I'm in the process of prototyping skeletal animation and attachments for my 2D sprites. I want to allow the character to hot-swap clothing, hair, accessories etc by attaching the new pieces to the skeletal bones. I'm really new to game dev in general (programmed for 20 years though) and am not sure where to find resources like this. I've checked the resources mentioned in the Free 2D/3D Art Assets thread, but not able to find any assets that I can use to compose a character in pieces.

Do you guys have any recommendations? I'm by no means an artist, and wouldn't be able to create the head/body/arms/clothing/shoes/hair examples to build a prototype off of. I'm wanting to get some exposure to animating and attaching sprites (using Cocos2d-x) to the bones, before I build out my entire animation/attachment system.

Thanks.

To find large coherent sets you will have to hire a artist, even when making asset packs artist tend to make a wide verity to increase the chance of a buyer.

Artist aren't that expensive, however I advice while you are still planing the game don't focus on art. Hire the artist when you are 60% or more done with the game.

Art can be adjusted to match a game, however changing the art after it's finished will cost a lot.

For cloths swapping you should brows the internet on the topic. The only flawless 2D design I can think of is used by Terraria. It isn't skinned animation, can still be a useful reference.

IF you have some 2D skill you can also edit store assets or free assets to match your game, this will be cheaper than hiring a artist, however you have to spend the time learning 2D art.

Thanks, I'll continue to look for docs on how to go about getting the setup I am wanting hooked up. My biggest stumbling block is just understanding what needs to be done on the art side, in order for the engine to properly make use the bones/hot-swappable assets without re-animating every piece.