Walkcycles are driving me crazy! (Warning Mimes!!)

[Indie Boy]

Ok I want some criticism and an answer to a question please.

Basic setting and idea for my game
Set in a small town full of people with superpowers. Basically I am sick of all the superhero films and tv shows that the fact they always get "useful" powers, such as super strength, flight etc. So all my characters will have special and "useless" powers. The main plot would be around these powers and how they can affect others.

Question
What do you think of having characters in the rayman style, ie no arms, legs or neck. I thought it would be an interesting way to show off my character's abilities, but I find it a nightmare to get it look right. Basically I would like a response to, "Should I continue with this style or not?"

Character for Crit
This character will be the playable character. He is called Mime Man and his power is to create invisible walls that disappear(ignore the pun) over time.


And these are the walkcycles that are driving me crazy:




I started with the side view then tried to line up the side view with the front view(foot position etc), but It hasn't worked or I have put the frames in the wrong order somehow . Ie help! Also I know the speed on the front view is faster than the side, I just noticed that when I uploaded them, but I'll fix that in the next edit.
I tried to keep the style as clean as possible, so any paint overs please keep that in mind.


In conclusion, Should I stay with this style? What have I done wrong with my walkcyle? and Do you like the idea of this kind of game?

Any crit is welcome 

[Dualnames]

Walkcycle is somewhat crazy but i think it fits the style..any background to confirm my opinion?

[Galen]

You can't tell if the feet are coming up before him or behind him.
Fade them to a darker colour when moving behind him and vice versa, it should make les like he's just raising and lowering them.

[Renal Shutdown]

Let's start with the sketch cycle I'd mentioned before.


Things I've intentionally changed:

I've made the feet and hands bigger, as it's easier to convey depth with a larger start point.  For now, lets assume he walking along with his hands as fists.  If he's a mime, he'll need to real hands with fingers and thumbs, as Jazz Hands and Spirit Fingers are two of the very few moves in their rather limited "vocabulary".  The larger feet is also more of a style choice of mine, but usually find easier to draw for centre of gravity issues.

As he's limbless, I've left the feet on the ground longer in the back step position, as I think it adds a little more character.  As if his legs were like springs, reaching further back, and springing forward for the next step.  In fact, looking at it again, I'd probably leave it on the floor, further back for longer, to exaggerate that more.

Down-Cycle's bounce.  I rarely add a bounce to these, and if I do, it's usually only slight.  I find making the feet move away from the camera is enough to convey movement.  Bouncing, such as the one you have used, I'd save for a camera angle that was at floor level, not at eye level.

Things to note:

The feet in the downcycle.  If i was to make it at a lower res, and more pixel-pushy, I'd use the shading as a reference.  Lighter nearer the viewer, getting darker further away.  It's a cheap way of conveying depth.  Though, maybe not as extreme a tone changed as I've done, it's just to explain a point.  The feet in the side cycle, is similar, in that the near leg is light than the far leg.

The hands.  In your downcycle, they seem to whoosh from one extreme point to the other, with the away from camera ones a long way off into the distance.  As for your side cycle, I've no clue what's happening, they seem to me that they're orbiting him, and using his torso's gravity to slingshot themselves around, as if they want to time-travel.

In my down cycle, I've kept it rather energetic, even so far as to add a torso twist into the mix, yet the positions of the hands throughout remain in "plausible" places.  As you can see in the side cycle, I usually draw hands reaching further forwards than they do behind.  Think of jogging.  Your hands move in front of your chest, but not behind your spine.  Again, I've used shading to show the depth of distance for the hands.

I was tempted to add a wobble to the character, too.  Kind of swaggery, kind of top-heavy, metronome style, but I wasn't sure if it would suit the character, so I refrained.  Like I'd said before, it's not pixelled, it's not the same res, and I'm not about to spend most of the day fiddling with edits (I'm fussy, it would take me ages).  Hopefully, this will give you some ideas/tips/etc to help you to improve the character.  Also, feel free to scale the cycle and use it for paintovers if you approve of it, and think that it will help.

Aside from the cycling, the face also irks me somewhat.  Whilst it's cute, it's also somewhat devoid of life/emotions/etc, though as he's a mime, that maybe be intentional.  In regards to the game idea, it does sound quite interesting.

