Animating in photoshop (for indie games) - Ikeda 8 frame run animation challenge.

I needed a run cycle animation for the game that I'm working on (Ikeda the Scrap Hunter E.P.) and I wanted to share some techniques that I use to animate in photoshop. There is a more detailed breakdown of some frame animation tips in the Gumroad version of the video for this one.

Things I've worked on:
Overwatch (PC, PS4)
League of Legends (PC)
Diablo 3 (PC,PS4)
Hearthstone (Mobile, PC)
Burning Crusade (PC)
Wrath of the Lich King (PC)
Final Fight Streetwise (PS2)
He Man (GBA)
Terminator 3 (GBA)
CannonBallers (Mobile)
CreeD
Twilight Monk
Ikeda
Nova Colony
Galaxy's Edge
SodaPopSoldier
Millenium Actress
Goblins and Gnomes

[mightybob]

As an animator, I find your tips and hints that you found on your own to be refreshing and wonderful, I want more!!!

[flareon]

This video has some good tips and shortcuts! If anyone wants to know a tip/trick to help an 8 frame run animation look a little bit smoother without adding in extra frames, but still adding that tiny bit of extra magic to it, a piece of advice (from the tricks us animators use to you aspiring indie game makers) is to give the character a bit more force to their run cycle, so it appears more as though your character is pushing off the ground with each step. In animation, everything should be pushed a little further than what looks natural, or it won't having a certain "feeling" to it. To do this, simply stretch the length of the legs a tiny bit in order to place the position of the torso (most importantly, the hips, but also the head) up much higher than in the previous frame (this should be done when your character's leg is fully stretched out, also called the "up position"). When the legs are bent, right before the character pushes off the ground and into the up position, (the down position), position the hips a tiny bit lower than they are in the resting position (which is the position where the hips are in between the up and down positions, and they are also in this position when the character is idling.) A lot of the tricks in the video are great advice, the one thing that was a bit off is that the placement of the hips did not bob up and down during the up and down positions of the legs, rather they stayed in place which makes the movement, which is otherwise great, look a bit flat. (So it looks like he is running inside a box, because his limbs look a little squished in order to maintain the same position for his hips, which looks a tiny bit uncomfortable) So if you want to take it a bit further, try playing around with the position that the hips are in! The flow will look much more natural the more dramatically you push the proportions of the motion. (This is the squash and stretch aspect that he mentions briefly.)

[is_what_it_is]

The only thing I notice, and this is true for many game characters, is that there's no transition between 'idle' and 'running'. The character is still, and then his next move is all out running. If there could be a small build up of momentum it would be more realistic. Just my 2 cents. I can animate, but I can't paint or draw to save my life, you make it look so easy. Love all your artwork dude.

[GameRelated]

Please do more animation tutorials please. I’m currently creating my own indie game and would love more information on this topic 😀 as always keep up the amazing work!

[colbyfultonvideo]

Love the Preston Blair references! I have those books. What a legend!

[CartoonCoffee]

This is super sick. I’m down to see more animation work on your channel

[BonetheStreetwearCreator]

Great and easily understood video. As an animator who works in industry at times I don’t see many simple videos about hand drawn animation.
It will help those who think they can. You don’t have to study it to learn it. Trial and error work just fine. I didn’t go to school either. I learned from breaking down other animations.
Good to see someone who isn’t lazy.

[ArtwithAmarBrisco]

Yeah that is from Richard Williams book animator survival kit. I did hand drawn and stop motion for a bit in college. Also I know blender so whenever I create my first game that will help me. Also dragon bones pro is free and will also help you with your animation using bones. Instead of using splines. You can also you animation is your favorite sketchbook pro as well. Krita and OpenToonz are other free animation tool that are pretty good. Your game is pretty clean .

[ineedclosure]

I just found your channel and I'm already loving it. Keep up the good work

[TheSuperzdog]

During the jump it may look more natural if you make the character Spiderman pose when it is falling only. Looking good btw!

[bubsenseijebe]

this is amazing. Watching this, it seems like concept art and animation definitely go hand in hand.

[Fantino]

In the course of time, I am becoming more and more fan of you! You are beside Bengus and Tatsuya Yoshikawa as my favourite artists. You seem to be a very nice guy. I have purchased your Photoshop Cheats workshop and I am glad because you are helping me to become a better "concept artist/Illustrator" (in the future I will be able to call myself this hehe).

Let's rock and ride!

[raydillon]

Damn, that turned out great, man. Well done!

[demm]

The "guy" was no other than the great animator PRESTON BLAIR. ;) His book for animators is one of the top 3 ever. ;)

[TortoRacoon]

WHAT A RELIEF!! I started looking at Megaman Zero's sprite sheet

[magnusrexus]

Good job here some tips Trent. Do a line drawing first and use the line drawing to get the the animation perfect. That will get rid of the back and forth revisions and will speed you up. It will also make it easier to do the tweens. Then use solid fills to color the character, then use separate layers for shading, lighting and details.

[guillermolopez]

Piece of advice: in my opinion the best framerate is 0.05s. Amazing job, dude!

[fluffyluffy]

wow learned something new as I am trying to do my first 2D game sprites

[MiketheNerdRanger]

What I'm interested in is how you were able to copy and paste the character's limbs and whatnot
for each frame. That looks like a neat workflow for consistency.

[kyonas]

when i first watched this channel i didn't watch any game related topic untill now that i am a game dev im intrested in them again