To start off, I had done the walk cycle. I had a few references for how to animate the walk. Sonic is a very confident, laid back character, so I wanted to have a walk that felt casual and had a lot of sway and follow-through without it feeling silly or over exaggerated. Some of the references I had are below.
From this video I referenced 0:07 and 1:10.
Overall, things went by pretty successfully. Below is my first attempt, view from a 3/4 view and a side view.
It was pointed out that Sonic raises a little to high on his right leg, so I adjusted that and I think it looked much better after doing so. I also noticed that is left hand stops very suddenly and tried to fix that too. I was able to make it less obvious, but unfortunately it still occurs and I am not sure why.
Next, I moves on to the run cycle. This gave me more of an opportunity to include more Sonic-like elements, as running is a big part of the character. Sonic commonly runs with has arms behind his back and in long quick strides, as seen in the image below.
I used Sonic game footage as a reference here as there are many examples of Sonic running in this style, with slight differences.
When animating the run, I had Sonic leaning way forward. I also animated the run to be a bit on the slower side, closer to a jog by Sonic standards, as I wanted to make the movements readable. I received initial feedback to offset the spikes and ears, so they have more of a secondary action feel and to speed the run up slightly, which was done for the final render.
Following this was the body mechanics, which I went in a very ambitious direction with. Sonic games commonly have moments where sonic snowboards or skateboards, usually doing extreme moves, since the body mechanics animation has to be something that shows character and personality I decided to take this route. I planned out what I wanted to do: I would have Sonic on a snowboard, do a trick off a ramp, strike a pose, land back on the board, grind on a rail, then jump off and pull a classic Sonic pose upon landing. I got to work on modelling the snowboard, which was simple to model, I also modelled the set. I just modelled the necessary geography, so things were clear.
For fun and to get an idea of how everything would look when put all together I posed Sonic with the snowboard and was really happy with how it looked.
I planned out the animation with some rough storyboards, which were quite helpful. I planned out where on the set Sonic would be during specific motions.
As this was a very ambitious animation it was quite challenging, needing to have many different actions one after the other, but I think I did very well and I’m very proud. It can be seen below on SyncSketch.
As I said, I am very proud of how it went. I think I exhibited good use of the principles of animation, namely squash and stretch, anticipation, follow-though and overlapping action to name the prominent principles I used here. I also think I showed good use of shot direction, as the camera actively tracks Sonic and his movements, while also being dynamic in its framing to add to the movements he’s doing. I also think I used the board in an interesting way, finding a diegetic way to display Sonic’s name. I think there are some places that could be improved, things move a bit too fast, Sonic could have held his pose in midair for longer, among other things, but I am still happy with how it turned out.
Due to the extreme movements it was hard to find references for the animation. What I was able to find were some references on how to stand on a snowboard or a skateboard, given the context of how the board looked I went for a middle ground of how one would stand on a snowboard or skateboard.
Along with this I also found reference for a skateboarder grinding on a rail, specifically while moving backwards. This was beneficial as I was then able to see how a skateboarder shifts their weight and arm positions to keep from falling off the rail.
I had also filmed a reference of myself jumping and doing a “superhero landing” to properly have a reference for how the follow-through of weight should work, along with standing up straight, which can be seen below.
Overall, I think this project went very well, which I will write about in more detail in my reflection.