shooting animation (a really crappy one, that wishes to be better)

[Dyluckk]

Trying to make a decent shooting animation for a small scale game I'm creating for a GUI class.
I need to bust out a few animations before next Thursday. 
I'm just working on his form, so there isn't really any detail put into him yet.

I want it to act similar to this: https://vimeo.com/103181741

I'm having trouble making him seem alive, or receiving the right amount of recoil.

I know he's basically all arms in this animation. I feel like he needs to be standing a little more sideways in the POV  and maybe a tad more in an action pose but I'm not sure what how that should transition from his idle stance. Help and guidance would be much appreciated 

Shoot anim:


This is the idle frame he would be transitioning from:


Thanks all

[MysteryMeat]

Try to have him recoil more or include some more violent shading, if you want to get fancy.
For example, you could have him get pushed a bit off-balance by it.
Another thing to improve would be to make the recoil animation a frame shorter, to make it more snappy.

[Cherno]

Take a look at Flashback's shooting animation. The head and shoulder area goes back slightly.
The sprites are in the lower quarter of the sprite sheet.

http://www.spriters-resource.com/snes/flashback/sheet/54385/

[lachrymose]

That is a bad bad bad reference. Both individuals are leaning slightly away from the gun. Elbows shouldn't be that extended either. They should be leaning forward, slightly bent at the knees with a slight bend in the elbows. Almost like you are "crouching" behind the gun. Look up police/military training videos for the good stuff.

[danmanr98]

Basically, to improve, just have the character themselves react to the gun-shot.
-add a bit of body movement to give the impression of recoil.
-add a bit of lighting to show that the Character and the Muzzle flash are in the same realm of existence :p

[Dyluckk]

Thanks for all of the replies 

I gave it another go, I think this looks a little better.
I started working on some of the detail for the character as well.
I'm not sure what I should do with his legs, if anything at all.



Still doesn't feel right though 

[wzl]

Hey dyluckk,
I found there to be several strange things going on your with your sprite:
the pose was off centered, slightly back leaning. The shoulders were weirdly connected to the torso, and the legs seem far too thin.
The perspective on the jacket/legs seems a bit mixed.

The pose and animation seemed flawed considering how you'd ideally fire a gun, and the kick doesnt really extend towards the elbow but shows more in the wrist.
The timing is completely off: the flash of light lingers too long, the kickback comes only a few frames after the flash.



I made these on stream so if you're interested, here's the vod (i derped with the browser window in the beginning )

BTW: here's the reference video we were talking about there https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylh4DyMADRU&feature=youtu.be&t=52