Need help with body proportions

[Shaddoe J]

I've been tinkering with Manny here for over a month and pretty much eyeballed the proportions. When I start on his walking cycle I plan on having him walk on the ends of his tail and bend it when he stands still.

[imgzoom]http://www.pictureshoster.com/files/7puwbu1c78i5awuajxpf.png[/imgzoom]

I just want to know what looks right and wrong before I continue on.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Well, before anyone can give you advice on proportions they need to know what they're looking at.  In this case it looks like a...humanoid seal?  There are no pre-existing rules for something like that, so anatomy pretty much goes out the window.  I suppose if you're determined to give him a humanoid upper torso (with visible shoulder blades and pecs) you might look through some stock photos of fat men standing in profile and work from that.  One thing I could point out anatomically is the size of his head.  It's probably about 2-4 pixels too wide for the torso.  Basically, you should be able to sit a head on either side that will stretch out to the width of the shoulders.  Also, the way his head merges with his back without a visible neck is something to consider, or you could just ignore proportions and draw things in an exaggerated, cartoonish way since what you're making isn't 100% based on reality, anyway.

[Technocrat]

Crikey, that thing's going to give me nightmares. After a second or two looking at it, I figured "porpoise" or something along those lines. A horrifyingly fat creature, anyroad!

[Tabata]

It reminds me of a seadog with kind of humanlike body.
If it is meant to give that impression it is really cool. It just needs some tusks for to become an impressive male.
I can already imagine it "walking"  around. 

If it's meant to be similar to another creature - ähem - sorry 

... but I like it  - what ever it is meant to be

[Ghost]

I was thinking... manatee?

I think the overall shape is already quite good. I have no idea if the guy's supposed to walk or float, but the "feet" could do with some more refining. If they are supposed to be legs, make them a bit more solid and "rounded". If they are supposed to be fins, they should be more narrow at the small-of-the-back area.

I feel like watching Zoidberg outtakes now... a strange critter indeed!

[Armageddon]

Those are some very good turnarounds.

[Eric]

The one problem I can foresee, and it's only because I had this problem with my human sprite and everyone here was kind enough to point it out to me, is that it's going to be difficult to have this character move with a sense of balance. If you look at, especially the side profile, all of the character's weight is in the front -- he'd (she'd?) topple. It might work out just fine in your game though. When you say bend the tail, do you mean in like an "L" shape? That would solve the issue when the character is at rest.

What a fascinating design!

[Scavenger]

It's a pretty nice character!

[imgzoom]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/50882197/mannytee_edit.PNG[/imgzoom]

The shape is fine, you might want to give his chest a little more weight (so it lies realistically on the lower chest/belly), emphasise some hips (just to clarify his tail comes from somewhere on the front view and balance him out) and distinguish his cranium a bit.

I think, one other thing, is that he might need to be de-anthropomorphised just a little. Right now his snout looks seperate from his mouth, when if you look at a manatee and other sea mammals, the snout and the top lip are indistinguishable - the snout leads into it. That could be what's going on, but it's a little vague. Other than that, I'd probably give him a rounder face to suit the rest of him. What is this dude's personality?

[Shaddoe J]

Yes, he is a manatee. I originally drew him with a polo shirt so that's probably why some parts look a bit off. I've been checking out stock photos but finding consistent angles is difficult.

His head is 2 pixels longer because I wanted his smile to be visible when his mouth is closed and cartoon heads are usually big so, to me, it works. His side-body/turned-head-facing-screen model sticks out too much though. I'll try shrinking his head and snout tomorrow. Also, I've known big people without visible necks. Maybe he's not big enough to pull that off. I really don't want to add any more rolls to him.

The tail and hip area was quickly drawn. It doesn't even look like a manatee's tail. I don't know how I came up with it but if I round it out he won't have "feet" to walk on. And yes, like an "L" though originally his tail was going to bend forward.

I've been working so much on how he looks standing that I didn't consider how he (and his swaying belly) would look moving with all that weight.

This is what I have for his talk cycle which needs to be test animated. Not sure if his snout should move inwards when he makes his "O" face. I don't know what else I could do with his upper lip. Looks good to me.

[imgzoom]http://www.pictureshoster.com/files/gk3z2omr6vy5a1xbnp0.png[/imgzoom]

I'm planning on making a recurring cast of characters so his personality is actor, meaning he doesn't have one. So far I have two ideal roles for him. One as a father/junkyard dealer and one as a mob boss trying to find out if his best friend is a "rat".

Thanks for the comments. They're helping me stay motivated.

[EchosofNezhyt]

Sexy!

[Scavenger]

When doing a talk animation, it's important to get the beats of a talk cycle down - both open and closed mouth, with a variety of mouth shapes so that any speech is viable with the animation. I quickly mocked something up here:

[imgzoom]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/50882197/manateetalk.gif[/imgzoom]
As you can see, the teeth are important to show some harder sounds in there with the softer open mouthed sounds. I tweaked the O to have the snout pinch in rather than compress in it's entirety. The head movements also lend some really cheap dynamism to the animation. It isn't the best, but it illustrates a point.

And I did a quick edit of the face to make the chin look more chinlike (at first I thought it was a mouth!), and the smile on the snout more obvious:
[imgzoom]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/50882197/manateehead.PNG[/imgzoom]
All this really does is emphasise his smile with pushed up cheeks, and make his head a little more rounded. The chin becomes softer and less harsh and less of a focus, so the smile on the snout is more noticable.

[Shaddoe J]

That talk mockup looks great. I pinched his snout like that before but it didn't look good to me, but seeing it animated with teeth and head bobbing makes it look right. I've been working on slimming him down a bit (with meager results) so I don't want to make his head any bigger.

[Shaddoe J]

I've been heavily working on Manny for the last two days and would like some critique before continuing working on his back views. I worked on slimming him down a bit, bending his tail for his idle dip stance and added detail to his arms.

[imgzoom]http://www.pictureshoster.com/files/1toadjokmjkfoqt7w9z7.png[/imgzoom]

[CaptainD]

Please tell me you're going to make the game "Manatee Calisthenics" - please!! 

[Shaddoe J]

This is my first attempt at a sideview walk cycle. I still have to draw his arms swinging, sway the rest of his body and figure out if it works with his other views.

[imgzoom]http://www.pictureshoster.com/files/v2c1xq063jlk3wvrku5u.gif[/imgzoom]

@ CaptainD

That might not be a bad idea for a mini game.

[lo_res_man]

He seems to be . . .mincing?
I'd add some sway to that bulk. Right now it looks like a cardboard cutout, but a little squash and stretch and added feeling of mass could be helpful here.
Right now it's far too static.