[WIP] Dungeon Romp (Animations!)

[Avocado]

This is the wip for the characters that are going to be in a platformer game that I am working on.  The protagonist is facing right, enemies are facing left.


Old walk, Im going to change the arm and shield/sword movement a bit:


The version of the protagonist farthest left was the sloppy mockup version.  When I decided to try to limit characters to three colors, I had trouble making his hat fit in, so I ditched it.  I feel like I had some success with readability but he still seems very flat to me and any color recommendations would be appreciated.  You don't have to stick to my restrictions with c&c but I would prefer if I could stick to three colors max per character.
I feel like i had some success with the knight, but the axeman seems a little off and again, kind of flat.  The skeleton is more wip than the rest and is just a sketch, but any help with him would be appreciated as well.


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[Avocado]

I've been a bit busy lately but I found time to throw together a walking animation. Four frames, but I figure that since theres very little distinction between the two legs it serves its purpose.  I might add some more exaggerated movement to the shield, I was just focusing on the legs with this.



Updated the animation slightly. C&C would be greatly appreciated.

[Avocado]

Updated the characters file in the first post!

Any thoughts?  Are they too messy now?

[xenobond]

My eyes are drawn to the shield now.
As it's swaying back and forth, the bowl in the center gets wobbly.

In my mind the shield would mostly be bobbing up and down.

[ndchristie]

i'm afraid that he looks liked a really fat kid with a belly-button ring.

try making the shield gray maybe?  or somehow making is less in a belly-position.

btw - he's a lefty?

[Avocado]

Oh man, I see exactly what you mean with the fat kid thing. eee.  I'll try to see what I can work out with the shield as far as making it look like a shield and making the animation more fluid.

About him being a lefty, it seemed to me that because the character would be facing right most of the time it would be better if the sword weren't in his face, so I made him a lefty.  When he faces left he's just going to be reversed in-game, because that seems like the simplest solution.  I also feel like it would possibly? be distracting if the weapon arms stayed consistent when the character turned.

[bengo]

'Style suggestion' of what I think would make it look better and an edit of the original. Try to make the light source come up from the top and make it so it mirrors well, unless you plan on doing both sides.

[Gil]

I think the original looks better than both of those Bengoshia. The style he got going is very yummy. It all his this NES-flair over it that should be retained imo

[Ben2theEdge]

Definitely digging the NES charm although I agree that his shield reads more like a big round tummy.
Regarding the animation, you should put more swing into his arms on the walk cycle, no one walks just by rotating their torso even if they're carrying a sword and a shield.

No offense Bengoshia but I'm not sure what the benefit of a "style suggestion" is, if you don't know the context of what it's being used for or what the artist is trying to achieve. We should understand what he's trying to do and then help him do it.

[bengo]

Nevermind my post, I didn't help, I'm not going to try and say I did, so, hurm, yeah. No I'm not mad or anything, just let the thread go on as usual.