How to use character animations that "increase" the size of the sprite?

I have a sprite sheet for a character that is a fairly standard 32x32 sprite. This remains for most of the animations in the sprite sheet. However, for some animations (swinging a sword being the most obvious example), the total area of the sprite extends 8-16px in whatever direction the animation happens in.

What are some solutions for dealing with this?

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Attached two images of the sprite with a grid to give you an idea of what I mean.

I would make a uniform canvas size in the sprite sheet or split the sword and player into two sprite sheets.

Otherwise you will need to program frame offsets in the animations.

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By that, do you mean, just align my 32x32 sprites to take up equivalent space on the sheet with whatever the largest sprite would be?

That makes sense and was my first instinct, just wasn’t sure if there was a better way.

Thank you

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