Check out this for some inspiration!
http://www.biteycastle.com/biteyWindow.htm

Thanks, I am familiar with Adam Phillips.

Amazing animation, he makes it look so effortless :)

Cute character! :3 I think you should add more frames in the middle (when he's in the air) and take out some frames when he's coming down.

Cutie! I agree with bowrll. He looks a bit weightless when he's in the air (unless he jumps really far, maybe make him jump higher?) and something about when he starts the next jump is a bit quick. Can't place my finger, though.
Anyway, so cute! Nice work. Animation is hard... hair-pullingly hard.

Browsers are so weir with .gif timing.
with chrome, seems pretty much in synch with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7qsCxX_VF8

Smooth animation. Wish .gif had png-style transparency, the outlines with FA's dark scheme kind of distract.

I added a background, it should no longer be transparent.

Do you mind critique or would you prefer to be left to you own devices at the moment?

I encourage critique, I am well aware of my amateur status.

Okay, just wanted to be sure, I know it can be discouraging sometimes to get critique if you're noodling.

Right now the main issue I'm seeing with the motion is that there are too many frames spent on the descent and not enough on the initial launch (I'd give another inbetween to let the tension in his expression and body sink in, doubling the frame length there won't quite work though... perhaps having him tuck in his body slightly more before springing) or the peak of the jump, which gives the appearance that hes floating or that there is a very long drop (the latter has it's own set of issues with the landing though). The arch of the jump also feels a bit shallow at the peak because of the apparent energy of the poses used for the launch.

The motion of his tail and arms is looking great though. I can get a sense for how rigid he can hold his tail and you've accomplished a believable wave motion in it. His arms have a nice snap to them in the motion near the end of the beginning of the jump as well. Pose to pose it's really great, the individual shots show that you have the right idea and a definite sense for how people move their bodies and the way gravity affects them.

I've picked at it some if you'd like to see. I use Chrome which tries to get closer to 1:1 timing, so it might look really weird in other browsers. This is only frame number and length tweaking, so, you'll be able to get a lot more out of making your own changes. http://i.imgur.com/Q7xtH.gif

I just quickly tweaked the timings of the GIF: http://i.imgur.com/3ONLa.gif - put most of it on 2's (80ms) and put some frames near the end on 1's (40ms).

I think Tryst is right, not enough frames in the anticipation and the little guy doesn't anticipate (crouch) enough for the jump. But personally I think Tryst's GIF has made the movement too even and the motion in the hand is just going round and round and round - movement is always more interesting easing in or out - I like the little hang in the air, it's not realistic, but arf, it's animation.

Hang is good at the peak of a jump and is realistic (if exaggerated), hence why I suggested rounding out the hang time at the peak of the jump, as well as the anticipation. It gives the wrong impression if it's during the end of the descent, when the point of acceleration should be at it's highest. My edit was focused on getting the physics down, to fix the easing in and out/timing I would have had to draw frames in myself, which I simply don't have time to do. Yours looks cleaner, but doesn't address any of the core problems.

Oh yeah, totally agreed. Basically this is "learn the ball bounce"

But no use throwing out a hang if it's doing the job close enough :P

Have you tried animating with GIMP? I find it's a bit more robust with GIFs and its playback is pretty bang on - https://sites.google.com/site/thegimplightbox/

You mind if I put this up on Walk Cycle Wednesday? We're always looking for subs :)

Yeah, that is a great bit of software. :D

Why thank-you! :D

I have not tried gimp yet, though I'll take a look. I've been hesitant to add to my already robust collection of software! You may include this on your blog if you like, though I will attempt to update this in a day or so. I'll let you know when I do! Also thanks for the consideration, and again for the timing edit. I think it helps quite a lot!

I've added a few frames and attempted to fix the timing. You should see it when you refresh, let me know what you think!

At this stage, if I were to crit it would be more along your choice of poses - the silhouette on the lift could be stronger, don't be afraid to bring the arm over the body on Frame 6 and really emphasise the squash and stretch with the curvature of the spine. Also, there's a bit of a jerk in the knee (frame 9-10), the knee just needs smoothing out over frame 10 and 11.

Arrr, sorry, you caught me in director mode, I'm just nit picking - It's looking good! I'll post that up on the cycle blog :)

Have you got a blog or folio you'd like me to link back to? Also, I'll assume you used Photoshop ya?

Yessir, I did use Photoshop. I downloaded Gimp and installed the animation tools, but havent had much time to get to know them well. And by all means, direct away. I'd like to get good at this sort of thing, so any constructive criticism is appreciated. I've only been dabbling in animation for a short while, so I'm certain I have a lot of learning ahead of me. When I'm able I'll try to address the fixes you mention but unfortunately it will have to wait for about a week.

Thanks for the feedback, and also the blog exposure! I havent really got a proper folio site yet, but you could link to http://ayato.deviantart.com/ until I get one.