Calling artists - need some feedback on my attack effect

[partimehero]

Hello there,
I am in need of some feedback. I’ve never be much of an artist. The stuff I draw usually come out as
chicken scratch. With that said, I’d still like to try to make something at least tolerable.
In the video below you will see my attempt at making a weapon attack with a trail.
It looks very out of place but I am not sure how to fix it.
The color looks off, the trail doesn’t feel natural, and my sword swing does not sit well with my character
as well.
Is there a systematic way artists use to pinpoint and fix issues like this?
How do I draw something that fits a style?
I’d greatly appreciate some constructive feed backs. Thank you

 

[Pixey]

Welcome to paint.net @partimehero.  What program are you using to animate?  As it's seems not to be paint.net, we can't help I'm afraid.

[partimehero]

6 hours ago, Pixey said:

Welcome to paint.net @partimehero.  What program are you using to animate?  As it's seems not to be paint.net, we can't help I'm afraid.

Hi pixey, I used paint.net to draw the sprites/frames, and I use them unity to animate.

[Pixey]

11 hours ago, partimehero said:

. With that said, I’d still like to try to make something at least tolerable.

 

So, most of us on here have learned and honed our images by doing tutorials.  Here is one on making a sword.  The images have gone on the first page, but the PDF still has the images.  You could adapt your sword/shape to resemble a sword to your liking:

 

We also have a ready-made area of Shapes, and I have some in a pack:

 

 

And here is a tutorial on how to make your own Shapes:

 

 

[partimehero]

Ok, thank you pixey. I will give them a try

[NinthDesertDude]

Something like

Just follow some basic animation principles
 - skip frames to make it look more sudden, which is why the start and end have only one frame. The sword swings fast and stops suddenly
 - add frames where you want the attention to linger, which is why there's 2 long swish frames (add more to smooth it out if it needs to last longer)

I drew a thin swish above to make it look sharper. A wide swish makes it look more powerful. I'd give a sword a thin swish, an axe a wide one, but it's all about what you want

Spend 24 mins sometime to learn the principles of animation, it's like an entire course in under half an hour and it's fun to watch. Not just generic advice either

 

[Ego Eram Reputo]

21 hours ago, partimehero said:

The color looks off, the trail doesn’t feel natural, and my sword swing does not sit well with my character

 

1. If your platform allows, lower the opacity of the sword trail so some of the background shows through. I'd go with a gradient of more opaque towards the sword and more transparent towards the thin end of the trail.
2. Similarly, lower the opacity towards the inner edge of the sweep. Below I've used a second trail to enhance the outer edge.
3. Smoother path. Swords get swung in an arc (think of a section of an ellipse)

 

 

[Red ochre]

@NinthDesertDude Very informative video!