INSANELY Smooth pixel ATTACK Animation Tutorial

A smooth animation tutorial. Condensed version to give viewers a peak at what my full tutorials provide! I make monthly pixel art/animation tutorials that I release on itch/for my patreons.
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Patreon: / penusbmic
Tutorials & Game Assets: penusbmic.itch.io/
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music by me: / penusbmic
00:00 Intro
00:32 Designing Character
01:48 Setting Up Keyframes
05:49 Adding In-between frames (idle to battle stance)
08:50 Adding In-between frames (first Slash)
10:45 Adding In-between frames (anticipation of heavy slam)
11:35 Adding In-between frames (final heavy slam)
14:38 adding In-between frames (return to idle stance)
17:22 Adding VFX (Electricity)

[@NoomStuff]

This whole video is just me being like: "oh yeah that looks good", and them you make it 3x better

[@Penusbmic]

hehe thanks for the kind words!

[@L19htning]

@@Penusbmic you also make it seem so easy... really cool stuff ngl.

[@animatrix1490]

I love the advice of counting pixels to track volume, that's actually really helpful!

[@silphv]

I don't get it. The character, like almost every other 2D character, is moving like a 3D character projected onto 2D. Sometimes the sword is behind him, sometimes in front, etc. Conserving "volume" is just not how that works. Just look at any reference that inspires you where you like the pose, see how things like clothing, limbs and weapons become foreshortened in space, and do what looks good to your eye. Don't be constrained by conserving pixel count unless you're trying to stylize the thing as a literally flat (a shadow, or like paper mario) creature that for some stylistic reason can't change proportion at all. Penusbmic doesn't always follow this rule in the video itself, it doesn't always look good to do. (The general rule of "the end of the cloak has to go somewhere" does make sense but it's not about counting pixels. "somewhere" might mean behind another pixel, like how approximately half the cloak is in theory behind the character's body.)

[@silphv]

I want to add though the result looks good in this video, there's a lot that he's doing right here to give it a good feel.

[@ruslansmirnov9006]

has been known since forever, since 70's

[@jontay4199]

@@silphv if you watch the video, it’s not like he follows it like a law. He even mentions when the movements are more subtle, he deletes them and says no need to move these as they went behind him.

[@styxrakash4639]

@@silphv I see what you are saying but you could still track volume during certain movements that are 2D with respect to the viewer

[@jojodelacroix]

I really like the note about keeping the volume of an object the same when talking about the cloak. But at the same time, your perspective will change what you can see, so for some things it makes sense to just sort of remove pixels.

[@Penusbmic]

Yes! That's a solid point as well 😃

[@lorissirol2684]

I'm a 3D animator and I love how pixel art animation can really help you think out of the box, thanks for the videos (Might test it out someday)

[@FallisLife]

I think that’s the coolest thing about the human mind. Learning something almost completely different can actually help so much thinking better when doing the main thing you are learning. I started learning pixel art by thinking about it as 2D sculpting, this helped me understand the form and how to block in the art without difficult lines :)

[@ruslansmirnov9006]

in comparison to level of animation in the Ori series, this is complete trash and you can't say it can be like that just bc it is low-res (so called pixel graphics)

[@fastlearner292]

​@@ruslansmirnov9006if you are incapable of understanding an art form maybe don't share your worthless opinion on it

[@ast3077]

Well said

[@daxramdac7194]

​@@FallisLifeYeah it's really something, we should look into it more as a study in the phenomenon of learning. I myself was always sketching and loved to draw, but I always felt my perspective needed work, my volumes, etc just that my shapes I wanted them to sit in 3d space and look good, but would be so hard sometimes to figure out how to make progress. When I got into 3D modeling and spent all my time there, I remember going back to sketching to work on designing my own stuff, to learn concepting basically, now that I felt comfortable 3d modeling. Turns out, my ability to sketch went WAY WAY up, it's like those areas that needed work just sort of fixed themselves because, after doing so much modeling requires you to constantly be rotating the model around checking things make sure it's correct, somehow translated directly to sketching. Like my mind had a much better understanding of 3d space and how shapes should look in perspective, suddenly sketching volumes wasn't so taxing anymore, and in fact came very naturally, as if I was modeling on paper.

[@misfitmadman]

Yours and Hyper light drifters artstyle is always a huge inspiration for some of my art, and I'm so excited to see some animation tutorials here on KZbin to help watch and listen to while I work on my own animations. Excited to see more in the future and thank you.

