Life Drawing

Heres a few drawings showing different techniques, materials, timing, and of course poses.

These drawings (above) are 30 second poses. The idea with 30 second poses is the catch the essence of the pose. Get the action lines down and thats what matters, as long as you can see where the arms and leg are positioned, the direction of the torso, shoulders and hips, things like proportion and tone are not important.

These drawings were done using the circling method. The circling method is a technique used to daw the pose using just rounded shapes, no straight lines. For me this is one of the more used and accurate techniques. Using circles helps me keep proportion, add perspective and show weight more effectively.

This above drawing was one of my attempts to try and portray a bit of perspective and angle. I used a pose from my imagination and twisted the torso slightly to show movement within the action. A lot of things are technically wrong with this drawing, the proportions are out, the perspective didn't turn out like I intended, but it has a certain charm, I really like this one.

These drawings (above) are all about the action lines. Action lines are very useful for quickly capturing the pose and have help me develop my drawings massively. I laid down the action lines firstly and then build the pose around them. Using broken lines help give the drawing a rushed and unfinished feel which is not always a good thing but I really like this style. It gives it a feel of someone whose just noticed a passer by in the perfect pose and had a quick 7 seconds to capture it.

3D Walk Cycle

When initially planning my walk cycle I wanted a really energetic walk with lots of character and personality. I soon realised a walk doesn't have to be so upbeat and 'happy' to produce the same feeling of personality.

After this I decided on a tired, depressed, even as far as sad walk. I wanted to try and get the characters story across using just the movement of his limbs and try to get his experiences across.

Why is he sad/depressed/tired?

What happened to him?

This video helped me alot, it was the perfect walk I wanted to try and portray.

The way the character in this video drags his feet along the floor, the way his arms sag down, even his facial expression, all add to his background and, I think portray his story and personality very well.

Another source I used was Preston Blair's book, 'Cartoon Animation'

In my opinion, this and Richard Williams' Animator's Survival Kit are among the most important books any budding animator will read. The quality of the techniques used and showcased is none short of amazing, and they both really helped me understand how a walk can show so many different emotions, stories and personality.

Final WalkCycles Evaluation

This is my profile walk.

I feel, as a final submission, it isn't too bad. I like the overlap and follow through on the wrist, adds good flow and movement to the action.

One criticism I have is the proportions on the neck, it seems to stretch ever so slightly out of place, and this is the main lack in the animation, apart from that I'm fairly happy.

This is my Perspective Walk.

I used the 3/4 type of perspective as i thought it would be a good way to showcase my whole characters movement, from front, side and occasionally top and bottom views. I exaggerated the flow by breaking the elbow to add to the arcs.

I also exaggerated the foreshortening to add to the effect of coming towards the screen.

Perspective 2D Walk Research

When researching ideas for the character of my perspective walk, alot of things were thought about.

I wanted a character that was both simple, yet charming, but also flexible enough to reach my degree of exaggeration.

The film 'Robots' was a great help with character design, and I used the clip below to help me further.

Another material that I used, and found was very helpful was the 2D feature film 'The Iron Giant'.

Profile Walk

For my profile walk I used a number of images and vids to help....

I also recorded my self walking past, slowed it down, just to get a mild idea of the key poses.

A major help was muybridge.

Along with muybridge and of course Richard Williams, Expert Village.com provided some very helpful information.

Perspective 2D Walk

I used a number of images and videos to help with my perspective walk.

One of the main problems I had was to try and keep everything in proportion.

Again Richard Williams' Animators survival kit was very helpful, but I also called upon my days at school in which I learnt about perspective in my graphics class. I learnt about vanishing points and construction lines and this came in very handy.

Here are a few of things I used to help me along the way.

Richard Williams shows how to easily set up a walk cycle in perspective view

How to draw the human body in perspective view

Apart from these two main sources of information, most of my perspective walk was down to me. I found it quite a challenge to just go and draw straight into perspective but, after a few practice tests, I started getting the hang of it.

Richard Williams Influence

I found Richard Williams' book, The Animators Survival Kit, extremely helpful and insightful. It showed a number of different techniques used to produce a walk cycle and how different techniques produce different results. The book also explained the fundamentals of walk cycles for example: overlap & follow through, exaggeration, and how to incorporate perspective well.

This video not only helped me, but also inspired me. I think its an amazing 'masterclass' of what is possible with really good quality animation.

How do we walk?

Basic frames spaced out & Basic frames with correct spacing.

Inbetweens added & Setting the tempo.

Changing the passing frame, gives a whole new dimension to the walk.