[WIP] Character sprite to be animated

[Calcobrena]

EDIT:

http://imgur.com/1ymVdMZ

(In case the image isn't showing.)

This is a frame for a character I'd like to animate, not really having any pixel experience (neither just pixel art nor animation).

I was wondering if I could get some criticism on the sprite, particularly the silhouette, use of colours and readability? Is the AA necessary?

Also, does anybody have any tips on keeping animating manageable? I've been using Aseprite on and off, but I find when my colour count/sprite size gets bigger, it becomes a lot harder to manage the flow of an animation.

[MysteryMeat]

it helps to use simple shapes or simpler color schemes. as a rule, if you are using a lot of colors or complexity it's gonna be longer to animate.

[yaomon17]

Also animate in parts and layers (after getting basic frames of your keys down). Animate say the hat first, then the arms, the torso and legs.

[sonicspin]

nice sprite, but
you asked about AA, right?
so i say about AA, don't use it in the outside of the sprite, because you're assuming backgrounds

[Calcobrena]

Is there anything I can improve for this?

[MysteryMeat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQl7wDCKXSM

[MysteryMeat]

More in-depth though, if you want to see some good idle animations to take inspiration from the Mario and Luigi games are a personal gold-standard for me. All of them just have so much energy in them, love it!

[Calcobrena]

Ohh, thanks so much for the edit.

I do eventually wanna make a second loop, something more sedate though to fit the character.

They're a big source of inspiration for me too.

[MysteryMeat]

If you're going for a more sedate thing, some kind of hip-sway might work with some floaty-casty arm movements might work. Lotta idle animations are all about representing the personality of the character, hard to pull off with slower characters sometimes.

[heyguy]

You've got a really cool character! It reminds me of a Heartless/Black Mage type character from Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. MysteryMeat made some great improvements to your animations too! Wish I had better critique for you but Mystery pretty much fixed and stated it, I think your animation needed a faster pace. Can't wait to see your updates and second animation!

[Calcobrena]

Major WIP animation, focussing more on the object/character the player is holding (an umbrella). It's still in the sketch stage, so any minor discrepancies between frames will be ironed out later on.



(concept work for reference)

At the moment, there's a lot to improve on the character themselves, but is there a better way I should be animating the umbrella? Is it creating too wide an arc for player character movement in a platformer?

[MysteryMeat]

This looks FANTASTIC, dude! I think you might be putting the framerate up too high though, looks like sped-up footage.

[drain.]

snip

At the moment, there's a lot to improve on the character themselves, but is there a better way I should be animating the umbrella? Is it creating too wide an arc for player character movement in a platformer?

Looks great!

If you're trying to apply cartoon physics into your game the umbrella is definitely believable and accurate (because everything is believable in cartoons). Like MysteryMeat said, it's going way too fast. I believe there a few threads about framerate in the animation section, but I'm not sure.

[Calcobrena]

Thank you both for feedback!

Would you say this is dialed back enough?

[MysteryMeat]

Yeah speeds right but now the gait looks uneven, he's on his camera-near foot longer than his camera-far foot.

Gives him kind of a limp.

[drain.]

Thank you both for feedback!

Would you say this is dialed back enough?

The framerate seems to be perfect now, but there are some things I would change.



left is mine right is yours

I couldn't get them to render in the same framerate, but eh.

What I changed:
- In some frames, the arms were in the exact same place, so I nudged the a bit.
- The feet were also wonky in some places.
- I made the face bob left and right.
- I made the hat bounce when he goes down, since it's not glued on his head.

edit: also, MysteryMeat is right, he looks likes he has a limp.

[Calcobrena]

Cheers for the draw-over, that gives me a great direction to aim for the second sketch over.

I'm not happy with the limp-ness of the legs, there's something wrong with the frame before the loop restarts, so hopefully I can get it to remain dorky without being jarring.