New forum member seeks help, reaches hand out hoping to be caught[wip]

[ter-o]

Looking good so far, just try to make shoulders move slightly too (try running yourself like that and pay attention to shoulders) and you need to double the bounce on the hair for both steps.

[Terley]

well mike you can only work on something like this bit by bit, get the leg movements down, then add in some shoulder and weight in there with each step, some work on arms possibly slight bob of the head and hair weight and some final touches like clothing, etc. I wouldn't try to do it all outright otherwise you're stabbing in the dark, work on the characters movements before worrying too much about the hair I'd say.

[Sherman Gill]

Also,
metal things are heavy, and since hammers are just hunks of metal, the hammer should have a lot of bobbing as the guy moves.

[Mike]

I tried bobbing the hammer when he steps down, not sure if its right

[thedaemon]

You should drag the hammer for a better effect. I like how his feet are right now. Remember when you walk you bounce up and down very little, when you jog you bounce up and down the most, and when you run you bounce up and down very little. You have his head bounching when you should have has body rotating. I'm at work and only have paint or I would do an edit. But when his hips go up, bend his shoulder/chest down. Then back up when his hips go down. BTW This looks like a jog. I think you should go for a solid color suit as it just looks dirty and unclear. You can't see the arms. Try curving his right arm a bit or his left. Hope this helps.

[Mike]

Dragging the hammer was my first instinct, but I couldn't do it well enough without making it look like a mistake.  Since his top half lowers more the hammer ends up going through the ground, so then i tried to rotate it and clean it up and bit and it still looked bad.  If there is a way to do it I will as I would love to add sparkly particle effects as it drags on the ground.

Here is my try of that...remember this one is way older than what i have now so just look at the hammer part. 

Also thedaemon i would love to see an edit from you, cause I've been at this sprite for a few days now, tweaking and retweaking and I'm not sure I'm getting it.

[CrazyMLC]

Heres another edit to represent what everyone says you should add.

i made another edit also because i like animating sprites for some reason.

except the transparent one wigged out.

enh.
now its hard to see the sparks.
great progress so far!

[willfaulds]

i think you'll find this thread very relevant

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=2201.msg26377#msg26377

good reference for dragging and motion blurs