[Indie Boy]

Ok thanks for the comments guys, especially to Renal Shutdown. So I spent some time today to try and improve Mime Man. So after looking at RS's sketch cycle in depth, Iv only got the side walkcycle finished (maybe because its the easiest, and I've had the least trouble with it  ) And I'm quite happy with the outcome.

I added some shading, which has given more depth. Altered a few things and added some extra movement, which I think it has given MM a bit more character.

What do you think? The front is on it's way

[Ghost]

I like the style and think the side walk cycle is looking much better. The only thing I would add is a more noticable movement of the actual body. Look at UbiSoft's RAYMAN, for example. When one foot is uo, the whole "body globe" should be tipped backwards just a bit while the bowel moves forwards, so that the shoulders are on a diagonal line with the fore foot.

Think of there being a fixed point just below the shoulders, and tipping your char's body from there.
With the body hanging rigid in the air the walkcycle still works, though, and you may have made it intentionally.

Aaaaand: (and that's coming from a man who *fears* mimes) I like the 'lil guy.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Something that will slip you up is trying to draw arm and leg motion without the arms and legs.  As an example, I made some lines connecting to where you placed the feet and hands.



As you watch it you will see how the arms and legs change quite a lot in distance and bend in some unrealistic ways.  The best way to avoid this is to draw the arms and legs completely and then erase them.



This is a quick walk cycle I made with your existing animation.  You will see his hands are larger and colored differently, as are the legs (this will become important soon).  The motion is also relatively believable while still being silly.



The arms and legs have been erased.  This is where the different colored hands and feet are important, because the darker versions appear farther away and don't confuse the eye as easily during movement.  I would give him some head movement/torso movement but this was just to show you that you should not try to make realistic hand and feet motion by eye.  Hopefully this helps!

[Renal Shutdown]

Hm, I usually agree with Proggo, but on this occasion, I'm not so sure.

Whilst it is easier, and more accurate to draw a character with limbs, then remove them, the result will be a character with "invisible arms and legs".  That's not something Rayman looked like, and I'd assume from the description, it's not something this guy would have.

As for ProgZ's edits, the second one with limbs looks like he's got an invisible wheel attached to his ass, and is pulling himself along.  (Like moving around on an office chair).  The limbless one looks like he's kicking his feet forward, like some kind of odd folk dance.  If he was a morris dancer, it could work, but here, it looks a bit awkward.

Onto Indie's latest.  I'm liking it.  It's got a sneaking feel to the feet, compared to the more clumsy plod that I drew.  I can also see where Ghost is coming from, with the tipping, but I'd rather not point you in a direction I'm unsure about.

Also, after a re-read of the first post..
..All my characters will have special and "useless" powers..

That's how I've always planned my superheroes.

[OneDollar]

I think the character's great. Whether or not you go with ProgZmax's invisible arms and legs is up to you, but I do think the feet go a little far backwards, and maybe even forwards. The vertical distance between his body and feet just seems a little small for the horizontal distance the feet cover. Then again the physics of limbless walking is up for interpretation...

Another thing is the shading on the body, which seems out of sync with the hands. As it is he seems to be twisting his torso backwards as his hand comes forwards, or there's at least a delayed reaction like the movement of his hands is twisting his body. I think there should be the most dark shading when the hand in the foreground is furthest forward, to give the impression that the shoulder in the foreground is also furthest forward.

Other than that I don't have any complaints and I love the style

[Indie Boy]

Hello everyone again, I've spent the last month working on this walkcycle :. Well not really, I have been busy with exams and little time expensive things.
I must say thank you for all your comments since my last post. I have read them, but I didn't realise till now that I never replied to them. So sorry for that! I didn't want this to start a walkcycle war, although I have been fighting most of the battle myself. So Progz and Spleen play nice
Progz I did think of trying your approach originally, but I thought it wouldn't convey the movement and motion I was looking for.
Ghost sorry for having you to face your fears, Il put a warning in the title. Although it's ironic, scaring a ghost . As you suggested I tried to make the body seem less static and move a little.
OneDollar Thanks for pointing out the shading thing, I dunno what I was thinking, somehow It looked right. 

Anyways,


As you can see the front cycle isn't right. I've spent all day on it so please don't ask me to start over But any wonderful comments are welcome, all mundane comments will be ignored ....Not really.


Next step: Backgrounds!!