[@Penusbmic]

Thanks for the kind words and the support! Means a lot to me 🙂

[@DanielSoeMusic]

@misfitmadman are you the bird man?

[@deadsharpie1]

whats the song in your video

[@norman8737]

worm 45

[@cescimes]

insane timing for me to find you literally yesterday searching for pixel art tutorials keep up the good work and a big thank you!

[@paulroberto2286]

Thank you for this! I recently started pixel art for a game, and was struggling to make my animations feel impactful. Seeing your entire process was really nice! The video length was perfect too, long enough that it's easy to follow, but short enough that it isn't daunting.

[@Shug11]

This entire process was amazing to watch and your approach to explaining it is perfect.

[@Penusbmic]

Thanks so much 😊

[@robertnoall8847]

I stumbled across this but it blew my mind how well you explain things and why you do them!

[@zneeke]

This just became my most favorite video :) Love it! Thanks for sharing your workflow. I've learned a lot by just watching your videos.

[@Penusbmic]

Thank you Z! appreciate the support :)

[@Daszkal]

Holy shit. I'm in the middle of a game jam trying out making stuff for the first time and my friend, I can tell you with authority that uh... well let's just say baby's first animation is looking preeeetty gnarly. And this video taught me SO much about the tool, the workflow, and like... just how to think about the process in a way that let's you iterate through from a static image to a finished animation. I seriously can't thank you enough. I feel like I went from knowing nothing to being actually confident that I can do this. First I'm sharing this with my team, and then I'm gonna go binge the rest of your content. Thank you. ❤

[@Sackwiz]

Awesome video! Seeing your animation made it seem really intimidating to try and attempt something like this, but when you broke it down you made it a lot more approachable. Very insightful! The animation is stunning!!

[@globalcitizen123-hl3dv]

thank you youtube for suggesting this video to me! I wasn't even looking at anything sprite-related (but some game-dev stuff). great video, really liked your workflow from creating the character to adding the 'vfx'. subscribed!

[@gearjacky]

This has got to be one of the easiest to understand breakdowns of an animation I've ever seen. Awesome work!

[@LocSec]

This was fantastic. Thank you for sharing. I just started doing pixel animation as a bit of a hobby and this gave me so many cool and fun ideas.

[@Pat.Man.]

This was so good, just downloaded Aseprite to start playing around. Love how well you explained this, can't wait to get my first character going! Thanks.

[@andrewmartin2341]

Ive bought a bunc of your sprites in the past but had no idea you made videos! KZbin just decided to suggest your channel. Love seeing your workflow.

[@Penusbmic]

Weooo thanks for the support here as well 😀

[@waveymane]

such a simple character, but what an animation, so cleaaan. Really got that umph!

[@JesseBrohinsky]

This is so relaxing to watch. Beautiful.

[@Penusbmic]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@kofiro253]

Thanks for this tutorial! I managed to understand things better, especially about keeping track of the volume of pixels!

[@Hubfull]

I’m a huge fan, I bought many assets from you… That inspired me so much !! Many thanks

[@Vaelazil]

You're awesome i use your assets to keep me coding havent used them in an actual game yet tho but youve kept me on top of burnout by either free material to code with or inspiration to make art i found you on itch and youve been a legend in my head since then

[@lordrakes5528]

I think I saw your art on reddit ! Being a noob artist at 23 years old this is so inspiring ! I hope I'll be able to do such smooth animations one day !

[@xVovex]

Insanely good! This is a big inspiration for me, thanks for sharing.

[@BigWander]

The volume trick is such a valuable tip! Never really considered it but makes so much sense :O

[@minhquanglai3158]

thanks for tutorial, i really love your channel, its easy to understand with a newbie

[@jessca1h]

Incredible - fascinating to watch!

[@Yuno-fq1oo]

This has give me an idea to make a game of my own, I was struggling with choosing a style but this right here open my mind, love the art man❤

[@microdavid7098]

You can create a game that looks like any style. From painterly to minimalist to a silhouette type game. Depends with the mood you're going for

[@user-lj6jf7wy1d]

This looks amazing! many tips to take to heart!

