Angel Sprite Preview

[Tersius]

Here's a preview of the angel sprite I've been working on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaKFTRpKlcs

Unfortunately the video quality is pretty bad.  Since I'm only doing one side of the walk animation, I could post an animated gif version of the sprite.  Anyone have any suggestions on free programs that would allow me to do this easily?

If you can't tell from the video, so far I have the wings, legs, and hair animating.  I also have one other hair style (see the image below) that is a little more "spunky" animated, but it tends to be too bright in game.

If it isn't obvious in the video, I haven't got the arms working yet.  I disabled them for the recording because the ones I have are just bad.  The dancer arms make her butt look really big (because the hand is "ham-fisted" and lands on the butt when it should go more to the thigh), and the "hand made" arms I've been working on are taking FOREVER (as well as flopping around like a dieing fish because I haven't got the frames correct yet).  Where I already have a lot of movement, would it be bad if the arms just stay in place for the walk animations?

Here are some shots of various clothing and paletting I've done on it.  From left to right they are:

1.  The dress used in the youtube clip.
2.  A metal armor inspired by an MTG card: Tormented Angel.  I'm afraid that the silver color doesn't contrast enough with the wings.
3.  A shot of the "spunky" hair along with a modification and repalette of 2.
4.  A higher contrast "devil" version of the angel.

What comments and suggestions do you have?  Any tips / preference on what outfit I should use on the angel?  (I have one other one I am going to try drawing, and I am also open to completely new ideas)

[Cheetah]

yeah the arms are going to be a killer on this sprite. For the walking animation though you could have them mostly static. Just have them bent at the elbows instead of hanging loose and it should look good.

You might want to make her a monster sprite instead of a human unit.

Cool idea and looking pretty good.

[Tersius]

Here's what the arms look like right now.  The biggest problem I am having is getting the bend on the elbow to look right.  Her left arm on the right most shot has a really funny bend in the elbow, and the other arms seem almost unnaturally straight.  What do you think I should do to fix this?  Do you think this pose looks ok?

Edit - I forgot to mention that I'll have the arms partially hidden by the wings in some spots (such the right most frame)

[Cheetah]

Hmm I'm thinking they look quite good. I'm liking the middle and right ones the best. But you could also use those subtle differences as the animation for the arms while walking.

[Tersius]

I guess I'll have to play around with them a bit to get it to look right.  Thanks for the encouragement Cheetah.

I realized I forgot to mention that the wings don't have feathers.  I've had the intention to add feathers.  Yesterday I worked on adding feathers, but after over two hours of effort I couldn't get them to even look decent.  Any tips on how to add feathers, or do you think the wings look good without them?

[Archael]

looks good in-game

quite different from any other FFT sprite I've ever seen

[Zozma]

what an interesting sprite, and good job so far

[Cheetah]

Look at Ultima's wings for inspiration. Textures are hard.

[Tersius]

Thanks for the complements.  I looked at Ultima again, and she does indeed have some "wing poses" I could use.  Thanks for the tip!

I thought I should give an update on my progress:  I've been working on drawing her back.  It is very difficult!  My first four or five attempts made her look fat like the stereotypical viking opera singer, or else made her look like a very masculine football player from behind.  My most recent revision is *finally* more feminine looking and appears to be the same size and shape as her front.  However, I can't post it now because I've been drawing it in flesh tones to get the shading right (this makes her look nude).  

I'm going to be working on the legs for the next couple of days, then I can release another version of her in the purple dress (the purple dress won't be her final outfit, but it is very easy to draw and makes it so I can post her)