Dynamic 2D video game character animation with free tools

We need a character to animate, so let's draw one! First we draw the main proportions and basic shapes.

We draw the body parts as groups and add some details and colors to our hero!

Finally we add the feather, the cape and finish the character.

Use this neat trick to export your Inkscape character design perfectly! It will be easy to modify and ready to animate! No special extensions needed! 

Let's get familiar with DragonBones a bit!

Import your Inkscape design and put it all together in DragonBones in the correct order - it is like a puzzle!  

Animating in DragonBones is very much like animating a cut out puppet. In this lesson we build a skeleton for our puppet, so it will be ready for animation! It can be tricky, so take care!

Nobody was born with animation knowledge. Look at some real life examples before you start!

Let's make our first animation and create a simple move!

A character never stands still, let"s make it look alive!

A mesh is way to deform your asset and create a more organic and fluid movement for hair and clothes and other soft bodies.

We continue the animation and I show you 2 more ways the mesh editor can help you i our animation process!

Walk cycles are heavy but needed for our games - Let's understand the cycle and start with the legs!

You don't walk with your legs only! - Let's move those arms too! 

In this lecture we use the meshes we built before to create a smooth movement for the feather.

Let's add some real flow: animate the cape mesh and finish the walk cycle! 

When the character has a sword he will use it. Let's make a slashing move!

Finish the slash and add a new object to make it look more dynamic!

Every story comes to an end. Create a well timed dying animation in this lecture.

Export your animation as an image texture and JSON file or as a sequence of images, or simply create a sprite sheet! 

Easily create new characters fro man existing animation with DragonBones! Here is how!