In this assignment we were tasked with animating a walk cycle, run cycle, walk with personality cycle, and a run and jump. In order to do this we needed to gather references and research the mechanics of movement. In this blog post I will be addressing each animation I made and talking about the aforementioned references, failures and tribulations, my own analysis, outside perspective, application of theory, as well as related aspects to my journey through this submission.
WALK CYCLE.
My first attempt at my walk cycle was done on my laptop with a Uni-loaned drawing tablet. I found it difficult to get used to not only the way I was drawing, as the laptop’s screen was small and would hurt my eyes and the position I had to hold in order to draw was uncomfortable. But also the software of Toonboom felt alien to me. I found myself constantly googling quick fixes, shortcuts and simple things such as how to swap between eraser and brush.
Despite this, I was able to come up with a walk cycle. I wasn’t able to come up with as many references as I would have liked, as my workspace was very unorthodox and my laptop didn’t load correctly when tabbing out, but I did the image below ready on my phone for when I needed to correct some mistakes. I had done a walk cycle before so this was the most comfortable animation to do for me and my practice aided me a lot when drawing.
The image above shows many things that will be carried through all the animations in terms of principles, and I will go into more depth with each one as I analyse my own work.These things include arcs, overlapping and followthrough actions, etc.
This was my first attempt at the walk cycle:
I then showed this animation to my lecturer, who told me where I could improve. From our short exchange the key point I took away was the swaying of the shoulders and how subtle things can bring an animation to life, which was later added to my final revision of the walk cycle.
When it came to animating this version I realised something about the way I went about animation and I would need to talk to someone more experienced to whether or not it was a bad habit or not. But for me I found myself doing straight ahead animation rather than pose to pose. Which was frustrating at times as I saw the effects later in my run and jump animation which I will be going further in depth when I reach that section of my blog.
For my final revision of the walk cycle I took all of the advice I had gathered and went on to animate this:
Whilst I am happy with the outcome, I am proud that I managed to capture the ‘swaying’ of shoulders as well as a visually pleasing animation and silhouette. There are a few things I would change about it if I had more time/experience in animation. Unlike my first attempt the arms of the walk are rather stiff and I would like them to ‘hang’ more freely throughout the walk. I would also like the ‘bounce’ arc of the upwards motion to feel less jarring and more relaxed. What I do think I did well however is the arc that the arms make through its motion. Also, I enjoy how the swaying of the shoulders gives a sense of dimension and makes it feel that little more like a solid drawing.
When searching for references I used images/gifs a lot. I would upload gifs into syncsketch (https://syncsketch.com) in order to break down movement further and take the most important keyframes. For this particular movement I used the image mentioned previously along with this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq9A5FD8G5w
It was the key to understanding how the shoulders swayed in movement.
RUN CYCLE.
When it came to moving on to my run cycle I had some outside issues when coming into it. I had come down with the flu and found myself constantly exhausted and in bed for the majority of the week. This ultimately destroyed my workflow as a part of my growth from last year I had taken a better approach to handling work and deadlines, setting aside hours a day instead of relying on bursts of energy. Despite my physical ailment I took what little energy I did have and thought a little outside of the box on how I could use that time to further my work. So, I picked up my iPad and did a rough block out run cycle on procreate so I had something to use when I was feeling better. This was the procreate block out result:
It being a block out meant that the rough lines and small inconsistencies did not matter as long as I understood what my intention was with it. My intention was to capture the movement and make sure it was fluid.
I had some images open to help understand the poses of running, but I never came across a helpful tool that achieved the angle I drew it in. This was something I was somewhat proud of as I had to think in a three dimensional space instead of solely relying on images to get what I eventually produced. I can see the effects of not having adequate references as the arm in the background feels a little out of place, as its timing doesn’t match the one in the foreground, but this is something I went on to fix in my final piece.
These were the references I used during the creation of my run cycle:
When I had gotten over my flu I had moved onto animating my final piece, luckily enough I was able to get a hold of a better tablet and move into a better work space which tripled my concentration and work stamina. This was my final animation:
Compared to the blockout I had extremely improved the timing on the arms and the overall consistency of the animation, I also think the arcs of the arms and legs, as well as the weight of the character is rather well done. If I had to change something however, I would take it one step further and animate the head separate from the body, making it bob slightly out of time to create follow through with the main action.
WALK WITH PERSONALITY.
