Kydus's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Brony Madness]

Rock on, dude. I applaud your courage for doing something like this, and on Madness Day no less.

As for the toon itself, I would say this is pretty solid for a first attempt. Let me tell you, I have definitely seen worse. The faces you stuck over the madness dudes were pretty funny, and worked well for something as short and simple as this. But if you do end up continuing it, I'd at least have them change expression every now and then if you keep rolling with that idea.

Here's something else you could try. Go and watch a couple of the latest Madness episodes again, and pay attention to the characters when they're idle. Very rarely will they be completely static. There's always some form of movement going on, even if it's just breathing.

Another thing. I don't know what FPS you animated this at, but I seem to recall that Krinkels animates at 60-something? Or maybe it was 50-something... Either way, I would try stepping up your frame rate to allow for much smoother, less robotic-looking motion for the characters. I haven't done anything higher 36 myself, so I can only imagine how difficult it probably is dealing with that many frames. But, it'll be worth it in the end, I'm sure :)

Just thought of something else. GUIDE LAYERS and EASING. These are two tools that would help you immensely toward the goal of smoother, more realistic animation when using a lot of tweens. My last bit of advice to you would be to pop open a tutorial here on NG and get reeeeeaaaaaaal familiar with those concepts.

Actually, I lied. One more thing: Camera usage. Zooming in/out when the main character enters/exits a room is a good start, but you can do so much more with the cam that just that. Move it around during the action, shake it a bit, zoom in on spots where the character is looking, etc. You did a nice job on that in the last scene; more of that kind of camera movement makes for a more dynamic and engaging animation.

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Phat-Rat responds:

Thank you for your feedback, it was more than helpful! I will take these tips into my animations and try to make a better second part. I also am trying to familiarize myself with 30+ FPS with my new animations. I will also be releasing a few test animations, for fun, here and there. Thank you so much, you were the best reviewer yet, I am pleased to see someone has a sense of manners and constructive criticism! Thank you.

/)*(\

[Hades vs Angry Sandbag]

Not bad for a first attempt

I'd actually say you did rather well. I've seen plenty of people's first sprite movies, and yours certainly goes in the better half of them. That said, here're some pointers:

The first thing I noticed was Hades' idle animation is all over the place. Very shakey. It's distracting and unnatural-looking, which you don't want, especially in a sprite film. This is easy to fix though. Go into the symbol for that idle animation and turn the onion skin tool on, the button should be attached to the bottom of your timeline. Using that, you should get be able to get the keyframes to line up perfectly so there's no more jittering between frames. I would apply this to every single sprite you ever animate, as it makes them all look much more crisp and professional.

Secondly, I would take the time to go over your Hades sprites again. Mainly, it's his body fur that lacks significant shading. It's important to try and have natural-looking value progression when making sprites, especially when using a lot of dark greys and blacks. On this point my best advice would be to use three shades of grey to produce the effect of lighting, instead of just two. Also, try to avoid solid horizantal or vertical walls of pixels that are the same shade as much as possible. When trying to produce the effect of shading on sprites, diagonal progressions are your best friend.

I'm a Sonic OC spriter myself, so I know just how much of a pain in the ass all of that sounds like, but the results will be well worth it if you want your own character to stand out and be memorable among the thousands of sprite OCs out there. I don't mean to sound overly critical on this, as from what I've seen so far you seem to have established some excellent starting points for future sprite development. They just need that final bit of polish.

That's enough technical stuff for now though. As for the concept, I'd call it a demo or a test run, and a fairly good one. I don't think I've ever seen Sandbag fight back before, so nice idea there. A random fight scene is as good a place as any to start with. Good luck in the future bud, hope I helped.

[Dark Chaos PT2 Trailer]

Glad to see you're continuing this.

I've always enjoyed yout work and am excited to see the next episode upon its completion. It's great seeing this trailer as I had previously thought you weren't making a sequel to your original. Keep up the good work!

[PALADIN episode 5 part 2]

Amazing

And to answer the query below my review, remember the spikes receded into the ground, so the father was just able to get back up. I just watched the series from start to finish, and am extremely impressed at your progression of animation skill since the first episode. Secondly I really like your take on the classic hero-esque story, as yours felt a bit more realistic than most while still keeping a semblance of the fantasy like nature of such a tale. I also really liked your villain, and how his own arrogance and cynicism proved to be his ultimate downfall. I feel you portrayed all of your characters extremely well, and they were very believable. I noticed you even threw in a bit of humor while Auron and the crow were talking on the stairs in one episode; it was a nice touch. Great job on this series, and good luck with Larry!

[TTA Episode 058]

Astounding..

This episode was off the vharts compared to all the previous ones, and obviously you're not quite done yet with this arc. This was quite literally jaw-droppingly amazing, in every sense. It definitely had the feel of a "last boss" scenario in any video game, which you pulled off fantastically with the dialogue, action sequences, and music choices, which I particularly enjoyed. I honestly cannot WAIT to see the rest of this fantastic series.

[TTA Episode 023]

You've earned a 10

Excellent work, this episode definitely deserves that daily 2nd award. I've really enjoyed your series so far, and the plot is moving along very nicely at this point. I also like Kirb's paladin-like nature, and I feel you've pulled off that portrayal exceptionally well with your character. Often when I watch this series I forget it's all basically a game (so far at least) and not "real." Great job, I can't wait to see the rest.

[TTA Episode 021]

Well Done

Out of the whole group, I never expected Nailock to win it all. Good choice on not making it the obvious, like Alpha or Kirb. And I agree, this would make quite a phenomenal online experience if it were real. The closest thing I can think of is Whirled.com with the 100% original and customizable avatars, but programming in your own fighting techniques and character parameters would make this the greatest thing to happen to the iternet.

[TTA Episode 019]

Getting good!

I think I was honestly a bit impressed with this episode. It's obvious by this point you were getting much better at animating the battle scenes, and I rather enjoyed the battle between Kirb and Alpha. Oddly enough, I only missed watching and reviewing this episode on its 5th birthday by about an hour. Ah well.

[Nosferadow]

Amazing

When I saw Tails standing by Sonic with the gun giving his speech, all I could think was, "Holy crap, Tails is Django!" Great movie all around, I say. Vampire Shadow looked pretty spectacular, even in sprited form. Major props to you or whoever made those sprites on that one. Can't wait to see more from you in the future, and keep up the good work!