Pixel Joint Forum: [WIP]Spy Animations

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these animations were made quickly, but i was wondering how to fix them by quickly i mean about 4hours @,@ i kept deleting bad frames over and over again. They were made for a game, a 72hr game contest(GMC Jam 3!)
i am hoping to revamp them to look better... and i am in need of some tips please!

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Furritus Seaman Joined: 31 July 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16	Topic: [WIP]Spy Animations Posted: 02 August 2011 at 7:04pm
	these animations were made quickly, but i was wondering how to fix them by quickly i mean about 4hours @,@ i kept deleting bad frames over and over again. They were made for a game, a 72hr game contest(GMC Jam 3!) i am hoping to revamp them to look better... and i am in need of some tips please!
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PureAwesomeness Midshipman Joined: 20 July 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 46	Posted: 02 August 2011 at 7:44pm
	Oh yeah, this was the game where you're shooting ninjas point-blank for eternity! It was quite fun. So yeah, your sprites are really good for the time you had to make them. You should keep the cartoony style, but add a little shading to match the rest of the graphics. For the walk, he should bob up and down slightly with each step, and his front leg should go farther out so it doesn't look so much like he's walking with the flat of his feet. The roll looks kind of weird to me, like he's hitting his head on the ground before flipping. If you go look up a parkour video or something, you'll notice that they'll always begin rolling before they hit the ground and land sort of on their upper back. The rest of the animation looks fine to me.
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ChrisButton Commander Joined: 10 September 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 371	Posted: 02 August 2011 at 9:43pm
	Run cycle: I'm guessing you just animated the legs and nothing else. It looks like something's holding him while he kicks his legs. Make sure you make him bob to accomodate his legs leaving the ground. Currently I would call it 'unreadable', as Pure and possibly others didn't identify it as a run cycle. As you should know if you're animating, there are principles to consider. In your case, I'm guessing you're just guessing how to animate. It's definitely worth looking at the principles here, and to obtain the Animator's Survival Kit written by famous animator Richard Williams. He talks all about cycles. A common mistake for self taught animators is that they like to animate cycles on the spot. This makes it so much more difficult then it actually is. Try animating it across a stage and see if it works before compiling it into a stationary cycle. Finally, don't be afraid to redraw his body, especially in pixel art, people are highly conservative and don't like to redraw the same thing, but in animation that's life. You have to alter his shape to suit the momentum. Good luck.
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Furritus Seaman Joined: 31 July 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16	Posted: 02 August 2011 at 9:44pm
	Ok i will add the bob and stuff, thanks for the comments. The roll will be a little while, i just rotated the same sprite a few times. For the bob do you think his hair should be dynamic? and how much of a bob?
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ChrisButton Commander Joined: 10 September 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 371	Posted: 02 August 2011 at 11:32pm
	The bob depends on how much he bounces and falls. That's up to you! The maximum height would be when both feet have left the ground. And the minimum height would obviously be when his feet are on the ground. The hair is totally up to you as an artist. It might not move because it's rock hard because it's been spiked up with hair product? But if you make it too wavy, then it defies the logic of being spiked up if it's so weak? Maybe make it move a little bit. :-)
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