[WIP] Character animations for C+C

[rikfuzz]

Hi there!

These sprites are for a personal project, as opposed to freelance stuff, so it's not subject to the same scrutiny I'm used to which has made me a bit nervy about the quality. Unfortunately I've got quite far with lots of frames, so it will be a pain to redo things now, but I'm really interested to see if there's any useful feedback for both the artwork and the animation.


running


idle


jump up + fall down


slice

Apologies about the 2x size, I'll replace them with 1x when I can.

Some notes:
The palette isn't final, there's probably some near-dupes and colour values will probably be tweaked (I usually do this last when it's all in a strip as I find Photoshop a bit bad for palette managing whilst animating).
I settled on the outline style after trying a few things (no outlines, outlines only on the outside etc), it's not a style I normally do with pixel stuff but I quite like it - though a bit apprehensive about how it'll gel with backgrounds etc.

Thanks in advance!

[Mathias]

I like them a lot, great job so far. My biggest issue is the very awkward idle state - Even before she leans back she already seems off balance, then when she does lean back she defies gravity; looks like she fall backwards. The concept for the idling is also weak; unclear what she's doing.

It's also unclear what the white blob abover her is -  some sort of white rabbit pet?

Slice - once the sword is extended at end of animation, it looks mis-shapen, as if bent and no longer gradually curved like a typical katana.

She could use some more contrast, some self-shadowing. Hair looks rough, some detail/highlights would benefit.

[rikfuzz]

Ah thanks very much!
All points valid - very helpful.

In answer to your question, the white blob is a chef's hat:



Perhaps a better use of shading (self shadowing as you suggested) will help it read better - and the context of slicing up ingredients will probably help! Any other suggestions welcome.

Many thanks
Rik

[Zoggles]

Very smooth animations and I will agree with all Mathias' points - except that I saw a 'skull' instead of a white rabbit.

The sword at the end of the slice animation is one of those cases where you want to mix up the line a little. Instead of the 1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,4 that the sword uses at the moment (which creates the awkward bend when the line changes from 1 to 2) mix the line a little in a similar way to dithering. 1,1,1,2,1,1,2,1,2,2,4 or something. You might also find the line easier to draw smoothly if you can raise the end of the sword by a couple of pixels making the overall angle a little easier to draw cleanly.

The only thing however that struck me first off, was that she seemed very unhappy, especially compared to your reference animation where she has a noticeable smile. Your smile blurs somewhat with her rosy cheeks and gives her quite grumpy instead

I love the 'shimmering' effect while floating through the air mid-jump, though perhaps the 'swoosh' effect on her one foot coming forward mid jump (jump-up + fall-down) is a little too strong.

Lastly, I think extra shadowing is called for or perhaps some added contrast. Her apron seems more like decoration of her dress and not 'on top' of it. Likewise, her legs seem to merge with the skirt instead of coming from inside it.

-Z-

[Vercingetorix]

You reference pick has me kinda curious, what method do you use to create your sprites? I've heard mentioned that some people create a vector animation export it their desired size then do extensive tweaking till they are happy with it - you wouldn't happen to have used a similar method would you?
I'm Just wondering, because i was considering the vector method myself but i haven't really seen alot of examples of it around.

In regards to your animations the only thing not already mentioned that seems a little awkward in my opinion is that the head is always looking in the same direction for each motion and with so much movement going on in everything else it makes her head seem a bit stiff by comparison? maybe making her head change angle slightly for an atleast one or two actions may help - of course i'm no expert though. Anyway thats my thoughts, aside from that they look very impressive.

[rikfuzz]

You reference pick has me kinda curious, what method do you use to create your sprites? I've heard mentioned that some people create a vector animation export it their desired size then do extensive tweaking till they are happy with it - you wouldn't happen to have used a similar method would you?
I'm Just wondering, because i was considering the vector method myself but i haven't really seen alot of examples of it around.

It was something I tried just for the running animation of this sprite, only as I was toying around with the idea of using high res sprites. It did actually make the pixel animating part a little easier, having something to trace, but overall still a net loss in time/effort. Though, the way I had the flash file set up (all rotated limbs), I could modify her design whilst keeping the movements which was at least a little bit useful for the character design process.

[Teknogames]

It really bugs me that she is constantly looking at the camera instead of at what shes doing. It makes it seem as though she is robotic, and doesnt need to focus.