AuthorTopic: Walking mechanic guy  (Read 4780 times)

Offline Huge

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Walking mechanic guy

on: October 26, 2006, 02:25:04 pm
Hi all,  I have been working on a character for a game.  He is a mechanic, and I'm going for a cartoony style.





I am undecided on whether to shade or animate his face, and to what extent.
Any C&C would be great.

Offline Franky G

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Re: Walking mechanic guy

Reply #1 on: November 01, 2006, 02:34:40 am
This is a tough one to comment on.

I think the animation is actually quite good. Its very detailed and while i can't see any real problems with it, i think there are issues with this one which to me are more fundamental than anything (Feel free to argue with me on this people). I couldn't put my finger on it to begin with but the more i think about it the more it comes clear and obvious to me. Anyway, i'll try to be as blunt so to be as clear as possible so if i sound rough, please dont take offense.

I can see two big issues with this one.

1. The character is moving too slow: I can't realy say this because i dont have a context to work with, but my intuition tells me the walking animation is too restrictive. Thats about as quick as he's going to go. Its a 10 frame detailed animation. I'd suggest a 3-5 frame animation that will allow some play in the speed the character travels. Take a look at this one for example:


2. Its hard to identify this guy as a mechanic: This is an open comment. How you wish to resolve this is entirely up to you but i think others will also agree. My suggestion would be to throw a hard hat or wrench/toolbox in on this one just to fit the stereotype.

I also think the shading needs a little work but i can't comment on how to go about this one. I find working with smaller pics much harder as there is so little space to work with on details. Its hard to see his face on the grey background without some outline so perhaps that might help.

Either way, I'd suggest you focus on the major 2 issues. Perhaps it'll be easier to provide some feedback after this. (If i can get my hands on a gif editor i'll see if i can help).

Let us know when you have an update.

Offline JonathanOfDrain

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Re: Walking mechanic guy

Reply #2 on: November 01, 2006, 03:07:18 am
I highly suggest you change the blue. It's very blue.

This might be a style thing, but are both of the eyes supposed to be on the same side?

Offline Huge

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Re: Walking mechanic guy

Reply #3 on: November 01, 2006, 05:06:34 am

1. The character is moving too slow
2. Its hard to identify this guy as a mechanic


Thanks for you comments.  I'm quite new the animation stuff, and I was trying here to do 1-pixel movement per frame and avoid his feet sliding.  But the idea of doing fewer/faster frames should cover this up too - and save some work.  I wish I though of that at the start.  In actual fact, I run this animation much faster and the feet to not correlate to the ground in the final game, so I think I could have got away with fewer frames anyhow.

Point 2 is not so important in context, but I think I will put a spanner in hit pocket somewhere.

Hopefully I will get better at shading over time - I'm having trouble with the small size too.

JonathanOfDrain: He is very blue, but he is in quite a colour-saturated game.  I will post a link to this game when I get home.  I could try toning him down a little.  His eyes are on the same side mainly because I'm too slack to do an 8-way animation, and I use this angle to cover movement from north-north-east to south-south-east

Offline Huge

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Re: Walking mechanic guy

Reply #4 on: November 01, 2006, 02:54:09 pm
Ok, here is some more stuff.  I did these directions before reading these comments:


and this one, which I'm not that happy with (it is also half reflected)


You can get a feel for the context from this experimental java based demo showing the various motions:
Java Demo

Offline Sherman Gill

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Re: Walking mechanic guy

Reply #5 on: November 04, 2006, 06:59:03 pm
Coconut, would you be more specific?
Just saying it's "Bad Pixel Art itself" isn't very useful. You should put in an actual critique in there.

The downward animation:
The facial features are not distinguishable enough.
You should create a darker shade for the skin, use that for the mouth and for the outline. As for the eyes... I don't know what you could do.
Oh yes naked women are beautiful
But I like shrimps more haha ;)

Offline Peppermint Pig

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Re: Walking mechanic guy

Reply #6 on: November 09, 2006, 08:11:22 am
Yes, facial features are not easy to see. Don't be afraid to use sharper facial details at this scale.
Here's an edit showing what I would consider doing:



While ultra contrasted, ultra saturated sprites are not recommended, you wouldn't want a character that was much less contrasting than the backround, in most cases, so you'd have to keep that in mind and try to create backgrounds that avoid strong contrasts, especially the use of black outlines and sharp details, because that can make it hard to see the main character also.

You're making progress with the animation. I look forward to seeing more stuff, huge.

Offline Huge

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Re: Walking mechanic guy

Reply #7 on: November 12, 2006, 01:45:31 pm
Thanks for the comments guys.

I have upped the contrast of the hair, face and feet.  Added a spanner.
I tried to de-saturating the blue, but it made him looked washed-out against the (admittadly fluro) background.
Next time I will start with a less saturated background.