The first one is a bullet in flight. I've animated it so it looks like it's rotating through the air. I made several iterations on the bullet in the beginning. The first attempts at making it was too bland. I needed something more action packed so I added rotation and some cool particle effects behind it. It's three frames of animation looping. If I would do this again I would use more real life references. References are really important when making pixel art. Because you have so low resolution you have to choose very carefully in how you do it. In pixel art, every single pixel matters.
This one is an animation of the muzzle flare of a gun. It's seven frames of animation with a smoke effect. When I first had started out I only had two frames of animation but I wanted to do more cause I was caught up in all the fun. I added the smoke as a cool effect to make it slightly more badass.
I'm very satisfied with my production this week. Not only on this game but also on other projects and such. It is not often I am satisfied with my work but hey you got to practice to improve. Thanks for reading!
It is nice to hear that you are happy with what you have accomplished, I must agree that your sprites turned out looking quite nice, especially the smoke on the muzzle flare and the swirl on the bullet. They make the animations look alive. Remember though, to much detail in an animation that is used repetitively might get annoying. My suggestion to you is that you make two or three versions of the muzzle flare animation were the manner in which the smoke drifts off alters a little bit, if you have the extra time for it, that is.
SvaraRaderaAnyway, regarding the blog post, it is nice to hear your thoughts on the importance of reference and details on the different elements you have chosen to add to your sprites. However, I believe you could still flesh it out some more, especially when it comes to your design choices. For instance, why did you make the bullet look like it is spinning? And why does it look to be made of bronze? Even if it was not a design choice, it would still be interesting to know what gave you the idea.
Anyway, keep up the good work, and have a nice day.
Thanks for the comment. The reason the bullet is spinning is because in reality almost all barrels in a gun are rifled. The barrel spins the bullet for better accuracy. I exaggerated the spin on the bullet quite a bit to make it seem more deadly. The reason for the color of the bullet is simply because of the references I used and because it's a recognizable bullet color.
Radera