Hey guys, just thought I'd share this great article about making great 2D sprite animations.
It has some really good pointers, and expands about some fine points of the art.
Best tip I've seen in a long time xD It's a short article though!
b]2. Make everything bouncy and feel alive
Idle animation for Mercenary Kings boss
Part of pushing your animations is making sure that characters never appear stiff, or as if they're made up of independent moving parts. Even when animating something as simple as a person breathing, you need to do more than just move their chest up and call it a day.
Robertson says that you should always try to keep the character moving, even if they're standing still. Add some bounce to your characters, move their fists, make them blink, and add whatever you can so they look like they're living, breathing sprites.
"[You have to animate] things like hair and clothes blowing in the wind or swaying around while they move, giving them exaggerated facial expressions, cute or funny idle animations, anything that makes them feel like they have a personality," he adds.
You can read the rest of the article HERE!
I highly recommend it to all 2D artists, especially pixel artists.