Critique wanted for walkcyle

[Alita]

Hi everyone, I'm finding walk cycles very frustrating and would appreciate some pointers.  There always seems to be something kind of "off" about my walks. I always seem to make the same mistakes, I get leg drag and things like that



I dunno maybe she's too clunky...

all crits welcome

[DanielH]

I think it looks really, good, but I'm not sure what's going on with her hands though. Why are they moving?

[Alita]

probably cos i wasnt paying attention to them and they went everywhere

[Evil]

Well, there definitely needs to be more frames. It may be alright for low res, but for something this large, there really needs to be more frames. Her legs are moving correctly, but her arms and swaying a bit much and her hands are going crazy.

The character looks really good, but her knees are low. Or her shins are short. One of the two.

I'm not sure what the front view looks like, but the area above her breasts is sticking out a bit far. Maybe she's got them crammed in there and they'd do that, but the bump would be lower than where it is now.

[DoorKnobHandle]

I would really advice you to learn the ins and outs of walk-cycles in a low resolution. Only a very low resolution allows you to make changes in somewhat efficient way. After you manage to make a black silhouette that fits into a 32x32px block animate fluidly, you can upgrade to higher resolutions.

[Makeout Patrol]

It needs more frames. Additionally, the folds in the skirt by her left leg disappear when that leg starts to move back - I think if they were more constant it might look a bit better.

[Alita]

Well, there definitely needs to be more frames. It may be alright for low res, but for something this large, there really needs to be more frames. Her legs are moving correctly, but her arms and swaying a bit much and her hands are going crazy.

The character looks really good, but her knees are low. Or her shins are short. One of the two.

I'm not sure what the front view looks like, but the area above her breasts is sticking out a bit far. Maybe she's got them crammed in there and they'd do that, but the bump would be lower than where it is now.

The "area" above her breasts i think you're referring to is a disk shaped medallion

I think its not that her shins are too short, maybe her thighs are too long?

Anyway, I think I'll go for lower resolutions

[Matti]

I think its not that her shins are too short, maybe her thighs are too long?

I think it's both. The legs have the right length but the knees really are too low.

Anyway, I think I'll go for lower resolutions

That would make sense since 400px height is very large for a character.

[Ghost]

I bet even in low-res your character will look gorgeous- since you already have created a good outline, simply scale it down to, what, maybe a height of 30,40, and with the silhouette you get, start a new walkcycle. I totally dig your style, though.

BTW- "Alita"? Whee! I love the books!

[MashPotato]

It's a good start
One problem I see is that the levels at which her feet hit the floor aren't corresponding with how she's moving, making it seems as though her legs are crossing each other as she walks.  I think this is due to the mirroring of frames 1&5, 2&6, 3&7, and 4&8--the positions of arms and legs will be similar in these pairs of frames, but not identical (and having this high a resolution makes it more obvious).  The mirroring of these frames is also contributing to the changing hands problem (in one of the frames, I noticed her left hand turned into her right hand if you look at thumb placement).
Hope this helps, keep at it!

[Alita]

I had a go in a smaller scale, hows this little guy look?

[Ryan Timothy B]

Why would you have one leg do a 'flip' up at the end, but not the other?  Looks like he stepped on some dog crap and is trying to flick it off. 

I can't really follow the feet, they are too wacky.  The arms are short, but they at least move smoothly.

[Misj']

I would really advice you to learn the ins and outs of walk-cycles in a low resolution. Only a very low resolution allows you to make changes in somewhat efficient way. After you manage to make a black silhouette that fits into a 32x32px block animate fluidly, you can upgrade to higher resolutions.

I completely disagree with this. To get the best results, you should always plan your animation (including a walk) using classical cell animation (like) techniques. It is possible to start at low resolution, but your result will never be as good. Furthermore, it's easier to do the final animation based on a bigger image than on a small one. And personally, I find it much more efficient to apply changes to the animation. Anyway...this is a common discussion between people who love pixel art, and those who prefer 'hand drawn' art. And in the end you should use the tools and methods that work best for you and your goals (which can be completely different for dkh and for me).

But to get back to the original subject

Hi everyone, I'm finding walk cycles very frustrating and would appreciate some pointers.  There always seems to be something kind of "off" about my walks. I always seem to make the same mistakes, I get leg drag and things like that

I dunno maybe she's too clunky...

all crits welcome

As mentioned earlier, the knees are too low (making the upper leg too long, and the lower leg too small). I've created a scheme of the body proportions based on where I think they should be in your design.


But the thing that struck me most, was that your walk is the wrong gender. In general, women have a lot of movement in their hip (with footsteps on a single line of lines closer to each other than for men). As a consequence, the up-and-down movement of the total body is much less than for men (the easiest way to turn an animated man gay is by giving him a feminine walk with lot of hip movement and limited to no up-and-down movement).

I've created a 'quick' example of a more feminine walk. I've kept a little of the up-and-down movement; but only a few pixels, and she's walking quite strong since I assumed she was the hero. In most cases I would expect a girl to walk more subtle (smaller step distance, and less arm swing).



Left to right:
Full size (397 px high) - 640x480 game (150 px) - 320x240 game (75 px) - (38 px) - (19 px) - (10 px)
The number of frames is the same as in your version: 8.

As you can see: even at very low resolution (19 px), the walk cycle is a good basis to adapt to the required game resolution.

There are a number of things that should be corrected in this cycle; things that don't feel good, interesting, or could be more subtle or exaggerated. But that's all up to you, and how you envision the character.

Misj'