[@fenyonimrod1050]

Dude i absolutley love what you're doing. I want to make animations like this. Sometimes i want to make them so bad i forget that i accually want to code as well. Maybe i'm just a visual guy ya know. But its sooooo cool what you'we done. Congrats 🤩

[@MaievShadowsong-tv2hi]

its almost midnight and i had the urge to learn pixelart. man i love this video so much u made me love the process of making it not just the result. its so cool and i learned quite a lot. Im currently copying what ur doing to see if i can replicate it, imma do my own sprite after hehe

[@teebs1290]

i really enjoyed this, keep it up. I've learnt so much even from just this one video

[@Penusbmic]

Ty 😊❤️

[@Skullzbear]

Thanks for this Video, im completly new to pixel animnation, but to watch a video like this helped me a lot to understand the process

[@Zane_2029]

How have I not seen your channel before?. I'm looking forward to getting into Indie Game Dev and this tutorial really helps to understand some basic animation fundamentals for animating game sprites, You've got a sub from me.

[@tyrussell3516]

I saw one of your posts on instagram for a progress check and I thought it was so cool

[@VinciWare]

Phenomenal tutorial! Subscribed 😁

[@Penusbmic]

Thanks so much! ❤️❤️

[@brandonjacksoon]

Dome Keeper art was awesome! Glad youtube recommended your channel

[@superflashilandia]

Fantastic work!

[@kindacruise]

i played bullet bunny a few months ago, blown away by the art (and use of gdev, my favorite). crazy how as soon as i download aseprite i get you in my rec. thanks for the great tutorial!

[@Penusbmic]

Weooo! Well thanks for the support in many different ways 😀

[@zaftnotameni]

my god this looks incredible

[@RavenCroftLoft]

This is great man, love my cloaked dudes . A good hearty cloak adds so much weight and flavor to a character. I’m currently online searching for inspiration. Achieved!

[@pricemedlin5651]

this reminds me of the animations from the old browser game armed with wings, looks awesome!

[@thisoldguard]

its so cool, bro, good job!

[@bobsmithy3103]

Ay I played your Shougun game recently when randomly browsing itch. I really loved the gameplay and art!

[@erkandursun01]

This pixel animation tutorial is very good thank youu

[@josephjoestar5466]

Insane work!!!

[@jasonespinoza5105]

this is not the massive pain in the ass I imagined it to be. Thanks for the video. This answered a lot of questions for me.

[@nobody7204]

The pixel art reminds me of Hiperlight drifter. The animations and the designs are really cool!

[@panpan6014]

Hey ! i follow your Insta and i was asking myself how did you do to make your beautiful animation in pixel art, and now i'm discovering that you teach us to do it !!! you're the best ! thanks a lot !

[@kierjackson1000]

I've been following you for a long time and never realized you had a YT. You make me want to get back into Pixel art and spritework. Maybe motivate myself to find a studio or project to join.

[@baggonotes]

Woah, I really like your process! I’ve tried using rotation and lasso tools on Aseprite before but always end up needing unnecessary amounts of cleanup work. I think this is because of how I don’t utilize layers the way you do. I’d be interested in knowing how you choose to split your character’s components into different layers, hearing your thought process out loud. Great video, thank you!

[@henrymiranda8276]

bro! you're the best one, I learned a lot just with this video, greetings

[@ctw-gk8jg]

you helped me draw my first pixel anim work! thanks!

[@nosamnm6410]

i would play a game just for that character design he looks so fucking awesome, right up my alley.

[@SillyPotato]

Very good tutorial !! Thank you!!

[@johndupl]

You make it look so easy.

[@aspen.coloradx]

Love the animation!

[@ast3077]

Appreciate the upload good work

[@Ownagin]

man this looks sick

[@shirazu-kun]

Finally found you! I've seen your art once on Insta but I can't find it since then, I'm glad your video got recommend.

[@lucaspedroso6736]

Simply Incredible

[@PJokerLP]

You make great videos and amazing tutorials. As already mentioned in other comments. Would be perfect if you keep it at normal speed. There definitely are a lot of people who will appreciate long videos about pixel art and seeing you go through your process. Greetings from Germany, and stay healthy Marcel

[@Penusbmic]

Thank you!! And lesson learnt, a new video coming tomorrow, at normal speed😂😂 ❤️❤️

[@question_mark]

wow this actually smoothed my eyes

[@brandonjacksoon]

Liked and subscribed! Thanks!

[@just_a_zombie6718]

i already learned a lot just from this video wow

[@wackydumbidiot]

Super helpful tutorial, really helped me add that little extra something to my sword attacks

[@TheSharkasmCrew]

Sick work man. This video really making me consider buying aseprite.. lol. Such a clean, no-BS workflow and UI for sprite work.

[@Penusbmic]

Thank you! And it's honestly the best pixel program. Top notch

[@wallacekgames2266]

I'd reccomend buying it if you can, but if you can't afford it for whatever reason, you can compile it from the source code for free

[@janjakruso]

super good tutorial, thank you very much

[@Penusbmic]

thank you!

