Character design and walkcycle:

Maltjik · Fri 26/05/2006 22:32:59

This is my smalltime crook and (not very heroic nor noble) hero:
Jimmy Slicks
He's supposed to be a stereotypic small criminal with a big mouth (complete with brooklyn accent). You know- cocky bragging sorta guy that spends every nickle he cheats himself to on the tracks. Heavy drinker, wannabe gangster and intellectual. Believes in the outdated principles of hot wheels, rock n' roll and treating women like trash.

I am rather pleased with the outcome, but I figured that someone might have a dot for the top, so to speak. Bonus points if you figure out whom I looked at drawing him.

I based the cycle on the one from the tutorial at:
http://kafkaskoffee.com

Well, whatcha think? Being my first walkcycle ever

MrColossal · Fri 26/05/2006 22:46:42

Is there a little Tom Waits in there?

As for the walk cycle, I don't think it suits him, he looks like he's truckin' down the street.

I'd think of him to have more of a swagger which his upperbody suggests.

Also, there is a bit of flashing on the white line to outline his jacket. If this is made in flash or a vector program I'd thicken the white line.

Oh but I love the tie and how much animation you did. The head's slight bob and the shoulders moving, with more practice you could be well on the way of being an animation star!

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Sat 27/05/2006 01:44:04

This is a quick edit to give you some ideas.

1. He sways way too much, and this is caused by a very obvious flipping of the character sprite. Avoid doing this, especially with large animations. I reduced it down to a somewhat normal level. Flipping the sprite like you did causes trouble with asymmetrical characters like this one. When his head is flipped it's pretty obvious.

2. The shoulder motion was good but dodgy. I made it so that his shoulders rotate fully without popping back in for a frame. The same happened with the tie.

One other thing you should not do with a character sprite is smooth the outlines. When you place this in a game it will have a smoothed outline the color of what you used for the background, in this case white. This will stand out very clearly on a background and does not look good. I also removed two frames that made his leg remain back for too long.

You did a great job overall and I think if you avoid outlines and flipping entire frames (legs are okay usually) for animations you should be fine.

Kweepa · Sat 27/05/2006 07:06:05

Eric, you really should revise that front/back walk cycle!
It would be much better with almost no perspective - as would this guy. The upper body is great.

seaduck · Mon 29/05/2006 20:05:01

Yeah, this Kafka's Koffee guy can really draw, but I wouldn't recommend using his walkcycles as a reference. The leg movements are too exagerated (the legs move too far out) - the guy would be thus also walking too fast (try walking like that, it's impossible). Also the perspective is exagerated. His rear-view walkcycle is unusable - it looks too weird.

It kinda works for his cartoony characters, but definitely not for a more realistic sprite. I would suggest using e.g Indy walkcycles - they are much more realistic and simple.

Helm · Mon 29/05/2006 20:50:00

I think this walk-style suits this one guy, but generally I don't think that down walkcycle should be used much (eric, don't hurt me). I never finished a project, but I made this walkcycle that's pretty ok as a generic base (a bit too much arm flailing) for downwards walking.

InCreator · Tue 30/05/2006 08:55:30

Yes, the walkcycle is too active (aggressive?) for so lazy-looking thug. I suggest something different too.

Also, there's absolutely no need to put so much effort into "down" walkcycle, the sideways one will be seen in game ALOT more. So concentrate on this.

Well, character looks good. His body is nowhere near the detail of the face, but I don't see actually much problem here.

Crook? Looks more like a British rock star.

n3tgraph · Tue 30/05/2006 21:27:57

Really great character!

Some crits from my side:

- I think the black outline around his head is a little too thick! I think half this thickness would do the trick. But that's my opinion.

As for the walkcycle... The thing that bugs me is his ass! Imagine walking behind him, his butt would sway like 30 cm

Also I think the shoulders are bumping up a bit too high!

for the rest!
GG!

Maltjik · Tue 30/05/2006 21:33:40

Thank you everybody for excellent feedback. I shall take it all into consideration for version 2.0.
Especially grateful for the edit.
Whoa, this project might take a few years more than expected. Ah well, anything worth doing etc.
I'll keep posting updates.

Oh, and if anyone's interested- I made this short improvisation film during the weekend. I originally wrote the music for a game idea, but what the hey...

www.planetmidian.com/46/46.wmv