion many people associate with them when they have to move the head to keep up with their body.
You can see it here on these pigeons:


In terms of fixing it on the sprite, I'd say quicken the bob so the head juts forward every step they take, like above.

[Hellpug]

I can't help but be bothered by his right arm, the one further back, as he walks. It has the look of it being sort of dragged/ it lacks the energy of the left arm.  Something I learned in school was for more realistic animation is the successive breaking of joints.  His whole arm moves as a piece together, rather the Upper arm> Fore arm > then hand being swung forward fluidly. Although more simply, as I look at it, it seems that the energy that the other arm has comes from the "flick" at the end with it's blade. The right arm's blade just sort of hangs there are the right arm comes forward.

I really like the style of this. Reminds me of some creepy pixel games I've played/seen.