The VG Resource

Woah... 7 POSTS IN A ROW? WHAT ARE YOU MAD!?!?!? Jk. These look really good but don't forget to put in a bobbing motion in on the body on the forward position.

My best attempt at the side wings I prompted to go with a single wing rather then the double wing I've been using...

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As beautiful as your pixel art is, I think your biggest flaw is that you use too many colors. Pixel art is all about simplicity and I think you could achieve the same effect with less colors.

I go for a 16 color limit...this piece uses 10 colors in the fire last time I checked...unless that somewhere changed then it fits the style I am going for

Personally, I like the multiple colors used for your sprites, but I think the other users would like you to tone it down. Using four to six colors should be enough for sprites like this.

whoa now

small palettes are cool, but they aren't a rule

Smaller more condensed palettes are useful for keeping image readability sharp, and for keeping that "old school" aesthetic

You don't have to use tiny palettes just because someone says so, most of us older spriters here do favor the older style aesthetic, but that doesn't mean were pixel snobs

Anyway, as for your bird, I'm really liking it and the approach you are taking in making it; It's looking good to me, just make sure that your birds' body moves in these animations as well at some point. I'm sure you already plan on doing that, but just thought id point it out. Keep it up

The body needs to move along with the wings. Maybe a 5px bob? But animate every pixel down, so it gives a smooth effect. Otherwise it just looks robotic.

I'd probably change the timing of the wing flap animation. I assume that this is intended to be a rather large bird creature. In order to better communicate that size, I'd increase the amount of time in-between flaps.
A rule of thumb that i use when thinking of bird animation(or animation in general): the larger a creature is, the slower it moves. Specifically with birds: the larger a bird is, the more time in-between flaps. There are multiple reasons why this is:

• Larger birds tend to soar/glide more frequently than smaller ones
  
• Larger birds have more wing surface area which allows them to ride along updrafts more easily
  
• Larger birds' wings are longer and require more effort/energy to flap
  
• Smaller birds often have to change direction mid-flight more frequently to avoid larger birds that prey on them
  
• Smaller birds have smaller wings so they have to put forth more constant effort to stay airborne (generally)
  

Finding a good reference is always vital to improving one's animation. notice how a bird's wing sort of rotates forward as it goes down and how it essentially pushes off of the air beneath it to grant it flight.
It's also worth noting that this particular clip is a slowed down loop of a bald Eagle flying fast, or "sprinting" if you will.

DaHog - yeah I will add the bob in last

Sketchasaurus - I plan on implementing a frame length variable in my engine in order to handle this exact thing

Okay, so I'm gonna have to back up E-Man on the smaller palette thing.  Not as an aesthetic you should force yourself to stick to, but as a tool to help you to understand how your colors interact.  The danger with a larger palette without understanding the way the colors strengthen each other and the ways they create contrast with their value, saturation, and hue is that it becomes harder to really understand why your sprites end up coming out dull even though they look like they are full of colors.

While I can't say I'm there yet, I do solidly believe that one of the best things about getting a limited palette is the way you have to see how 2, 3, 4 colors all interact and create contrasts and subtleties you weren't thinking of before.  All of these interactions are perceived (with your eyes), and just editing RGB values or playing with a HSL chooser will not show you the vast and complex layers of color interaction.  I recommend strongly looking up gamut masking (search for James Gurney) to understand how limiting your palette (and excluding colors) can enhance certain colors much more than just making them brighter will ever do.

Something I still feel like I need to comment on is the fire on your phoenix, the shape isn't bad as long as you are alright with it looking like the underside of the phoenix has a layer of jets shooting fire below it.  Fire has specific shapes depending on it gently burning in a small amount like a candle, shooting out like a jet or flamethrower, roaring like a wildfire, etc.  Try to keep in mind what the shapes you have chosen convey to the audience about the nature of the fire itself.  But what I really want to comment on is the colors.

try to pay attention to how the main color is orange, with the only part that actually shows up red being the very ends as it fades out.  Remember that the yellow and especially the white are the hottest part of the flames.  I feel like the profile view needs the most work overall, and I wish I had more experience but I have to say I suck at fire real bad and still have a lot to learn.  I would like to say that the wings look pretty good, or at least better than the body so far.

quick and simple sign design...I think overall it is solid

I have been trying my hands at simple animation and getting a piece to look right while using limb separation (IE the limbs are separate file then the main body, so they can play different animations without a huge sprite sheet)

here is a scorpion I have been working on today:


I want to try making a very fleshy sprite like a grub that spit attacks, as well as smoke, blood splatter, and a slime. I don't have any reference, and could definitely use some help on this

It seems extremely stiff. Can't there be a little vertical bobbing? The claws' motions are also jumpy.

I think having the tail move around (under the stinger, I mean) would improve the stiffness some.