Battle Idle Animation [shading crit]
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: Pixel Art
Forum Name: WIP (Work In Progress)
Forum Discription: Get crits and comments on your pixel WIPs and other art too!
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26123
Printed Date: 12 September 2025 at 9:01am
Topic: Battle Idle Animation [shading crit]
Posted By: doctorcello
Subject: Battle Idle Animation [shading crit]
Date Posted: 23 January 2018 at 8:22pm
Hey! I'm working on a set of battle animations because I realized I've never done a set of battle animations before lol. I've started with an idle animation just to warm up. The idea is that it's a sprite for an RPG, used in the battle screen. I hope to do a light attack, a heavy attack, some spells, etc... But I'm getting ahead of myself!
My issue is that I don't think the shading looks... good? Like the coat looks flat, and maybe the trousers are too well-lit. But I shaded the coat to emphasize the bust a little bit more, and if I put the shadows on the trousers then it looks less defined. Basically I can't figure out what would make it look good, but right now it definitely doesn't. Although I'm mostly looking for help on shading, I wouldn't mind critique on anything else (animation, line, color etc.). This is a personal project that I hope to learn a lot from, so anything helps! It's just mostly the shading that really bothers me haha. |
Replies:
Posted By: Hapiel
Date Posted: 24 January 2018 at 12:13am
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Nice work on the animation! The coat definitely looks like a 2 color coat to me, not shaded. Where is the light source? The scarf suggests top left? Then why is his left side of his chest bright On the coat, his arms could cast a shadow, depending on the light source (sun?), but his coat should still be lit mostly I guess.. Trousers not lit on his right edge (our left)? And perhaps more shaded on his left leg? Right foot is out in the sun, left foot blocked a bit by his own shadow? I'd want to make a quick edit, but I have to rush :(. Good luck! |
Posted By: doctorcello
Date Posted: 24 January 2018 at 5:19pm
Thanks! I wasn't really thinking too hard about the direction of the light, which is a bit no-no haha. Really, what I was going for was something like this:
I suppose the top-left is probably the best direction to take because most of it is lit like that? I want it to look like it's lit by the sun, but I don't really... know how to do that. Here's my second take, with the old one on the left and the new one on the right: 
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Posted By: Hapiel
Date Posted: 25 January 2018 at 2:07am
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Much improvement!!! What image editor do you use? The transparent bg messed up in one of my editors... Your last version on the left, my suggestions on the right. I also changed the shape of the sword and foot. If you have this shading on the inner/middle side of his coat on his right (our left), that suggest that the coat is folding outwards, I changed this to match as well. I hope my shading suggestions make a bit of sense, feel free to disregard if not.  While making this, I started to wonder, what is the thing in his left hand? The grip on both objects is a bit awkward imo. |
Posted By: doctorcello
Date Posted: 25 January 2018 at 5:05pm
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I used Aseprite. Afraid I have no idea what could be wrong with the transparency. :\ These changes you've made are great! Hope you don't mind that I implement them. The sword especially looks a lot better, and it didn't even occur to me that it needed fixing haha.
So she's actually a cleric that I play in Pathfinder, and I thought it would be cool to make a spritesheet of her. The thing in her left hand is a holy symbol that she uses to cast spells. http://www.gamerjargon.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/holy_symbol_600x600.jpg - It's this one here , although obviously I made it larger for readability's sake. As for the hands... Yeah, hands are not my forte, especially in pixel art. It looks like I gave her two thumbs on her right hand?? Hmm. Here's my third take on it. 
I fixed the hands (and the holy symbol) a bit so that it's a bit less awkward, although the right hand gripping the sword feels like it could read a bit better. I also changed up the coat because though I think your shading looks good, in that specific frame I think the coat should be folded in a different way. |
Posted By: Hapiel
Date Posted: 26 January 2018 at 9:29am
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Well done, especially the hands improved a lot! Don't take my solution on the sword for granted, I tried something random, there are probably even better ways to do the shine and shading on it! I nearly forgot that the coat was animated! Watch out, the current version is nice but has a lot of detail for an actively moving bit. It can work really nicely, but it can easily become messy. Simplifying the shading and the fold can prevent this issue. |