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Short Stickman Combo

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Author Comments

UPDATE: Added a simple Pre-Loader and a simple menu.

My first finished stickman combo, hit the buttons in the control panel to see it frame by frame.

I'd like to have some commentary, and some tips for possible improvement,
Thanks.
R.

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Some things to focus on.

Stay away from the transform tool when you're doing stick fights and easing as much as possible. it looks cheap and when done otherwise like just drawn over again it'll be much better.

It also seemed like the timing between the hits was a bit fast. It's not bad to have a fast fight or a fast hit but if you're going to do that you'll need to ease the motion after the fight instead of just stopping. Some of the moves and transitions between the moves are drawn incorrectly. The one frame that you have that hits the guy is what you want your viewer to see, so make sure that the position is good and accurate.

The arms on the guy attacking the other should move when he hits the other guy. Just live out your combination and see what your arms do.

The reactions on the guy being hit can be worked on. What I recommend is having the guy get hit in one from and ease to a position. You have him being hit and then transforming to a new position every frame and it's hard to follow and it looks too fast or wobbly. Have him ease to a new position and then when he's hit again ease to another position. When he was hit in the air, add more frames now. There is no rush to make it look smoother.

What I think you need to work on is easing, exxageration, force, and timing. It seems to fast, the positions of your stick seem off after a hit like that, and the moves need more of an *UMPH. I dont' know how to explain that.

But keep practicing, it'll pay off i swear.

Tman.

Needs work

It's got potential, but needs work. I could be assuming too much, but it seems to me as though you watched a few stick figure fighting movies frame-by-frame, and then attempted to mimic the movement. A good thing to try is to join an animation forum or something of the like and discuss movement rather than basing your animation off of other animations. Sort of like the metaphor of giving a man a fish, but instead you've been shown a fish and attempted to model your own based solely on the scales.

Watching your animation frame by frame, you can see that the characters are missing anticipation of movement, opposing reflex of different body parts to the movement of other body parts (not completely though, as you do have the upper body correspond with the lower body, but your upper body will not always follow your lower body exactly), and most of all, gravity. I don't mean the purple guy, I mean the black guy.

His kicks flick too easily, and his body delays in following the first kick. Also, in the first kick, his body lands too close to it's original position for him to have left the ground after being pulled int towards his kick. The second kick flicks too fast as well, and then he sharply and unrealistically changes position afterwards. The final kick is just a repeat of the first one, too sharp and with even less gravity this time. Not to mention the purple guy reacts as if the black guys foot was as wide as both of the purple guy's legs. If the kicks and body motions were meant to be "superhuman," as that sort of motion oftentimes is meant to be, you have to show some sort of indication of that to audience, via storyline (for a whole movie) or small graphical effects to show impact and fast movement.

Also, it seems as if you didn't you didn't plan out the combo before you made it. This is evident if the positioning that you used was intentional, as you seemed to place the black guy in a position that is easier for him to hit the purple guy than where he'd actually be.

But as I said, there's potential. You could just use some work on planning out movements, adding impact, and timing.

tl;dr

SkatingRobert responds:

Wow, thanks for the long review!
Well, I have to tell you that this is one of my first "good enough" stick animations so I'll keep your points/tips in my mind for my next one, so this one was just to see the critics and tips.

And well, you helped me alot!
R.

Pretty Good

It was pretty good, but how does the purple person stay parallel the whole time?

SkatingRobert responds:

Whatch frame by frame using the frame by frame control panel, he doesn't have the time to fall because he gets hit again..

R.

Taking a good deal into consideration

For a first animation this is not half-bad although there is not a lot here, you took me by surprise when you reflected the sticks on the ground. The animation was also very smooth and the time frame control was a nice touch. Overall this is good for a first try, I naturally recommend a story and preloader in your next animation.

Good job, you have the potential to make something great I'll keep watch for your next flash(if you decide to do anymore). Good luck.

SkatingRobert responds:

Thanks for the comment, but I have to tell you this is my first FINISHED stickman combo, I made more before, but didn't submit them because of the high epic-fail factor but I have more work on my old account, FreeRunRobert, search it up on newgrounds.

Since it got hacked and I stopped FreeRunning (rofl) I made this new account.
R.

that was it?

the sounds were well synchronized and the stick men looked okay.
There's only so much you can do with stickmen though and it's not the best choice of animation either unless you've got something REALLY unique and entertaining. For me, it was nice to see a progress animation, showing what you can do, but entertainment factor was 0.

Also, I'm sure you could go against the status quo a little and have had some more drama, intensity, flashes and maybe some dialogue.

Even though I'm giving you a bad score, I would like to see future works

SkatingRobert responds:

Okay, I'll sure do my best to blow you away with my next animation!

R.

Credits & Info

Views
4,575
Votes
9
Score
3.17 / 5.00

Uploaded
May 2, 2009
9:52 AM EDT