Overly exadurated broad swordsmen (Attack animation updated)

[Souly]

Basically making a fighter sprite with a huge sword.
Edit: I just realized I made him left handed..
Edit2: I've done some coloring and shading.
The body is unfinished, it's getting late so I'll wait till morning to do more.

[TrevoriuS]

reminds me of this fella:
http://www.geocities.com/cc3chan/berserk1.jpg

[Souly]

reminds me of this fella:
http://www.geocities.com/cc3chan/berserk1.jpg

Gatts is very much the character I was basing this off of.
I loved Beserk, it's the only manga I've read fully.
Shame how it ended.

It was mainly this image that made me want to make a giant broadsword swordsmen.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/soulcop/19-20.jpg

[sharprm]

Is he dragging his sword along the ground? IF not, I would prefer it if his walk was uneven, otherwise it doesn't seem heavy.

His right leg comes back too far on walk anim.

You are very good with the pictures with variable line widths. However, with single lines, I think volumes and shading become more important and you need to work on that more in this piece.

His left leg is wrong, the shin is too small, dont think you could even justify it even if there was perspective coming into play. Also, legs get thinner at the knees in my mind, which is not happening. With his right arm, the forearm is too long and other bit too short, his right shoulder is too close to neck. His feet are too small, his fingers too short. The two darkest shades on skin are nice but the highlights are abstract (because of giant square pixels). What kind of clothes is he wearing? weird colors.

[Ben2theEdge]

There's a few design issues that should be mentioned; Now granted, the fact that he has a sword that's longer than his height means reality goes out the window, but there are still some "realistic" touches you can give it to help suspend disbelief.

I think the hilt should be longer so he has more leverage to move that thing. As it is, even if it were as light as a feather he would have incredible difficulty swinging that thing because the hilt is so uncomfortably short.

I also don't think the character looks like someone who would carry a sword that big; take away the sword and the guy isn't very intimidating at all, he's average build, average height guy who will be vulnerable to anyone that doesn't try to attack his head (since it's armored). How can this character exist? Does he have a magical sword that enables him to wield it easily despite his physical weakness? You could play that up. Or is he a hardened warrior who has trained in extreme physical conditions? If so, he would inspire fear in his enemies even without the sword; you would look at him and say "obviously he would carry a sword like that!"

I hope this doesn't sound harsh, I'm just trying to inspire your imagination to work a little harder on this guy's personality. Right now it's just like "Ooh big sword! Oh, and there's a dude carrying it." Good character design is vitally important for fighting games.

[Souly]

Sharprm:
Yes, he is dragging his sword at all times.
I guess I can add some sparks or ground being dug up to show that.
I imagine the sword to be rediculously heavy so it'd be pointless to try and carry it in the air.
You'd just waste energy if you held it in the air while running.
Basically he's just going to be slamming his sword around.

What do you mean by variable lines?

I'll take a look into what I can do to fix the legs and proportion problems.
Earlier this morning I tried fixing the walking animation.


As for the clothes, I wasn't really thinking when I them, them just kind of went with the flow.
I didn't want too much heavy aromor since the sword looks unbelievably too big to swing.
So I was thinking just a chain mail suit.
But at the moment it's too green and I also have to figure out how to make good chain mail without making animation even harder for myself.
 
Ben2theEdge:
Alright, I'll make the hilt longer.
I was just getting ready to touch up the sword.

Well the sword isn't supposed to match the size of the guy using it.
It's supposed to match the size of the things he has to use it against.
The character in the manga trained with an adult sword when he was a child.
So as he got bigger, so did his sword.

Besides his build size is there any way I could make him a bit moral decreasing?
I guess I could try and buff him up and make him seem pure raw muscle.

Also does anyone have crits on the new walking animation at the moment?

[Souly]

->
Changed the hand placement as well as the the length of the hilt.
Obviously worked on the sword a bit, made it more obvious that he drags it everywhere.
Lenthened his left shin, shortened his right forearm.

[Arachne]

Ooh, this is coming along nicely.

His arms are a bit oddly shaped, though, and his right (our left) elbow needs to be lower. I think he should be more turned to the side facing the hilt of the sword with his arms closer to his body. He also needs bigger feet.

I think you should try not to use black for outlines where you can avoid it, like on the brighter parts of his armor. The shading on his torso makes him look a bit flat, so add a bit more shadow to it. I'm also not sure if that brown shade works placed next to that green. It seems a bit random. I'd also use a darker color on the arms and helmet instead of that gray. You need more contrast to make it look metallic.

As for the animation, slow it down and try to have him pause after each step. I'm not sure how to animate something like that, but maybe you'll get a better idea of how he should move if you find something heavy and try dragging it behind you?  I think he'll be more upright as he takes a step forwards, then he'll put his weight on that foot and lean forwards to drag his sword along. Also try to rotate the sword a bit so that the tip is always at ground level rather than have it bounce around like that.

Looking forward to seeing it done!

[Souly]

->
Arachne, you're suggestion gave me a great idea for the walk while I was doing the colored version.
Which was make him lean forward while pulling the sword.


Here's one with the pause for you Arachne.

The suit part is still under development...

[Azgardes]

I my opinion the sword seems too light. He's pulling it too easily, maybe exaggerate the dragging motion so it seems stresses a bit more? Also, the walking cycle is very choppy, it actually doesn't even seem to be walking, more a shuffling of his feet.