Running animation (4 directions) for top down RPG
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=26380
Printed Date: 12 September 2025 at 1:14am
Topic: Running animation (4 directions) for top down RPG
Posted By: Pikaychu
Subject: Running animation (4 directions) for top down RPG
Date Posted: 23 August 2018 at 9:19am
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Hello folks!
first, I'm excited to be here. I'm loving pixel art and am more or less trying to become a pixel artist myself. I just discovered this forum and was very happy to find a central place with many great artists to share this passion and to look up to! (this was naughtily copied from my Meet and Greet post) I'm currently working on a player sprite for a top down RPG: 
I'am aware of the color and size differences for the character and especially cape in the standing and running sprites, i just not got into the shading and refining part. I am also aware, and this is my main problem, that the front and back sprites/animations look very weird and static compared to the sideview. Do you guys have any advice on the front/up views of top down RPG sprites? All the resources im finding for that dont really fit my sprite (e.g. RPG maker like charsets an so on) Again, I'm happy to be here and thanks in advance! Cheers Pikaychu |
Replies:
Posted By: eishiya
Date Posted: 23 August 2018 at 10:46am
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You said your RPG is "top down", but these sprites seem to be side-view. The running-north sprite is the closest to top-view, but even so, the camera appears pretty low. Put your character into an environment from the game, and edit some stills of them to make sure the perspectives/projections fit together. Only then should you work on the animations. The main thing that makes "top down" sprites look like "top down" is the upper body parts overlap the lower ones, and everything is foreshortened. Look up drawing tutorials for foreshortening and drawing the figure in perspective, that should help you more than pixel-art-specific tutorials. Loomis's figure drawing books (available online as PDFs) have big sections on this, as well.
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Posted By: Pikaychu
Date Posted: 23 August 2018 at 11:08am
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To put the character in the environment he will move inside of is obviously important, dont know why I didnt take that more seriously.
The Figure drawing book you recommended seems to be exactly what I was looking for. I knew perspective and foreshortening were a big problem. I just skimmed through it a bit and it seems very promising. Thank you for your anwer. I just registered and already got some good help :) |
Posted By: Limes
Date Posted: 07 September 2018 at 4:48pm
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There are games out there that potray a top down layout, with characters who are from a sidescroller perspective. ------------- |