When it came to the walk with personality I face quite a few challenges throughout, whether it was my own burn out causing me to underperform and giving up on ideas rather easily, or just coming up with poses to try and force me to stick to an idea.
Initially my idea was to do someone limping, as I thought that would add a lot of personality in just one cycle. I began to collect an abundance of references of people limping in different gaits. These were my collected references:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG_eITx8miE
I had also watched some clips from HOUSE MD as the main character House walks with a limp, I am unable to post what exactly I had watched on here as I am unable to find a linkable/uploadable ref as it is primarily on anti-piracy streaming. However here is a link to a general idea uploaded by the official YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgN_6iDziO0 (4:47- 5:02).
This was my attempt at the “limp”:
Looking back on it, this animation is something that I think I could definitely persevere through to finish. I think that my burnt out mindset pushed me off course and I thought that it was better to move onto something more achievable. This is a problem, as this kind of attitude isn’t something I would like to take into the working world, and I will be trying to alter it in the future.
Moving onto the animation itself, I can see the choices I made in order to make it feel more like a limp. The fact the “bad” leg doesn’t pick up as high as the other as well as dragging slightly off the floor. The asymmetry of the healthier leg moving further than the other added to the offputting gait that it had.. If I had kept going I would have made sure the bad leg is in contact with the floor a lot less than the better one. If I had added the arms I would have made them brace the bad leg like in some of my references.
After this attempt I moved onto another. I didn’t want to waste all the effort I had put into gathering my resources, so I thought of an idea that might be less challenging but also holds the same principle of an uneven walk. This was a zombie walk. Although I already had some references to hand I searched around some more for more specific references.
I didn’t have a final outcome like I did my previous attempt, as in my frustration and poor mentality I closed down my pc and went to bed in order to cool off and have a level head for the next day. Despite this outburst, I thought I shouldn’t waste my effort and note what I can present here. Circling back to what I had stated before, this kind of mentality isn’t something I am particularly proud of and will be correcting throughout my learning.
The next day after I had cooled off I took a new approach to my work. Instead of trying to overshoot the brief and be ambitious, I decided to stick to what was asked, that being a walk with personality. Wanting to keep it simple I chose an emotion that can be shown visually in the most simplistic manner. So I dove in and began collecting references for my final idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ndB74DVpAk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hg7OwQB8wE
The main thing I took away from all of my references was how the feet dragged along the floor, like I had initially planned with the limp. However, the difference was that the arms hung low and barely moved. I think this is important as it shows how little motivation and further pushes that ‘closed off’ body language you show when upset.
With all of this in mind I moved onto my animation.
Instantly I see things within this piece that I believe could be changed, for example I didn’t manage to fully capture that limp swaying feeling that I wanted the arms to have. The posing of the character and their body language shows that he they are sad, yet their arms sway rather hastily and in a jarring motion. I think I could have used follow through a little more as well as utilising arcs in order to achieve what I wanted. I do think I managed to have the legs skid across the floor like in my reference, yet I believe that the timing is too fast to fully convey the slow drawn out steps that you would want to see from a sad walk.
RUN AND JUMP.
My run and jump animation is probably my least favourite out of the four animations I had drawn over the course of this project. Throughout this process I would constantly ask a friend who doesn’t study animation to see what they felt was off, as an audience’s perspective is needed to see how the general non-animator audience might perceive your work. As they are not focused on technicality, they will be able to see if what you’re portraying is coming across clearly. After this step, I sent my draft over to a lecturer to get a technical perspective. Here is my initial draft:
The feedback I was given was very informative in order for me to improve my animation. Here was the notes given:
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/YWE2ZWI0NjAx/#/30147061/31343203
These notes were a major key in fine tuning my final animation, as when added in this was my final result:
I do really like the arc motion in the jump, yet it lacks a lot technically. I think that the anticipation when leading up to the jump could be more apparent if I used squash and stretch, which I did use a little when they jumped up from the box. I also think that my habit of straight ahead animation caused his body to shrink a little when reaching the other side. I think if I had more time I would take a different approach to it, using poses and keyframing in advance in order to avoid this problem.
These are the references I used in this animation:
Overall I think I have grown through this experience as I believe I was able to highlight mistakes I had made, and the actions I could take in order to avoid them in the future. I am saddened by the fact I am unable to show my 3D work, as not only was I short on time but I also lost the files when changing computers, something I have already started taking the steps to avoid in the future. My experience with 3D proved tough as I find myself unfamiliar with rigs and will have to use my own free time to catch up.