[WIP] First game character

[tripvan]

I'm making a game with a similar style to Hyper Light Drifter, this is my fourth iteration on the protagonist.

Pose:

Run:


I'm looking to get some feedback before I go on with the next iteration/other animations. I was aiming for a sort of grizzled, reluctant hero thing (think Old Snake etc) but ended up in cartoon run territory. How should I go about adding a bit more gravitas to the run cycle and overall a bit more stoicism/weight to the character design without going too far the other direction (i.e. not too gritty and dark)?

[lpflicke]

Like the design but I agree the run animation looks cartoony.
His legs don't really extend fully in of him and it looks a bit like its the same arm in the background because the arm isn't present except from when its in front. The back leg also looks a bit like its on front/the body tilted diagonally towards "camera" while the head is facing directly left.I think adding more emphasis when his feet hit the ground and less when moving it should add some weight but i'm not really experienced in animation at all so best to just look at reference.

[MysteryMeat]

Some various tweaks. I didn't do much to the leading arm, but I gave the far arm more movement to differentiate it and added leg-extend frames, with some cape tweaks to keep it fluid.
I also added a bit of coloration to the area the elbows would hit, to give it the impression of the leading arm's elbow hitting into the fabric as it swings back. The cape animation still needs a lot of work here but hopefully it gives you some ideas!
Really like the character design, puts me in mind of Hyper Light Drifter's excellent minimalist stylization.

EDIT: And just in case you want to keep it six frames, I swapped the new ones for the frames immediately after to get this: