Sprite animation tips & tricks

[1337B337]

Hey everyone!

I'm new here, and I joined because I'm diving into making my own animated sprites for a MUGEN character.

Here's the first sprite I've made so far:



As you can see, it's Street Fighter influenced, I didn't copy, per se, but I used Ryu's face/head as a template, a 3/4 head-shape drawing in pixels is annoying as hell.

So, my question is, for all the seasoned animators out there:

I just need to be pointed in the right direction, like how to start animating by turning this sprite into an animated stance and animating attacks.

I'm sorry if this is too much, and I'll understand if no one answers, but if anyone could give me a little help, I'd be greatly appreciative.

Thanks, and It's great to be here!

[Garamonde]

Wrong forum, moving.

[1337B337]

How is it wrong when I'm asking for info...

Yeah, the last topic was in the wrong place, I'm sorry, but this wasn't...

Maybe you're the one who needs to read better.

[Zadaben]

You asked for help on a sprite
Mighty moved it to the forum section for getting help on sprites
If anyone needs to read better, it's you.

[Kami]

It's alway's best to have atleast read through all of the rules before you start posting.

---

On Topic:
The hands are a little deformed looking, and they really aren't that readable. His shoulders point downwards quite a bit. You should try giving the blue a bit more contrast, I can barely see any shading on the shirt, it all blends together. The shoes kinda seem a bit boxey, especially the left one.

[SmithyGCN]

The legs also seem a bit long. You might want to make the torso a bit longer to compensate or shorten the legs.

[Garamonde]

If you're asking for any help on anything concerning sprites of yours, be it animation or otherwise, it would not go under Questions, Info & Tutorials, it would go under Spriting & Pixel Art with all of the other sprite threads, because it's basically critique on animating you're asking for, correct? I am a moderator of this forum, I know where topics go.

[Cobalt Blue]

talk about a good start.

anyway, i wouldnt actually venture into animation if i was you at this point. you seem to have quite a few anatomy issues going on, as well some poor color choices here and there.

as far as a basic animation goes, i always recomend doing a simple stick figure and plan the animation ahead based on it, all using a software that actually allows to see the animation in real time as you make it. why? because fixing any problems on a simple, unelaborated stick figure will always be easier than having to completely redo a fully shaded sprite, and all the sprites that follows it.

[Goemar]

For sprites of this style it's really a good idea to warm the scanner up and get a pencil out...

[Frario]

I suggest animate with animatics, and then pixel what goes between pose A and pose B.