My first character - what do you think

[Stefan Z]

Hi AGS'ers!

I'm busy working on my first game and thought I'd let the pro's tell me their thoughts ;-).

 

The main character is going to be a five year old boy. Paintovers will be appreciated!

And here are the animations. Not a 100% (the legs on the 'walking left' look a bit strange).
 

Looking forward to the criticism.

Grtz,
Chris.

[Saberteeth]

The main character is looking ok as long as he's standing.Ã, 

Well, the down animation is supposed to be walking but it looks more like he's sliding. It's made out of 4 frames which is ok but not enough in this case. Just add a frame, where the boy raises his foot. The same goes for the left walking animation.

[fentongames]

That's good! Great Artwork! 

Only one thing though, you should pick up the legs as he steps forward, like SBsLoVeNiA said.

[Cerulean]

Judging by when the legs bend and when they don't, I think you may have the frames of the side-view animation in reverse order. If you imagine him to be walking backward it suddenly looks more realistic.

Also in the side view, his arms seem to be on backward. This shows in the slight bend of the arm and the apparent thumb position. If you take the arm you have and mirror it, I think it will work well.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I made some subtle color changes to your sprite to give you some ideas about shading and contrast.  I also corrected his side view shape being different from his front view.

1.  Used colors with more contrast to make him stand out
2.  Added highlighting to give his body some shape
3.  Altered the torso to make it more natural.
4.  Made the two views more consistent.





The animations are a good start!  If you want to improve, watch your arms and legs as you walk back and forth and you will notice that they do not sway as dramatically as in your side view.  You also avoided a common mistake (which is good) by having the leg and arm motions alternate.  Nice work!

[Stefan Z]

Thanks for the replies guys! Really helpful.

Judging by when the legs bend and when they don't, I think you may have the frames of the side-view animation in reverse order. If you imagine him to be walking backward it suddenly looks more realistic.

T'hat's right! Actually kind of funny to make such a mistake. When I reverse the animation it looks better.

Thanks for the color advice, ProgZmax. This does look better. I've made a new walking down animation (sideways will follow):