[@thedripinspector158]

YOURE SO AWESOME

[@Weird-Mike]

This was mind blowing

[@Omiro02]

bro when I make animations it takes me 10 times longer than it takes you. You obviously became very proficient at this hahaha. I think I have been doing it wrong the whole time, because when I animate, I animate each part of the body separated and then smash it all together and hoping it works, then a I refine the details, but I like your process much more than mine

[@exponsional]

Its looks so cool

[@junoestro]

your art is gorgeous omfg wow you are amazing please keep this up

[@Penusbmic]

Thank you so much!!

[@Slindsay8]

I work in Revit and am a Revit instructor at our school. Your speed in aesprite is like me in Revit. But i’m soo slow in aesprite haha. I had no idea aesprite could do all that and so fast. Very cool

[@V1c._.]

Is it just me or is the video sped up?

[@Almondiah]

Not just you lol

[@snazzydaddy1]

def not just you

[@dannyotw95]

Yeah I had to set playback speed to 0.75 for normal sound

[@Web.Regularis]

I was gonna mention that

[@COW879]

as a professional video watcher (1.75x only), yep

[@gamingbabee]

cool! gotta save this for my project later 💃🏻💃🏻

[@lenardEkko]

i saw someone on twitter ripping this off ages ago. really cool to see the original creator

[@Harogat_games]

Nice, talent!

[@dimitardobrev3296]

That was indeed very cool.

[@horsemonkey1893]

This was amazing and your commentary alongside it made it even better. How long have you been creating pixel art?

[@CaramelCapptn]

Great vid! ! !

[@Code4U_]

Thanks.... U inspired me.... I will try to buy one of your tutorial...... I know it hard and take more time .....😊

[@svenmehlhorn2173]

great insight! :)

[@BenManaois]

This is sick man! The sped up voice is driving me crazy though

[@Penusbmic]

Thank you! And definitely thought the same after posting lmao lesson learnt

[@NeptuneKnives]

This is a great character.. God I have ideas but never sure if I'll ever get to realize them until I'm more financially stable

[@honordevs]

I always find animating the diagonal directions very difficult; or really any animation matching (up to down, and diagonal up/down, obviously you can flip for the rest). It would be nice if you had a tutorial for how to copy animations in different perspectives.

[@bobsterhak714]

Awesome!!

[@vasel20]

this is soo good

[@Spyder638]

I recognised your style from Shogun Showdown from the thumbnail. Awesome game!

[@Stedera]

Absolutely astonishing. Could you please give some tips for guys, who suck at art, how could we create something similar? Maybe there are some tools, which could compensate our lack of art skills?

[@zthalesp]

Hello bro, I'm from Brazil and I really liked the video tutorial, well explained, Nice

[@Penusbmic]

Hey, thanks! 😊

[@ahmedorieb]

love is animation pixel

[@Jupek5936]

zajebiście się słucha ludzi którzy się czymś pasjonują i potrafią to pokazać lub wyjaśnić, tak powinna wyglądać edukacja

[@johannfowl8653]

jesus this is so good

[@Tk-nu4gv]

hes so good i use many of his tiles

[@KeremLBJ]

I've been really enjoying your pixel art tutorials, and I find your explanations and techniques incredibly helpful. I was wondering if you could possibly consider incorporating keycap visualizations in your videos? It would be immensely beneficial for a beginner like me who are looking to follow your tutorials step by step.

[@Penusbmic]

Hey thanks for the kind words! Just adding the timestamps :) hope that helps!

[@KeremLBJ]

Thanks a lot, but I think you misunderstood me ^^ What I meant was, if you could display the keyboard hotkeys you're using on the screen when you press them (I believe there are softwares for that), it would be really nice. I'm really bad with shortcuts and they are overwhelming me lol :( @@Penusbmic

[@Penusbmic]

Ahhhh that's a cool idea! I'll def look into that for the next video 😀 thanks for the suggestion!

[@jpn.visual]

Tysm for sharing this. I kind of hit a wall with pixel art and animation for my indie game, but watching your process has been very inspiring. Really love your style, so clean!!

[@Penusbmic]

Thank you! Art block is such a pain, I hope you break down that wall soon ❤️

[@Bell_420]

so cool

[@amazingsparckman]

I dono why I never used this, pretty smooth animation

[@AdamTheCoop1]

this is excellent advice. bro wth I didnt realize acesprite even had onion skin and ive got at least 100 hours in it lmao, I guess this means I need to watch your other stuff too