Hand-Drawn Animation Feedback – Walk Cycle Exercise
4mo
The guy from BluishDot
Hello everyone!
A while back, as part of an animation fundamentals course, I had to do a simple walk cycle from the side (first attached image sequence; design of the character is referenced from the example of the teacher). The result was an exaggerated walk with a really wide stride (which is in line with the requirements of that particular exercise). Overall, I was happy with the result except for the arms. With the arms I was going for a more relaxed feel but they ended up being way to stiff.
With that in mind I had another go at it (this time using the character design from The Animator's Survival Kit). I’m much happier with this result (second and third image sequences). It looks a bit silly but for a cartoon character I think it fits quite nicely. Still, I am looking for ideas on how on improve it or any mistakes that my inexperienced eyes missed. So, if anyone has any critique to offer I would highly appreciate it.
Thank you!
(The first and second image sequences are on 4s without inbetweens. The third image sequence has inbetweens a well.)
4mo
The second one looks a little "rubber hose" in the arms, and the head should move in an arch, not up and down, it looks like a bouncing ball. The legs look good, but the main action is always easier than the secondary movements like the head and arms.
Also, the top of the arm is just sliding across the torso, you should indicate a shoulder to give the character structure. Even cartoon characters have bones and structure, the lack of it is why the arms look "rubber hose." Also the torso is a little stiff, find away to have it be part of the walk.
The timing is good and your volumes are consistent, the body tilting right to left is also nice. Keep at it :)
The guy from BluishDot
3mo
Hello again @Steve Lenze!
I hope you are doing well.
I was hoping to get your thoughts on another walk cycle I did.
For this one I also attached the reference I took from The Animator's Survival Kit. That unconventional passing position really caught my eye and I wanted to see where I could go with it.
Overall, I quite like how it turned out and the process for this was a lot more fun than I anticipated.
I tried to give the head a slight arc motion and thanks to the reference pose from the book, the body ended up being a lot more dynamic. Still, something feels a bit off in the head and body. Maybe I could have fine tuned the spacing in the bending of the body and also exaggerated the arc of the head more.
I also kept your notes regarding the shoulder in mind. However, since my anatomy knowledge is pretty basic (working on improving that) this part felt mostly like stumbling in the dark, hoping to come across something that looks right.
If you’ve got a couple of minutes to spare I would really appreciate your feedback on this.
Thank you!
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These are some very useful pointers – exactly what I was hoping for!
Thank you Steve!
