Female anime sprite base animation -- C&C requested

[Lendrick]

Still struggling with this.  I made some major changes to the right walk animation.  It's still very rough at the moment, but I wanted to get people's thoughts before I took the time to do all the detailing on it.



I've also, as you can see, settled on a version with a smaller torso, which gives her a bit more of an hourglass look.  I'm hoping it's not glaringly awful.  The question, of course, is does it look stylized at this point, or just bad?  I don't have the eye for anatomy yet, so I really can't tell.

Any comments would be appreciated! 

Thanks,
Bart

[Scribblette]

To me the hourglass shape too strong and too high, as opposed to stylistic. You've probably seen this already, but this Andrew Loomis example shows that perhaps the indent should be lower than it is. The hips look too wide for the shoulders - and especially on such a small waist. IMHO, anyway.

http://www.create-fantasy-art.com/images/AndrewLoomisBodyProportionsFemaleSmall.jpg

As far as the pelvis goes, it had me stumped on my old sprites as well when Atnas mentioned it. You can find a clearer example here, demonstrating how the legs don't really terminate at the crotch, but creep up around the sides on the hips, resulting in - especially at the size you're drawing - a bony ridge around the navel:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-H-t-Wz1VNU/SZOlW51sIsI/AAAAAAAACQY/cLADH5GOTg4/s400/06AndrewLoomis_FigureDrawing_96.jpg
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3383/107nt5.jpg

What do you mean by 'more detailing'? You already have plenty of shades - the difference in lighting and lines between frames seems like it could be more fluid. Any more (heck, as is with 8 frames at that size anyway) and you're risking burn out for the massive amount of work involved in any other animations.

I'm no expert, but hopefully some of that is on the right path and will help you find what you're looking for.

[Lendrick]

Okay, I'm kind of stumped on this.  As for "more detailing", notice how some of the right walk frames look rough.  I just want to make sure the walk animation looks decent before I clean it up.  I'll try widening her shoulders a bit on the front frame and re-shaping her torso, and see how it comes out.

[Lendrick]

Does this look any better?

[Scribblette]

To me, yes! Considered thinning the thighs a little? They seem extra round and less like muscle groups.

[Lendrick]

I'd rather she not appear overly muscular.  I've toned down some of the highlights and shadows here, but I've also shaped them a bit to give her what I think is a bit more volume.  How's this look:

[Scribblette]

I might've used the wrong words - I don't mean muscle groups as in muscular, but as in the general shape. I can't find any other examples than a slightly muscular one by ndchristie, though.



I'd stay with the stronger contrast, darker shadows as per grayscale shot - accentuated her waist nicely. The new shading on her legs looks like an improvement.