2D Fighter RPG (Updated fighter idle)

[Souly]

Tried taking what you showed me and applying it to the melee idle.
Not sure if I made it better or worse.
Tried fixing some of the joint problems and limb stretching...

[PypeBros]

Tried fixing some of the joint problems and limb stretching...

By the way, is limb stretching always bad ? I mean we are seeing a 2D picture of a 3D guy, so "stretching" may simply be due to the elbow moving along the Z axis.

Maybe the best way to figure out is to stick red dots on your own joints, place yourself in front of a camera and do an idle stance, just like rotoscoping used to do (given modern digital cameras, it should be quite easier

NB: while typing this, my browser got buggy and start skipping some frames of the animated gifs below, which surprisingly made the character more "real" (despite a more jumpy animation) as he wasn't repeating the same movement again and again. It might worth investigating further

[Feron]

one problem i see is that his torso and shoulders are facing us (the viewer) with his head turned to the side 90º.  If i was fighting someone i would have my body turned almost directly to them...

[Helm]

Actually no, in most martial stances your guard stance has as little of your vital line (from head to the groin) exposed to the enemy as possible, I am fairly certain. One puts the arms  (or weapons) in front of that line to shield it. If you look at a boxers stance, you'll see it's slightly turned as well. Not a full 90 degrees of course, but closer to that than to head-on.

[Souly]

one problem i see is that his torso and shoulders are facing us (the viewer) with his head turned to the side 90º.  If i was fighting someone i would have my body turned almost directly to them...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BEFyswBe4x0
This is why you want to turn your body...

Tried working a bit on the arms, noticed the lost smoothness in the new version.

[ndchristie]

Tried taking what you showed me and applying it to the melee idle.
Not sure if I made it better or worse.

this will have very little effect on the quality of the wireframe, you'll find the benefit of it when you go to draw over it.

also, such a simple stance isn't going to make too too much use of the parts, but when you get into attacks or walking/running, it becomes important.  Those simple lines you had don't provide enough movement and you start relying on squashing straight lines rather than moving maniples.

[Helm]

the point of the red nodes is that you can use them first to show smooth movement that the eye can follow. Can you follow trajectories that make sense here?

[Souly]

Added two more frames.

[sharprm]

MAybe the red dots should follow elliptical paths or curved paths, see Fool's post:

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?PHPSESSID=edc8818933d13af34065c9b698de3253&topic=6299.msg74399#msg74399

[Souly]