Im an animation student, well sort of, im teaching myself traditional animation, and working through Richard Williams' The animators survival kit' these are my first walk and run cycles, i know they need work, but any critques or guidance on what i should work on next or practice more would be greatly appreciated
thanks everyone
looks like a good start to me :) although i'm no pro.
remember what he says about arcs giving fluidity in movement
Same from me too, a good start. The walk looks like the right leg is on the ground too long
thanks guys i see what you mean about the leg, when adding the arc for fluidity, does that just apply for cartooning walks or for realistic ones as well?
i'm pretty sure it applies to all animation. and i'm just quoting mr williams here, but i believe he said straight lines give powerful actions and arcs are pretty much for everything else.
my memory is a bit scratchy though so if anyone more experienced would like to correct me, feel free. :)
I'm going to try to totally critique the hell out of this, knowing this is your first try. I'm hardly a pro just out of school, and have only worked freelance a bit, so I'm not the absolute best person to take advice from, but it could be valuable. I want to help, cuz one thing I've never had enough of, especially when I was first learning, was honest advice and critique.The thing I wanted most when I started doing this stuff was in fact...useful advice, and I still feed of it to this day.
First off before I start, great great book you have there. The best animation book in my opinion, you MUST check out Disney's Illusion of life. I'd consider getting that as well, because that book and the one you have are as far as I know the two most valuable books to learn of animation.
Ok, arcs are very important. if you draw a line over the top of a head throughout a cycle it should look like a wave. It's essentially in most cases an exaggeration of the natural human gait. MIddlish in the contact position, lowest on the down position(Where weight is transferred from the back to front foot), rising up to the passing position where arms and legs pass eachother and peaking at the peak position before dropping back down to the contact position. Walks I've found tend to seem more effeminate, robotic or controlled with little to no arc. After you start to understand the basic concepts with runs and walks, your characters can gain huge amounts of personality with something as small as adjsuting the arc in their gait.
OK the walk. It's an interesting walk, I like it how the character takes his time but kicks his feet out right before his foot falls. I don;t know if thats what you had in mind but it has like a real cocky feel to it. Now keep in mind, a run of the mill walk doesn't do this, but if thats what you were goin for, it's cool. Looks good, a good start and an exemplary first try.
~critique. I see a bit of a strange in-between on the sheet that says 5.5? I think? Its the frame after your second contact keyframe, it looks a little off to me. LIke the weight transfer goes from back to front in the contact frame, and the next pose looks off balance to me, like he/she is leaning back on their heel.
One more thing, your body rotates to the right more than it does to the left on the contact keyframes, gives it a kind of "I'm favoring one side" feel.
I hope I was helpful a little bit. Animation is awesome, and keep rocking it. It's hard work, but so worth it, and I'm only now just starting to get my feet wet for real.
Peace and good luck!
PS Study and practice the 12 principles of animation!!!
and oh yeah the run. The run looks good, I think your right foot comes up a bit more than your left, gives a feel kind of the smae in the walk to me, one side a littl estornger than the other. Just read on proper timing, you'll get it bro....Good first walk/run dude!
Thanx for the in depth critques everyone, Jason, im glad you mentioned the sort of kicking leg action on the walk, cus thats one thing that i definetly wanted some help on, it wasnt intentional and to be honest i really do hate it, it feels so unnatural, but i wasnt sure if the problem was the leg coming down not have enough inbetweens, or if it was because of my contact position, any thoughts?
I don't know if your drawing straight forward or your working pose to pose. Work on the keys, and look at people walking, reference material!!! The cool thing about animation is you can study the art of body language and movement anywhere!
We don't as we move forward keep our knees bent so much, the up leg straightens out as it moves into the contact position, so your getting that jerky motion from passing position to contact. it looks like your characters knee is bent essentially until his foot falls to the contact position, in the frames between your highest point and your contact, use the frames to straighten the front leg to give it a more realistic, natural motion. You'll get it, just practice practice, practice, and take critiques to heart. practice, study, and take the advice, and draw draw draw, and you'll get better quick.