The town crier
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
I don't think you will need to. You should be able to use the Scale Bone Tool to scale the upper body bone(s) (or any bone). You can only scale in one direction so the squash/stretch won't maintain volume. You can compensate for this by using some point animation but your character is quite slim so any squash would be subtle anyway.
It looks good as it is but you could experiment a bit.
It looks good as it is but you could experiment a bit.
Nice character design. His movement and design have lots of personality. Plus, the shoes are great. 
I agree with AmigaMan about the squash and stretch. The bone scale tool and point motion are a good way to do it. Or you could scale the bones for the length and scale the vector layer for the width.
The main reason to squash and stretch bones one at a time is that if you squash and stretch the whole figure evenly, it adds a sense of weight, but it can look flat. If you squash and stretch sections of the body different amounts, it gives a sense of what the thing is made of, how squishy or rigid it is, and its volume. It also shows how much the object is being affected by physical forces.
For the town crier, I think the legs and torso would deform the most because they absorb the shock of the step. Then the head and arms would probably change less or stay the same.
Basically, once you decide what the consistency of the body is like, you can use squash and stretch (standing in for the laws of physics) to show that to the viewer.
I agree with AmigaMan about the squash and stretch. The bone scale tool and point motion are a good way to do it. Or you could scale the bones for the length and scale the vector layer for the width.
The main reason to squash and stretch bones one at a time is that if you squash and stretch the whole figure evenly, it adds a sense of weight, but it can look flat. If you squash and stretch sections of the body different amounts, it gives a sense of what the thing is made of, how squishy or rigid it is, and its volume. It also shows how much the object is being affected by physical forces.
For the town crier, I think the legs and torso would deform the most because they absorb the shock of the step. Then the head and arms would probably change less or stay the same.
Basically, once you decide what the consistency of the body is like, you can use squash and stretch (standing in for the laws of physics) to show that to the viewer.