Simple 2D Idle Animation for your Character | Handdrawn | Beginner 2D Game Art

An overview of how idle animations tend to look in platformers and why. The video will also cover my process for animating two idle animations in procreate and the choices I make.

00:00 Posing Your Character
02:58 How much movement should you have?
04:55 How should your animation look?
07:12 Animating the Mushroom Character
13:03 Animating our Demon Character

[ISuperI]

Another usage of the idle animation I think is to serve as a complement of the health of the character.
For example, in Yoshi's Story, you start with Yoshi being pretty optimistic, walking and singing, and as his happiness (aka health) gets lower the happy attitude starts to fade and he takes a breath like he's about to have a anxiety crisis (each time harder), until he reaches a point where he seems very tired, then he eats fruit (recover health) and gets happy again.

[aomadeira]

Dude, your channel is a gem and extremely handy for someone starting 2d game art like me, thanks a bunch!

[FullMoonGame]

One trick I like to use in idle animations is to offset little movements by a few frames. This makes it less obvious to pinpoint when the animation starts looping again

[VARIGONSTUDIOS]

I love the in-depth animation breakdown. I went to school for 2D and 3D animation but I never thought about some of the points you highlighted. I'll be revisiting my games animations, thanks for the help! +1 sub.

[adar]

this is super useful! I've been struggling with my own game's idle animation for a bit now, so thanks a ton for this video.

[Fareons]

I love the topics you pick; you highlight stuff I didn’t know I was important until you talked about it. Great quality too; I hope you keep making these as fast as you’ve been doing!

[moonrivers]

The best idle animation video I’ve ever seen. Thanks for sharing. Excellent work, and your explanations are very useful.

[chattychatotchannel]

Your stuff is so helpful and informative you’re a lifesaver

[vcdgamer]

When it came to animting my game characters, I borrowed a trick from Iconoclasts and invented my own method.

For the player character and friendly npcs, I make their idle animation a bit bouncy depending in their mood, which is usually, happy.
But for certain enemies and monsters, I give them just one static pose. This is where I apply this trick to make all characters and monsters feel alive in the world I created...
For the monsters, I simply drew that exact same pose over and over for 8 frames. Using the imperfect tracing method to my advantage, the enemies still feels different from the rest while feeling pretty much alive in the game world.
Next, when it comes to all my animations, I try to keep everything capped at 8 frames, then run it at 8-16 frames per second. The only exceptions are certain animations that aren't a cycle of any kind.

This method however had a pro and con...

The pro is, I manage to get away with creating lively characters that never feel stiff despite sticking to only one pose or two.

The con however, is that I have to draw each frame over and over which usually makes my animation process last up to an hour per animation.
What makes it sadder is that people like that kind of animation style since it helped make the game a bit unique. Plus I have to keep the consistency going in all my characters (except maybe machines) or else it would seem off.😅

[upIndie]

Really impressive videos on game design and animation. Your channel is top quality (I already recommended it on mine). Keep it up the outstanding work.

[ghostlabstudios]

I appreciate your detailed explanations and thought process. I find them incredibly helpful as I overthink animation and tend to feel like I am missing something. I think the 2d animation to functional game asset is a sorely underserved area for indie game devs. I'd love to know if you have some super secret resources that I could investigate. :D

[hashygaming]

Hii you deserve million subs man. Learned a lot from this tutorial. I have one request please make birds, airoplanes and sea 2d environments content.

[BullsBayK]

dude.. I didn't know you made broforce.. I love that game with friends! It is super fun!

[li]

Is it possible to learn how to draw perfectly on a regular xp pen deco 01 graphic tablet?

[PHOBOS]

Wow, you've been uploading a lot lately

[HoneySidhu-tvrm]

2:20 look at old man's underwear falling

[greguar]

its super strange for me that there is no idle animation in Animators Survival Kit. its usually neglected in animation course, but it seems like the most important animation for a game besides walk cycle

[Infor_Master]

Hey nonsensical2D, did u made a game with Ur caracter in it, bcause Id like to play it, thanks.

[leventesoos]

what is your program name you are using to draw?

[wagdynavas]

Are you a game designer or it is just a hobby for you?